Why Did Cain Kill Abel?

When Adam and Eve’s eyes were blinded-open by the eating of the fruit, they saw their own nakedness and set about to remedy their exposure.  Long before Singer and his treadle sewing machine, Adam and Eve stitched clothing out of the leaves from a nearby fig tree.  But their best efforts were not adequate to the task of covering sin, so God demonstrated the only adequate covering: sacrifice.

He could have fashioned clothing from the wool of a sheep, but, “. . . without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Heb 9:22) so, “the LORD God made . . . garments of skins and clothed them (Gen 3:21), and, in this act, foreshadowed the only sacrifice capable of addressing the sin of humanity: Jesus on the cross.

“Fig-leaf fashion” might have been humanities best effort at covering our condition, but, truly, “. . . all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, . . . (Isa 64:6).  Only God could provide the sacrifice which would endure.

In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.(Gen 4:3-5).

“Well maybe Cain did not know about the ‘garments of skins’!!”  I doubt that was the case since Abel, the younger brother, knew about them, and made an offering in line with God’s expectations: “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain. . .” (Heb 11:4).  And this begs the question: “faith in what?”

Cain might very well have had complete confidence that God would be satisfied with a bowl full of figs, some fried okra and a mess of boiled squash, but confidence in our best and faith in God’s direction are two completely different things.

Faith to obey God’s instructions means a willingness to dip seven times in the filthy water of the Jordan (2 Kings 5), or to cast the nets on the other side of the boat (Luke 5).  Naaman argued for the cleaner streams of his homeland, but was encouraged to simply obey, and he was healed.  The disciples might easily have argued for Jesus, the carpenter, to stay in His own lane and let them be the fishing experts they were, but they obeyed and a great catch of fish was hauled in.

With the prescribed method being sacrifice, Abel, through his faith and obedience, was accepted; and “. . . Cain was very angry, and his face fell” (Gen 4:5b).

“. . . Cain was very angry, and his face fell” (Gen 4:5b).

Well just exactly who was Cain “very angry” at?

Not One to let things slide, Jesus confronted him and asked, "Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? (Gen 4:6).

Questions are an interesting study in the Bible.   My aunt Doris said she thought it would be an interesting sermon series to look at questions in the Bible.  (She did have 60+ years as a pastor’s wife to know what might be of interest!)

The first question asked in the Bible was from Satan and was designed to cast doubt on the goodness of God: “Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'? . . ."You will not surely die.  For God knows . . . you will be like God. . ." (Gen 3:1, 4-5).

And the second question in the Bible?  “But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" (Gen 3:9).

Jesus never asks a question due to a lack of knowledge.  It was not for His own benefit that He asked where Adam and Eve were.  It was for their benefit: to give them the opportunity to confess what they had done.

And now He has a question for Cain: "Why are you angry,. . .?”

We have no response from Cain recorded, but we do know what he did next.  He lured his brother, Abel, into a field and killed him.  Why in the world did he kill Abel?  Abel had not done anything to Cain!  Abel had not corrected Cain!  Abel was only trying to do his best to follow the commands of Jesus, and he got murdered because of it!  Well that stinks!

Which brings us to another question: Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" (Gen. 4:9).

When people respond to a question with a question, it is usually a pretty good indication they are hiding something, as Cain was when he answered: . . . "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" (Gen 4:9).

 Whether we are our brother’s keeper or not can be debated, but there can be no debate that we are NOT to be our brother’s killer!!

Whether verse 10 is in the form of a question or in the form of an exclamatory statement is debated, but the heartbreak of God is clear in the cry of, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground (Gen 4:10).

For someone who has no recorded words in the Bible, Abel sure said a lot!

In Genesis 4:10 it is his blood which is crying out to God from the ground which has been defiled.

n Hebrews 11:4 it is his faith which, even to this day, continues to speak when we read, . . . through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

May our lives, and may our faith expressed through active obedience, speak to multiple generations of the goodness of God.

But the question remains, “Why did Cain kill Abel?”

So why did Cain kill Abel?

Abel was not the one who rejected Cain’s offering: God was.

Abel was not the one who confronted Cain on the anger in his heart: God was.

Abel was not the one who instructed Cain on the deceitfulness of sin: God was.

Look at what God said to Cain in Genesis 4:7: If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, and you must rule over it."

Notice the instruction, as well as encouragement, Cain is given:

1)         “. . . sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you. . .”   That is a warning we would all do well to attend to.

2)        “. . . and you must rule over it.”  Wrapped in that statement is the encouragement of possibility.

Charles G. Finney said, “The command to obey implies the power to do so.”

Fleshed out, that statement means, if God tells us to do something which He, who is all knowing, knows we canNOT do, and then punishes us for not doing it, then He is a tyrant not worthy of our worship.

However, if God tells us to do something, since He IS all knowing, by virtue of the fact that He told us to do it means we have the ability to do what He said.

hen God told Cain, “. . . and you must rule over it”, He lets Cain know it is possible for him to rule over the sin which was already crouching at the door of his heart.  Knowing what Cain was about to do, God was letting him know, “you don’t have to do this thing!  You are being tempted!  You don’t have to give in to it!!  It is possible for you to rule over this temptation if you choose to!!!”

But “. . . Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him” (Gen 4:8).

So why did Cain kill Abel?  Was it anger toward Abel that was being expressed, or was Cain’s anger directed toward another?

Friends, God was the One who corrected: God was the One who challenged: God was the One who confronted: and Abel was the one who received the brunt of Cain’s anger.

People have done this to us, and we have done this to others.  Cain was mad at God, and killed Abel because of it.  Cain needed someone to direct his anger toward, and since he could not get his hands around the throat of God, he went after one God loved.

We have all experienced the wrath of a brother and wondered what we have done.

And we have all mis-directed our own anger toward someone who did not deserve it at all.  (“How long am I going to have to pay the price for the foolishness of_________?).

No matter how personal the vitriol, no matter how calculated the attack, it has helped me enormously to realize that, Cain was mad at God and killed Abel as a result.

Though personally struck, we must not take unwarranted attacks personally, and in so doing be able to say, “. . . Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. . .” (Luke 23:34).