That always bothered me, too. They weren’t given instruction on what to offer, and they brought based on what it is they do. YET, when Jesus comes around, he commends (!) the pharisees on their tithing of everything, including herbs. But god doesn’t. But Jesus and god are the same person. Yahweh is a fucking tool.
Pretty sure it wasn’t about the type of food, it was that Cain offered all his shitty vegetables, then killed his brother who offered all his best sheep.
The story isn’t about the value of vegetables over meat, it’s the total submission. Cain didn’t totally submit, and the type of dude who wouldn’t totally submit would also murder his brother, what a dick!
I don’t think it is clear what is meant by God’s indifference to Cain’s offering. It’s one of those perplexing details that has led to a lot of deep contemplation over the millenia. Have you you ever read Steinbeck’s East of Eden?
No, I’m familiar enough with the story, but Steinbeck was always a bit to serious for me, shit is deeply depressing in like a Russian literature way.
Fair enough, but it is a masterpiece. And, a profound meditation on the story of Cain and Abel.
I just looked it up and wow this book is huge 😵. How long did it take you to finish it?
Audiobooks, my friend! I do a lot of driving around, so I just listen to books to keep my mind occupied.
You seem to be reading between the lines at text that isn’t there. The text says nothing about submission or Cain not fully submitting. Cain didn’t murder his brother until after God disrespected his offering.
Genesis 4:3-5 KJV:
3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
It all started with God not respecting Cain’s offering of the fruit of the ground.
Genesis 4:6-7 KJV:
6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
In verse 7 god implies that Cain’s offering of ‘fruit of the ground’ was him not doing well, and was a doorway to sin!
Yeah, I do believe I was doing that, you have convinced me! Thank you. That leaves out all the shit in the Quran about them marrying their own twin sister’s, an Cain was mad that Able’s twin was cuter.
Wait, that is an actual thing in the Quoran?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain_and_Abel_in_Islam
Oh yeah, the story of Cain and Abel doesn’t really make sense in the christian tradition cause it’s missing the real impetus for the murder. Jealousy over women… Who just happen to be their twin sister’s!
I’m less familiar with the Hebrew stuff, but I’m pretty sure this story is similar there too. The christian tradition whitewashes the story an incredible amount cause even Constantine thought it was icky!
So good is all about murder. If the food is not murdered, it is not worthwhile.
Well god has killed billions, and his own son had to be murdered to atone for our sins. He’s pretty much the god of murder.
As a non-theologian, fruit of the ground sounds like the fruit that wasn’t off the vine. i.e. this is the fruit that was rotted. Not “the best” stuff. So wholly inappropriate as an offering to God (or to anyone.) It’s the basic stuff that wouldn’t be missed after you took the best stuff for yourself.
Also if you are not “reading between the lines” of the bible, then you aren’t really understanding the stories of the bible, so I’ll assume you just misrepresented yourself there.
Historical Jesus was an allegory for a superposition of many Jewish reformation traditions. I mean fuck, even “historical Christianity” at one point sat down and formally decided which particular Jewish reformation documents would go into their reformed bible. The biblical cannon is like an infrastructure bill - it’s got everyone’s ideological pet projects included to reach a compromise.
Some people just gotta have their burger
