God highly regarded Abel’s blood offering. Cain’s offering from the ground was not pleasing to God. Cain didn’t like that. Genesis 4:6 says, “The Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen’”? Cain is not the only person in the Bible who was angry with God. Day’s Thesaurus of the Bible points out other passages that describe people being angry with God: “I know you’re raging against me (2 Kgs. 19:27–8); the fool rages against the Lord (Prov. 19:3); David was angry because the Lord broke out against Uzzah (1 Chr. 13:11); all who were angry at him will be put to shame (Isa. 45:24); I have a right to be angry, even to death (Jonah 4:9); do you have a right to be angry? (Jonah 4:9); have you any right to be angry? (Jonah 4:4); why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples imagine futile things? (Acts 4:25); the nations were angry, and your wrath has come (Rev. 11:18).”[1]
God knew where Adam was when he asked him where he was. God knew what Eve had done when he asked her what she had done. When God asks a question, it’s for our benefit. He wants us to consider the question to find the truth. When God asks Cain, “why are you angry,” he was looking to move Cain to look at his motives and demeanor to see the error of his ways. Utley says the same thing, “Here again is God asking several questions, not for information, but to help the person to understand his own feelings and motives.”[2] Wenham agrees with this and contrasts God’s questions with the questions that Satan asked Eve in chapter 3. He writes, “‘Why are you angry and why has your face fallen?’ God’s questions are somewhat like the snake’s in character. In both cases the questioners know the answer to their own question, but whereas the snake’s was designed to lead man into sin, God’s were intended to provoke a change of heart.”[3]
But Cain did not respond well. He “reacted violently to his rejection, but not against the One who rejected him so much as against the innocent one who was accepted. Jealousy had raised its ugly green-eyed head and was about to prove that it is truly ‘cruel as the grave.’”[4] We read that last phrase in the Song of Solomon 8:6. It says, “Jealousy is fierce as the grave.” I wonder if this doesn’t look back to the face of Cain as God observes it. The attitude of Cain’s heart showed on his face. Of course, God knows it all, but the text clearly says that Cain’s countenance had changed. As the firstborn son, Cain was responsible for the leadership of his siblings, especially with regard to worship. Abel took the lead here, and this story might be the beginning of God’s practice of choosing the younger over the older throughout scripture. McCullough talks about jealousy as it relates to those closest to us. He says, “Perhaps watching a friend succeed should be easy—even joyous—but it can be difficult. The green-eyed monster often rears its ugly head with those closest to us. It’s one thing to watch the achievements of someone you don’t know; it’s another to have a best friend receive a call to a prestigious pulpit or have a book on the bestseller list or get elected to high office….”[5] In one of Spurgeon’s sermons, he gives good advice to all of us: “Drive, then, that ‘green-eyed monster’ away, and keep him at a distance.”[6]
[1] Day, A. Colin. 2009. Collins Thesaurus of the Bible. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[2] Utley, Robert James. 2001. How It All Began: Genesis 1–11. Vol. Vol. 1A. Study Guide Commentary Series. Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[3] Wenham, Gordon J. 1987. Genesis 1–15. Vol. 1. Word Biblical Commentary. Dallas: Word, Incorporated.
[4] Briscoe, D. Stuart, and Lloyd J. Ogilvie. 1987. Genesis. Vol. 1. The Preacher’s Commentary Series. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.
[5] McCullough, Donald. 1992. “Friends for the One at the Top.” In Mastering Personal Growth, 50. Mastering Ministry. Sisters, OR: Multnomah; Christianity Today.
[6] Spurgeon, C. H. 1855. “The God of Peace.” In The New Park Street Pulpit Sermons, 1:377. London: Passmore & Alabaster.