Response:

You have some good thoughts here, and I will attempt to give you my opinion on them.

I do agree that we may read a lot into the story. However, I don't think that it is a stretch to assume that the kids knew what kind of sacrifices their parents were bringing, and what God would accept. As far as Matthew Henry's position is concerned, he actually lists this as his second possibility. His first is

"...the nature of it. Cain's was only a sacrifice of acknowledgment offered to the Creator; the meat-offerings of the fruit of the ground were no more, and, for aught I know, they might be offered in innocency. But Abel brought a sacrifice of atonement, the blood whereof was shed in order to remission (emphasis added), thereby owning himself a sinner, deprecating God's wrath, and imploring his favour in a Mediator."

I can find no one else in my resources that agrees with Henry's second option. I can find nothing in the Hebrew language that would indicate that the fruit was "leftover". Fruit of the ground is spoken of favorably in Deut 28:4 and Neh. 10:35. Perhaps the issue is as simple as the fact that Abel clearly had faith (Heb 11:4), and Cain apparently did not. Perhaps it is not an issue of what the sacrifice was, but rather the heart attitude of the one bringing the sacrifice. Spurgeon says (not that he's inspired, but his is a brief summary of what many others say),

"Cain had no faith, and he had no eye to the blood of atonement: Abel had both."

The Bible does say that Abel was righteous (Matt 23:35), and that Cain was "of the wicked one" (I John 3:12). However, I John also says that Cain slew Abel

"because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous."

These would be the works BEFORE the murder, and the only work we know of before the murder was the bringing of the offering. Since faith is always evidenced by works, it would seem that while Cain did not have faith, there was something obvious about his offering that showed that. The Bible does not explicitly say what the problem was. I guess I assume that, since the only "sacrifice" that had been made up until that point that is recorded in Scripture was the killing of the animals to provide coats for Adam and Eve, then the blood sacrifice was what was required of Cain and Abel. Since there is no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood, I believe that God expected that kind of offering from the beginning.

By Pastor Dr. Mark Montgomery Email: Ask the Pastor Ambassador Baptist Church 1926 Babcock Blvd Pittsburgh, PA 15209 (412)477-3210