The pattern A : b :: B : a with reference to Cain and Abel, Zarah and Pharez, Manasseh and Ephraim, and Esau and Jacob
In the Word you will often encounter the pattern A : b :: B : a, which is also known in the Far East as the Yin Yang. This pattern serves as a coatrack to hang up spiritual ideas, and it can be discerned in the following pairs without being limited just to these: Cain and Abel, Zara and Pharez, Manasseh and Ephraim, and Esau and Jacob. The symbolic character Cain, the first murderer, offered a bloodless sacrifice of fruits; whereas Abel, the first victim, offered a bloody sacrifice of livestock. Without going into particular detail here, Cain represents those who merely want to believe in things of the Church intellectually without practicing them in their actual lives. So such a person would for instance memorise "He that hateth his brother is a murderer" while making no effort actually not to hate; because such people believe that Faith-alone-saves, which is a lie called separation of faith and works or the bride and bridegroom sounding no longer. If we see this relationshi...