What do we learn from the story of Cain and Abel?

Answer 1

Another answer from our community:

Basically the spiritual lesson would be to not let ones anger take over, as it can lead to dire consequences both for the victim and for the perpetrator. It also shows how one sin can lead to another. Cain acted wrongly and envied Abel's righteousness, which led him further and further in the wrong direction. What is worse, he failed to heed a dire warning.

Answer 2

The story of Cain and Abel has no other meaning than a straightforward account of the result of sin, in this case jealousy, leading eventually to violence and murder.

The New Testament commentary on this account is simply that Cain killed Abel because Abel was righteous in his behaviour and Cain was not. This is precisely what we see in greater or lesser degree today. Human nature has not changed.

The Bible, which previously gave a real account of a real fall into sin, here describes the tragic outworking of sin in this, the first human family.

Answer 3

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It is always best to follow God's way rather than our own way, and the consequences of allowing anger and jealousy to go unchecked can lead to tragic results.

Answer 4

Leon R. Kass (The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis) says that the story of Cain and Abel contains many of the essential elements of human nature. He calls the brothers "paradigmatic" rather than real people, and says that their story tells why the subsequent giving of God's law might be both necessary and welcome.

Asaph Sagiv believes that there is an Egyptian antecedent to the story of Cain and Abel. He suggests that the Cain and Abel story represents a biblical countermyth to the Egyptian story of Osiris and his brother Seth. In that story, Seth, an evil god of the nomads, kills Osiris, the Egyptian god of the earth's fertility. In Genesis, Cain (an Osiris figure) offers a cult sacrifice (Abel) to the earth; the Lord curses the ground for accepting the victim's blood and banishes Cain from his divine presence; and Seth appears as a substitute for the nomadic victim whose sacrifice the biblical God preferred.

Answer 5

A:In the story of Cain and Abel, God revealed that he enjoyed the pleasure of good food offered to him. Abel offered up one of his young lambs, which pleased God, while Cain just offered grain from his own farm, which displeased God. Rather than placating and encouraging Cain, God scolded him for showing his feelings.

Later, when they were in the fields, Cain rose up against Abel and killed him. We know from the story of Adam and Eve that God walked around and talked to people just like a human himself (Genesis 3:8), and here God spoke to Cain, asking of his brother. Although God banished Cain for his sin, he was merciful and placed a mark on him so that all the other people would not seek to kill him.

Another Answer:

The story in Genesis 4 show us how loving, patient, didatic and then merciful God is towards His creation - even when they commit such sin.

Answer 6

Read this story as it is written down. Don't try to put anything into it that is not revealed by scripture.

Genesis 4:6 gives us the fact (God asked Cain, "Why are you angry?") that Cain was angry with Abel because God accepted Abel's offering but not his (Cain). Anger is dangerous and anger can be turned into murder very quickly.

Through out the O.T. animal sacrifices were given to God for remission of sins and as early as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden after sinning, God made them tunic's of skin from slain animals indicating they were taught about animal sacrifices even before Cain and Abel were born. Abel offered an animal sacrifice, Cain did not, thus he disobeyed God.

Answer 7

The Bible gives us good reason to believe that God must have told Adam and Eve what they must do to maintain their relationship with Him - that is they should come to Him and their ongoing sin would be forgiven if they brought a sheep as an offering. We assume Adam and Eve taught their children to do the same.

We can learn from this that God communicates with man and God is holy and righteous and He demands death as the payment for sin.

When Cain and Abel came to offer sacrifices to God Abel's offering was accepted - we can learn man must come to God in faith according to God's ways. Abel was obedient.

Cain's sacrifice was not accepted by God - Cain did not have the faith to do as God had said, Cain came to God according to His own ideas. Cain was not obedient.

Cain was angry but God reasoned with him. Again God communicates with man also God is loving and kind He waited for Cain to repent and do what was right.

Cain was angry he refused to listen to God and in his anger killed Abel. We can learn man is a sinner he needs God and is helpless to save himself .

God judged Cain's sin and Cain would no longer be able to make a living from the soil, but would wander as a fugitive in the desert. From this we can learn God judges sin.

Answer 8

According to S H Hooke (Middle Eastern Mythology) the story of the rivalry between Cain and Abel, and God's favour for Abel, is based on an older Middle Eastern myth in which the goddess Ishtar had to choose between the shepherd-god, Tammuz, and the farmer-god. That Tammuz was part of early Hebrew belief is demonstrated by Ezekiel 8:14, "And he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house which was towards the north: and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz." The moral of the age-old rivalry between the agricultural and pastoral modes of life is reflected by the biblical story of Cain and Abel.
In hindsight, we can create other moral explanations for the story of Cain and Abel, a common one being to compare the jealous Cain with the humble Abel.

Answer 9

Leon R. Kass (The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis) says that Cain (qayin) is related to qanithi, from a root qanah, meaning "to possess". Kass, supported by Rashti and others, says Eve compares herself as creator to God, though the conventional translation of qanithi 'ish 'eth 'Adonai ("I have gotten a man from, or with the help of, the Lord") makes Eve seem grateful and even pious. He says that "With the help of" is an interpretive interpolation. In Kass's view, the context clearly favours "I have gotten [or created] a man [equally] with God", or in plain speech, "God created a man, and now so have I." Thus, he sees the name as suggesting Cain as being created and possessed by his mother.

Abel's Hebrew name, Hevel, is homonymous with a biblical word that means "breath that vanishes". To those who know Hebrew, the pun suggests that Abel is prophetically named. In Genesis, Abel is important only or mainly as Cain's brother. Even his birth is not celebrated by his mother, and he is introduced only as "his brother, Abel".

S. H. Hooke says that the story of Cain and Abel has parallels to earlier Mesopotomanian myths.

Asaph Sagiv suggests that the Cain and Abel story represents a biblical countermyth to the Egyptian story of Osiris and his brother Seth. In that story, Seth, an evil god of the nomads, kills Osiris, the Egyptian god of the earth's fertility. In Genesis, Cain (an Osiris figure) offers a cult sacrifice (Abel) to the earth; the Lord curses the ground for accepting the victim's blood and banishes Cain from his divine presence; and Seth appears as a substitute for the nomadic victim whose sacrifice the biblical God preferred.

Answer 10

S. H. Hooke (Middle Eastern Mythology) says that when the story is analysed it is clear that the episode of Cain and Abel belongs to a different source and comes from a different cycle of ancient tradition than the stories of Creation and the Garden of Eden. He says that a careful examination of the myth in the form in which it appears in the biblical narrative shows it is made up of various strands of myth and saga which were originally distinct, and none of which had any connection with the Garden of Eden.

One strand reflects the ancient feud between the desert and the sown land, and between the settled tiller of the soil and the pastoral nomad. In another, the rejection by God of Cain's offering represents a failure of the crops, which calls for an expiatory ritual. The Septuagint version contains a sentence that is missing from the masoretic text, in which Cain tells Abel, "Let us go into the field," a detail also found in the corresponding Sumerian myth. This is where the slaying takes place, and by asking Abel to go into the field, suggests that the slaying was a ritual one. Cain did not kill Abel out of jealousy, but as part of a ritual to fertilise the soil with his brother's blood, ensuring a crop in the next harvest.