The First Murder
The Bible tells the story that sometime after being driven out of Paradise, Adam and Eve bore two sons, Cain and Abel (Gen 4). The elder was dedicated to agriculture while the younger was a shepherd. These two brothers were very religious and they offered God the fruit of their labors: Cain with his products from the farm and Abel with the firstborn of his flock.
But according to Genesis, God was pleased only with the offering of Abel, and not with that of Cain. The reason for the preference or how the young men knew about the difference is not clearly stated. It only describes the annoyance and the bitterness of Cain concerning the attitude of God. That is why God spoke to him in a mysterious way: “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” (Gen 4:7).
But Cain would not listen, and he begins to harbor ill feelings against his brother Abel till the day he invited the latter to go to the field, where he attacked and killed him.
Cain’s Punishment
God, then, confronted Cain and questioned him: Where is Abel your brother?” And Cain responded with his famous phrase “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” God answered him: “your brother’s blood is crying 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. When you till the ground it shall no longer yield to you its strength; you shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth” (Gen 4:10-12).
Cain realized what he did and gave a cry of profound pain: “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; and I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will slay me” (Gen 4:13-14).
God, moved by his desperate cry, with an act of mercy, promised to avenge him seven times if someone intended to kill him. God put on him a mark of protection and salvation so that whoever sees Cain will recognize him and respect him. In this way Cain went away from the land he cultivated and took refuge in the desert where he was condemned to a life of wandering and suffering.
A disfigured figure
When one reads this chapter, Cain’s figure is different from what tradition has made us believe about him. Cain does not appear that bad. On the other hand, nowhere does Abel appear as good.
That God preferred the offerings of one more than another does not signify that one is good and the other is bad. Such a choice did not pose a problem then among these ancestors: some problems of morality, injustices or rejection. At that time it was very common that the king or pharaoh could choose people as they wanted due to their sovereignty. God is sovereign.
The negative valuation of Cain was more of a consequence of tradition which interpreted his cry as a cry of despair and obsession that seemed to say, “My sin is so great, I do not deserve forgiveness.” In reality, it was a cry of pain and penitence which did not concur with the text.
To make matters worse, the sign of mercy and salvation that God marked him with to protect him was misunderstood as a sign of being accursed and shamed due to the sin that was committed.
The enigma of the first wife
What is notable here is the series of contradictions and details that don’t seem to connect with the rest of the story.
It begins by saying that Cain was a farmer and Abel a shepherd of sheep (Gen 4:2). But for these two brothers who were the sons of the first couple, this is impossible. According to paleontologists, the earliest humans who appeared on earth were about 2,000,000 years ago, living by means of hunting, fishing and gathering of fruits. The domestication of animals only happened in the year 10,000 BCE, and agriculture came much later, in the year 8,000 BCE. How could Cain already know agriculture and Abel, shepherding?
In Genesis 4:4, it is said that Abel offered to God the firstlings of his flock and their fat portions. But it will only be in Mount Sinai many centuries later where God will order Moses to offer him the firstborn of his flock (Ex 34:19) and the fat portions of the animals (Lev 3:12-16) How could Abel offer something that was not yet established?
Much later, Cain invited his brother to go out with him to the fields (Gen 4:8). But, were they perhaps already living in cities?
After the crime, Cain exclaimed: “Whoever finds me will slay me” (Gen 4:14). Who can kill him when, until then, nobody else existed apart from Adam and Eve.
What is most surprising to biblical readers is found in Genesis 4:17 where it is written: “Cain knew his wife and she conceived.” Where did he get this woman for a wife? Some supposed that this refers to Eve, his very own mother, since incest has not yet been prohibited.
All these questions perturbed many for centuries.
Cain, the hero
Today biblical scholars teach that the story of Cain presents a lot of inconsistencies because it underwent three successive stages before it reached its place in Genesis. In the beginning, it was just a popular tale, transmitted orally, and independent of Adam and Eve. It narrated the life of an ancient hero called Cain, founder of the Cainite tribe, neighbors of the Israelites. Cain lived in a time already advanced. That is why we read about constructed cities, a developed cult in relation to God, of entire nations that inhabited the earth and the mention of agriculture and livestock.
The story begins with the birth of Cain. It tells about the day he came into the world, which his happy mother celebrated with a phrase of much esteem and tenderness: “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord” (Gen 4:1). Perhaps, in the original story, this refers to a semi-divine being that was not uncommon in the thought of the ancient orient. It can be deduced that he was a famous figure in the Bible since it was a custom to explain the name of important persons. In Genesis, we have an explanation of Cain’s name. It signifies “to acquire.”
When the boy grew up, he became the founder of a famous Bedouin tribe called the Cainites who lived in the desert, in the south of Israel.
The story includes even his marriage, perhaps to somebody from the many young women who belonged to these clans who lived in the desert, and the birth of his son, Enoch (Gen 4:17).
Cain: the Homicide
Their Israelite neighbors also knew this story, which the Cainites told concerning their founder, Cain. But they modified the story.
In fact, the Israelites wondered why these Bedouins lived in the plain desert, apart from any of the cultivated lands. And since they could not find sufficient subsistence in these arid territories, they resorted to pillaging and looting.
The Israelites, therefore, asked: Why is it that the Cainites live a life that is so awful and erratic, far from the Promised Land and the blessing of God? And their response pointed to God’s chastisement for a sin committed by their founder. What could this sin be? They did not know, but since the Cainites continuously devastated the crops of their sister tribes, the Israelites imagined that Cain’s sin was against his brother.
Owing to the fact that these Cainites also worshipped Yahweh, just like the Israelites, they included in the story that “Cain offered to Yahweh his fruits.”
These Bedouins were famous for the revenge they perpetrated against whoever killed any of their members. Hence, they added this in the story: “If one slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold” (Gen 4:15).
It is possible that the Cainites manifested externally their belongingness to the tribe by means of a sign or a tattoo. Hence, the text mentions that Cain had a mark “so that nobody who finds him will attack him” (Gen 4:15).
To complete the story, one more detail was needed: to add the figure of his assassinated brother. In this manner, Abel was included.
The missing brother
The story as related has entered a second phase. The Hebrew tradition slowly converted that legendary hero, Cain, founder of the Cainites, into somebody who committed a fratricide, who was then chastised by God to live as a wanderer. This explains a lot of peculiarities in the story.
Before anything else, the narrative shows that the principal character is Cain. In fact, he alone speaks. He is the solitary one who has an active role. And he is the lone character who converses with God. In contrast, Abel is just a decorative figure. His role is secondary and without any importance. He does not say anything. God never speaks to him, and his sole reason for being in the story is to complement the action of his brother.
On the other hand, the name of Abel is not given any explanation. Moreover, in Hebrew, Abel’s name means “nullity,” “emptiness,” something without consistency. It is so neutral that no other biblical character will ever use it again.
Plagiarism in God’s name
Some time later, during the time of King Solomon, the story of Cain enters a third stage. An anonymous Jewish scribe realized that the story offered a lot of possibilities. This farmer who was expelled from cultivating the land and condemned to be a perpetual vagabond offered explanations about the meaning of the presence of evil in the world. That is why the writer retouched some of the details and attached it to the story of Adam and Eve, even if there were some inconsistencies such as the question of the origin of Cain’s wife, when Cain is just the third human being.
This is because the author wanted to offer a response to the tormenting question of why evil exists, why there is suffering, why people must suffer hardship. The author did it by adding the story of Adam and Eve: since humans disobeyed God by eating the prohibited fruit, humanity chose to follow its own will than that of the Creator and so they cut off their relationship with God.
Nevertheless, this explanation is still unsatisfactory. Our author knows it. To say that when people sin against God a disorder is created in the world is to tell only half of the truth. By means of Cain’s story, a person condemned to a life of hardship and difficulties for failing his brother provides the other half of the truth. Evil increases in the world when offenses are made against one’s neighbor.
Because of this, to insist that Abel is a “brother” is the only thing that interests the author. He is obsessed by the idea, so it is repeated seven times in such a short passage. It is as if the story wants to convey that any person, by forming part of humanity, is a brother of the rest of humanity.
The second original sin
The story of Adam and Eve has four parts: a) God’s commandment (do not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil); b) human disobedience (taking the fruit and eating it); c) God’s chastisement (because you have done this…); d) hope of salvation (Yahweh made garments for the man and the woman).
The story of Cain and Abel has the same structure: a) God’s commandment (if you do well you can raise your head but if not…); b) human disobedience (Cain murdered his own brother); c) God’s chastisement (You are cursed from the ground…); d) hope of salvation (Yahweh especially marked Cain so that nobody will attack him).
It is clear that there is an intention to apply the same theme found in the story of Adam and Eve: the origin of evil. But now we have a different answer. In the first story, the sacred author explains that the evil in the world depended on the relationship between humans and God. But here, we have the completion of the information, that evil does not breed only when there is a rupture between humans and the Creator. It appears as if there is a “second original sin” story: the rupture of the relationships between peoples.
That is why in the narration of Adam and Eve, it is the voice of God which reproves the first parents for their sin. In contrast, in the story of Cain, it is Abel’s blood which accuses: “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.”
The question of Cain’s marriage is devoid of any importance. This is a data that pertains to the old narrative which became unrelated when the story was inserted in Genesis. What really mattered was the meaning.
That the king may know it
The teaching of the story of Cain was really revolutionary in its own time. It wanted to convey that the wrong done to a brother/sister is as grave as a wrong done against God. The person’s responsibility towards God is the same responsibility before one’s brother or sister.
As we have said, the inspired author wrote this page of the Bible during the reign of Solomon. During that time the ruling class, as well as the officials and the priests were teaching officially that people were good Israelites when they complied with their obligation towards God. It insisted on the offering of temple sacrifice, paying tithes and giving one’s service to the king who represented God. But the king, in the pretext of serving God, exploited the people, abused them and employed them without compensation to build his palaces and big buildings.
In Cain’s story, the author of the text, obviously dared to denounce this doctrine that came from the palace by saying that according to God, to be a good believer necessarily included preserving the life of other human beings, one’s brothers and sisters, taking care of them and looking after them.
By placing here the story of Cain, the author of this text completes daringly the official doctrine, denouncing that, according to God, to become a good believer it is also necessary to preserve the life of people, taking care and protecting it because we are all brothers and sisters.
Jesus’ Insight
The story of Cain, placed after the one of Adam and Eve, fomented the teaching of respect for others with the same zeal that God is respected.
But the Jews considered brothers and sisters only the other Jews, not the rest of the people. For this reason Jesus, many centuries later, actualized that teaching. When he was asked what was the most important commandment of the lay, he answered that there was not one but two: to love God with all of one’s heart, and to love neighbors as we love ourselves. And when he was asked who was the neighbor, he widened the interpretation of this word and extended it to reach every person with whom we get in touch with in life. (Lk 10:25-37).
Many times, especially in past centuries, Christians emphasized only the first commandment, the one of loving God and gravely neglected the second, respect for others. Today Christians tend to accentuate the second, the solidarity towards others, forgetting the first one.
From the depth of biblical prehistory, the story of Cain teaches us that to encounter balance in life, it is necessary to have both present.
