Cain Rejected and the Crouching Bandit of the Evil Inclination

Another teaching: Rabbi Elazar said the Noahides offered peace offerings, and Rabbi Yose bar Hanina said they offered burnt offerings. Rabbi Elazar objected: is it not written "and from their fat," from something whose fat is offered? How does Rabbi Yose bar Hanina handle this? From their fattest ones. Rabbi Elazar objected: "and he sent the young men of the children of Israel" (Exodus 24:5). How does Rabbi Yose handle it? Whole ones, without flaying and cutting into pieces. Rabbi Elazar objected: "and Jethro the father-in-law of Moses took" (Exodus 18:12), according to the one who says Jethro came after the giving of the Torah. And this supports Rabbi Yose: "Awake, north wind" (Song of Songs 4:16), this is the burnt offering that was slaughtered on the north side; and what is "Awake"? Something that was asleep and was roused. "And come, south," these are the peace offerings that are slaughtered on the south side; and what is "come"? Something new. This verse also supports him: "this is the law of the burnt offering, it is the burnt offering" (Leviticus 6:2), which the Noahides offered; and when it reaches the peace offerings, "and this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings" (Leviticus 7:11), it is not written "which they offered" but "which they shall offer," from here onward. "And the LORD turned to Abel" (Genesis 4:4): He was reconciled by him. "But to Cain and to his offering He did not turn": He was not reconciled by him. "And Cain was very angry, and his face fell": they became like fire. "Is it not so that if you do well, there is uplift": blessing; "and if you do not do well," uplift, a curse. Another interpretation: if you do well, I forgive your iniquities; and if not, the sin of that man is heaped up and overflowing. "Of David: Happy is he whose transgression is lifted" (Psalms 32:1): happy is the man who is higher than his transgression, and whose transgression is not higher than him. "Sin crouches at the door": it is not written "crouching" [feminine] here, but "crouching" [masculine]; at first it is weak like a female, and afterward it grows strong like a male. There are dogs in Rome that know how to entice. One goes and sits beside a baker's shop and pretends to doze, and while the shopkeeper dozes, the dog snatches a loaf from the ground, and by the time people gather, the dog has made off and is walking away with the loaf. Rabbi Abba said: this evil inclination is like a lurking bandit who would sit at the crossroads. To everyone who passed by he would say: hand over what you have. A clever man passed and saw there was no hope of robbing him of anything, and began to thrash him. So too for several generations the evil inclination destroyed: the generation of Enosh, the generation of the Flood, the generation of the Dispersion. Once our father Abraham arose and saw there was no hope in it, he began to thrash it. This is what is written, "and I will beat down his foes before him" (Psalms 89:24).