sheep-01The first son of Adam and Eve was Cain, who grew up to be a farmer. Their second son was Abel, who grew up to be a shepherd.

The day came when both Cain and Abel brought an offering to God. Cain brought some of his harvest and Abel brought the first lamb born to one of his sheep.

“The LORD was pleased with Abel and his offering, but he rejected Cain and his offering” (Genesis 4:4-5).

What was pleasing about Abel’s offering? We don’t know. What was wrong with Cain’s offering? We don’t know.

There is no record of guidelines about how to make offerings at this point in history. The story does not explain why one was accepted and the other rejected. Bible scholars and preachers have written and said a lot to explain what Abel did right and Cain wrong, but they do not know what they are talking about.

I am not saying that I know what learned scholars don’t know. I am saying that learned scholars do not know what Abel did right or what Cain did wrong and that all of us should just deal with the fact that we don’t know rather than speculating. Speculating is a problem because we accept speculation as fact or knowledge and develop convictions that are built upon sand.

People of faith should avoid filling in blanks with speculation and accept that there are vast realms we know nothing about.

We all want to please God, but the answer to pleasing God is not hidden in what Abel did right or what Cain did wrong. The point of the story is not to tell us what to offer or how to offer it. The book of Leviticus is largely devoted to the topic of what to offer and how to offer it, but none of those details tell us how to please God today.

What is clear from the story is that what we do matters to God. There was something wrong with Cain’s offering, something that led God to say, “sin is crouching at your door. It wants to rule you, but you must overcome it” (Genesis 4:7).

Maybe the point of the story is that doing the right thing is not always easy or convenient, but we are called to “overcome sin” and do the right thing.

The Bible has a lot to say about loving your neighbor and caring for widows, orphans, travelers, and foreigners who have settled near you. I don’t know what the right thing is for you, but it probably has nothing to do with sheep and everything to do with love.

This and more of my writings are archived at www.tomdenham.com.