Here is another theory with some good grammatical support;
John writes about Cain in 1John 3:12: We should not be like Cain, who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. Let’s unravel the verse beginning at the end: Cain killed Abel because his deeds were evil and his brother’s deeds were righteous. That means,
prior to killing Abel, Cain’s deeds were evil. What were Cain’s deeds? He offered up the works of his hands—these fruits and vegetables—to God. Cain’s own hard work and his own offering to God are called here
evil. The word for
deeds here is ergon (ἔργον) [pronounced
EHR-gon], which means
works, deeds, business, employment, that which any one is occupied; that which one undertakes to do, enterprise, undertaking; any product whatever, any thing accomplished by hand, art, industry, or mind; an act, deed, thing done: the idea of working is emphasized in opp. to that which is less than work. [Primarily Thayer definitions]. Strong’s #2041. Notice, these are deeds, works, overt acts. We’re not looking at Cain’s motivation here, we are looking at his production, and the Bible tells us that his production of bringing these luscious fruits and vegetables to God was evil. If you conjure up the illustration—of a man who works on a stopped up toilet, and then, without washing his hands, prepares you a wonderful looking fruit salad—that illustrates what Cain’s works are to God. These works are inspired by Satan, herein called
the evil one, as Cain is spoken of as being
from the evil one.
We should not be like Cain, who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. There is one more fascinating thing buried in the Greek in this verse—the word for
murder is sphazô (σφάζω) [pronounced
SPHAHD-zoh], which means
to slay, slaughter, butcher; to put to death by violence; to mortally wounded. Strong’s #4969. The primary use of this word, particularly in the Old Testament
, means
to slaughter a sacrificial animal. Generally speaking, that means to grab or bind the animal and to slit its throat with a sharp knife so that the blood is quickly pumped out of the body via the carotid. This confirms that Cain, after watching Abel kill several sacrifices, decides to kill Abel in the same way.
The use of this particular Greek verb is further evidence of the use of a knife.
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