Murder most foul

The story continues in Genesis 4: “Now the man knew his wife Eve” and the result is Cain, and later Able. Able is a “keeper of sheep” and Cain “tiller of the ground”, like his father. Ominously, Able’s name means “emptiness, transitoriness” (so say the Notes).

Both brothers make an offering to God. Able offers “the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions”, and Cain “fruit of the ground”. Unfortunately God has “regard” for Able and his offering (note), but not for Cain and his. This begs the question why, but it is not answered in the text. The Notes speculate that it may be because Able offered the “firstlings”, whereas Cain is only said to offer (any old) fruit. But this seems a bit tenuous. For whatever reason, God favours the second-born.

Cain is miffed and God warns him:

If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.

Instead of mastering “sin”, his anger and jealousy, Cain gets Adam away, “out to the field”, and there murders him. The second sin, at least the second sin detailed (Cain may have displeased God with his offering somehow I guess), is premeditated murder. Interestingly, both sins so far follow warnings not to commit any. When God demands to know where Able is – does he really not know? – Cain speaks the famous words, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” But, since Cain violated and betrayed “the ground” he is supposed to till and work by spilling his brother’s blood on it, it has “cried out” to God. With the cat out of the bag God unleashes the second round of punishment.

When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.

Cain’s punishment is similar to his father’s, in terms of his relationship with the “ground” being affected adversely. And he has to leave his home, as his parents had to. Ironically, Cain is concerned that being sent away might endanger his life: “anyone who meets me may kill me”, he tells God. God promises him that anyone who killed him will suffer “a sevenfold vengeance”, and marks him so that no-one kills him. So off Cain goes, to settle in the land of Nod, “east of Eden”. Significantly this direction was also the one into which his parents were exiled. After his crime, Cain finds himself even further removed from Eden, both symbolically and literally.

Although at this stage there should really only be 3 people on earth Cain finds someone to marry and have a son with. He also builds a city, the first such undertaking mentioned, and calls it after his son, Enoch. A list of Cain’s descendants is provided, the first genealogical list in the Bible. And among them are the first nomadic livestock herders, musicians and metal workers. (The Notes mentioned that Cain’s name derives from the term for metal worker.) Given all this, it is hard not to see Cain as the father of civilisation. Is the combination of civilisation and evil inevitable? There seems to be a clear link between them so far in Genesis.

One of Cain’s descendants obviously inherited the family inclination to murder. Lamech, husband to two wives, boasts to them that he killed a man for wounding him. God’s words to Cain having been passed down from generation to generation apparently, Lamech tells them:

If Cain is avenged sevenfold,
truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold.

He seems to add arrogance to humankind’s growing list of bad qualities.

Back on the ranch as it were, before all this, Adam (for the NRSV now calls him that) and Eve have another son called Seth, who in turn has a son called Enosh.

At that time people began to invoke the name of the Lord.

For the first time, the relationship between God and humankind becomes one of the worship of a deity by his creatures. And so religion finally has its start.

Note:

• The NRSV first refers to “the man” as “Adam” in Genesis 4.25.
• The KJV refers to the “regard” the NRSV says God has for Able and not Cain as “respect”.
• It is odd that no clear reason is provided for God’s preference of Able over Cain. Does this imply that Cain is inherently a bad apple?

Image: Cain and Abel by Il Tintoretto (1518 – 1594)

~ by tamfuwing on May 7, 2008.