Why was it important that Cain offer a lamb instead of fruit as a sacrifice?

Answer 1

The Bible says that only blood can redeem us from sin. So an animal had to be sacrificed and its blood shed in the Old Testament times, then in the New Testament times Jesus died and shed His blood for us. ----------------------- While only the blood of an unblemished animal is considered acceptable as a sin offering, scripture does not tell us when this came to be the only sacrifice sacrifice for sin acceptable to God. And, we do not know if the sacrifices offered by Abel and Cain were offered for sin, or just part of a regular "giving back to God" from God's provision to them. Scripture tells us that "without faith it is impossible to please God." By giving of the best of his lambs, Abel was trusting God to provide even though he had just given to God the best of what he had. And Abel went even further by giving the very best part of the lambs offered. It was a loss to Abel to make this sacrifice, and he was trusting in God's provision to him. Clearly God found this to be acceptable. On the other hand, Cain simply gave from some of the fruit of the field he tilled. Because of God's reaction, we conclude that this was not really a sacrifice at all, just a sharing from his abundance. No faith was required of Cain to give such an amount to God because he kept back all he needed. This is of course an assumption, but I believe from God's response that it is warranted.