Abel

Abel was the second son of Adam and Eve, a shepherd whose sacrifice of the firstborn of his flock was accepted by God while his brother Cain's agricultural offering was not (Genesis 4:2–5). He was killed by Cain out of jealousy, making him the first murder victim in the Bible. The author of Hebrews places Abel first in the great hall of faith, noting that 'by faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous' (Hebrews 11:4). Jesus refers to 'the blood of righteous Abel' as the first in a long sequence of prophetic martyrdom (Matthew 23:35), and the same author of Hebrews states that Jesus's blood 'speaks a better word than the blood of Abel' (Hebrews 12:24), making Abel a typological forerunner of Christ's atoning death.