Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

When we last left the story of Genesis, the first humans had been exiled from the Garden.

Now we find them on the outskirts of paradise.

Things looked grim for the humans in Genesis three, yet god did not leave them without hope.

The hope that the work of the serpent could be overcome, and that though their rebellion had brought death, God intended to give them life.

Now, at the beginning of chapter 4, that promise of life looks to become a reality, as Eve gives birth to two sons.

The Birth of Cain and Abel

Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have produced a man with the help of the LORD.”

Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have produced a man with the help of the LORD.”

Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have produced a man with the help of the LORD.”

“Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have produced a man with the help of the LORD.”

Next she bore his brother Abel.

Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground.”

Eve has

Genesis, like much of scripture, really loves word play.

Eve names here son qayin because the LORD helped her qanah , i.e. “produce” or “create” a man.

What’s interesting is that this word qanah can also mean “to buy” and is often associate with buying land.

The idea might be that Eve is hoping Cain will be their ticket back into the Garden, as a fulfillment of the promise in .

Cain is a “tiller of the ground” like his father, Adam, after all.

Abel’s name, on the other hand, comes from the Hebrew hebel.

It’s the word used over and over again in Ecclesiastes, and it literally means “breath” or “vanity”.

This is likely a pun on the shortness of Abel’s life, but also an ironic commentary on the culture in which Cain and Abel lived.

Within the Biblical world and the ANE in general, it was always the firstborn, the oldest son who was favored.

He was the one through which life and prosperity would come to the family.

The younger brother, not so much!

So Cain is put forth as a symbol of life and vitality, while Abel is dismissed as “vapor, nothingness”.

Ironically, by the time of the New Testament, and even by the end of the story, their roles will be completely reversed.

Abel will come to a symbol of faith, and Cain a symbol of evil.

Two Brothers

The only other information

The Keeper of My Brother

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version.

(1989).

().

Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version.

(1989).

().

Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

The story doesn’t waste much time telling us any more about Cain and Abel’s childhood, or who they were.

We just get this one story, a story that has perplexed readers of scripture for thousands of years.

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version.

(1989).

().

Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Cain, the tiller of the ground, and Abel, the keeper of the sheep, bring an offering to God.

We don’t know where they bring the offering.

Perhaps their parents, Adam and Eve, had set up some kind of altar outside of Eden.

Maybe the two brothers made the offering at the gates of the garden of Eden, between the two Cherubim guarding it, in a scene not dissimilar from the tabernacle that their descendents the Israelites would have been all too familiar with.

We don’t really know why they made an offering.

The Hebrew word used suggests it was an offering of thanksgiving, perhaps thanking God for providing a good harvest that year, but we don’t know for sure.

What we do know, however is this: the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.

This one line has perplexed readers perhaps since it was written.

Why does God favor one brother over the other?

Why does God “regard Abel” but not Cain?

The passage might offer us one hint.

Cain brought “an offering of fruit from the ground”, but Abel brought “the firstlings of his flock”.

It might be that Cain didn’t put a whole lot of thought into his offering.

These weren’t first fruits of the harvest, this wasn’t the best Cain had to offer.

Yet Abel had offered the “firstlings of his flock” and the heleb, or the “best, most choice parts”, your translation may say “fat portions”.

And so Cain became grievously upset.

He was angry, he felt shamed perhaps.

Maybe Cain knew why his gift was rejected.

Maybe he didn’t.

But it hurt.

Abel, the younger brother, had been honored, and he had not.

And so, here we have, I think, the real reason that God rejected Cain and not Abel.

God doesn’t really need nice sheep or pretty fruit.

It’s not that God was being petty by demanding the best.

No, the issue was not the offering, but the offerer.

This, as it turns out, is precisely

I can’t help but be reminded of Toy Story here.

Woody is the favorite toy, he’s the one Andy is supposed to play with.

But here comes Buzz Lightyear, and suddenly Andy is obsessed with space and astronauts, not cowboys and the West.

Andy feels hurt.

He feels betrayed.

And he does something that, for a toy, is so very human: he blames his hurt and anger on someone else.

This must be Buzz’s fault!

Cain is the favorite child.

He’s the firstborn, he’s the hope of his mother and father.

So why is Abel, who’s name literally means “nothing”, getting all of this attention?

I remember feeling similarly as a kid.

I was the oldest, and I was the one my dad would take hunting, I was the one that my dad played sports with.

But, one day, my dad decided my sister was old enough to start hunting and playing baseball too.

So when my dad would teach her to shoot a gun, I’d always have to show him how I could hit the target too.

And when he would teach her to swing a bat, I’d yell “No, look at me!

I can do that too!”

I was furious that she got so much more attention than I did.

I never stopped to think that maybe it’s because her offering was more sincere.

She wanted to learn to play baseball, and to shoot a gun.

She wanted to spend time with her dad and have fun.

I mostly just wanted to be the only child, to be special again.

I think this is a very relatable human emotion, even for those of us who don’t have siblings.

When someone at work gets recognized, it’s hard for us to be happy for them.

Instead, we ask, “Why isn’t that me?

I deserved that.”

This jealousy, this anger toward a brother, is the emotion we see in Cain.

And God sees it.

So he gives Cain this warning:

“Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen?

If you do well, will you not be accepted?

And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

“Why are you angry, Cain?” God seems here to suggest that there’s no good reason for Cain to feel this way.

This is a problem he has brought upon himself.

This is a Cain problem.

Who is there to be angry at, then?