“Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.”
King James Version (KJV)
Ryan Palmer's comment on 2021-05-28 05:16:35:
Hello Catherine,
Gen 27 started the major rift. Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of soup. At the blessing Jacob tricked his father Issac that he was Esau. If this never would have happened, the Holy story would have been set around Esau.
Bless you for seeking understanding.
Chris's comment on 2021-05-27 21:15:03:
The passages that reference this occasion (Genesis 4:2-5 & Hebrews 11:4) don't explicitly state what caused God to reject Cain's offering. We could assume that it was because of the type of offering made by them or the state of heart from which it was given. Or even a combination of the two.
So, whether Cain's offering was not a blood offering (which they may have known about) or Cain made his offering as one of compulsion or necessity, whereas Abel's offering was both of a blood sacrifice & with contrition of heart, we can't be certain. If the LORD "showed preference to Abel", it would have been justified based upon what those brothers knew was the right thing to do.
Catherine's comment on 2021-05-27 13:33:29:
Why did God refuse Cain's temple sacrifice?
I'm trying to understand what started the rift between the 2 brothers,
and then the children of darkness versus the children of light that happened after that.
Seems to me Cain wouldn't have killed Abel if the Lord hadn't shown obvious preference to Able.