John Calvin Commentary Genesis 4:5

"but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell." — Genesis 4:5 (ASV)

But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. It is not to be doubted that Cain conducted himself as hypocrites are accustomed to doing; namely, that he wished to appease God, as one discharging a debt, by external sacrifices, without the least intention of dedicating himself to God.

But this is true worship: to offer ourselves as spiritual sacrifices to God. When God sees such hypocrisy, combined with gross and manifest mockery of himself; it is not surprising that he hates it and is unable to bear it; from which it also follows that he rejects with contempt the works of those who withdraw themselves from him.

For it is his will, first to have us devoted to himself; he then seeks our works in testimony of our obedience to him, but only in the second place. It should be noted that all the figments by which men mock both God and themselves are the fruits of unbelief: to this is added pride, because unbelievers, despising the Mediator’s grace, throw themselves fearlessly into the presence of God.

The Jews foolishly imagine that the offerings of Cain were unacceptable because he defrauded God of the full ears of corn and stingily offered him only barren or half-filled ears. Deeper and more hidden was the evil; namely, that impurity of heart of which I have been speaking. Just as, on the other hand, the strong scent of burning fat could not win over the divine favor for the sacrifices of Abel; but, being pervaded by the good odor of faith, they had a sweet-smelling savor.

And Cain was very wroth. Here it is asked, how Cain understood that his brother’s offerings were preferred to his. The Hebrews, according to their manner, resort to divinations and imagine that the sacrifice of Abel was consumed by celestial fire; but since we ought not to allow ourselves so great a license as to invent miracles for which we have no testimony of Scripture, let Jewish fables be dismissed. It is, indeed, more probable that Cain formed the judgment which Moses records from the events that followed.

He saw that it was better with his brother than with himself; therefore he inferred that God was pleased with his brother and displeased with himself. We also know that to hypocrites nothing seems of greater value, nothing is more to their heart’s content, than earthly blessing. Moreover, in the person of Cain is portrayed to us the likeness of a wicked man, who yet desires to be esteemed just, and even arrogates to himself the first place among saints.

Such persons truly, by external works, strenuously labor to deserve well at the hands of God; but, retaining a heart wrapped in deceit, they present to him nothing but a mask; so that, in their laborious and anxious religious worship, there is nothing sincere, nothing but mere pretense. When they afterwards see that they gain no advantage, they betray the venom of their minds; for they not only complain against God but break forth in manifest fury, so that, if they were able, they would gladly tear him down from his heavenly throne.

Such is the innate pride of all hypocrites that, by the very appearance of obedience, they would hold God as under obligation to them. Because they cannot escape from his authority, they try to soothe him with blandishments, as they would a child.

In the meantime, while they make much of their fictitious trifles, they think that God does them great wrong if he does not applaud them. But when he pronounces their offerings frivolous and of no value in his sight, they first begin to murmur, and then to rage.

Their impiety alone hinders God from being reconciled to them; but they wish to bargain with God on their own terms. When this is denied, they burn with furious indignation, which, though conceived against God, they unleash upon his children. Thus, when Cain was angry with God, his fury was poured out on his unoffending brother.

When Moses says, his countenance fell (the word ‘countenance’ is in Hebrew put in the plural for the singular), he means that not only was he seized with sudden, vehement anger, but that from a lingering sadness, he cherished a feeling so malignant that he was wasting away with envy.