Quote:
Originally Posted by Brother V
Abel gave the best of his flock; while Cain could have given the best of the fruit, however, he gave the fruit that had fallen, so it was probably bruised and might have had worms.
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If I may comment, I believe there is more to this important story than you're letting on, Brother V. We know from Scripture that God seeks
blood for the remission of sins. In fact, God wasn't satisfied until he had watched his own Son bleed to death on the Cross for our justification. Hebrews 9:22 makes this point very clearly: "In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with
blood, and
without the shedding of
blood there is no forgiveness."
Clearly, God accepted Abel's offering because it involved the bloodied remains of dead animals, but He was disappointed in Cain's offering, but it was bloodless and did not do justice to God's plan of redemption.
Incidentally, are you aware that this story is where we get the modern term "fruit" as a euphemism for a sodomite from? Unlike the brawny Abel, Cain was a sissy-boy, afraid to get his hands dirty with blood and the battered remains of sacrificed animals. This is why he daintily skipped off into the fields to find some clean, bloodless fruit to "offer" to the Lord. Ironically, his fear of dirtying his hands with animal blood eventually led him to dirty his hands with his own brother's blood.