Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 177:706 (Apr 2020)
Article: Cain’s Struggle: A Proposed Reason For The Rejection Of Cain’s Sacrifice
Author: Brian Neil Peterson

BSac 177:706 (April-June 2020) p. 154

Cain’s Struggle: A Proposed Reason For The Rejection Of Cain’s Sacrifice

Brian Neil Peterson

Brian Neil Peterson is associate professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, Lee University, Cleveland, Tennessee.

Abstract

Numerous interpreters have attempted to explain the reason for God’s rejection of Cain’s sacrifice. Most have been either inconclusive or unconvincing. When one considers the combined structural, linguistic, and rhetorical presentations of the author of Genesis 2–4, however, it becomes apparent that the account of Cain and Abel’s sacrifice and its aftermath shows how sin had escalated from the first fall to the second fall. No longer was sin isolated to wrong actions, sin now was working on the spiritual state of humans and their motives, with devastating results. This can be demonstrated by the manner in which the author connects God’s curse on Eve in 3:16 with God’s warning to Cain in 4:6–7. As such, Genesis 4 is not so much about the sacrifice of Cain as it is instructional about how a darkened spiritual state can lead to even more heinous sins like fratricide.

“There appears to be a long-standing interpretive crux in the story of Cain and Abel (Gen 4:1–16) regarding why God looks with favor on Abel but not on Cain. The interpretive instinct to determine the reasons for God’s favor is perhaps quite natural: religiously speaking, a deity who favors or disfavors without reason could appear arbitrary or unjust, an issue to resolve.”1 Joel Lohr’s assessment of the “interpretive crux” of the Cain and Abel account captures well the age-old discussion related to this passage. Throughout rabbinic and Church history much ink

BSac 177:706 (April-June 2020) p. 155

has been spilled trying to identify the reason God rejected Cain’s offering (for example, Philo’s De Sacrificiis Abelis et Caini).2 Scholars and commentators have offered no less than eight different solutions.3

First, the easiest way to handle the dilemma has been to conclude that it is beyond explanation: God is simply capricious, volatile, and hostile toward Cain.4 Of course, this hardly makes sense in the context, seeing how God warns Cain of the dangers of “crouching” sin (You must have a subscription and be logged in to read the entire article.
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