By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. (Hebrews 11:4, NKJV)

We are told, by the writer of Hebrews, that Abel brought a more at the excellent sacrifice than his brother:

Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

So the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."

Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. (Genesis 4:2-8, NKJV)

Notice that Cain and Abel, had different occupations: Cain was a farmer, and Abel was a sheep rancher. The text says "in the course of time," meaning that this was not the first time they had brought offerings to the Lord, in fact they had brought similar offerings many times before, probably over many years. Obviously both Cain and Abel were adults at this time, and had their own homes and families. Both Cain and Abel were very aware of the Lord's requirements regarding offerings.

Even though it's not explicitly stated in the text, the Lord had obviously desired a blood offering, even though at this time in history men were not eating meat. The requirement of a blood offering had been revealed to Adam and Eve when the Lord made clothing for them (Genesis 3:21). Even though Cain was fully aware that the Lord had required a blood sacrifice, and that He also required the first of his produce, Cain merely bought brought the remnants of his own personal meal. Further, it is implied in that Cain brought a skimpy portion to the Lord. Instead of bringing the entire required portion, Cain brought significantly less. Cain had decided to first feed himself from his harvest, and then, almost as an afterthought, brought the remnant to the Lord as an offering. Needless to say, the Lord was not impressed with Cain's offering.

When the Lord expressed His disregard for Cain's offering, Cain became enraged. Cain didn't like the fact the Lord require an offering to begin with, much less that He required a blood sacrifice which would represent a significant sacrifice on his part. Cain did not recognize his need for redemption since he was very self-righteous. When the Lord questioned Cain's inappropriate anger, He made a statement that was actually a double entendre: "sin lies at the door," can also be interpreted as "the sin offering lies at the door." Perhaps Cain was in his house at the time and a lamb was actually lying by the door of his home, it which case the Lord was pointing out that the solution to the problem was actually very close at hand. But the statement also had a far more sinister interpretation: that if Cain continued to entertain sin in his heart, then sin, like a wild animal, would pounce upon him, overpower him, and ultimately dominate him. Obviously Cain made the wrong choice.

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