Kejadian 4:4

4:4 But Abel brought ¹  some of the firstborn of his flock – even the fattest ²  of them. And the Lord was pleased with ³  Abel and his offering,

Kejadian 22:7-8

22:7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, ⁴  “My father?” “What is it, ⁵  my son?” he replied. “Here is the fire and the wood,” Isaac said, ⁶  “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 22:8 “God will provide ⁷  for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham replied. The two of them continued on together.

[4:4]  ¹ tn Heb “But Abel brought, also he….” The disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) stresses the contrast between Cain’s offering and Abel’s.

[4:4]  ² tn Two prepositional phrases are used to qualify the kind of sacrifice that Abel brought: “from the firstborn” and “from the fattest of them.” These also could be interpreted as a hendiadys: “from the fattest of the firstborn of the flock.” Another option is to understand the second prepositional phrase as referring to the fat portions of the sacrificial sheep. In this case one may translate, “some of the firstborn of his flock, even some of their fat portions” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).

[4:4]  sn Here are two types of worshipers – one (Cain) merely discharges a duty at the proper time, while the other (Abel) goes out of his way to please God with the first and the best.

[4:4]  ³ tn The Hebrew verb שָׁעָה (sha’ah) simply means “to gaze at, to have regard for, to look on with favor [or “with devotion”].” The text does not indicate how this was communicated, but it indicates that Cain and Abel knew immediately. Either there was some manifestation of divine pleasure given to Abel and withheld from Cain (fire consuming the sacrifice?), or there was an inner awareness of divine response.

[22:7]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text adds “and said.” This is redundant and has not been translated for stylistic reasons.

[22:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “Here I am” (cf. Gen 22:1).

[22:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Here is the fire and the wood.’” The referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here and in the following verse the order of the introductory clauses and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[22:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “will see for himself.” The construction means “to look out for; to see to it; to provide.”

[22:8]  sn God will provide is the central theme of the passage and the turning point in the story. Note Paul’s allusion to the story in Rom 8:32 (“how shall he not freely give us all things?”) as well as H. J. Schoeps, “The Sacrifice of Isaac in Paul’s Theology,” JBL 65 (1946): 385-92.