40 Old Testament Stories: Cain and Abel

This story is about the first time that crime enters the world.  Cain and Abel are names that we know, they are brothers, Abel is a shepherd and Cain is a farmer.

Both offer sacrifices to God.  Abel's is accepted, but Cain's is not.  We aren't told specifically why, just that Cain became angry and God asks him why he is angry and says, "...If you do the right thing, won't you be accepted? But if you don't do the right thing sin will be waiting at the door ready to strike!  It will entice you, but you must rule over it."  It's not really clear from this response if Cain has already done something wrong, of if God knows what is about to happen or both.

So Cain takes his brother out for a walk and kills him.  Then God asks him where Abel is and Cain says the best known line from this story, "Am I my brother's keeper?"

God sends him away and turns him into a nomad, but yields to Cain's pleas and places a mark on his forehead so that anyone encountering him won't kill him. (Which, of course begs the question, if Cain & Abel are the only children of Adam and Eve, who is it that is going to kill him?)

Cain goes on and settles in the land of Nod.

The point of the story, I think, is that we humans get jealous of each other and lash out at each other because of it.  That jealousy is the root of much of the sin and violence in the world and perhaps we need to work on that in ourselves.