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Who is Abel in the Bible? Was he the first martyr?

If you are curious about who is Abel in the Bible and human history, you will learn relevant information about him and the martyrdom he suffered by reading this article. We do not know much about Abel, but we know that he was a righteous man of God, just like Noah.

Abel in the Bible, is the second son of Adam and Eve, the first to be killed in history by his brother Cain. It is mentioned that “Abel, by faith, brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain.” Abel in the Bible, is also the first man to be a shepherd and the first person to suffer martyrdom in human history. 

What does Abel mean in the Bible?

Jew is an ethnic-confessional term for followers of the Jewish or Mosaic religion, their descendants, and those who have converted to Judaism and their descendants. Jews are the majority population in Israel.
Jews are ancient people. The Hebrew language originates in the Phoenician language, and many words were borrowed from this language, including the alphabet. The Jews are religious and highly cultured, and the Old Testament created a consistent part of the Bible.
The Jews were the first people to have a monotheistic faith. Monotheism is the religion that believes there is only one God, just like Christianity. However, the Mosaics have other deities, but they see only one as their creator. They are knowledgeable people who like to study mathematics and other sciences.

who is abel in the bible

Abel means a breathing spirit, and it comes from the Hebrew name Havel which means “breathing.” In Abel, a shepherd prefigures Christ, the Good Shepherd. 


In the Bible, Abel is Eve and Adam’s second son, symbolizing fineness, gentleness, and purity. The Bible makes us think that his parents chose him to be a shepherd because he wasn’t as physically equipped as Cain to do the field chores. 

Characteristics of Abel in the Bible

Eve and Adam were the first humans and only had boys. Eve was the only woman on earth; they had Cain and Abel. Both children had qualities. One showed positivity: Abel. He was good, kind, honest, and sincere. He was devoted, diligent, understanding, and honest. Friendly, respectful, and kind. The other brother, unfortunately, displayed negative attributes. Cain was mean and angry. The fact that he was disobedient is evident in his sacrifice to God. He was mean, lazy, and a liar: because God asked him where his brother was, and he answered him sideways. He asked God if it was the guardian of his other brother.

Abel had the characteristics and the incarnation of:

  • righteousness
  • obedience
  • the man of faith
  • love for God

According to the book of Genesis, he and his brother Cain offered a sacrifice to God one day. Abel brought a lamb, and Cain, because he was engaged in farming, sacrificed the fruits of the earth. God did not look kindly at Cain’s sacrifice. Not so much because of the sacrifice as his character, and so Cain, blinded by jealousy, killed Abel.

The blood cries out from the ground.

God’s word shows us the truth. Life is in the bloodline. After Cain killed Abel, God heard the voice of the blood of the son of Adam, Abel. Medical science, however advanced, may not be able to prove it. Still, God has put into the hearts of his children those who receive the vision of his will concerning worship, like Abel, living blood, which has life in it, guarantees our future resurrection.

The vision that the apostle John had when he was a prisoner on the island of Patmos shows us this: When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been stabbed because of the Word of God and because of the confession they had made. They cried out with a loud voice and said: How long, O Lord, wilt thou, holy and true, dwell to judge and avenge our blood upon the earth’s inhabitants? After this, they rose and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

Why was Abel a martyr?

A person who dies for their religious faith is called a martyr or a suction. The term martyr also applies to those who give their lives for another cause, considered noble, such as those who die for their country in wartime.

Abel in the Bible, is considered a martyr because he died for the love of God because of the sacrifice he brought to the altar and was killed by his brother Cain out of jealousy. Abel in the Bible, is the first man in biblical and human history to suffer martyrdom. So he is considered to be a martyr for the faith.

As it is understood today in the Christian Church, Martyrdom is death for the Christian faith.

Although in the early biblical understanding, death is omitted in the meanings of the word martyrdom: Martire in, martyria, martyrion. Yet the experience of martyrdom includes the experience of death.

who is abel in the bible

What offering did Abel bring in front of God?

God limits abusive meat-eating pigs and the slaughter of animals without limits. But sheep and fish, I know, are not only forbidden but even mentioned. If our health doesn’t allow it, we don’t have to eat beans either, even though that falls under the category of “vegetable.”

Abel also brought as a gift from the “firstborn” of his sheep and their fat: milk, butter, and cheese. And the Lord looked to Abel and his “gifts” and did not look to Cain and his gifts. But God did not forbid a man to eat meat. How do people speculate? He first told Noah that his food should contain meat.

However, as Jesus said about the mercy of marriage. “In the beginning, it was not so: Jesus answered them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts, Moses commanded you to leave your wives… but from the beginning, it was not so.”

The same is true of food: for specific reasons, God allowed man to eat meat, but not when he created Adam, but only after the waters of the flood had receded in the second part of Noah’s life.

Primary Takeaways

  • Abel offered the sacrifice by faith and out of love and a humble spirit
  • Abel also was a humble man
  • He carefully chooses his sacrifice: the firstborn of his sheep, while Cain sacrifices at random: from the fruit of the earth.

 

Key Verse

 “By faith, Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith, he was commended as righteous when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith, Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.”

Hebrews 11:4 (NIV)

 

Biography of Abel

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