Cain and Abel
First two sons of Adam and Eve
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the biblical Book of Genesis, Cain[a] and Abel[b] are the first two sons of Adam and Eve.[1] Cain, the firstborn, was a farmer, and his brother Abel was a shepherd. The brothers made sacrifices, each from his own fields, to God. God had regard for Abel's offering, but had no regard for Cain's. Cain killed Abel and God judged it murder, cursing Cain and sentencing him to a life of transience. Cain then dwelt in the land of Nod (נוֹד, 'wandering'), where he built a city and fathered the line of descendants beginning with Enoch. Thus, Cain was the first person born, and Abel the first to die.
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The New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews interprets Abel's sacrifice as more acceptable than Cain's because it was offered in faith, earning Abel the approval of God. In the Qur'an, Cain and Abel are known as Qābīl (Arabic: قابيل) and Hābīl (هابيل), respectively. In Islamic tradition, the story of Cain and Abel portrays Cain as the first murderer driven by jealousy and lust, guided by the devil, and punished with guilt and disgrace, with some scholars debating the identity and motives of the brothers.
The story of Cain and Abel is widely interpreted in academic biblical scholarship as a symbolic tale reflecting early agricultural society's tensions—such as those between nomadic herders and settled farmers—and may draw from the older Mesopotamian myth Enlil Chooses the Farmer-God. Cain and Abel have become enduring cultural symbols of fratricide and sibling conflict, referenced and reinterpreted across art, literature, theater, music, and film from medieval times to modern popular culture.
Genesis narrative
The story of Cain's murder of Abel and its consequences is told in Genesis 4:1–18:[2]
Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have produced a man with the help of the Lord."[i] Next she bore his brother Abel.[ii] Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. 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 is lurking at the door;
its desire is for you,
but you must master it."Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let us go out to the field."[iii] And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him.
Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?"[iv] And the Lord said, "What have you done? Listen; your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground! And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.[v] 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 said to the Lord, "My punishment is greater than I can bear! Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me." Then the Lord said to him, "Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance." And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him.
Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch; and he built a city, and named it Enoch after his son Enoch.
— Book of Genesis, 4:1–18[3]
Translation notes
- 4:1 – The Hebrew verb "knew" implies intimate or sexual knowledge, along with possession. The name "Cain", which means "smith", resembles the verb translated as "gotten" but also possibly meaning "to make". (Alter 2008:29).
- 4:2 – Abel's name could be associated with "vapor" or "puff of air". (Alter 2008:29).
- 4:8 – "Let us go out to the field" does not appear in the Masoretic Text, but is found in other versions including the Septuagint and Samaritan Pentateuch.
- 4:9 – the phrase traditionally translated "am I my brother's keeper?" is Hebrew "Hă-šōmêr 'āḥî 'ānōḵî?". "Keeper" is from the verb shamar (שמר), 'guard, keep, watch, preserve.'
- 4:10–12 – Cain is cursed min-ha-adamah, from the earth, being the same root as "man" and Adam.
Origins
Etymology
"Cain" and "Abel" are English renderings of the Hebrew names. Eve's words at Cain's birth (Genesis 4:1) pun on the verb קָנָה (qānâ, "to acquire" or "to get") and the name קַיִן (qayin, "Cain").[4] Robert Alter and Victor Hamilton both hold that the name itself means "smith" (as in blacksmith), as in Aramaic and Arabic, also attested by Cain's descendant Tubal-cain, the described as the first metalworker in Genesis 4:22.[4][5] However, apart from the assonance, further links between the verb and the name is unlikely, since Hebrew names are often associated with words that sound alike regardless of meaning.[6]
The text does not explain "Abel", as it does "Cain". McKeown suggests this is because the meaning would have been transparent to the original audience.[6] הֶבֶל (hebel) means "breath" or "vapour" and is the word translated "vanity" in the refrain of Ecclesiastes; McKeown, Alter and Waltke connect it with the brevity of Abel's life.[6][4][7]
Context of the story
Abel, the first murder victim, is sometimes seen as the first martyr, while Cain, the first murderer, is sometimes seen as an ancestor of evil. Some scholars suggest the pericope may have been based on the Sumerian myth Enlil Chooses the Farmer-God, in which the shepherd-god Emesh and the farmer-god Enten bring their dispute over which of them is better to the chief god Enlil, who rules in favor of Enten (the farmer).[8]
Some scholars view the stories of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel to be about the development of civilization during the age of agriculture; not the beginnings of man, but when people first learned agriculture, replacing the ways of the hunter-gatherer.[9] It has also been seen as a depiction of nomadic conflict, the struggle for land and resources (and divine favour) between nomadic herders and sedentary farmers.[10][11] However, Hamilton argues that such readings do not fit the narrative because conflicts of the ancient world set nomads of the steppe against urban agricultural societies which kept their own livestock, and in this narrative the farmer Cain is driven into nomadism and ends as the founder of the first city.[5] John H. Walton argues that the occupations are not the source of conflict; they explain the choice of offerings. He points out it is God's response to the offerings that causes the conflict.[12] Walton compares the Sumerian tale of Dumuzi and Enkimdu, in which a shepherd god and a farmer god compete for the favour of the goddess Inanna.[12] McKeown agrees with Walton's comparison and adds that such tensions are only background to a story concerned with acceptance by God.[6] Walton notes brotherly conflict is a rare motif in ancient Near Eastern literature. The Tale of Two Brothers (Egyptian) is the most well-known example. However, since its conflict is over a wife, Walton concludes that the surviving literature of the region offers no close parallels to Cain and Abel.[12]
The academic theologian Joseph Blenkinsopp holds that Cain and Abel are symbolic rather than real.[13] Like almost all of the persons, places and stories in the primeval history (the first eleven chapters of Genesis), they are mentioned nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible, a fact that for some scholars suggests that the history is a late composition attached to Genesis to serve as an introduction.[14] The date is also disputed: the history may be as late as the Hellenistic period (first decades of the 4th century BCE)[15] or as early as the 9th-8th centuries BCE,[16] but the high level of Babylonian myth behind its stories has led others to date it to the Babylonian exile (6th century BCE).[17][18]
Interpretation
The offerings
Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.
Both brothers bring a מִנְחָה (minḥâ, "offering" or "tribute"), which is the word later used for the grain offering of Leviticus 2:1–16. Walton notes that in principle there was nothing wrong with Cain's offering of grain, since such offerings were common in the ancient world.[12] The Genesis account does not say why one offering was accepted and the other was not. Various explanations have been offered over the centuries: that what grows of itself is a more fitting sacrifice than what has to be cultivated (Josephus); that Cain's produce, unlike Abel's firstlings, was not first fruits (Ibn Ezra and Philo); that God disapproved of farming because it tied a man to one place (Hermann Gunkel); and that Cain was miserly or stingy.[5] Hamilton observes that all of these are attempts at theodicy, a rational defence of God's conduct, and suggests that "perhaps the silence is the message itself": the fault may have been an inward attitude known only to God, which he takes to be the reading of the New Testament.[5]
Gerhard von Rad proposed that Abel's offering was preferred because it involved blood. Bruce Waltke rejects this view because the minḥâ is a bloodless offering in the Pentateuch. He, as well as McKeown, point to the different descriptions of the offerings: Cain brings "some of the fruits" with no indication that they were the first or the best, while Abel brings fat portions from the firstborn of his flock. Waltke calls Cain's sin "tokenism".[7][6]
The narrative of Cain and Abel is the first of a series of examples of the Bible's subversion of the practice of primogeniture, where the firstborn is the heir.[c][4][6][7]
"Sin is crouching at the door"
The LORD said to Cain, “[...] sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, and you must rule over it.”
Robert Alter says that the opening clause as so elliptic in the Hebrew that "any construal is no more than an educated guess".[4] Hamilton calls God's warning to Cain "one of the hardest verses in Genesis to translate and to understand". Difficulties include the pairing of a feminine noun for "sin" with a masculine participle.[5] E. A. Speiser theorises that the participle רֹבֵץ (rōbēṣ) comes from the Akkadian rābiṣu, which is a demon believed to lurk at the entrances of buildings.[5][12] Walton mentions that alternatively, in earlier Akkadian texts the rābiṣu was an official with a judicial role. However, due to the mention of sin's desire to master Cain, he finds the demonic sense more probable.[12] Waltke interprets the image as sin depicted as a demon or a vicious animal lying in wait, possibly alluding to the serpent of Genesis 3:15.[7]
The rest of the verse ("Its desire is for you, and you must rule over it.") echoes the previous chapter of Genesis. The same word is used for sin's "desire" toward Cain as for the woman's desire for her husband in Genesis 3:16. Furthermore, the verb for Cain's mastering sin is the one used there of the husband ruling over her.[5] The Hebrew verb can be read as a promise ("you shall master it"), a command ("you must") or an invitation ("you may"). Hamilton notes that all these versions preserve Cain's ability to choose.[5]
"Am I my brother's keeper?"
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”
The fraternal relationship between Cain and Abel is emphasized in the text. Waltke notes the word "brother" is used seven times in Genesis 4:2–11,[7] and Alter notes that the victim is twice called "his brother" at the murder and repeatedly "your brother" in God's accusation.[4] Miroslav Volf cites Ellen van Wolde in observing that Abel is repeatedly called Cain's brother while Cain is never called Abel's brother.[19]
The first half of Cain's reply ("I do not know") is a lie and the second half is a rejection of God's question.[5] The word translated "keeper", שֹׁמֵר (šōmēr, "keeper" or "guardian"), was taken by David Daube to be a legal term for a person entrusted with the custody of something.[5] Waltke points out the irony of Cain later fearing for his life, because no one will be "his keeper".[7]
The interrogation scene is part of a pattern started in Genesis 3. First, there is God's question ("Where is Abel your brother?"), similar to his question to Adam, "Where are you?" (Genesis 3:9). Then, both Adam and Cain face a curse involving the ground, and then both are sent away from God's presence to the east of Eden.[5][4][6] Alter finds here the start of a biblical pattern in which history is a cycle of "approximate and significant recurrences".[4] The verb used for the cry of Abel's blood in Genesis 4:10 is the one used elsewhere of the cry of the oppressed, such as the Israelites in Egypt.[5]
Punishment, the mark and Nod
In Genesis 4:11–16, Cain's punishment is to be נָע וָנָד (nāʿ wānād, "a wanderer and a fugitive"); both words describe aimless swaying movement.[5] The name of the land where he settles, Nod, comes from the same root, so that the wanderer comes to live in the land of wandering.[5][4][6] Cain's reply in Genesis 4:13 (“My punishment is greater than I can bear.”) is a double entendre, and can be read either as a complaint that his punishment is too heavy to bear, or as an admission that his iniquity is too great to be forgiven.[6][20]
The mark placed on Cain is a sign of protection and not the stigma suggested by the English idiom "mark of Cain".[4] The text does not specify what or where it was.[5] Waltke suggests it could have been a protective tattoo.[7] "Whoever finds me will kill me" could refer to the practice of blood feud, in which the clan avenged a murdered member, as in the Middle Assyrian laws.[12]
Who else might have found Cain, and where his wife came from, is a popular question. Hamilton notes that critical scholars see in it evidence that the Cain and Abel story was once independent of the Adam and Eve narrative, but himself prefers to take Cain's wife and potential killers as his own siblings.[5] McKeown sees this as "further evidence that the narrator was not answering the sorts of questions that people ask in the 21st century but was addressing issues of his own generation, and any attempt to provide one would be speculative and debatable".[6]
Christian Interpretation
Hebrews 11:4, makes a brief reference to the Cain and Abel story:
By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain's. Through this he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts; he died, but through his faith he still speaks.
It is also referred to in 1 John 3:12:
Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.
Jewish interpretation
In Jewish tradition, has Cain become the archetypal sinner, the first murderer, and "their instructor in wicked practices", both greedy and violent (Josephus[21][22]), and archetypal egoist and a leader of others into sin (Philo[23][24]). In the Testament of Benjamin Cain suffers a plague every hundred years, and those who are like him in hatred of a brother are promised the same judgment.[25][26][27] Ancient interpreters interpreted the narrative as a conflict between good and evil: Abel was a righteous martyr, and Cain became a symbol of evil. Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer makes him the ancestor of all the generations of the wicked.[28]
The Hebrew text of Genesis 4:8 says that Cain spoke to Abel but does not report what he said.[29] Ancient translators filled the gap, in the Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch with the words "Let us go to the field".[30]. All the Targums (except Onkelos) add an expansion in which the murder follows an argument about the justice of God.[31] In Neofiti, Cain complains that because God rejected his offering and accepted Abel's, the world is not governed justly. Abel replies that his offering was accepted because his deeds were righteous. In Pseudo-Jonathan and Neofiti the Cain also declares "There is no Judgment, there is no Judge, there is no other world", and Abel affirms each of these in turn.[32][27][33] This debate between Cain and Abel serves to explain why God preferred Abel's offering and also why Cain killed him; Abel's blunt reference to his own better deeds could have provoked Cain's rage. It presents Cain as a denier of divine justice, a forerunner of later philosophical deniers.[34] Cain becomes the first heretic whose wickedness rests on doubt about divine justice and future judgment, and Abel a martyr for correct doctrine.[29][35] Scholars are not certain of the exact date of the addition, but many think it is from the first century AD.[36] [27]
Other rabbinic sources do not focus on the theological debate, but propose more worldly motives. Genesis Rabbah 22:7 proposes a quarrel over dividing the world's land and movable goods, over where the Temple should be built, or over the first Eve or a twin sister born with Abel. Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer 21 says that Cain desired Abel's twin sister. A tosefta to the Palestinian Targum found in the Cairo Genizah mentions the justice debate as well as a dispute over dividing the flocks and the land, but says the real cause a grudge over each other's wives.[37][38][21]
The Mishnah uses Genesis 4:10, ("blood(s) cries out from the ground") in Sanhedrin 4:5 to warn witnesses in capital cases that destroying one life is like destroying a whole world, interpreting it as Abel's blood and that of his descendants who would have been born to him. It also records a second explanation, that Abel's blood was spattered over trees and stones. Targum Neofiti speaks of "the righteous multitudes that were to arise from Abel".[39][40]
Islamic interpretation
The story of Cain and Abel appears in the Quran 5:27–31:[41]
[Prophet], tell them the truth about the story of Adam's two sons: each of them offered a sacrifice, and it was accepted from one and not the other. One said, 'I will kill you,' but the other said, 'God only accepts the sacrifice of those who are mindful of Him. If you raise your hand to kill me, I will not raise mine to kill you. I fear God, the Lord of all worlds, and I would rather you were burdened with my sins as well as yours and became an inhabitant of the Fire: such is the evildoers' reward.' But his soul prompted him to kill his brother: he killed him and became one of the losers. God sent a raven to scratch up the ground and show him how to cover his brother's corpse and he said, 'Woe is me! Could I not have been like this raven and covered up my brother's body?' He became remorseful.
— The Quran, translated by Muhammad Abdel-Haleem
The story of Cain and Abel has been used as a deterrent from murder in Islamic tradition. Abdullah ibn Mas'ud reported that Muhammad said in a hadith:[42]
No soul is wrongfully killed except that some of the burden falls upon the son of Adam, for he was the first to establish the practice of murder.
Muslim scholars were divided on the motive for Cain's murder of Abel, and why the brothers were obliged to offer sacrifices to God. Some scholars believed that Cain's motives were jealousy and lust. Both Cain and Abel desired to marry their sister, Adam's beautiful daughter, Aclima (Arabic: Aqlimia'). Seeking to end the dispute, Adam suggested that each present an offering to God. The one whose offering God accepted would marry Aclima. Abel, a generous shepherd, offered the fattest of his sheep as an oblation to God. But Cain, a miserly farmer, offered only a bunch of grass and some worthless seeds. God accepted Abel's offering and rejected Cain's—an indication that Abel was more righteous than Cain, and thus worthier of Aclima. As a result, it was decided that Abel would marry Aclima. Cain would marry her less beautiful sister. Blinded by anger and lust for Aclima, Cain sought to get revenge on Abel and escape with Aclima.[43][44]
According to another tradition, the devil appeared to Cain and instructed him how to exact revenge on Abel. "Hit Abel's head with a stone and kill him," whispered the devil to Cain. After the murder, the devil hurried to Eve shouting: "Eve! Cain has murdered Abel!" Eve did not know what murder was or how death felt. She asked, bewildered and horrified, "Woe to you! What is murder?" "He [Abel] does not eat. He does not drink. He does not move [That is what murder and death are]," answered the Devil. Eve burst into tears and started to wail madly. She ran to Adam and tried to tell him what happened. However, she could not speak because she could not stop wailing. Since then, women wail broken-heartedly when a loved one dies.[45] A different tradition narrates that while Cain was quarreling with Abel, the devil killed an animal with a stone in Cain's sight to show him how to murder Abel.[46]
After burying Abel and escaping from his family, Cain married and had children. They died in Noah's flood among tyrants and unbelievers.[47]
Some Muslim scholars puzzled over the mention of offerings in the narrative of Cain and Abel. Offerings and sacrifices were ordained only after the revelation of Tawrat to Moses in Islam. This suggested to some scholars, such as Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, that the sons of Adam, as mentioned in the Quran, are actually two Israelites, not Cain and Abel.[46]
Other interpretations
Sethian interpretation
In the Apocryphon of John, a work used in Sethianism, Cain and Abel are Archons, being the offspring of the lesser god or Demiurge called Yaldabaoth, placed over the elements of fire, wind, water and earth. In this narrative their true names are Yahweh and Elohim, but they are given their earthly names as a form of deception.[48][49]
Hermetic interpretation
A treatise on Christian Hermeticism, Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism, describes the biblical account of Cain and Abel as a myth, in that it expresses, in a form narrated for a particular case, an "eternal" idea. It argues that brothers can become mortal enemies through the very fact that they worship the same God in the same way. According to the author, the source of religious wars is revealed. It is not the difference in dogma or ritual which is the cause, but the "pretention to equality" or "the negation of hierarchy."[50]
Serpent seed interpretation
The serpent seed interpretation for Cain being capable of murder is that he may have been the offspring of a fallen angel or Satan himself, rather than being from Adam.[51][52][53]
Legacy and symbolism
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Allusions to Cain and Abel as an archetype of fratricide appear in numerous references and retellings, through medieval art and Shakespearean works up to present day fiction.[54]
There were other, minor traditions concerning Cain and Abel, of both older and newer date. The apocryphal Life of Adam and Eve tells of Eve having a dream in which Cain drank his brother's blood. In an attempt to prevent the prophecy from happening the two young men are separated and given different jobs.[55]
Cultural references
Like other prominent biblical figures, Cain and Abel appear in many works of art, including works by Titian, Peter Paul Rubens and William Blake.
Multiple plays allude to the story. In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, the characters King Claudius and King Hamlet are parallels of Cain and Abel.[56] Lord Byron also rewrote and dramatized the story in his own play Cain (1821), viewing Cain as symbolic of a sanguine temperament, provoked by Abel's hypocrisy and sanctimony.[57] The 2008 Danish stage play Biblen discusses and reenacts various Biblical stories, including Abel's murder by Cain.[58]
Many novels feature the characters or are closely based on them. Miguel de Unamuno's 1917 novel Abel Sánchez: A Story of a Passion is a re-telling of the Cain and Abel story.[59] John Steinbeck's 1952 novel East of Eden (also a 1955 film) refers in its title to Cain's exile and contains discussions of the Cain and Abel story which then play out in the plot.[60] James Baldwin's 1957 short story, "Sonny's Blues", has been seen as alluding to the Cain and Abel story.[61][62] Author Daniel Quinn, first in his novel Ishmael (1992) and later in The Story of B (1996), proposes that the story of Cain and Abel is an account of early Semitic herdsmen observing the beginnings of what he calls totalitarian agriculture, with Cain representing the first 'modern' agriculturists and Abel the pastoralists.[63] José Saramago's 2009 novel Cain (novel) is an ironical re-telling of Cain's history.
They have also featured in television series and, allegorically, in film. In Dallas (1978), Bobby and J.R. Ewing have been described as variations of Cain and Abel.[64] More direct references include the appearance of Cain and Abel as characters in DC Comics since the 1950s. In 1989, Neil Gaiman made the two recurring characters in his graphic novel series The Sandman.[65] In Darren Aronofsky's allegorical film Mother! (2017), the characters "oldest son" and "younger brother" represent Cain and Abel.[66]
The Bruce Springsteen song "Adam Raised a Cain" (1978) invokes the symbolism of Cain.[67] It is also the title of a season 2 episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.[68]
American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold has a song called "Chapter Four" (2003) which is based on the story of Cain and Abel.[69] American heavy metal band Danzig has a song named "Twist of Cain" which lyrically is inspired by the story of Cain and Abel.[70] British rock band Oasis has a song written by frontman Liam Gallagher called "Guess God Thinks I'm Abel", a reference to his infamously tempestuous relationship to brother and bandmate Noel Gallagher.[71]
See also
- Biblical figures in Islamic tradition
- Biblical narratives and the Qur'an
- Debate between sheep and grain, Sumerian creation myth that has been compared to the story of Cain and Abel
- Debate between Winter and Summer, Sumerian creation myth that has been compared to the story of Cain and Abel
- Nabi Habeel Mosque, considered to be the burial-place of Abel
- Seth, third son of Adam and Eve
- Romulus and Remus
Notes
- /keɪn/; Biblical Hebrew: קַיִן, romanized: Qayīn, in pausa קָיִן, Qāyīn; Ancient Greek: Κάϊν, romanized: Káïn; Arabic: قابيل/قايين, romanized: Qābīl / Qāyīn
- /ˈeɪbəl/; Biblical Hebrew: הֶבֶל, romanized: Heḇel, in pausa הָבֶל, Hāḇel; Ancient Greek: Ἅβελ, romanized: Hábel; Arabic: هابيل, romanized: Hābīl
- Other examples of this preference include Jacob over Esau in Genesis 25:23, Isaac over Ishmael in Genesis 17:19, Joseph over his older brothers in Genesis 17:19, Ephraim over Menasseh in Genesis 48:13–19
