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Articles, Bible studies, and sermons that contain Genesis 4:4:

Genesis 4:1-5
Excerpted from: What Is an Offering?

First, making offerings to God is an ancient practice, and after obedience, it is the second act of worship that is mentioned in Scripture. Now, Adam and Eve did not do very well in the obedience part, but it is implied there that they did obey God before they disobeyed God. The important point here though is that offerings started at the very beginning.

The second point, offerings are tied to the work that Cain and Abel did in their normal lives. The offerings came from the fruit of their labors. So, Cain was a tiller of the ground, and he gave something from that. And Abel was a shepherd, he kept sheep, and he gave of that, of what he had done.

Third, a very important point, the most important point in terms of our relationship with God, is that God does not respect all offerings. He makes a judgment. Something about Cain's offering did not please God.

Now, we teach that Cain gave an offering of the fields and so it was most likely a grain offering. And you have to know what these offerings in the Old Testament symbolize, but the grain offering symbolizes love toward man. The person that was sacrificing, giving an offering, would normally give a burnt offering and the grain offering went on top of it and all the other things were combined on this particular offering. But Cain only gave the grain offering, which meant that his viewpoint, if you will, his motives were toward man. He was the first humanist, we might say.

While Abel gave a burnt offering from the flock and that symbolizes love toward God. That his first priority was God. And so he gave a life, not just, you know, plant life that is a lower form than a sheep or or a lamb. And in this case, Abel gave a better offering than Cain did because Abel showed that his love was toward God first, whereas Cain said his love was toward other men first.

So seeing Cain's attitude in the whole story, the greater problem then, as God clearly saw, was in his heart, it was in his character and in his motives. God saw and judged that Cain's offering was not a worthy offering, and so he rejected it.

And so he gave a bad offering. He gave wrongly.

Genesis 4:4-5
Excerpted from: More Excellent Sacrifice

But Cain and Abel must have been instructed then to bring an offering on the special occasions and times that God has summoned them to this special day. So again in Genesis 4, verses 4 and 5, it says,

But why did He accept Abel and his offering and not Cain and his offering? Why did He reject Cain? He rejected Cain, and of course He did not accept his offering. And this is usually where commentaries and commentators (and I have heard many sermons and sermonettes over the years in Worldwide and in Church of the Great God too), they begin to focus on the offering as part of the reason for God not accepting Cain.

But some think that he just brought the wrong offering, not being an animal sacrifice, right? An animal sacrifice for a burnt offering. It does not say that. Abel sacrificed his sheep, so he brought it as an offering.

Now let us just think about these for a little bit. The word used here for offering is the Hebrew word min&7717;â, which means gift, offering, tribute, and it is usually bloodless and voluntary. So we have to ask the question: was it the offering God rejected? Well, as far as value goes, do you not think Cain's offering could have very well been more valuable than Abel's? He was a farmer. He might have brought the best he had to Him. It does not say.

And most people want to say, well, it is because he did not bring a burnt offering or an animal for a blood sacrifice. Well, that is not so because this was a gift, an offering.

Genesis 4:3-7
Excerpted from: God's Sense of Justice

Adam and Eve could not even keep the simple commandment that He gave in its letter. I want you to notice: He informed. They sinned. And He judged. There is the pattern. God always follows that pattern. He always informs people. As we are going to see, even the heathen are informed. Those He has called into His own church are informed better than anybody else, but everybody on earth is informed enough for God to judge.

From these verses it is very clear that they were instructed regarding the offerings. Abel simply followed God's instructions. Cain did not. Look at verse 7 again, and then we are going to look at verse 13 because we want to see Cain's reaction.

How can good and bad be judged unless He instructed them? They knew what was good. They knew what was bad. Abel did what was good, but Cain, like his mother before him, shifted gears a little bit and substituted his own thinking regarding what would be acceptable to God. Verse 13 gives Cain's reaction. He was angry.

Again, God informed. Cain disobeyed. God judged. The pattern is followed. So it was Cain then, representing mankind, who was unjustly angry at God's judgment. In his eyes, he had become victimized by God. Thus we already see two patterns developing. First, God lets mankind know what He expects. His expectation is not even to the level of the New Covenant. At most it is the level of the Old Covenant. Secondly, mankind disobeys, and then feels unjustly treated in God's judgment.

Genesis 4:1-5
Excerpted from: Lessons From the Animals

There is a little aside here that we should get to before we go past it, but it will not take long. When these verses are combined with Genesis 1:28-29 and Genesis 4:1-5, it shows that this is not mankind's introduction into eating animal flesh. You can read verse 3 in chapter 9. But in Genesis 1, what God is doing is showing that all life, animal and human, ultimately depends on vegetation: I have given you all the green herbs to eat. And that is true.

Remember Genesis 4:1-5. Abel brought to God an animal sacrifice. That shows us that God had already showed them that their dominion over animals extended to the place that they were able to take an animal's life. God was well pleased with Abel's animal sacrifice. He was so well pleased that it is recorded back in Hebrews 11 that it still witnesses. So God was not overly concerned about the killing of an animal, but what we need to understand is that they understood about sacrificing, and some of the sacrifices had to be eaten. That was a requirement of God. The sin offering was to be eaten, part of it anyway, and the peace offering was to be eaten.

Genesis 4:3-5
Excerpted from: Knowing Christ (Part 3)

Here we have first example in the Bible of offerings actually being made to the Creator, looking forward in anticipation of what that sacrifice would accomplish. Now God must have instructed Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel. At the very least, He instructed Adam and Eve, who very likely passed on the instruction to Cain and Abel. But perhaps God directly instructed them, because if He had not, there would be no basis for His displeasure with Cain; nor would their be a basis for Abel's belief, which God could congratulate and applaud, be pleased in, because he believed what God said regarding sacrifice. Hebrews 11 shows that Abel had faith, that he had to have faith in the Word of God; therefore God, from the very beginning, was already instructing the very first citizens of planet Earth regarding sacrifice.

We are dealing here with a subject, with an act, with a way of life that is absolutely essential to the outworking of God's purpose. No sacrifice - its purpose is not achieved.

Genesis 4:3-7
Excerpted from: Words of Life, Words of Death

Cain fell victim to this all-or-nothing thinking distortion.

It was not a matter of Daddy or Momma likes my brother more than me. It was a matter of variable conditions over which Cain did have some control. As John Ritenbaugh stated on Trumpets, Cain knew the preconditions. There was a wide spectrum of choices Cain could use, rather than the simple, He likes me/He does not like me.

Genesis 4:1-7
Excerpted from: What is God Looking For in an Offering?

Now from these verses, there is certainly a lot that is not stated, but we can understand that Abel's offering was indeed respected and Cain's was not. Cain obviously did not do the right thing. God tells us, "If you do well, will it not be accepted?" There are clear indications that Cain not only brought the wrong offering, but the way in which he brought it forth was equally incorrect.

Articles

'As It Was In the Days of Noah'  
Are You Bearing Your Cross?  
Did Israel Offer the Wavesheaf in Joshua 5?  
Who Fulfills the Azazel Goat— Satan or Christ? (Part Five)  
Will Deceive Many (Part Two)  

Essays

A Warning from Jude (Part One)  
Be Content in All Things (Part One)  
Cain's Assumption (Part One)  
Iron Sharpens Iron (Part Two)  
Mastering the Cause of Sin  
Pentecost: A Test?  
The Value of Life  

Sermons

Anger (Part 2)  
What's Your Attitude?  
The Doctrine of Israel (Part Twelve): Joseph  
Do Little Things Not Count?  
The Two Great Commandments: First Principles  
Faith, Hope, and the Worship of God (Part Three)  
Worship and Culture (Part 1)  
Eden, The Garden, and the Two Trees (Part Two)  
Clean and Unclean Meats  
God Works in Mysterious Ways (Part Five)  
Does God Always Accept Our Worship Of Him?  
The Priesthood of God (Part 1)  
Grace, Mercy, and Favor (Part Three): A Faithful Witness to God's Mercy  

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