2005-03-14 - 2:14 p.m.

What really bothered me about this year's Superbowl episode of The Simpsons was Ned Flanders's apparant ignorance of the Bible. For those who did not see the episode, the Flanders family made a short video about the story of Cain and Abel which included a shot of Cain sacrificing roadkill to the Lord (as opposed to Abel's huge sacrifice of tasty cuts of meat and the like.)

Now, anyone who's read Genesis knows that Cain did not sacrifice crappy animals. He sacrificed the fruit of the soil, i.e. veggies and fruits and grains. This is part of what makes the story of Cain and Abel an *interesting* story - why is an animal sacrifice pleasing unto the Lord, but not plant-based foodstuffs? A book I read (The Alphabet Versus the Goddess,. maybe?) talked about agriculture representing civilization, being a step up from hunting and gathering. I suppose domestication of animals also represents civilization, but as I understand it, it was agriculture which really allowed society as we know it to develop.

On the other hand, there is the scientific theory that meat, being convenient little packages of protein, helped human brains develop as quickly as they did. So, does Abel's sacrifice of meat represent the growth of intelligence? Does Cain's sacrifice of agricultural bounty represent the growth of civilization? And what does it say that God praised one but rejected the other?

In any case, Ned Flanders should have known better.

BTW, does anyone know of a good (preferably academic rather than proseletyzing) commentary on the Bible?