Please read the passage before reading the commentary.
Cain was a tiller of the soil, which God had cursed in Genesis 3:17-19. It is no wonder that God did not look with favor on Cain’s offering, but accepted Abel’s. Some read this as God’s blessing rests on the nomadic life of the desert rather than on the life attached to a particular place. This would see the journey in the desert from Egypt to the Promised as a time when Israel had greater fidelity to the Lord than when it lived in the farms and towns of the Promised Land,
Others may read this that, since the task of kings was to shepherd the people, perhaps Abel represents a righteous king assassinated by his enemies. This could recall the deposition of King Jehoiachin by the Babylonians at the time of the Exile.
Cain became a fugitive, a restless wanderer on the earth. God, however, marked Cain to protect Cain, just as God protected the Israelites in their wanderings in the desert and in their exile in Babylon.
The generation of the human race did not end with the death of Abel and the flight of Cain. The passage notes that God granted more offspring to Adam and Eve.
God’s creation of the human race is good. Though sin has entered the picture, God will see that the human race continue and will have God’s protection despite curses and violence. God will also provide leaders to pastor the human race. God’s mighty grace has created the world and the human race. God continually has provided leadership to the human race. God will always continue protecting us. Our task is to see God’s presence in the world in which we live, despite the conflicts and challenges we face in it.
Only one leader has been perfect and this is Jesus Christ. Everyone else has made mistakes in life. We all must do our best to remain faithful to God and the tasks God has given us in this life. Even when we act more like Cain than like Abel, God continues to watch out for us to protect and guide us.