Cain and Abel

The passage in the bible that I chose to discuss in this paper is the Cain and Abel story which is located in the Old Testament. This story shows how jealousy and hatred that one brother has for another can lead to sin and death. Cain is jealous of his younger brother Abel and it results in Cain murdering his brother. Once he does this Cain tries to hide the horrible occurrence from his family and denies everything at first. Cain lies in order to try and cover up the horrible sin he has committed. I picked this story because it expresses a sense of jealousy and the typical sibling and family rivalries. This story expresses the first biblical incident of jealousy and hatred towards another person or family member. This specific passage shows that jealousy can affect anyone at any point in their life. In this specific passage Cain has become jealous of his younger brother Abel because Abel received the approval of God for his offering. This incident is the first recorded murder in the world. Most cases of jealousy lead to lying in order to cover up anything wrong the person did out of jealousy. This story also shows that jealousy and hatred is all around us as well as feeling a sense of abandonment at one point or another. This bible story is made up of all of these aspects which are all present in the world today.

I chose the Cain and Abel story because it expresses the rivalries that siblings have to go through on a day to day basis. Cain became jealous of Abel because God was accepting of his offering over Cain's. Due to this occurrence, Cain developed a hatred for Abel that eventually overtook his whole body and he reacted in an irrational way. He took the life of another; he took the life of his own brother. Cain did not always hate his brother; this hatred only came around because his younger brother beat him in the desire for God's acceptance of their offerings. Another reason why I picked this passage is because I have a younger brother and when my parents pay attention to him over me or give him more affection over me I get a little angry. Being an older sibling, like Cain, we expect a certain level of respect and acceptance. When we do not receive it we naturally get upset and react in ways that we normally would not. This sense of jealousy not only occurs among siblings, but also among family members that are close in age and are always seeing each other. For example if a few cousins are close in age and one does something amazing, like getting into a really good school or buying their first car, and they get all of the attention for a short period of time the other cousins could be jealous of them for getting attention. The jealousy eventually passes but it affects everyone over any topic that comes up.

Through my analysis of this bible story I came to the realization that this is the first incident of jealousy and hatred that is expressed in the bible. This showed that the children of Adam and Eve fell victim to what seems to be original sin. Cain acted upon this original sin through the murder of his younger brother. It proves that no one is perfect or flawless. It shows that hatred and jealousy can cause anyone to do something they normally would not. This also the world's first recorded murder account. Cain murdered his own brother in cold blood because he was ignored by God. Cain clearly felt a sense of abandonment by God because he did not accept Cain's offering over Abel's. Since God openly accepted Abel's offering Cain probably felt ignored and tossed aside since his younger brother was acknowledged over him. Being the oldest, Cain probably expected a certain level of recognition and respect over Abel. When he did not get that from God, the one who is supposed to accept everyone for who they are and what they have or do not have, he felt abandoned and became