Why did Cain kill Abel?

[Jesus_is_Saint]

Gen 4:8 And Cain said to his brother, Let us go into the field: and when they were in the field, Cain made an attack on his brother Abel and put him to death.

Why he wanted to kill Abel?
God had explained to him about sin. Din't he understand what God said?
Why couldn't Abel defend to save his own life?

 

[Armoured]

"Why did Cain kill Abel?"

Because Abel upset him.

 

[Zayin7]

Gen 4:8 And Cain said to his brother, Let us go into the field: and when they were in the field, Cain made an attack on his brother Abel and put him to death.

Why he wanted to kill Abel?
God had explained to him about sin. Din't he understand what God said?
Why couldn't Abel defend to save his own life?

cain became envious of Able . cain thought he was right in his own eyes. he had no reverence of God, bringing to him an offering that was not of shed blood (without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. god was warning Cain that sin lay at the door because if cain did not deal with his pride it would lead cain into further sin.. but cain did not listen or repent . so his pride and envy grew until he rose up against Able in the field and suddenly struck him on the head with a rock .. a coward attack and a murderer ..( so cain had no opportunity to defend himself .

 

[ewq1938]

Cain was jealous and I believe he was an evil person with a violent temper. His name means a lance (as striking fast) according to the Strongs.

 

[Jesus' Girl]

I personally think sin was building up in him before he killed his brother.

If you read the text it says Cain was angry. I believe the rejection of his offering and seeing his brother had an acceptable offering caused anger and of course jealously. His replonse "Am I my brother's keeper?" reeks of a satisfaction in his death. Jealously and anger together are a deadly combo

 

[JoeP222w]

Gen 4:8 And Cain said to his brother, Let us go into the field: and when they were in the field, Cain made an attack on his brother Abel and put him to death.

Why he wanted to kill Abel?
God had explained to him about sin. Din't he understand what God said?
Why couldn't Abel defend to save his own life?

Because his heart was evil, as is all mankind apart from the work of grace from God.

 

[CrystalDragon]

cain became envious of Able . cain thought he was right in his own eyes. he had no reverence of God, bringing to him an offering that was not of shed blood (without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. god was warning Cain that sin lay at the door because if cain did not deal with his pride it would lead cain into further sin.. but cain did not listen or repent . so his pride and envy grew until he rose up against Able in the field and suddenly struck him on the head with a rock .. a coward attack and a murderer ..( so cain had no opportunity to defend himself .

Why question: Why is there no forgiveness without the shedding of blood? It makes God seem like one of the war gods of other cultures. Come to think of it, wasn't "Yahweh" a Canaanite war god?

 

[ewq1938]

MOD HAT ON

Enough with the humor vs. non-humor debate. It's off topic. I'm removing all of those post. Please stay on topic

MOD HAT OFF

 

[JackRT]

This story was first written down about 950 BC and may have been in circulation long before. At that time in history there was a real tension between the semi-nomadic herdsmen and the settled farmer. This tension has been repeated in many cultures and even in the American West between the ranchers and the grain farmers. The author obviously favoured the herdsman. There was nothing wrong with Cain's offering except in the mind of the author.

 

[ewq1938]

There was nothing wrong with Cain's offering except in the mind of the author.

Yet the author is God and he is not wrong so there was a problem with Cain's offering.

Cain's sacrifice was rejected because he lacked the faith to offer the best of what he had. He lacked the faith of knowing that God would take care of him despite his loosing the best of what he had worked for. His offerings were low quality and he kept the best for himself unlike Abel. The answer is Cain had a lack of faith, offered a non-acceptable quality and/or amount of proper offerings.


Gen 4:3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
Gen 4:4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
Gen 4:5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
Gen 4:6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
Gen 4:7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

Gen. says he didn't "do well" regarding his offering. Add that Hebrews says he lacked faith, the picture becomes clearer especially contrasted to the obviously good quality his brother offered. Abel's offering deserved respect. Cain's offering did not deserve respect.

Heb 11:4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

"more excellent"

G4119
p?e?´??, p?e????, p?e´??
pleio¯n pleion pleon
pli'-own, pli'-on, pleh'-on
Comparative of G4183; more in quantity, number, or quality; also (in plural) the major portion: - X above, + exceed, more excellent, further, (very) great (-er), long (-er), (very) many, greater (more) part, + yet but.


Cain's offering was not of the same quality as his brother Abel's was. A lack of faith is the reason why Cain did not give as good of a sacrifice. Keep in mind the meaning of sacrifice. No one is really sacrificing much when you give away the worst but to give away the best that you have and have faith that it will be ok, that is true faith and a true sacrifice.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Why question: Why is there no forgiveness without the shedding of blood? It makes God seem like one of the war gods of other cultures. Come to think of it, wasn't "Yahweh" a Canaanite war god?

The difference between Yahweh and the other pagan gods is that Yahweh communicated with those who walked with Him. The other pagan gods were gods of wood and stone, but Yahweh is the one true living God. The reason for blood sacrifices is not clearly known, but in pagan cultures it was to appease the gods who were feared and were blamed for crop failures, droughts, storms, etc. It was believed that offering sacrifices to these gods staved off stuff that would have brought distress and trauma to the people.

In contrast Yahweh, the living God was not feared in the sense of being terrified of Him. He has always been a God of mercy and grace. I think that the Jewish blood sacrifices were a shadow of what was to happen when He sent His only Son to die for our sins. Adam disobeyed God and brought death to all mankind. What was needed was that a sinless person needed to die and be the substitute for mankind's sin. It could not be an ordinary person because of the sin curse on all people. This is why Jesus came as a human being born of a virgin. The Virgin birth was vitally important because Jesus could not be conceived through the normal way, otherwise He would have inherited the sinfulness of mankind. That is why someone who doesn't believe in the virgin birth cannot be saved because he believes that Jesus was born in the normal way; but that would have made Him as sinful as anyone else, and could not have died on the cross for us.

But Jesus became our blood sacrifice, one and for all. He took our sins in His own body, and died in our place. Then He rose from the dead to show that He can grant eternal life to all those who accepted God's invitation to make Jesus Lord of their lives.

What comes to me about Cain is that he thought he could offer anything and God would accept it. Abel offered an animal sacrifice, and that involved the shedding of blood. Therefore Abel's sacrifice fitted the pattern and was an appropriate foreshadow of the Saviour who was to come. I believe that if Cain had offered the correct sacrifice, God would have accepted it. God tried to reason with Cain, but Cain would not accept what God was trying to tell him, so because he refused God's counsel, sin grew and matured in him until he committed murder.

 

[com7fy8]

His offerings were low quality and he kept the best for himself unlike Abel.

And it could be he felt that Abel had shown him up. Instead, he needed to gain from Abel's good example and then do better. Also, possibly he knew Abel would give an animal offering, and he was in sibling rivalry too proud to do what his brother was going to do, and so he did something completely different, in contrariness.

So it is good to gain from someone else's good example, when we are wrong.

I think that the Jewish blood sacrifices were a shadow of what was to happen when He sent His only Son to die for our sins.

It is understood that earlier scripture contains things which are representative of the later death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. I see a blood sacrifice as representing giving all . . . one's lifeblood. This can be like how we minister the grace of God's love through ourselves > our love-blood of Jesus spiritually.

"But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." (2 Timothy 3:13)

So, yes, Cain got worse enough to then also commit murder, like

but Cain would not accept what God was trying to tell him, so because he refused God's counsel, sin grew and matured in him until he committed murder.

This is a warning to us, how we need to not let ourselves get into sinning and then able to get worse and do worse things. But repent and be restored by God, as soon as possible.

 

[Dave-W]

cain thought he was right in his own eyes. he had no reverence of God, bringing to him an offering that was not of shed blood (without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Not so sure about that. The text does not say that at all. You are referencing a passage that was not revealed to men for another 2000 years or so.

What the text DOES say is that Able brought the "fat portions" and "firstlings;" i.e. the biggest and best that he had. From Cain it just said "some of the fruit of the soil;" i.e. what ever was left over. Big difference in attitude.

 

[SolomonVII]

I think the main object of Cain's wrath was not so much Abel as it was God.

God snubbed Cain, and Cain became angry. Killing Abel became like slashing the tires to God's favorite Cadillac for Cain.

Abel didn't do nothing to ire Cain. God did.

 

[shakewell]

Gen 4:8 And Cain said to his brother, Let us go into the field: and when they were in the field, Cain made an attack on his brother Abel and put him to death.

Why he wanted to kill Abel?

Because Cain's works were evil and Abel's works were righteous.

For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. 1 John 3:11-13

God had explained to him about sin. Din't he understand what God said?

I don't see any reason to think he didn't understand. God communicates clearly. Cain earlier understood that God didn't respect his offering to the point of being "very wroth" about it.

But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. Genesis 4:5

Why couldn't Abel defend to save his own life?

We're not told. But remember no one had ever killed anyone before, so the concept of physcial self-defense likely never crossed Abel's mind before. It probably was a surprise attack.