This Blessed me!

Genesis 4 King James Version (KJV)

4 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.

² And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

³ And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.

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:

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

⁶ And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?

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.

⁸ And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

⁹ And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?

¹⁰ And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.

¹¹ And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand;

¹² When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

¹³ And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear.

¹⁴ Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.

¹⁵ And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

¹⁶ And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

¹⁷ And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.

There was no difference between Cain and Abel; other than that their offering was different. In essence they were both sinners like you and me.  We all heard this cliche “Are you your brother ‘s keeper” I heard one christian person that I know personally say “No” I’m tired of the nonsense of a person she knew and as she was going off I said without a shadow of a doubt that Yes, we are our brothers keeper. Cain isn’t much different than a whole lot us in today ‘s world.  The bible doesn’t give a clear background of the two brothers background like how were they when they were children etc.

Cain & Abel: The book of Genesis produce the first murder

People in the story
Cain means ‘acquiring’ or ‘producing’.
Abel means ’emptiness’ or ‘futility’.
God: in this story, God is a manifestation of Order and Harmony. The murder of Abel disrupts and offends universal harmony. There is a price to pay.

The story has 3 episodes:

• Cain and Abel are sons of Adam, Genesis 4:1-2
• Cain and Abel offer sacrifices to God, Genesis 4:3-7
• Cain murders Abel and God punishes him, Genesis 4:8-16

Cain and Abel are the sons of Adam and Eve. Their father and mother committed the first sin. The two young men sin against each other, and this is the second sin. Mankind sins first against God, and then against each other.
At the heart of the story is a new idea: that lawlessness is contrary to the will of God, and when it happens, the good as well as the wicked suffer.

The Story in Brief
Cain was the first farmer. His brother Abel was an animal herder. They both offered a sacrifice to God. Because God was pleased with Abel’s offering of a lamb (God sacrifice was the shedding of blood) with the animals during this time)  but not with Cain’s offering from his harvest (one would think that since Cain was a tiller of the field that it would seemed that it was ok to give this as his offering) but that’s where we fail it’s not about us it’s about what God wants from us) , Cain was jealous. In a fit of anger he killed his brother. The earth itself turned against him: he could no longer grow crops, and became a wanderer without a home. Not only is there consequences of our sin (something we did) I believe this is were we fall short as I was thinking is there such a thing as knowing and “unknowing sins” and wow the Holy Spirit says yes ~ because when Cain slayed his brother he wasn’t thinking that the blood that flow out of him in the ground (which he was a tiller of fields; which I have to imagined he loved to do) that God cursed the ground for him not to work the grounds every again.  Can you imagine God taking away from you something that you love.  In fact, that’s what happens when we sin even today.  It’s so important to repent and confess and mean it when we go to God; So now I see the term “unknowing sin” for Cain; although murder is a sin; It almost seems that God is telling us to look what happen to Cain he didn’t think killing his brother any consequences; therefore you NEED to know that there are consequences of our sins and yes, God will forgive our sins and remember it no more; but I believe God wants us to know that we better be really careful (know) before we take action on our sins.

We also have to remember that there wasn’t any specific instructions that God gave to both of the brothers when asked for a sacrifice.  What is important is  Hebrews 11:4

4 BY FAITH Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. BY FAITH he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And BY FAITH Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
Paul considered Abel’s actions so important to understanding faith, he offered Abel as his very-first example of a “hero of faith”: although having no instructions to follow, Abel trusted his offering would be pleasing to God (although he didn’t know for certain).  That’s what faith is: confidence that what you’re doing is pleasing to God, without having any tangible evidence or feedback upon which to rely (of course, once God voiced His approval of Abel’s offering, faith was no longer needed: Abel’s demonstration of faith was then validated).

Notice that while Abel’s sacrifice is described in great detail (“fat portions of some of the firstborn of his flock”), Cain’s offering is mentioned in passing (“some of the fruits of the soil”), i.e. there’s no mention of being Cain’s ‘first-fruits’ (i.e. the best of his crops).  The author is glossing over Cain’s offering, just as God did; and while not rejected per se, Cain and his offering are not seen by God as being particularly noteworthy.  Cain didn’t exactly fail (i.e. his offer wasn’t rejected), but he also didn’t earn God’s praise.  Cain simply met minimum standards: he just passed.  That’s just like falling into the trap when you hear believers say I just want to sit outside the gate of heaven; Nope ~ you want your crown and all the benefits that God has in store for. You want it all -you want to be in the gate sitting at the grand table with the Father!

BLESSINGS!