My mind cannot help but think how difficult Abel’s sacrifice must have been. In Genesis 4: 2 – 4: we read that Abel was a keeper of flocks, and that He brought offerings to the Lord of the first-lings of one of his flocks. It is the first offering we hear about in Scripture, and I can only imagine the heart wrenching experience of having to choose a lamb, from among the many, for slaughter. No matter how much Cain labored with the sweat of his brow over the tilling of his garden, the cost cannot even begin to be compared with that of Abel’s. An offering to the Lord often demands sacrifice, because it demonstrates one’s willingness to surrender in its very presentation. The offerings in the Old Testament had to be without defect of any kind.
