Why did God favor Abel's animal offering and not of Cain's fruit of the ground -- not accepting both?

Answer 1

Evidently God's requirement was for some kind of animal sacrifice and he chose to bring one out of his own imagination, and ignored what God wanted. The reason for an animal sacrifice, rather than vegetative produce probably lies in the fact that animals have 'life' and blood which plants obviously don't have and so they were not appropriate sacrifices. It is of course God's prerogative to choose whichever method of sacrifice pleases him, as well as the choice of people whether to obey him or not. God could have accepted both, but that is not his choice and since the sacrifice was for him and not for the mere pleasure of Cain, Cain should have done what God wanted. As a simple human analogy we might say (although I do not wish to belittle the seriousness of disobedience against God and of the importance of obeying God) why does someone like a particular food or not like it - that is just their choice and so God is also allowed to make his.

There are a couple popular theories regarding this, the more popular one being of a more spiritual nature, and another that is based on texts and theory. The more popular one is as follows:

The Christian God does not look at an offering or sacrifice in the same way the historical and pagan God's before him did. What is physically manifest in the offering is of little or no importance to God. God penetrates through that and gazes at the heart of a man to see if the sacrifice comes from a pure and faithful place. Abel genuinely believed in God, his wisdom, and desired a strong relationship with him where as Cain did not, so consequently God rejected Cain's offering. It had nothing to do with what the offerings actually were. An offering can be as small as a prayer, and as long as it is comes from someone who is right in their relationship with God, it will be accepted by him. The following quotations may clarify this point for you. They are stated by King David in Psalm 51:16 & 17:

16 For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;

You are not pleased with burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

God never demanded an offering from either of them nor set any rules as to what kind of offerings are acceptable because, as stated before, the form of worship is of no consequence so long as it does not go against God. These offerings as a form of worship was something that they chose to do. Abel for pure wholehearted reasons while Cain just followed suit to please God, not to build a relationship with him.

Another theory:

According to the Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan which originally came from Arabic texts dating back to 5th or 6th century AD and the Biblical Midrash texts, the real reason came from an affirmation of God's disapproval towards Cain's marriage to Aclima, Cain's twin sister. Adam wanted each son to marry the others twin sister but Cain desired Aclima because he found her more desirable than Jumella. Adam came to the conclusion that the matter should be decided upon by God by means of sacrifice. When God rejected Cain's offering it was seen as a sign that the original arrangements should stay intact. So in an effort to remove this obstacle and out of jealousy Cain slew his brother.

Although Cain's intention was noble, he was punished for not knowing the preferred sacrifice to God.

Genesis 4 did not say that God wanted animal sacrifices only, so Cain was not aware of God's preference. It was only later in The Bible that we learn that God's preference for animal flesh & blood was a sweet savor to the Lord. See Genesis 8:20-21, 15:9-10, Exodus 20:24, 29:11-37, Leviticus 1:5.