Cain and Abel

So, what was the deal with Cain and Abel? Sibling rivalry? Predestination? Favoritism within the family of origin? Inadequate religious training for Cain? In our society we look for something to explain why someone has socially maladjusted behavior. There has to be a reason, or there has to be someone or something to blame.

If we take a look at the footnotes in the NIV Study Bible we find some commentary on verses 3 and 4 of Genesis chapter 4. That writer assesses the difference God makes between the two brother's sacrifices on "the contrast...(of) a careless, thoughtless offering and a choice, generous offering." Or, "motivation and heart attitude..." as he goes on to explain.

We could view this as personality differences. We could look at the differences in any family's two brothers, whether in scripture or in our own families, and find similarly disparate personality tendencies, traits,  predispositions or whatever you might wish to call it. Does this explain "black sheep" and other odd brother/uncle/grandpa behavior? It might, but it doesn't excuse it.

We have scriptural mandates and obligations to "train up a child in the way in which he should go..."  This goes with the adage that "as a twig is bent, so grows the tree." To borrow a phrase from Ella Wheeler Wilcox, "...it's the set of the sail and not the gale that determines where they go." So, Adam and Eve (whoever they were) messed up?  I don't think they could really blame family systems nor cultural and societal pressures on the way Cain turned out. I don't think we have any legitimate way of blaming those things, either.

As individuals in relationship with God we are supposed to ask Him when we lack wisdom. We are also quite well instructed on the behavioral "fruit" that is to be cultivated in our child's life (Galatians 5 is a good place to start). The Apostle Paul went to some lengths in more than one epistle to strongly admonish us to teach others to do "good works" and so did Jesus (see the Sermon on the Mount). 

There is no excusing Cain. There is no excusing our sons and daughters today. There is no amount of self-righteous justification that can excuse ourselves in these matters, either. Either we are coming into conformity with the image of Jesus or we aren't. Either we are training our children and our children's children in this same way or we aren't.

Because too many "aren't" we need to understand that the Bible says the cries: of the oppressed, of the victims of injustice, of the blood of the slain, of the orphans, of the widows, of the aliens, of the strangers...these cries are heard by God! We are held accountable. It wasn't just Cain's personality and Abel's problem. It is now ours.