Some time after Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden of Eden, they give birth to Cain and Abel. We are told that Cain becomes a tiller of the ground (or a farmer) and Abel a keeper of the flock (or a shepherd). Most of Genesis 4 centers on these two brothers.

Some scholars believe Cain and Abel were twins. This assumption is usually rooted in either an assumption made from the rapid pace of the of the text, which does not mention any time between Cain's birth and Abel's birth, or the original root of the word again, which is yacaph in Hebrew.[3]

Yacaph means to add to or to continue to do something.[2] There is nothing that particularly supports this idea, nor is there anything that conclusively tells us they were not twins. From the information given, the only conclusion we can make is that Cain was born first.

A better, and more relevant, question from the narrative of Cain and Abel is what made God accept Abel's offering but reject Cain's? We are told that Abel offers God the firstlings (or firstborn) of his flock plus the fat of said animals, while Cain offered fruit from the ground.

When God rejects Cain's offering, Cain gets angry (wroth[1]) and God tell him that if he does well he will be accepted—implying that Cain has not done well so far. God takes this opportunity to remind Cain that if he doesn't do well sin will rule over him. God tells Cain that "sin lieth at the door" and "shalt rule over him" if he doesn't do well. We know that sin attacks those who turn away from God, it overwhelms them because they don't have the power of God to over come it. So in this passage, God is essentially telling Cain that if he turns away from God he will be drawn to sin.

Some may assert that God preferred the blood offering provided by Abel, citing Jesus' blood as the ultimate offering/payment to God, however there is a lot more that can be seen in this passage. The first thing to be noted is that we are told that Abel brought the firstborn of his flock and their fat. From this we know that Abel brought his best, and possibly most prized, to offer God. We are not told anything of Cain's offering. Did Cain offer him rotten, over ripe fruit, or fresh fruit? Did he offer the juiciest, plumpest fruit he could find or small, disfigured, and blemished fruit. In other words, what was the quality of his offering? Another question to be asked is where was his heart? Was he happy and excited to give this offering to God or was he already a little irate at having to give some of his crop away?

As God warned Cain, sin did rule over him, and Cain killed his brother out of jealousy. Just as Adam and Eve were unable to admit their sin to God, Cain refuses to admit to killing his brother when God asks where Abel is. God gives Cain a chance to confess, just as we are given a chance to confess, however when Cain refuses to admit guilt and repent, God punishes him. Cain's punishment was to be a vagabond and to lose his ability to harvest crops from the Earth.

People use to believe the mark (or curse) of Cain was dark skin—it was used to dehumanize Africans and justify slavery during the colonial era. No one knows exactly what the mark looked like, however the mark itself was not a curse but rather a mark of protection ensuring that no one would avenge Abel by killing Cain.[4]

One question the comes up amongst theologians is who the law applies to. Some assert that the law was written for the Jews and that they were the only ones bound to keep the law. As we continue to dive into the Bible, there will be many occasions when we see explicit instructions about the law but there is much to be pointed out even in Genesis 4. It is confirmed in Romans 5:12-14 that the disobedience of Adam and Eve allowed sin to enter the world and that it was a sin. These verses also define sin as disobedience of God's law/command. Even though we have not gotten to the 10 commandments or the laws of Leviticus, Cain and Abel are already presenting offerings to God and Cain is punished for killing Abel. The fact that Cain is punished and God refers to Cain's jealousy (coveting) as sin tells us that Cain had been command not to do either of those prior to that point in the story. It also means that the law of God also predates the Jews.

In my History of the Old Testament class, the professor questioned God's omnipotence citing the fact that here in Genesis 4, God asks where Cain is and in Genesis 3, He asks where Adam and Eve are. The professor suggested that if God knew, He wouldn't have asked. However, in many cases, we give people a chance to fess up to their wrong doings—even in today's society the punishment is often less severe when we confess what we have done (particularly if you admit remorse). God knew that Adam and Eve were hiding, by asking where they were He was giving them a chance to show themselves and accept their punishment. Similarly God knew that Cain had killed Abel, He says, just after Cain responds, that Abel's soul cries out to Him from the ground. God either wanted to see if Cain would admit to murdering His brother, or was simply beginning the conversation in a non-accusatory tone. If God didn't know where Abel was, why didn't He ask Adam, or Eve? He asked Cain because He knew Cain had killed Abel.

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