The first murder in human history followed close on the heels of the human fall; indeed, the tension between the brothers can be attributed to the situation they inherited from their parents.
The story of Cain and Abel raises the inescapable human problem of inequality. It asks: how should people cope with differences in wealth, talent, love, fortune, and in this case, blessing.
The Bible regards Abel as one of the righteous; the Qur’an portrays him as a man of peace who refuses to take up a weapon to fight his brother Cain.
Hence comes the tradition that there are two kinds of people: Abel-type people are good and faithful, while Cain-type people are evil, atheistic and violent. In Father Moon’s teaching, however, Cain and Abel are most essentially brothers. Moreover, both had flaws: Abel’s arrogance over being the favored one contributed to Cain’s hatred, and Cain’s hatred had a history, too.
Father Moon teaches that God’s purpose in accepting only Abel’s offering was not to express His disdain for Cain, but rather to promote a process of restoration: by Cain yielding to Abel, Cain and Abel were to reverse the mistake of their parents when Adam was wrongly dominated by the Archangel.
Had this restoration been successful, there would have been no murder; instead even Cain’s offering would have been accepted by God. Inequality is inevitable; how we deal with it is where choice comes into play. Cain had a choice: to react with violence or to humbly seek his brother’s help.
Abel also had a choice: to glory in his favored status or to have compassion on his less favored brother, comfort him and raise him up. The choices we make in these Cain-Abel situations can make the difference between peace and war.
Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel brought of the firstlings of the flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering He had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is couching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
Cain said to Abel his brother, “Let us go out into the field.” And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He replied, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” And the Lord said, “What have you done?
The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength; you shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me this day away from the ground; and from your face I shall be hidden; and I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will slay me.”
Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If any one slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who came upon him should kill him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Genesis 4.3-16
And recite for them the story of the two sons of Adam truthfully, when they offered a sacrifice, and it was accepted of one of them, and not accepted of the other. “I will surely slay you,” said one.
“God accepts only of the god-fearing,” said the other. “Yet if you stretch out your hand against me, to slay me, I will not stretch out my hand against you, to slay you; I fear God, the Lord of all Beings. I desire that you should be laden with my sin and your sin, and so become an inhabitant of the Fire; that is the recompense of the evildoers.”
Then his soul prompted him to slay his brother, and he slew him, and became one of the losers. Then God sent forth a raven, scratching into the earth, to show him how he might conceal the vile body of his brother. He said, “Woe is me! Am I unable to be as this raven, and so conceal my brother’s vile body?” And he became one of the remorseful. Qur’an 5.27-31
By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he received approval as righteous, God bearing witness by accepting his gifts; he died, but through his faith he is still speaking. Hebrews 11.4
When Adam and Eve begot children, the firstborn was the son of the serpent’s slime. For two beings had intercourse with Eve, and she conceived from both and bore two children.
Each followed one of the male parents, and their spirits parted, one to this side and one to the other, and similarly their characters. On the side of Cain are all the haunts of the evil species, from which come evil spirits and demons and necromancers.
From the side of Abel come a more merciful class, yet not wholly beneficial—good wine mixed with bad. The right kind was not produced until Seth came, who is the first ancestor of all the generations of the righteous…
Cain rose up against Abel and killed him because he inherited his nature from the side of Samael, who brought death into the world. He was jealous of Abel on account of his female, as indicated by the words, “and it came to pass when they were in the field (Gen. 4.8),” the word “field” signifying woman. According to the text, Cain was angry because his offering was not accepted, but this is a further reason. Zohar 1.36b (Judaism)
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
The biblical account of Cain and Abel reveals the beginnings of human conflict right in Adam’s family. It provides the archetype for humankind’s unending history of struggle, war and conflict.
We are conflicted on many levels, beginning with the war between the body and mind within each individual and extending to wars between nations and even to the global conflict between materialism and theism. (September 12, 2005)
Originally, God alone was to govern human beings. God was to be our only Lord. Nevertheless, Satan became our lord through his immoral relationship with the first ancestors. The Principle teaches that love carries governing, sovereign power.
That is why Satan has a right to claim ownership over human beings even though his love is immoral. However, God is the original owner through the Principle of Creation.
Thus, God and Satan could both claim ownership over human beings. Yet it is physically impossible to divide Adam into two—one piece for God and the other for Satan.
Therefore, God had to set up a certain rule to divide a human being. God set up the rule for separation in terms of the polarities of internal and external and subject and object, with God in the position of the internal being and the creation the external being.
By this principle, God divided fallen Adam and Eve into two through their two children. Cain represented Satan, and Abel represented sinless Adam. Hence God placed Abel, the second son, in the internal position.
Abel represented the second love between Adam and Eve, which contained fewer evil elements, while Cain was the fruit of the first love. God took Abel because Adam and Eve’s relationship was more principled than the first relationship between Eve and the archangel.
The original order of love was to flow from God to Adam and then to the archangel. Hence the positions in restoration must also be ordered: first God, then Abel and last Cain. By restoring these positions, relationships, to the original order, God intends to restore the lost principle…
God led the providence to restore the birthright of the elder son through these two brothers. Cain must go down to Abel’s position, and Abel must go up to Cain’s position—the first son’s position.
However, Cain killed Abel. His action was a repetition of Adam and Eve’s fall. It repeated the condition by which Satan came to control Adam. It was the opposite of restoration. (55:109-10, April 1, 1972)
The Bible attests to the discrimination between first and second-born sons. For example… it is written that God loved the second son Jacob and hated the first son Esau even while they were still inside their mother’s womb. (Rom. 9.11-13)
They were placed in the positions of Cain or Abel based solely upon the distinction of who was to be the firstborn son. When Jacob was blessing his two grandchildren, Ephraim and Manasseh, he crossed his hands and laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, the second son in the position of Abel, to give him the first and greater blessing. (Gen. 48.14)
According to this principle, God placed Cain and Abel in a position where each could deal with only one master, and had them offer sacrifices. When Cain and Abel offered their sacrifices, “The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.” (Gen. 4.4)
Why did God accept Abel’s offering but reject Cain’s? God received Abel’s sacrifice because he stood in a proper relationship with God. Also, he made the offering in an acceptable manner—through faith (Heb. 11.4) and in line with God’s Will.
In this way, Abel successfully laid the foundation of faith in Adam’s family. He serves as an example that any fallen person can make an offering acceptable to God provided he satisfies the necessary conditions. God did not reject Cain’s sacrifice because He hated him.
Rather, because Cain stood in a position to relate with Satan, which gave Satan rights over the sacrifice, God could not accept Cain’s sacrifice unless he first made some condition justifying its acceptance. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Foundation 1)
When Cain found out that God accepted only Abel’s offering, he struck and killed Abel out of hatred. You have to understand, however, that already while they were preparing their offerings, Cain nursed feelings of resentment against Abel.
Cain did not strike Abel in a sudden flash of anger over God accepting only Abel’s offering. Rather, even before that incident, Cain hated Abel and wanted to kill him. (3:205, November 1, 1957)
It seems that God was discriminating between Cain and Abel, but that was not the case. If Cain had even the slightest desire to go through Abel, who represented Heaven’s position, then God would have accepted Cain’s offering.
Although his acceptance would have come later, God desired to relate to them in fairness. You must not repeat the mistake of Abel, who prolonged the providence of God by not being able to cope withthe mission Heaven gave to him. (3:205, November 1, 1957)
Cain should have appealed to Abel, asking him to show him the way to approach God that his offering might also be accepted. He should have kept a mind of absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience to God; then he would have totally united with his brother. Only then could he have entered the realm of God. (378:206-07, May 12, 2002)
God placed Abel in the position to save Cain. God expected that Abel would love Cain, and share with him all the love that he received from God, as well as his own love. (18:277, June 12, 1967)
When God accepted only Abel’s offering, Abel became arrogant. Through that condition, Satan could make accusation against him. Satan influenced Cain to lose his temper and his reason, driving him to kill his own brother. (374:12-13, April 4, 2002)
All the conflicts and wars that the world has witnessed since the beginning of history have been, in essence, battles between the Cain side, which is relatively evil, and the Abel side, which is more on the side of goodness. (299:105, February 6, 1999)
Yet, Cain and Abel must never be divided. They are like the right hand and the left hand. Everyone should live with the attitude, “My God is also your God”; “The God who loves me also loves you.” (3:207, November 1, 1957)
Think about the moment when Cain killed Abel. The pain of it seared God’s heart, and His tears continue to this day. God intended that the elder son love his younger brother, but instead, he murdered him.
That one murder broke God’s heart. Yet look at the world today: every day, tens of thousands of people are being killed or dying of starvation. Do you think God’s heart is at peace? (March 2, 2003)
Sun Myung Moon