“Genesis 4:5-7: But unto Cain and his offering he had no respect, and Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, “Why are thou wroth and why has they countenance fallen? If thou doest well shall thou not be thou accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.”
I remember as a child in Sunday School watching my Sunday School teacher tell the story of Cain and Abel using the flannel graph. Abel kept falling off the board (guess he had more graph than flannel) leaving only Cain on the board knelling down with his fruits and vegetables clutched to his hands and looking up to heaven with a forlorn look. Maybe it was Abel’s continued departure from the flannel graph board leaving a lonely Cain with a sad face looking up to God that made a lasting impression on me. I could not help but feel sorry for the old boy. Of course I could never condone his actions in wasting his brother, however, I could not help but think that if God could have cut Cain a little slack and accepted his offering, which was given in good faith, the story could have been quite different. But, no, God had to play it by the book and only an animal sacrifice would do. But come on, this animal sacrifice was not really made law until the time of Moses. Surely God could have given the poor guy a break.
Years later after studying Hebrew I began to realize the reason why God had no respect for Cain’s offering. For one thing the ground had been cursed, so Cain was offering something that was cursed. The second thing is that God was telling Cain that if he did well he would be accepted. Was God really playing hardball at this time? Without the law, or a Bible, how was one to know if he was doing well or not. The Hebrew word for doing well is tov. This word was thrown around quite a bit at creation. After God created something, He then saw that it was tov or good. As explained in an earlier devotionals, this word means to be in harmony with God. Cain offered something that was cursed by God and was not good (tov) or in harmony with Him. Note that God warns that if you don’t do what is good (tov) or in harmony with Him then sin lies at the door. The word sin here is chatak which means unintentional mistakes or sins. Apparently, the act of offering fruits and vegetables may not necessarily have been a sin, but at most it was an unintentional mistake. Still it was still not good or (tov) in harmony with God. Perhaps Cain killing his brother was more manslaughter than murder, more unintentional. It is possible he did not even understand physical death. Well, that’s another issue. What I am pondering is this idea that if you do not do what is in harmony with God, then chatak (unintentional sin) is lying at the door. I don’t believe that this is as metaphoric as we think.
The word in the Hebrew for door has the preposition Lamed before it which is often rendered as to, for or unto with the definite article the. This is a definite or specific door. Not only that but the word for door used here comes from the root word patach which refers not only just to a door but a portal. A portal is more than just a doorway to another room, it is an entrance to something entirely different. My metaphoric Looking Glass which I speak about in my Beyond the Daleth stories is an example of a patach (portal). We never seem to stop to ask why Cain and Abel were offering sacrifices to God. The Bible is not clear, but I think the answer is buried in the Hebrew. They were opening a portal to the presence of God. Whenever they felt the departure of God’s presence they knew it was time to offer a sacrifice.
Note that when Cain’s offering was not accepted his countenance fell. That word countenance is pani in the Hebrew which means presence. His presence was fallen. In verse 7 God says if he does what is in harmony he will be accepted. The word accepted also means to be lifted up. It would seem that the offerings were made so their presence would be lifted up to God’s presence. When Cain offered something that was cursed, out of harmony with God, he could not feel God’s presence, his presence fell downward rather than upward to meet the presence of God. This also appears to be a Messianic picture which involved the shedding of blood for redemption and of course the fruits would not offer a blood sacrifice. When Cain did not feel the presence of God in giving his offering, he was wroth. The word for wroth is charah which means to be hot. It does not have to be rendered as anger. You get hot when you are feeling sorrow as in the pain of rejection. It is possible Cain’s countenance fell because he did not feel the anticipated presence and fellowship with God that should have followed his offering. God explained to Cain that even though he did not intentionally make a mistake or sin or do something out of harmony with God, it stilled blocked the entrance through the portal to His presence and fellowship.
Like most Christians I have periods when I seek the presence of God but somehow I cannot find it. I cannot open that portal. I do not intentionally sin (well maybe sometimes) nor do I intentionally seek to be out of harmony with God, but if I am not opening that portal to his presence, it could be a sure sign that I am unintentionally doing something out of harmony with God. Whether we call it sin or not, something out of harmony with God will block our entrance to God‘s presence. We may be giving a gift or sacrifice to God, maybe a tithe or offering yet if it is out of harmony with God and it will not open a portal to His presence.
You see the word for portal (patach) is spell Pei, Taw, Cheth. The Pei represents speaking from the heart, the Taw represents the truth of God and the Chet represents passing through a gateway or portal. If you speak from the heart the truth of God, that which is good (tov) in harmony with him, He will open the portal to His presence.
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