Genesis 4:1 The man knew Eve his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Cain, and said, “I have gotten a man with Yahweh’s help.” 2 Again she gave birth, to Cain’s brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. WEB
Genesis 4:1 Now the man had marital relations with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. Then she said, “I have created a man just as the Lord did!” 2 Then she gave birth to his brother Abel. Abel took care of the flocks, while Cain cultivated the ground. NET
Most Christian translations show Eve as crediting God for helping her to have a child. The rabbinical perspective, however, is that this isn’t quite what the Hebrew text is saying. Their view is that Eve is being boastful with her exclamation that is more in the nature of “look what I did”. Some will go so far as to suggest that she thinks she has god-like qualities and as a result, her child is the one who will bruise the serpent’s head and solve their problems.
Cain is believed to be rebellious from the start. Even his name (which means to acquire, grasp, take or possess) points in that direction. The second child is different as his name means “breath”. While Cain is a take-charge, mover/shaker and schemer, Abel is more dependent. The allegorical reading is that Abel reflects the reality of our dependence upon God and the need of being rightly connected to God. The main point here is that Jews have a different perspective regarding Cain and Eve than Christians do.
Psalm 144:4 Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away. NHEB
Genesis is full of stories about conflict between brothers (and wives). The commonality in these stories is jealousy because God uses the second born rather than the first born which is why the older brothers are always ticked off. (Think of Jacob and Esau, Isaac and Ishmael and Joseph and his brothers).
Genesis 4:3 And it was so after some time that Cain brought of the fruits of the earth a sacrifice to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought of the first born of his sheep and of his fatlings, and God looked upon Abel and his gifts, 5 but Cain and his sacrifices he regarded not, and Cain was exceedingly sorrowful and his countenance fell. Brenton Septuagint
The story shifts to sacrifice in verse 4. It isn’t until later in this chapter where the religious life of humanity will receive some structure. Here it just happens.
Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Greek. 17 For the gospel reveals the righteousness of God that comes by faith from start to finish, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” 18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. 19 For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise! Amen. BSB
Thomas Aquinas, as a Domincan, was part of a preaching order who were out preaching the Gospel to the world. Not surprisingly, the people they encountered wanted to argue so he begins his theology with the idea that if people want to argue, we should be prepared to argue back. These days, the first issue we typically run into is that the people we are talking to don’t care about the Bible nor its authority. Aquinas’ response is that we don’t need a Bible – just look at the created order.
After laying out God’s plan for saving grace in Romans 1:16-17, Paul has inserted an imaginery objector who is asking whether or not one needs saving. The question is answered in verse 18. If God tells you to do something and you don’t, there are consequences just like in Genesis. Paul is telling us that the reality of God is obvious and our response is instinctive, i.e., that we should honor God. Of particular interest here is verse 19 as we don’t need a Bible (nor did Cain and Abel) to tell us there is a God. It is clear even if we choose to ignore Him. At this point in Genesis, there is no Bible or information about how to worship God – it is in their hearts (Abel’s at least).
Psalm 51:16 Certainly you do not want a sacrifice, or else I would offer it; you do not desire a burnt sacrifice. 17 The sacrifices God desires are a humble spirit – O God, a humble and repentant heart you will not reject. NET
God is not interested in the outward ceremony but rather, a inner sacrifice of the heart as anyone can put on an impressive outward show with no real cost to themselves. A burnt offering is valuable only to the extent it reflects what is going on in your heart.
There is a contrast in the offerings from Cain and Abel that is hard to see in English. Abel’s offering includes the firstlings and the fat portions which is the best he has to offer. As to Cain, the rabbi’s are insistent that he brought something lacking in value to him (flax, for example) because while he owed God something, what he gave was the equivalent of leftovers. In other words, something that he had no need for. While the text may hint at something like this, there is nothing that tells us why Abel’s sacrifice was accepted and Cain’s was not. Perhaps Cain wanted, like Israel later on, to set the terms for how to honor God whereas Abel had the opposite approach.
Isaiah 29:13 Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men. BSB