Cain's Rejected Offering: Interpretive Approaches to a Theological Problem

The story of Cain and Abel records the first ever offering made to God. The question that quickly rises to the surface when reading Gen. 4.3-7 is: What was wrong with Cain's offering? Why did God reject it? God's seeming capriciousness in rejecting one sacrifice over the other creates a theological problem. The problem is compounded by Abel's murder. Since Cain's act of fratricide is precipitated by God's unexplained rejection of the sacrifice which resulted in Cain's anger, God becomes complicit in the act. These problems opened the door for ancient interpreters to expand and rework the story in a way that exonerated God of appearing capricious and, by extension, complicit in Abel's murder. This article traces the interpretive approaches used by Jewish and Christian exegetes to respond to a theological problem created by gaps in the narrative.