must believe that He is".

The faith of Abel.

"By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than that of Cain, by which

he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being

dead yet speaketh" (Heb. 11: 4).

Here the good report becomes both "witness" and "testifying", and the correction

should be made in our translation of the passages. We must turn to Genesis in order to

see for ourselves the record that is referred to here:--

"And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an

offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of 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 . . . . . If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and

if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou

shalt rule over him" (Gen. 4: 3-7).

"In process of time."--Literally, "At or after the end of some days", "Some" being

often expressed by the plural form alone. Nothing certain as to what days are intended.

Some think the Sabbath, some the end of the year, or at some set time like harvest. The

important fact to observe is that there was some recognition of appointed time, and hence

the implication is that Abel's faith was connected with "a word of God" as all faith has

ever been.

"An offering" (minchah).--This word is often used as a contrast to zebah, a sacrifice

with blood, but standing alone it is often used for sacrifice in general.

As the passage stands in the A.V. the word "also" in verse 4 ("And Abel, he also")

simply adds the action of Abel to that of Cain. If, however, the word "also" be read

after the verb, as it actually stands in both the Hebrew and in the LXX, there is a

possibility that a deeper lesson is intended. There is something suggestive in the Greek

of Heb. 11: 4 too. There is no word for "excellent" there, that must be supplied.

Translating the words just as they come we read, "By faith more sacrifice Abel than Cain

offered". Is it possible that in this simple and literal statement we have fuller light on

Gen. 4: than the A.V. gives us? In what way did Abel offer "more sacrifice"?

Coming back to Gen. 4: and reading the "also" after the verb we have, "And Abel he

brought also of the firstlings of his flock", and this at least opens the way for the implied

thought that Abel brought a bloodless gift as Cain did, but he "brought also" the lamb

which alone made any other offering acceptable. This at least is exactly the teaching of

the epistle to the Hebrews. All the typical offerings even though they were of bulls and

goats, were in measure but the offering of Cain in this sense, that they sought to render

the offerer accepted without the precious blood of Christ which alone cleanses and gives

access. On the other hand a bloodless sacrifice was acceptable (see Heb. 13: 15), but