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 thy countenance fallen?  If thou doest well shall thou not be 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 kneeling 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, as 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.  Surly God could have given the poor guy a break.

Years later after studying Hebrew I began to realize that God having no respect for Cain’s offering really had the idea of conveying no power, and insight into this offering.  For one thing the ground had been cursed, So Cain was offering something that was cursed.   The second thing is God telling Cain that if he does well he will be accepted. God was really playing hardball at this time.  Without the law, or a Bible, how was one to know if he was doing well.  The Hebrew word for doing well is tov. This word was used quite a bit at creation.  After God created something, He then saw that it was tov or good.  As explained in earlier devotionals, this word means to be in harmony with God.  Cain offered something that was cursed to God and was not in harmony with Him.  Note that God warns that if you don’t do what is in harmony with God, 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, yet it was still not 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, 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 could be rendered as to, for or unto with the definite article the.  This is a definite, specific door.  Not only that the word used here comes from a Semitic root word patach which is often rendered as a portal.  This is more than just a doorway to another room, it is an entrance to something entirely different.  My metaphoric Looking Glass that I talk about in my upcoming book, Beyond the Daleth is an example of a portal.   We never seem to stop to ask why Cain and Abel were offering their sacrifices to God.  The Bible is not clear, but I think the answer is buried in the Hebrew.  They were seeking to open a portal to the presence of God.

Note that when Cain’s offering was not accepted his countenance fell.  That word countenance is pani in the Hebrew which is often a reference to one’s presence.  His presence was fallen.  In verse 7 God says if he does what is in harmony he will be accepted.  The word accepted in Hebrew is se’eth which really 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.  This also appeared to be a messianic picture which involved the shedding of blood for redemption and of course fruit had no blood so it could not be used as a blood sacrifice.  When he did not feel the presence of God in giving his offering, he was wroth.  The word for wroth is charah. In its Semitic root means to be hot.  Being hot does not necessarily mean to be angry.  Other things can make you hot. You get hot or charah when you feel 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 that was 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 that is not in 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 our motives for giving that gift are not in harmony with God, it will not open a portal to His presence.  I mean a husband can come home one day with a bunch of flowers and say, “Well, here are some flowers, now that I have given you something you have to give me something, you have let me go on that fishing trip with my buddies tomorrow.”   She will give him something alright, but it won’t be permission to go on a fishing trip. Those flowers did not bring him into harmony with his wife.  Now if he were to bring home some flowers and say, “Honey, I’ve been thinking about you all day and just wanted to give you something to just show you how much I love you and I thought of these flowers whose beauty reminded me so much of you.”  Now those same flowers will bring this man into harmony with his wife such that he may not even want to go on that fishing trip or he may just want to take her with him on that trip. Yet, do we not do the same to God, we throw ten dollars into the offering plate and say, “Well, God here is ten dollars that I should be using to pay the rent but I am giving it to you so you will have to keep your end of the bargain and multiply that, open the flood gates of heaven and give me a hundred fold return.”  You may get the same thing old Cain got which was a closed portal. However, if you take ten dollars and throw it into the offering plate and say, “God, I don’t know how else to express my love to you but to give you this ten dollars which I could use for other things, but more important than anything else is just to somehow tell you that I love you.”  You may just open that portal to His presence and not even care about a hundredfold return.

You see the word for “portal” is spell Pei, Taw and Cheth.  The Pei represents speaking from the heart, the Taw represents the truth of God and the Cheth represents passing through a gateway or portal.  If you speak from the true intents of your heart to God, and it is harmony with him, God will open the portal to His heart and presence to you.

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