And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
Abel's name marks a turn in Eve's heart. After naming Cain for the joy of possession, she named her second son for vanity itself, not from contempt, but from sorrow. She had tasted the grace of God, yet could not forget that all her offspring would inherit the miseries she had caused. The name stands as a monument to her grief and a mirror held up to all mankind.
AI summary
Eve saw in Cain the promised seed and exulted, calling him the Lord or a man from the Lord, but she was wretchedly mistaken, much as Samuel later was. When children are born, who can foresee what they will become? Yet God did not leave our first parents childless; even in their sin and sorrow, He showed them other blessings were still in store.
AI summary
Commenting on Genesis 4:1-2
Cain and Abel were almost certainly twins born together, each with a twin sister. Abel's name means vanity, not mourning, Eve gave it because she made less account of him than Cain, or perhaps she foresaw by the spirit of prophecy the violence that would cut short his life. Both sons inherited Adam's great estate, yet neither was raised in idleness but in laborious work.
AI summary