Part 2 of 7 of the theme 'Lessons on the character of God‘ by Gijs van den Brink
God asked Cain "Why are you so angry, why do you look so dark?"(Gen. 4:6) What God is asking Cain, everyone reading this is wondering. What is it that Cain was hiding? What preceded his anger? What is the difference between Abel and Cain?
- Both sacrifice and appear before the Lord.
- Both give of the work of their hands to Him.
- In doing so, both bring thanks to God.
After all, what is the difference between the two men? Let's read very carefully what it says. About Cain we read in verse 3 literally "at the end of days. We should probably think here of the end of a farming season. In other words, on the appointed day, as it was supposed to be, Cain made a sacrifice.
About Abel, the writer tells in verse 4 that he sacrificed the "firstborn of his little cattle of the fat," that is, the firstborn of the best sheep of his herd. He gives God the first place and honor due to Him. Do you see the difference?
Now you might think that this is only a minimal difference anyway. But Cain's reaction shows that there is much more going on here. We probably wouldn't have seen that, but God obviously did.
But what is so remarkable now is that the Lord sees this, but He does not reject Cain for good because of this, as is clear from the sequel. He does, however, make him wait and does not heed Cain's sacrifice for a while. He wants to show Cain that he has a wrong disposition. Jesus will later say "a good man brings forth good out of the good treasure of his heart, and an evil man brings forth evil out of the evil treasure"(Luke 6:45). What is in Cain's heart is evident from his reaction. But God does not reject Cain for good. [to be continued]
Next time:
Part 3 of the series 'Lessons on the character of God (from Genesis 4)' is entitled 'God remains in conversation with Cain who is angry.'
See also:
Part 1 of the series 'Lessons about the character of God (from Genesis 4) "How does God deal with people who are angry with Him?
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Author: Gijs van den Brink
From: Study Bible Magazine
This is part 2 of 7 of the series "Lessons on the character of God” Some of which we will be posting online in the near future. We hope this will help you understand the Bible better!
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