John J. Tierney

“ The Damascus referred to is certainly the Syrian city. The Koran (Sura v, 30, etc.) agrees with the Bible in the main facts about the sacrifices and murder, but adds the legend that God sent a raven which by scratching in the earth showed Cain how to bury his brother. According to Jewish tradition, Adam and Eve were taught by the raven how to bury their son, and God rewarded the raven by granting three things: (1) his young were to be inviolable, (2) abundance of food, (3) his prayer for rain should be granted (Pirke Rab: Eliezer, XXI) .
In the New Testament Abel is often mentioned. ”

“ The love of the heart must sanctify the lifting of the hands. Cain offered dans Deo aliquid suum, sibi autem seipsum (de Civ. Dei, XV, vii) , but God says to all what St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "I seek not the things that are yours, but you" (II Cor., xii, 14) .
In Hebrew, Christian, and Arabic traditions and legends it is said that God showed his acceptance of Abel's sacrifice by sending fire to consume it, as in III Kings, xviii, 38. Cain thereupon resolved to kill his brother, thinking the latter would supplant him as Jacob did Esau later ”

“ Some, with Josephus (Ant., I, ii) , think it means "Sorrow", as if written אבל i.e. "Lamentation'. Cheyne holds that "a right view of the story favours the meaning shepherd, or more generally herdsman"; Assyr. ibilu (Ency. Bib., s. v.) "ram, camel, ass, or wild sheep." ”