Cain and Abel

Why did God praise Abel and not Cain?
Why was God confused over Cain's reaction of sadness and killing his brother Abel?
Why did Eve say Cain was of the Lord and not of Adam?

Many people so far have mentioned learning about Christianity, growing up with it, and living by the church's ideals. What they haven't said is that they had read the bible. I, like most people learned these religious stories orally first. The Bible is very much an oral epic, like The Book of Gilgamesh and The Iliad. For most of European tradition of the Bible. it was told orally because people were illiterate and the Bible was written in unpopular languages like Aramaic, Hebrew or Latin. This means that the stories didn't stay true. All children who have played the telephone game know, when a phrase is passed on by word of mouth it changes to reflect the person who speaks it and will continue to change because the previous person's changes.

I learned the stories of the Bible at night. They were my child hood bed time fables. I was sung the Our Father at nap time. The Bible was a strong presence in my family, like many children across the globe. I always thought I knew them well, but I had never read the Bible until ninth grade. I learned quickly that I had no understanding of any of the stories that I thought I knew by heart. The rereading of the story of Cain and Abel was confusing because I never pondered why Abel was so much more loved by God, or why he received praise and why Cain didn't and was driven to sin. Small sentences are used a lot for emphasis, and this short story is no exception. The problem with this is that so much detail is left out and there is too much room for interpretation.

When I first heard the story of Cain and Abel, I was told God loved Abel more because Abel was more devout and that Cain was too prideful. It doesn't say that anywhere in the story. It does say that Cain grew crops and Abel tended to the sheep. God is many times referred to as a shepard and I have to wonder if it is because there is something better about a shepard than a farmer. shepards make more money, but otherwise I wouldn't say there is anything inherently bad about farming, or good about shepards. I do like shepards, especially the adorable yodelers.

Cain and Abel both gave offerings to God. Cain gave produce and Abel gave some of the first born of his flock. Abel was rewarded by God and when Cain was not, he became downcast. This is a sign of favoritism and I have to believe that the reason Cain was so sad was because he could see this in God. That he was less loved. I have to wonder if God drove Cain to kill Abel. God is an omniscient all encompassing power and is deliberately involving himself with this new civilization that has little knowledge and very little experience of the world. These people must have been very sheltered and completely ignorant of the repercussions of their actions. It doesn't seem like they would know of death or what a tragedy it would be. If God knew that Cain would be jealous and would attack his brother like many children do because of jealously, why would he have done it. To teach a lesson? What lesson could demand such a sacrifice?

Many times in the Bible the first born is more sacred. Why is that? Is it because God have Eve the ability to give birth? But then isn't the first born supposed to be a punishment because birth is a punishment. Is then Cain a punishment to Even and Adam and Abel a bystander? I couldn't understand the necessity to dub one child better by birth than the other but Eve does say the Cain is born of God and doesn't say the same for Abel. I have to wonder is Eve the reason God doesn't love Cain as much? When Eve said what she did about Cain was that inciting wrath from God onto him?

There are too many possibilities to interpret the Bible correctly. Any implications are only guesses and will only ever be perceived that way because the writers of the Bible are long dead and will never be able to explain their word choice. I wish they were because then there wouldn't be a need to ponder the possibilities so much and our homework would have been much easier.