A Step Back to Korbanot..

I hate to go back to the topic of Korbanot because I know many of you did not particularly enjoy learning about or blogging about korbanot. However, I do hope you find my blog interesting as I connect perek daled to Sefer Hacninuch's and Rav Hirsch's commentaries on why we bring korbanot.
On Thursday we learned that Cain and Hevel both brought korbanot to Hashem. We learned that G-d found favor in Hevel's sacrifice but not in Cain's. Obviously, Cain would be upset that his korban wasn't accepted by G-d while his brother's was. Hashem responds that it wasn't a good korban and therefore Hashem did not take it. HOWEVER, He explains that if Cain changes his ways/improves for next time then he will experience positive things, but if he doesn't then sin is literally crouching at his door. This explains to us that we all have a desire to sin, its part of being a human! However, we can rule over those desires and we are certainly not bound to sin. Desires are right there, but we are not animals, we can't just act on every desire. We must first recognize/understand our desires and then we need to fight through those desires. Unlike animals, we are given the ability to do that.
This brings me to my next point. The Sefer Hachinuch explains that there is a symbolization in bringing an animal as a korban. Animals lack sechel, they lack a divine purpose. They live only to fulfill their desires-they live based on instinct. What causes us to sin are our desires and lack of ability to refrain from giving into these base animal instincts. This shows that it is symbolic to bring an animal korban because the reflection needs to be an understanding that sin is acting like an animal. So, we must squash our animal instinct. We do have an animal instinct, so we have to use our INTELLECT (what animals don't have) to conquer our base animal instincts. This connects exactly to what Hashem is trying to explain to Cain in perek daled. G-d admits to Cain that man indeed has the ability/desire to sin, but we are higher than animal (as we learned in perek alef), and therefore have the intellect to change our ways and improve on ourselves and ultimately squash those desires. This is something special that G-d has given us and we must utilize it in every way possible.
Rav Hirsch explains that a korban is not a gift, but rather it is a mechanism by which we can draw close to G-d. He explains that bringing a korban is for the person NOT for Hashem. Hashem doesn't need our sacrifice, rather we need it to feel the presence of G-d, come close to Him, and reflect on ourselves. Perhaps Hashem didn't not accept Cain's korban because it wasn't good/nice enough for G-d, but rather because it wasn't good for Cain. I do not think that G-d himself is picky enough to decide, oh I don't want this korban because it's not good enough for me, for I am so great and holy. Rather, I think Hashem saw that it wasn't good for Cain. It wasn't a good korban for him to reflect on himself and to squash his desires or animal instincts. This is why Hashem didn't accept it, as a favor to Cain. Hashem rather gives Cain another chance to bring one and explains to him what he needs to do better so that he can experience positive things.