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When we read in Psa. 23: 2, "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures", we
certainly have no thought of a beast of prey in the act of taking a spring. We are not to
suppose that when Jacob saw the flocks of sheep "lying" by the well that they were
preparing to spring at him, or at one another (Gen. 29: 2). The word is indeed spoken
of a leopard, but not in the act of springing on its prey, but the very reverse: "the leopard
shall lie down with the kid" (Isa. 11: 6). The word is spoken of the couching of sheep,
and wild beasts, lions, leopards and asses, of the needy that shall "lie down" in safety
(Isa. 14: 30); of flocks that "rest" (Song of Sol. 1: 7), but not one passage can bear the
meaning often read into Gen. 4: 7. The door belongs neither to Cain or to Abel. So far
as the Scriptures actually state it can just as well be the door of the primal tabernacle
mentioned in Gen. 3: 24. Over 40 times in the Pentateuch is this word used of the
"door" of the tabernacle. The sense therefore of Gen. 4: 7 seems clearly to be:
"If thou doest not well, a sin offering coucheth at the door of the tabernacle."
Cain was without excuse, inasmuch as faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God, Abel must have "heard". Cain also would have heard likewise, and even if
he had misunderstood, the Lord graciously pointed out his error, and gave him full
opportunity for repentance and acceptance. Cain, Korah, and Balaam make up a terrible
trio that fitly prefigure the state of things at the time of the end (Jude 11). The
hymnology of Cain's successors harps upon the string:
"Something in my hand I bring",
while the language of faith is expressed by:
"Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling."
We must not lose sight of the theme of the epistle to the Hebrews, nor the fact that
Abel is mentioned as one of a series that sets forth the need that the just shall live by
faith. Abel's example is given here as an encouragement to the Hebrews who were
losing heart, were in danger of drawing back, and to whom it is written in the sequel of
Heb. 11::
"For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye
be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against
sin" (Heb. 12: 3, 4).
The rock upon which faith rests is the Offering of Christ and that is the rock
upon which unbelief is broken to pieces. A principle of interpretation is supplied by
Heb. 12: 24. Whatever is good in Abel is better in Christ. Whatever will be found good
in Enoch, or Noah, or Abraham, or the rest, will likewise be found better in the Saviour.
He is the perfecter of faith. In Him the whole spectrum meets; all others are so many
broken facets reflecting something only of His ineffable perfection:
"By faith Abel offered unto God more sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained
witness that he was righteous, God bearing witness of his gifts: and by it he being dead
yet speaketh" (Heb. 1: 4 not AV JP).
"The blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than Abel" (Heb. 12: 24).