If you have siblings or have raised siblings, you know there are plenty of opportunities for sibling rivalry. From the very moment there were siblings in the human race, there was sibling rivalry. But the story of Cain and Abel is not about sibling rivalry; it’s ultimately about man’s rivalry with God, which goes back before siblings to the first man and woman. All of what God said would happen as a result of the Fall of mankind in Genesis 3 is now playing out in this first family’s life. But it is Cain’s anger with God that he takes out on his brother Abel. From the opening verse, Genesis 4 is bittersweet. We don’t know how much time has passed since Adam and Eve were driven out of God’s presence. But even as all of the effects of sin that God said would happen are beginning to happen, we see His promised blessings coming to pass as well.
