The Scarlet Thread: Sacrifice from Eden to Calvary

The first death in Scripture is not a human death — it is the death of an animal. After Adam and Eve sin and cover themselves with fig leaves, God replaces their covering: "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them." Something had to die so that the guilty could be covered. The pattern is set before a single sacrifice is commanded.

This is not explicit teaching — it is narrative. The Bible does not say "and this represents atonement." It simply tells us what God did. The pattern is not explained — but it recurs.

Abel offers the firstlings of his flock and their fat — a blood sacrifice — and it is accepted. Cain offers fruit of the ground, and it is not. The text presents two offerings, one accepted and one rejected, without explanation — but with a difference in kind.

The Aqedah — the Binding of Isaac — is the most dramatic pre-Mosaic sacrifice narrative. God commands Abraham to offer his only son Isaac on Mount Moriah. Abraham obeys, and at the last moment God provides a ram as a substitute. Abraham names the place "Jehovah-jireh" — "The LORD will provide."