When I was going through the book of Hebrews, I got to the eleventh chapter and was pretty overwhelmed with what to say.  It is the greatest chapter in the entire Bible on faith, but there were so many names of the Old Testament characters that I just skipped most of it.  Now I think I would like to go back and cover some of the reasons that those particular people were named as people of faith.  The chapter begins:  "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen."

And then the litany of the faithful patriarchs begins--with Abel.   Heb. 11: 4 "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous…"  His parents-Adam and Eve--had failed.  But Abel was declared righteous by God.   Genesis 4:2-5a "…and Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.  And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground as an offering unto the Lord.  And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the the fat thereof.  And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering:  But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect…"  Why?

The Bible doesn't tell us.  The rules of sacrifice had yet to be given to Abraham, or Moses.   But God covered Adam and Eve with animal skins when they sinned--which was the first time an animal had been sacrificed.  (Gen. 3: 21 "…the Lord God made coats of (animal) skins, and clothed them."  Up until then, they ate the fruit of the trees in the garden of Eden.    God sacrificed an animal to cover their sin.  God must have told them why he expected a blood sacrifice.  What it represented.  Abel complied.

It makes sense.  All sin has to be covered by blood.  In the Old Testament it was the blood of lambs, doves, etc.  In the New Testament sin is covered for all time by the blood of Jesus  The Lamb.

So Cain thought that grain would be good enough.  God didn't.  It made Cain so angry that he killed Abel.  And when God came looking for him, Cain said those famous words, "Am I my brother's keeper?"  The answer is, "Yes."  We are our brother's keepers.