What Cain and Abel teach about worship as a matter of taste, part 2

January 12, 2022

The first account of ritual worship ... from Genesis 4.1-7

^4.1Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” ²And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. ³In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, ⁴and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, ⁵but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. ⁶The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? ⁷If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

(I am leading us in a closer look at how God saw the worship of Abel and Cain.)

Scripture was not written with a word processing program. There was no bold, italic, or change of font turning eyes into ears, allowing the reader to discern volume, tone, or pace. The Biblical author used other tools to express emphasis. What other tools? Word order, repetition, synonyms and deliberately awkward grammar, to name a few.

At the risk of being technical, the original Hebrew of this passage is deliberately awkward. One scholar, Daniel Block, draws attention to the awkwardness of the sentence beginning verse 4, translating it:

“Oh, and Abel brought, indeed he, from the firstborn of the flock and from their fatty portions.”

Following Abel’s name immediately with a personal pronoun – “Abel brought, indeed he” – places the emphasis upon the man himself. We find out later Abel was commended as righteous. (Heb. 11.4) Indeed, look what follows this sentence in Genesis 4.4:

“And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering.”

“The Lord” precedes “Abel and his offering.”

The writer of Hebrews tells us Abel’s sacrifice was acceptable because it was offered “by faith.” God came first for righteous Abel. Scripture leaves no words from Abel’s lips. The faithful righteousness of Abel’s worship to God speaks powerfully down through the millennia.

In the next post I look at Cain.