Fritz et. al.
I sincerely appreciate the thoughts and insights you all have brought to the table; a sumptuous feast of truths on which to ruminate.
I noticed, from this passage that Moses wrote “Cain brought an offering”, as did his brother Abel and “the LORD respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering.” But the writer of Hebrews says “By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.” It is that “speaking” I’d like to address.
Offerings and sacrifices are not exactly the same, but they do share something in common, and it’s that commonality that I’d like to shine a light on. Both are very often expected to do something they were never intended to do. I’m sure you all have done your due study on these two forms of oblation, so I won’t speak of that here, except to remember that sacrifices involve blood; animal sacrifices pre-figure the ultimate blood sacrifice that has bought life and light for you and I.
What I do want to remind us of is that offerings and sacrifices were never intended to enrich God, to impress God, to appease God, or to curry God’s favor. Neither were they ever intended to be any sort of payment or dues. Also, they were never intended to make us feel like we are reluctantly giving up something that is precious, and which we would prefer to keep for ourselves, but passively accept that doing so is probably good for us, in some way (God loves a cheerful giver). Any whiff of this kind of idolatrous stench putrefies the entire act, any speck of this leaven makes the entire lump unacceptable. Actually. no one brings to God anything that is not already His (The earth is The Lord’s and all its fullness), nobody gives to God anything that God has not first put into his hands. God cannot use our material offerings, God is not fed by our hands, and any machinations that try to speak otherwise deserves to be disrespected by God. It is an act of His love to reject (disrespect) our errors.
"Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.” 1 Samuel 15:22
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart-- These, O God, You will not despise. Psalm 51:17
“To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, Or of lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me, Who has required this from your hand, To trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies-- I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them.” Isaiah 1:11-14
As we are reminded in the Hebrews 11 passage, offerings and sacrifices were given to mankind to “speak”, to testify of man’s recognition of his true relationship with his creator. These oblations are a gift to mankind, a grace, a generous way to speak to God in His language, as a giver, and as a means of God speaking to us, as a savior. We know that man looks on the outward appearance, but GOD looks on the heart. So, when we “speak” to God, we see the ritual, we smell the smoke, and we hear the words, but GOD discerns the depths of the heart. And so, I think that is what we are witnessing here in Genesis 4. Out of the heart the actions of a man speak, and so we read, “And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.” The evil parasitic thing, some festering untruth, expressed itself as anger in Cain, and clearly God saw it in his heart. We are not told exactly what that was, (we all have theories) but we are told of how the festering lies manifested themselves in anger. It seems that Cain hoped his offering would to do something that it was never intended to do, and when it didn’t, he got angry; angry at God whom he could not hurt, and angry at his brother whom he could.
I often hear modern men of God speak of their own offerings and sacrifices in terms that suggest they hope they will perform for them their calculated purpose. My teeth clench and my gut tightens nearly every time I endure a sermon or a teaching on tithing, as an offering or a sacrifice of 10% of what is mine given to God, so he has enough money to pay for our man-made ministries. When I was born from above (as Jesus told Nicodemus) I was raised from the dead, to walk in newness of life. When I was raised, I was raised naked (as it were) I owned nothing, and I still own nothing. I am The Lord’s and all that he has placed in my responsibility is also His. He distributes it as He wills. How can I imagine offering to Him what is already 100% His? If I think my offering of any percentage will do something it was never intended to do, is it not God’s Love to reject it? Yes, may God reject anything I offer that is tainted with the lies of self-promotion, or adulterated with even a hint of falsehood of purchasing personal prosperity.
What do I think Cain’s real problem was in Genesis 4? I think he had ulterior motives that we don’t know, but God surely did. We must learn our lessons, as God graciously and patiently leads us into all truth.
