Why did God accept Abel's offering and not Cain's?

There are two basic reasons why God accepted Abel's offering and not Cain's:

1. The nature of the offerings themselves
2. The the spirit in which the offerings were given

1. The nature of the offerings

The problem with Cain's offering was not that it was a grain offering rather than an animal, or blood, offering. Grain and wine offerings were commanded by God in many places in the Old Testament, and were perfectly acceptable to God.

Rather, the problem was that Cain brought a random offering:

Cain brought to Jehovah an offering from the fruit of the ground. (Genesis 4:3)

Whereas Abel gave the firstborn and best of his flocks:

Abel, he also brought from the firstborn of his sheep, their fat portions. (Genesis 4:4)

Offering the firstborn, or firstfruits, and the best, to God was acceptable in honoring God. Bringing just any old common offering was not.

2. The the spirit in which the offerings were given

Abel gave the firstborn and best of his flocks because his offering was made from faith, love, and thanksgiving to God.

Cain showed by his subsequent actions that his offering was made from a jealous heart and a lack of faith.

Here are two different angles on Cain's state of mind and heart from the Epistles in the New Testament:

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain's. Through this he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts; he died, but through his faith he still speaks. (Hebrews 11:4)

and

We must not be like Cain who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. (1 John 3:12)

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews emphasizes Abel's faith, in contrast to Cain's implied lack of faith.

The Apostle John emphasizes Cain's evil heart and evil actions in contrast to Abel's righteous heart and actions.

If we put these two perspectives together, and read the rest of the story in which God remonstrates with Cain, but in his jealousy Cain goes ahead and kills his brother anyway, we can see and understand that Abel's heart and mind were good, but Cain's heart and mind were evil.

Here is God's remonstrance with Cain, illustrating this:

And Jehovah said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. His desire is for you, and you must rule over him." (Genesis 4:6-7)

God said this to Cain after Cain's sacrifice was not accepted, but before Cain killed his brother Abel. God knew what was in Cain's heart when Cain made the offering, since:

God doesn’t look at things the way humans do. Humans see only what is visible to the eyes, but the Lord sees into the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)

Summary

• God accepted Abel's offering because it was was a proper offering of the best of Abel's produce, made from a heart, mind, and life full of faith, love, and righteous deeds.
• God did not accept Cain's offering because it was an ordinary and therefore improper offering, made from a heart, mind, and life full of jealousy, lack of faith, and evil deeds.

For a fuller analysis and interpretation of the story, see my article "The Cain and Abel Story: Does God Play Favorites?"

For a long, detailed analysis of the Cain and Abel story from the perspective of a Jewish Rabbi who has carefully studied the Hebrew text, see "The World’s First Murder: A Closer Look at Cain and Abel," by Rabbi David Fohrman. The link is to the final installment. To read the full article from the beginning, scroll to the bottom and follow the links at the end of the article in reverse order.

The account of Cain in Genesis 4:2-7:

And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect

And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

According to Hebrews 11 God rejected Cain’s offering because of a transgression of “faith”:

“By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain”.

We often look past this simple word “faith” missing its foundational significance in our relationship with God. Cain’s mother (Eve) transgressed faith by taking fruit from the forbidden tree, she trusted in the words of the serpent rather than trusting in the words of God.

How did Cain transgress faith? We know that Cain offered the fruit of the ground by faith because he gave with expectation and was angry and his countenance fell when God rejected his offering.

While Cain gave by faith we know he did not first receive the fruit of the ground by faith from God. We know this because of Cain’s anger, had he received the fruit of the ground by faith from God then he would have been confused when God rejected his offering, not angry.

Cain received the fruit of the ground in his own strength, his offering was of himself; this is why he is angry when God rejects his offering. Abel’s offering is in accordance to Ephesians 2:8-10

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

I find that with blood all things are made clean. In the temple everything including the people were sprinkled with blood. In Egypt, blood was placed upon the door posts to divert the death angel. The clothing of Adam and Eve supplied by God were skins and the offering of Abel was the fat thereof which came form his lambs. It is without a doubt that the most prominent feature of worship is blood. It is the atonement for sin. As far back as the first men who lived on the face of the earth the requirement was blood. To this very day it is blood that cleanses man. The blood of Jesus ie.. the blood of the Lamb. This is the very thing Abel dealt with when bringing a 'gift' to God.

Whereas with Cain there was the gift of works. To build, plant, or produce in any way builds our needs and desires but they do not answer the relationship issue with God. The fact that God did not accept Cain's 'gift' explains the most important part of our relationship with God. IF you are unable to recognize that we are filthy and unable to have the clean relationship we had before the fall then all that you bring is as a filthy rag. You can not come into the presence of God without the sacrifice for sin. Without the shedding of blood their is no remission of sin. Every time the high priest came into the presence of God it was with a sacrifice. Even now you can not enter into His rest without the sacrifice of the Son of God. Cain did not acknowledge this. Even today when men reject acknowledgement of the sacrifice of Christ and believe that if they are "good enough" they will be let into Heaven. Thus the rejection and the sending to hell. You must acknowledge your state and present Jesus as your sacrifice in order to enter into His rest. Thus Cain hated and killed his brother than to acknowledge his state.

Simple, there was no blood.
You see, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. (Heb 9:21).

Do you know what the first sacrifice was?

It was actually an animal. It was performed by God himself who clothed (covered) Adam and Eve with its skin/fur after they sinned. God showed and taught Adam and Eve about the sacrifice. I have no doubt Adam and Eve also taught their sons this too.

All the old testament sacrifices are a shadow of what Jesus would do on the cross. The death of the animal and the shedding of a clean and spotless animal is a shadow of Jesus' death. Later it was made part of the law but it's always been there and it provided a temporary covering for the sins of the people.

Heb 11:4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

When Cain brought his sacrifice where was the blood? he thought he could come to God in his own way. But God showed Adam and Eve how he was to come. God then gave Cain a chance to "do right" and bring the right offering in faith, but he did not. That is why his offering was not accepted. It's simply because it wasn't an animal sacrifice. Cain could have asked his brother for a calf but he didn't. Instead he brought produce from the cursed ground.

Have a read of Hebrews 9 as well, it's also very interesting.