Men in the Bible: Abel – A Man that God Respected
Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering. – Genesis 4:4
The second man in the Bible we will explore in this series is Abel. Although shortlived, as the Bible passage above tells us, Abel was respected by God.
Now, it is not often that one reads that God respects mortals. In fact, Abel was the only person in the Bible to be so conferred with the honor of commanding God’s respect. The question is, why was this so, and what did he do to impress God and command His respect?
A leaf through previous verses before our reference passage shows that both Abel and Cain, his senior brother, offered sacrifices to God from the produce of their labor. However, Abel did something very unusual, which would later become a divine requirement thousands of years later for anyone who wishes to offer things to God.
Abel offered the firstborn of his flock and the best (the fat) among the lot to God as a sacrifice. By this token, he showed his honor and respect for God. Little wonder that God repaid the gesture by showing him respect in return.
Thousands of years after Abel’s offering, God would later command Moses and also establish in the holy scripts that the firstborn of every creature, both man and beast, were His and must be offered as a sacrifice to Him or redeemed with money or animals in the case of human firstborn. God also stipulated that anyone who wanted to bring a sacrifice to Him should bring the fattest (the best) of whatever items they are offering to Him. If they were meant for God, whatever is being offered must be the best of the pack, not the worst of the lot.
Abel, on his own part, was not privy to these preferences of God as he lived several years before God communicated them to His servants, and they were codified in the books of the law. However, of his own volition, Abel willingly and cheerfully offered the best of his breeds to God as a sacrifice, and with this gesture, he provoked the admiration of God and, by so doing, became a man that God respected.
Selah!
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