Why a blood sacrifice?

“And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto Jehovah. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And Jehovah had respect unto Abel and to his offering: but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell” (Gen. 4:3-5).


Here is the story as recounted in the bible. Both Cain and Abel came to worship before the Lord, both brought a sacrifice. But there was a difference. Cain brought a sacrifice of the fruit of the ground. His offering was a bloodless sacrifice. However, Abel brought forth a bloody sacrifice, and the fat thereof.

The result of their worship before the Lord was that Jehovah had respect unto Abel and his offering, but he did not have respect towards Cain nor towards his offering.

And why was that?

Moses’s record supposedly makes it easy to understand what the problem was. The written account specifically denotes the differences between their offerings. One was of produce, the other was a blood-bearing sacrifice. And the god of the bible loves blood. He is always very excited when blood is involved. However, we are never told why a blood-bearing sacrifice is better. Cain is also never told not to offer produce instead of a blood sacrifice. Instead, the god of the bible just rejects Cains offering. Here is what he says to Cain. "Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? ⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?" 

Where does it say why the offering is unacceptable?

Now, it is critically important to keep in mind one aspect of the biblical god. He is considered to be all knowing. Therefore, he knows everything that will occur in the future. Why is this important? Cain kills his brother because he is upset that god favored Abel's offering over his own. The biblical god would know that Cain would be upset over this slight and what action he would take. Does he therefore warn Abel against Cain? Um, no. Does he tell Adam and Eve what is going to occur and that their first born child is at risk? Um, no. Does he talk with Cain about his temperament or the evils of envy or about making a more acceptable sacrifice? Um, no! Does he do anything, anything at all, to prevent  Abel from being killed? Of course not. The biblical god does not care when people die. He is constantly killing people or commanding that his followers kill people in the Old Testament. Killing is the the default response of the biblical god. 

Since god knew that Cain would kill Abel after he rejected Cain's offering, he is the one responsible for death of Abel in the story.