4:3-5 - 3In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favour on Abel and his offering, 5but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favour. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
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The very fact of the two brothers bring offerrings to Yahweh is proof that—while a breach had occurred in the relationship between humans and God—the relationship was not dead. Where the idea of bringing an offering to the Lord came from is unknown, though the idea of bringing an offering to a deity itself seems natural to all human cultures, even if the motivations differ.
It has often been suggested that Cain was rejected because of his failure to bring a blood sacrifice. The account so far has not indicated anywhere that any of the persons involved were aware that a blood sacrifice was needed for a mincha, 'offering.' The suggestion therefore presumes too much of the characters involved, and on this ground alone, the suggestion may be dismissed. Furthermore, within the context of later levitical requirements, mincha was, by definition, a grain offering and, therefore, a fruit of the soil (Lev 2:1-6, 15).
It is difficult to tell if the author had such later levitical regulations in mind as he wrote this, but the phrasing of this event would have veered the ancient readers towards looking with favour on Abel's offering as well. Cain's offering is mentioned first, and it was mipperi ha'adamah, "from the fruit of the earth." Whatever it was specifically of this "fruit of the earth" Cain brought, two things can be said about this offering. First, no ancient reader would have missed the fact, so soon after it was reported, that ha'adamah had been cursed (3:17; though it is difficult to see, given the fact that Cain was a farmer, what other offering he could have brought; it was afterall the fruit of his labour). Second, the ancient readers would already know that the priestly instructions for bringing the "fruits of the ground" as an offering should be re'shit bikkure 'adamateka, "the best of the firstfruit of your soil" (Exo 23:19). The two most important words of the law are missing from the description of Cain's offering. Is this intended to mean that Cain was simply indifferent about what he brought to Yahweh? Though we cannot be dogmatic, the suggestion is tantalizing.
In contrast—and for any Hebrew reader familiar with the later levitical instructions, a sharp contrast—Abel brought1 "fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock." Here the NIV interpretes more than it translates. The sense is better captured here by most of the other versions: "some of the firstborn (bekorot)2 of his flock and their fat."T Animal offerings were required only to be "without defect or blemish to be acceptable" (Lev 22:21).
The firstborn of their herds, however, needed only to be redeemed because they belonged to Yahweh (Exo 34:19). When an animal was sacrificed according to the priestly regulations, the fat, heleb, was considered the choise part and always belonged to Yahweh; so serious was this Lev 7:25 required that "anyone who eats the fat of an animal from which an offering by fire may be made to the Lord must be cut off from his people." Here, in Abel's offering, though it is not said that his offering was without defect or blemish, the two things that Yahweh had claimed to Himself—the firstborn and the fat—are right upfront.
To this we may add another observation: it was not only on their respective offerings that Yahweh looked upon. It was 'el-hebel we'el-minchato, "on Abel and on his offering," and 'el-qayin we'el-minchato, "on Cain and on his offering." It was the persons, not just their gifts, that Yahweh scrutinized with care in deciding His response. This suggests that Yahweh's favour was determined not by what was brought but by how it was offered. The author of the letter to the Hebrews certainly seemed to have understood it this way: "by faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings" (Heb 11:4).
The description of Cain's response paints an ugly picture; translated literally it says, "and Cain burned very and his face fell." What his face fell upon, however, was murder. It is a frightening thought, is it not, that the impulse for the first murder occurred at "the altar" where we are supposed to be nearest God? But this is rushing ahead. A frightening thought, nonetheless.
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, 2018