In Genesis: Abel (brother) Seth (brother) Irad (grandson) Mehujael (great-grandson) Methushael (great-great-grandson) Lamech (great-great-great-grandson) Jabal (great-great-great-great-grandson) Jubal (great-great-great-great-grandson) Tubal-Cain (great-great-great-great-grandson) Naamah (great-great-great-great-granddaughter) According to later traditions: Aclima (sibling) Azura (sibling)
Cain[a] is a biblical figure in theBook of Genesis withinAbrahamic religions. He is the elder brother ofAbel, and the firstborn son ofAdam andEve, the first couple within theBible.[1] He was afarmer who gave an offering of his crops toGod. However, God was not pleased and favored Abel's offering over Cain's. Out of jealousy, Cain killed his brother, for which he was punished by God with thecurse and mark of Cain. He had several descendants, starting with his sonEnoch and includingLamech.
The narrative is notably unclear on God's reason for rejecting Cain's sacrifice. Some traditional interpretations withinAbrahamic religions consider Cain to be the originator of evil, violence, or greed.
According to the narrative in Genesis 4, Cain was the first human born (as distinct from God's creation of Adam and Eve), and the firstmurderer. When he and his brother made theirofferings to God, the Lord "had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry".[2]
A question arising early in the story is why God rejected Cain's sacrifice. The text states, "In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering: fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor."[3] Noteworthy is the difference in the type of sacrifice: fruits of the soil are renewable and bloodless, while fat portions are set apart for the Lord[4] and taken from the firstborn, pointing to an act of faith, since it is not guaranteed there will be more. TheMidrash suggests that although Abel brought the best meat from his flock, Cain did not set aside the best of his harvest for God.[5]
Similar to the internalized spiritual death, God warns Adam and Eve off from eating the forbidden fruit—they do not physically die immediately, but over time, their bodies age and die—the Lord warns Cain that his inappropriate anger is waiting to consume him: "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door. It desires to have you, but you must rule over it.[6]
According toGenesis 4:1–16, Cain treacherously murdered his brother, Abel, and thenlied about the murder to God. As a result, Cain was cursed and marked for life. With the earth left cursed to drink Abel's blood, Cain could no longer farm the land. He becomes a "fugitive and wanderer" and receives a mark from God - commonly referred to as themark of Cain - so that no one can enact vengeance on him.[7]
Exegesis of theSeptuagint's narrative, "groaning and shaking upon the earth", has Cain suffering from body tremors.[8] Interpretations extend Cain's curse to his descendants, where they all died in theGreat Deluge as retribution for the loss of Abel's potential offspring.[9]
Cain's name in Islamic tradition is Qabil (Arabic:قابيل). His story is mentioned in theQuran, though without a name, where he and his brotherAbel offer sacrifices; Abel's sacrifice was accepted while Cain's was not. Cain gets angry and threatens to murder his brother, but Abel tries to console him, saying that God only accepts sacrifices from the God-fearing and that he would not try to harm Cain. In the end, Cain kills Abel. God sends acrow searching in the ground to show Cain how to hide the disgrace of his brother. In his shame, Cain began to curse himself and became full of guilt.[10]
The Book of Moses in thePearl of Great Price describes the seed of Cain as "black" (Moses 7:22), without explicitly stating whether this description is symbolic or literal. While some early church leaders interpreted this to imply that all people of African descent were descendants of Cain (for example,Brigham Young taught thatThe Mark of Cain could be seen "on the countenance of every African" and used this interpretation as part of the rationale to bar Black men from priesthood ordination in the 19th and 20th centuries[11][12]), the modern leadership ofThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has formally disavowed such teachings. An official Church statement on race declares that the Church "disavows the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor or curse" and affirms that "all are alike unto God" (2 Nephi 26:33).[13]
The Body of Abel Found by Adam and Eve byWilliam Blake, 1826
One popular theory regarding the name of Cain connects it to the verb "kana" (קנהqnh), meaning "to get" and used by Eve inGenesis 4:1 when she says after bearing Cain, "I havegotten a man from the Lord." In this viewpoint, articulated byNachmanides in the thirteenth century, Cain's name presages his role of mastery, power, and sin.[14] In one of theLegends of the Jews, Cain is the fruit of a union betweenEve andSatan, who is also the angelSamael and the serpent in the Garden of Eden, and Eve exclaims at Cain's birth, "I have gotten a man through an angel of the Lord."[15] According to theLife of Adam and Eve (c. 1st centuryCE), Cain fetched his mother a reed (qaneh) which is how he received his nameQayin (Cain). The symbolism of him fetching a reed may be a nod to his occupation as a farmer, as well as a commentary to his destructive nature. He is also described as "lustrous", which may reflect the Gnostic association of Cain with thesun.[16]
Cain is described as a city-builder,[17] and the forefather of tent-dwelling pastoralists, all lyre and pipe players, and bronze and iron smiths.[18]
In an alternate translation of Genesis 4:17, endorsed by a minority of modern commentators, Cain's son Enoch builds a city and names it afterhis son,Irad. Such a city could correspond withEridu, one of the most ancient cities known.[19]Philo observes that it makes no sense for Cain, the third human on Earth, to have founded an actual city. Instead, he argues, the city symbolizes an unrighteous philosophy.[20]
In theNew Testament, Cain is cited as an example of unrighteousness in1 John 3:12 andJude 1:11. TheTargumim, rabbinic sources, and later speculations supplemented background details for the daughters ofAdam and Eve.[21] Suchexegesis of Genesis 4 introduced Cain's wife as being his sister, a concept that has been accepted for at least 1,800 years.[22] This can be seen withJubilees 4 which narrates that Cain settled down and married his sisterAwan, who bore their first son, the firstEnoch, approximately 196 years after the creation ofAdam. Cain then establishes the first city, naming it after his son, builds a house, and lives there until it collapses on him, killing him[23] on the same year of Adam's death.[24]
In this alternative reading of the text, the ground could be personified as a character. This reading is evidenced by given human qualities, like a mouth, in the scripture. The ground is also the only subject of an active verb in the verse that states, "It opens its mouth to take the blood." This suggests that the ground reacted to the situation. By that logic, the ground could then potentially be an accomplice to the murder of Abel (Jordstad 708). The reaction from the ground raises the question, "Does the intimate connection between humans and the ground mean that the ground mirrors or aids human action, regardless of the nature of that action?"[25]
Pseudo-Philo, a Jewish work of the first century CE, relates that Cain murdered his brother at the age of 15. After escaping to theLand of Nod, Cain had four sons:Enoch, Olad, Lizpha, and Fosal, as well as two daughters, Citha and Maac. The latter five are not mentioned in the Bible. Cain died at the age of 730, leaving his corrupt descendants to spread evil on Earth.[32] According to theBook of Jubilees, Cain murdered his brother with a stone. Afterward, Cain was killed by the same instrument he used against his brother: his house fell in upon him, and its stones killed him.[33] A heavenly law was cited after the narrative of Cain's death saying:
With the instrument with which a man kills his neighbour with the same shall he be killed; after the manner that he wounded him, in like manner shall they deal with him.[34]
ATalmudic tradition says that after Cain had murdered his brother, God made a horn grow on his head. Later, Cain was killed at the hands of his great-grandson,Lamech, who mistook him for a wild beast.[35] A Christian version of this tradition from the time of theCrusades holds that the slaying of Cain by Lamech took place on a mound called "Cain Mons" (i.e., Mount Cain), which is a corruption of "Caymont", a Crusader fort inTel Yokneam in modern-dayIsrael.[36]
Various early commentators have said that Cain and Abel have sisters, usually twin sisters. According to RabbiJoshua ben Karha as quoted inGenesis Rabbah, "Only two entered the bed, and seven left it: Cain and his twin sister, Abel and his two twin sisters."[41][42]
The Book of Genesis does not give a specific reason for the murder of Abel. Modern commentators typically assume that the motives were jealousy and anger due to God rejecting Cain's offering, while accepting Abel's.[43] TheFirst Epistle of John says the following:
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."
Ancientexegetes, such as theMidrash and theConflict of Adam and Eve with Satan, tell that the motive involved a desire for the most beautiful woman. According to Midrashic tradition, Cain and Abel each had twin sisters; each was to marry the other's. The Midrash states that Abel's promised wife,Aclima, was more beautiful thanAwan, Cain's promised wife. And so, after Cain would not consent to this arrangement, Adam suggested seeking God's blessing by means of a sacrifice. Whoever God blessed would marry Aclima. When God openly rejected Cain's sacrifice, Cain slew his brother in a fit of jealousy and anger.[43][44] Rabbinical exegetes have discussed whether Cain's incestuous relationship with his sister was in violation ofhalakha.[45]
This statue in the Tuilleries Garden by the Louvre is actually titled "Caïn venant de tuer son frère Abel" and shows Cain after killing his brother Abel.
A millennia-old explanation for Cain being capable of murder is that he may have been the offspring of afallen angel orSatan himself, rather than being the son of Adam.[29][21][31]
A medieval legend has Cain arriving at theMoon, where he eternally settled with a bundle of twigs. This was originated by the popular fantasy of interpreting theshadows on the Moon as a face. An example of this belief can be found inDante Alighieri'sInferno (XX, 126[46]) where the expression "Cain and the twigs" is used as akenning for "moon".
InLatter-day Saint theology, Cain is considered to be the quintessentialSon of Perdition, the father ofsecret combinations (i.e. secret societies andorganized crime), as well as the first to hold the titleMaster Mahan meaningmaster of [the] great secret, that [he] may murder and get gain.[47]
InMormon folklore a second-hand account relates that an early Mormon leader,David W. Patten, encountered a very tall, hairy, dark-skinned man inTennessee who said that he was Cain. The account states that Cain had earnestly sought death but was denied it, and that his mission was to destroy the souls of men.[48][49] The recollection of Patten's story is quoted inSpencer W. Kimball'sThe Miracle of Forgiveness, a popular book withinthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[50] This widespread Mormon belief is further emphasized by an account from Salt Lake City in 1963 which stated that "One superstition is based on the old Mormon belief that Cain is a black man who wanders the earth begging people to kill him and take his curse upon themselves (M, 24, SLC, 1963)."[51]
The authorDaniel Quinn, first in his bookIshmael and later inThe Story of B, 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 thepastoralists.[54]
The expression "Cain-coloured beard" (Cain andJudas were traditionally considered to have red or yellow hair)[56] is used in Shakespeare'sThe Merry Wives of Windsor (1602).[55]
Lord Byron rewrote and dramatized the story in the playCain (1821), viewing Cain as symbolic of asanguine temperament, provoked by Abel's hypocrisy and sanctimony.[55]
John Steinbeck's 1952 novelEast of Eden (alsoa 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.[58]
Country music group4 Runner's song "Cain's Blood" (1995) uses Cain and Abel as a metaphor for the struggle between good and evil in the song's narrator.[60]
The song "Chapter Four" (2003) by American heavy-metal bandAvenged Sevenfold tells the story of Cain and Abel from Cain's perspective. The song's name is also a reference to the Genesis chapter number that Cain and Abel are described in.
^Mari Jørstad (2016). "The Ground That Opened Its Mouth: The Ground's Response to Human Violence in Genesis 4".Journal of Biblical Literature.135 (4): 705.doi:10.15699/jbl.1354.2016.3010.
^Byron 2011, p. 17: "And Adam knew about his wife Eve that she had conceived from Sammael" –Tg. Ps.-J.: Gen.4:1, Trans. by Byron.
^Byron 2011, p. 17: "(Sammael) riding on the serpent came to her and she conceived [Cain]" –Pirqe R. L. 21, Trans. by Friedlander.
^Byron 2011, p. 17: "First adultery came into being, afterward murder. And he [Cain] was begotten into adultery, for he was the child of the serpent." –Gos.Phil. 61:5–10, Trans. by Isenberg.
^Mathiesen, Robert (1998). "Charles G. Leland and the Witches of Italy: The Origin of Aradia". In Mario Pazzaglini (ed.).Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, A New Translation. Blaine, Washington: Phoenix Publishing, Inc. p. 50.ISBN978-0-919345-34-8.
^abByron 2011, p. 11: Anglea Y. Kim, "Cain and Abel in the Light of Envy: A Study of the History of the Interpretation of Envy in Genesis 4:1–16,"JSP (2001), pp. 65–84
^Brewer, E. Cobham (1978).The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (reprint of 1894 ed.). Edwinstowe, England: Avenel Books. p. 3.ISBN978-0-517-25921-4.
^Cannon, Anthon S., Wayland D. Hand, and Jeannine Talley. "Religion, Magic, Ghostlore." Popular Beliefs and Superstitions from Utah. Salt Lake City: University of Utah, 1984. 314. Print.
BDB, Francis Brown;Samuel Rolles Driver;Charles Augustus Briggs (1997) [1906].The Brown Driver Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon: with an appendix containing the biblical Aramaic; coded with the numbering system from "Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible" (7. print. ed.). Peabody: Hendrickson.ISBN978-1565632066.
Hendel, Ronald (2012)."Historical Context". In Evans, Craig A.; Lohr, Joel N.; Petersen, David L. (eds.).The Book of Genesis: Composition, Reception, and Interpretation. BRILL. pp. 51–81.ISBN978-90-04-22653-1.
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