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What Kind of Offering Did Abel Bring Before the Torah Existed

Did Abel bring a peace offering before the Torah was given? A Talmudic debate over one Hebrew word reshapes everything about sacrifice before Sinai.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Offering That Was Not From the Refuse
  2. The Debate Between Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Yosei
  3. What Is at Stake in the Disagreement
  4. Cain and the Question the Murder Could Not Answer

The Offering That Was Not From the Refuse

Cain brought an offering from the fruit of the ground. Bereshit Rabbah, the fifth-century CE Palestinian midrash on Genesis, is direct about what this meant: it was from the refuse. The image given is a malevolent sharecropper who eats the ripe fruit himself and hands the landlord the unripe remainder. Cain gave God the worst of what he had. The form of the offering was correct but the spirit was inverted.

Abel brought from the firstborn of his flock and from their fat portions. The contrast is built into the language: priority and quality against refusal and contempt. God turned to Abel's offering and away from Cain's. The rejection of Cain was not capricious. The text carried the reason inside itself for anyone who read carefully enough.

But the rabbis found something lodged in the phrase "fat portions" that opened a much larger question. The Hebrew word is mehelvehem -- from the root helev, a specific kind of fat that Torah law requires to be separated out and burned on the altar as a sacred portion during a peace offering. That detail changed the whole legal dimension of what Abel had done.

The Debate Between Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Yosei

Vayikra Rabbah, the midrashic anthology on Leviticus shaped in the fifth century CE, records a dispute between Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Yosei bar Hanina about the nature of sacrifice before Sinai. The question was technical and consequential: did the descendants of Noah -- meaning all humanity before the giving of the Torah -- offer only burnt offerings, or did they also offer peace offerings?

A burnt offering is consumed entirely by fire. Nothing is divided. Nothing is shared. The whole animal goes up in smoke to God. A peace offering is structured differently: the fat portions and certain organs go to the altar, the priest receives designated portions, and the remainder is returned to the one who brought the offering, to be eaten in a state of ritual purity. A peace offering is a shared meal. It assumes a relationship between the offerer and God that is not merely one of submission and holocaust.

Rabbi Elazar argued that Abel brought a peace offering, citing the word mehelvehem. If Abel separated the fat portions specifically to burn on the altar and kept the remainder, he was performing the structure of a peace offering before the Torah had been given and before any priest stood to receive his portion. Rabbi Yosei bar Hanina disagreed: before Sinai, only burnt offerings were permitted. The word mehelvehem means the choicest of the fat animals, not fat separated out according to later sacrificial law. Abel chose the best of his flock, the ones with the most fat, and burned the whole animal.

What Is at Stake in the Disagreement

The dispute is not merely taxonomic. The peace offering structure assumes that the offerer retains a share -- that the relationship between a human being and God includes something the human being carries back. A world of burnt offerings only is a world where every encounter with the divine is total surrender. A world where peace offerings were offered before Sinai is a world where the relational structure of sacrifice -- the shared meal, the portion held back in sanctity -- predates the Torah's formal codification of it. It was already present in the first good offering ever brought.

Rabbi Elazar's reading of Abel is more generous to humanity before the covenant. It says that Abel already understood, without being taught, what kind of offering opens a real relationship. He separated the portions that would later be formalized at Sinai because he knew instinctively what the later law would articulate in writing. The first shepherd who ever brought an offering to God brought it in the right form.

Cain and the Question the Murder Could Not Answer

The debate about Abel's offering type sits inside the larger story of Cain's murder, and the contrast sharpens the killing. Cain brought the wrong kind of offering in the wrong spirit and it was rejected. He did not respond to rejection by examining what he had given. He responded by removing the one whose offering had been accepted. The murder is the ultimate version of Cain's original error: instead of giving better, he took away.

Whether Abel brought a burnt offering or a peace offering, the rabbis agreed on what distinguished it from Cain's. Abel gave from priority and quality. Cain gave from remainder and contempt. The legal argument about helev fat is a way of pressing into the exact texture of what "quality" meant in the first offering ever accepted -- not just better cuts of meat, but the right structural relationship between the one bringing and the one receiving.

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Bereshit Rabbah 22:5Bereshit Rabbah

The story of Cain and Abel, right at the beginning of Genesis, gives us a clue, but also raises some fascinating questions about sacrifice itself.

"Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord," the verse says. But according to Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations, he brought it "from the refuse!" Ouch. The Rabbis paint a rather unflattering picture: imagine a greedy sharecropper who keeps the best produce for himself and gives the landowner only the rotten leftovers. That's Cain's offering.

In contrast, "And Abel, he, too, brought from the firstborn of his flock and from their fats, and the Lord turned to Abel and to his offering." (Genesis 4:4). Abel gave the best, the choicest. Is that the key? Is it about the quality of the offering, or the intention behind it?

The rabbis don't stop there. They explore the details of Abel's offering, specifically the "fats" (umeḥelvehen in Hebrew). This sparks a debate about the types of sacrifices offered before the Torah was given at Sinai. Remember, Abel lived long before the elaborate sacrificial system detailed in Leviticus. So what kind of sacrifice was he making?

Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥanina have different ideas. Rabbi Elazar suggests that the descendants of Noah – a term for all people before the Torah, and non-Jews after – sacrificed even peace offerings (shelamim), a type of sacrifice that fostered a sense of communion and peace. Rabbi Yosei, however, argues they only sacrificed burnt offerings, which were entirely consumed by fire as an offering to God.

Now, why does this matter? Because the type of sacrifice implies a different kind of relationship with the Divine. A burnt offering is about complete dedication, while a peace offering suggests a shared meal, a connection.

Rabbi Elazar challenges Rabbi Yosei, pointing to the verse, "And Abel, he, too, brought from the firstborn of his flock and from their fats" suggesting something whose fats are sacrificed – namely, a peace offering.

Rabbi Yosei counters that "from their fats" simply means the fattest among them, the very best.

The debate continues, with Rabbi Elazar citing other biblical verses. He points to (Exodus 24:5), which says, "He sent the young men of the children of Israel and they offered up burnt offerings and they slaughtered peace offerings (shelamim) of bulls to the Lord?" Rabbi Yosei explains that these were "whole" (shelemim) as they did not undergo flaying and cutting. This means only burnt offerings sacrificed after the Torah required that treatment.

Rabbi Elazar then brings up Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, who "took a burnt offering and feast offerings to God" (Exodus 18:12). But here, the Rabbis suggest a possible way to resolve the tension: maybe Jethro came after the giving of the Torah.

Rav Huna tells us that Rabbi Yanai and Rabbi Ḥiyya Rabba actually disagreed about when Jethro arrived! Rabbi Yanai thought it was before the Torah, while Rabbi Ḥiyya Rabba thought it was afterward. Rabbi Ḥanina explains that this disagreement stems from their view on Noahides sacrificing peace offerings.

The text even draws on the Song of Songs (4:16) to support Rabbi Yosei's view: "Awake north" alludes to the burnt offering, which was slaughtered in the north of the Temple. "And come south" refers to the peace offering, which could be slaughtered in the south. The verse "awake" implies something that was dormant and re-awakened, while "come" implies a new concept.

Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin, quoting Rabbi Levi, brings another proof: "This is the law of the burnt offering: that is the burnt offering" (Leviticus 6:2) – implying this was already known to the descendants of Noah. But when it comes to the peace offering, the verse says, "This is the law of the peace offering that one will sacrifice to the Lord" (Leviticus 7:11). Notice it doesn't say "that they sacrificed" – but rather "that one will sacrifice," implying it's a new thing.

So, what does all this mean? It's not just about the mechanics of sacrifice. It's about the evolution of our relationship with the Divine. The Rabbis are using these scriptural details to explore how humanity's understanding of worship and connection to God developed over time. Was there always an impulse to give, to offer something back? Yes, perhaps. But the way we offer, the understanding behind the offering, that's what changes. And ultimately, as Cain and Abel teach us, the intention matters most of all. Are we bringing our best, or just the refuse?

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Vayikra Rabbah 9:6Vayikra Rabbah

The core debate boils down to this: Did the descendants of Noah, meaning all humanity before the giving of the Torah at Sinai, offer only burnt offerings, or did they also offer peace offerings? Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥanina are our guides in this discussion, disagreeing on this very point. Rabbi Elazar argues they offered peace offerings, while Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥanina maintains they only offered burnt offerings.

Rabbi Elazar brings a powerful argument: the story of Abel from the Book of Genesis (4:4). Abel "brought from the firstborn of his flock and the choicest of them [meḥelvehen]." Rabbi Elazar interprets meḥelvehen as something whose fat [ḥelev] is offered on the altar, which would make it a peace offering. See, with a burnt offering, everything is consumed by the fire. But with a peace offering, only certain parts are burned, and the rest is eaten. So, Rabbi Elazar is saying Abel's offering, with its emphasis on the fat, seems more like a peace offering.

Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥanina isn't so easily swayed. He interprets "the choicest of them" as simply meaning the fattest of the flock, still suitable for a burnt offering.

The debate continues, with Rabbi Elazar bringing up further challenges. What about when the young men of Israel offered sacrifices in (Exodus 24:5), before the Torah was given? "He sent the young men of the children of Israel and they offered burnt offerings and they slaughtered peace offerings [shelamim]." Doesn't that imply peace offerings were offered before the Torah? Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥanina cleverly interprets this verse according to another opinion: that the offerings were "complete [shelemim]" meaning they were offered with their hides intact, without the usual flaying and quartering.

Then there's Yitro, Moses' father-in-law. (Exodus 18:12) says, "Yitro, father-in-law of Moses, took a burnt-offering and feast offerings to God." Another strike in favor of peace offerings before the Torah. Not so fast! Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥanina explains this by citing the opinion that Yitro converted after the giving of the Torah.

This brings up a related debate, this time between Rabbi Ḥiyya and Rabbi Yanai: When did Yitro convert? Before or after the giving of the Torah? Rabbi Huna ingeniously suggests that these debates aren't separate but intertwined. The timing of Yitro's conversion hinges on whether the descendants of Noah offered peace offerings or not. If Yitro converted before the Torah, then he's part of that pre-Torah world, and his offerings could include peace offerings. But if he converted after, then he's bound by the laws of the Torah.

Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥanina even brings in a verse from the Song of Songs (4:16) as support: "Awake, north, and come, south." He interprets the "north" as referring to the burnt offering, which was slaughtered in the northern part of the Temple courtyard. Why "awake"? Because, he says, the patriarchs sacrificed burnt offerings, which were then dormant during the Israelite's time in Egypt. The giving of the Torah "awakened" them. He sees the "south" as the thanks offering, a new innovation that "came" into being.

He also reads (Leviticus 6:2) "This is the law of the burnt offering, it is the burnt offering" as implying this offering was already familiar to the world, offered by the descendants of Noah.

Rabbi Elazar, however, provides a different interpretation to the verse from Song of Songs (4:16). He sees it as a prophecy! "Awake, north" refers to the exiles in the north who will eventually return and settle in the south (Jeremiah 31:7). He even connects it to the coming of Gog from the north (Ezekiel 39:2) and the messianic king who will rebuild the Temple in the south (Isaiah 41:25). It’s quite a different take, isn't it?

Rabbi Yosei, citing Rabbi Binyamin bar Levi, adds a beautiful thought: In this world, the north and south winds don't blow simultaneously. But in the World to Come, God will bring a rare wind that blows in both directions, gathering all of God’s children from the farthest reaches of the earth (Isaiah 43:6).

And finally, Rabbi Yoḥanan offers a lovely teaching about etiquette from the Torah: that a bridegroom doesn't enter the wedding canopy until the bride gives permission, drawing a parallel to (Song of Songs 4:16) and 5:1. "Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat his delicious fruits," followed by, "I came to my garden, my sister, my bride."

So, what are we left with? More than just a debate about ancient sacrifices. We have a glimpse into the intricate world of rabbinic interpretation, where verses are examined from every angle, where seemingly unrelated texts illuminate each other, and where even disagreements can lead to profound insights. It makes you wonder, doesn't it? How many layers of meaning are hidden within the words we read?

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