Cain and Abel

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"Cain" and "Abel" redirect here. For other uses, see Cain (disambiguation) and Abel (disambiguation).
Detail of the Ghent Altarpiece (1432) at Saint Bavo Cathedral.
Detail of the Ghent Altarpiece (1432) at Saint Bavo Cathedral.

According to Genesis, Cain and Abel were the first and second sons of Adam and Eve, born after the Fall of Man. Their story is told in Genesis 4:1-16, the Qur'an at 5:27-32, and Moses 5:16-41. In all versions, Cain, a farmer, commits the first murder by killing his brother Abel, a shepherd, after God (called YHWH) rejects Cain's sacrifice but accepts Abel's.

Cain and Abel appear in a number of other texts, and the story is the subject of various interpretations. Abel, the first murder victim, is sometimes seen as the first martyr while Cain, the first murderer, is sometimes seen as a progenitor of evil. Modern scholars suggest that the story may have been based on a Sumerian story representing the conflict between nomadic shepherds and settled farmers.[1][2]

Contents

[edit] Names

Cain and Abel are English renderings of the Hebrew names קַיִן / קָיִן and הֶבֶל / הָבֶל, respectively, from the Bible. In the modern Standard Hebrew transliteration, these are rendered Qáyin and Hével / Hável, whereas in Tiberian Hebrew they are rendered Qáyin / Qāyin and Héḇel / Hāḇel. In the Qur'an, Abel is named as Hābīl (هابيل); Cain is not named in the Qur'an, although Islamic tradition records his name as Qābīl (قابيل). Cain is called Qayen in the Ethiopian version of Genesis,[3] although in several other places such as Jude 1:11, he is called by the variant Qayel (ቃየል), by which name he is more usually referred to in sermons. Some have proposed the name Abel should be identified with the Assyrian word aplu, simply meaning "son"[4]

Academic considerations have produced a different theory, a more direct pun. Abel is here thought to derive from a hypothetically reconstructed word meaning "herdsman", with the modern Arabic cognate ibil, which now more specifically means "camels". Cain (qayin / qyn), on the other hand, is thought to be cognate to the mid-1st millennium BC South Arabian word qyn, meaning "metal smith".[5] This theory would make their names merely descriptions of the roles they take in the story - Abel as a pastoral farmer, and Cain as an agriculturist.

In Scotland the surname "McCain", means "Son of Cain" in Gaelic.

[edit] Story

[edit] Summary

Cain leads Abel to Death, by James Tissot.
Cain leads Abel to Death, by James Tissot.

Genesis (4:1-17) presents a brief account of the brothers. This passage, in the Bible, at the crux of the story of Cain and Abel reads:

"In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. But Abel brought the fat, fatlings, or milk [as Josephus has it (the possible renderings of the consonantal Hebrew)] from 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. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 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 master it." Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him."—Genesis 4:3-8

The story continues with God approaching Cain asking about Abel's whereabouts. In a response that has become a well-known saying, Cain answers, "Am I my brother's keeper?"

Finally, seeing through Cain's deception, as "the voice of [Abel's] blood is screaming to [God] from the ground", God curses Cain to wander the earth. Cain is overwhelmed by this and appeals in fear of being killed by other men, and so God places a mark on Cain so that he would not be killed, stating that "whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be upon him sevenfold". Cain then departs, "to the land wandering". Early translations instead stated that he departed "to the Land of Nod", which is generally considered a mistranslation of the Hebrew word Nod, meaning wandering. Despite being cursed to wander, Cain is later mentioned as fathering a lineage of children, and founding a city, which he named Enoch after the name of his son.


Here is the story from the Quran (5:27-31) translated into English: "And tell them accurately the story of the two sons of Adam. When the two offered their sacrifices, the offering of the one was accepted but that of the other was not accepted. The latter said, 'I will kill you.' The other answered, 'Allah accepts the offerings of the pious people only. Even if you stretch your hand to kill me, I shall not lift my hand to kill you, for I fear Allah, the Lord of the universe; I would rather prefer that you should bear the burden of my sin as well as of your own sin, and become a dweller of Hell; this is the just retribution of the iniquity of the aggressors.' Even after this his evil soul prompted him to slay his brother without the slightest compunction: so he killed him and became one of the losers. Then Allah sent a raven which began to scratch the ground to show him how he might hide the corpse of his brother. Seeing this, he cried, 'Woe be to me! I have not been able to do even as this raven has done and so devise a plan of hiding the corpse of my brother.' After this he became very remorseful of what he had done." [6]

[edit] Motives

The inherent selfishness of Cain, his jealousy, rivalry, and aggression are central to the story. The disconnect between Cain and his higher nature is so great that he fails to understand and master his lower self even in the face of God's wisdom and hospitality.

The account in The Qur'an [5.27-32], similar to one given in The Torah, also strongly implies that the motivation of the fratricide of Cain was due to the rejection of his offering to God, but this is an implication and not explicitly clear.

Although Genesis depicts Cain's motive in killing Abel as simply being one of jealousy concerning God's favoritism of Abel, this is not the view of many extra-biblical works. The Midrash, and the obscure First Adam and Eve all record that the real motive involved the desire of women. According to Midrashic tradition, Cain and Abel each had twin sisters, whom they were to marry. The Midrash records that Abel's promised wife was the more beautiful, and hence Cain desired to rid himself of Abel, whose presence was inconvenient. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Community of Christ, there is a different view, found in part of their scripture, the Book of Moses (part of the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible), which describes that Cain's motive is still jealousy, but it is Abel's livestock of which he is jealous. This translation also holds that it was Satan that "commanded" Cain to make the offering, thus making Cain's sacrifice vain and faithless.

[edit] Abel's death

In Christianity, comparisons are sometimes made between the death of Abel and that of Jesus. In the Gospel of Matthew (at 23:35), Jesus speaks of Abel as righteous. The Epistle to the Hebrews however states that The blood of sprinkling ... [speaks] better things than that of Abel (Hebrews 12:24), i.e. the blood of Jesus is interpreted as demanding mercy but that of Abel as demanding vengeance (hence the curse and mark).

William Blake's The Body of Abel Found by Adam and Eve.
William Blake's The Body of Abel Found by Adam and Eve.

[edit] Burial

According to the Qur'an, it was Cain who buried Abel, and he was prompted to do so by a single raven scratching the ground, on God's command. The Qur'an states that upon seeing the raven, Cain regretted his action [al-Ma'idah:27-31], and that rather than being cursed by God, since he hadn't done so before, God chose to create a law against murder:

if anyone slew a person - be it for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people; and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people.

[edit] Underworld

In classical times, as well as more recently, Abel was regarded as the first innocent victim of the power of evil, and hence the first martyr. In the esoteric Book of Enoch (at 22:7), the soul of Abel is described as having been appointed as the chief of martyrs, crying for vengeance, for the destruction of the seed of Cain. This view is later repeated in the Testament of Abraham (at A:13 / B:11), where Abel has been raised to the position as the judge of the souls:

an awful man sitting upon the throne to judge all creatures, and examining the righteous and the sinners. He being the first to die as martyr, God brought him hither [to the place of judgment in the nether world] to give judgment, while Enoch, the heavenly scribe, stands at his side writing down the sin and the righteousness of each. For God said: I shall not judge you, but each man shall be judged by man. Being descendants of the first man, they shall be judged by his son until the great and glorious appearance of the Lord, when they will be judged by the twelve tribes of Israel, and then the last judgment by the Lord Himself shall be perfect and unchangeable.

According to the Coptic Book of Adam and Eve (at 2:1-15), and the Syriac Cave of Treasures, Abel's body, after many days of mourning, was placed in the Cave of Treasures, before which Adam and Eve, and descendants, offered their prayers. In addition, the Sethite line of the Generations of Adam swear by Abel's blood to segregate themselves from the unrighteous.

[edit] Mark of Cain

Main article: Curse and mark of Cain

Much has been written about the curse of Cain, and associated mark. The word translated as mark could mean a sign, omen, warning, or remembrance. In the Bible, the same word is used to describe the stars as signs or omens, circumcision as a token of God's covenant with Abraham, and the signs performed by Moses before Pharaoh. Although most scholars believe the writer of this part of the story had a clear reference in mind that readers would understand, there is very little consensus today as to exactly what the mark could have been.

The Bible makes reference on several occasions to Kenites, who, in the Hebrew, are referred to as Qayin, i.e. in a highly cognate manner to Cain (Qayin). The Mark of Cain is thus believed to originally refer to some very identifying mark of the Kenite tribe, such as red hair, or a ritual tattoo of some kind, which was transferred to Cain as the tribe's eponym. The protection the mark is said to afford Cain (harming Cain involving the harm being returned sevenfold) is hence seen as some sort of protection that membership of the tribe offered, in a form such as the entire tribe attacking an individual who harms just one of their number.

Baptist and Catholic groups both consider the idea of God cursing an individual to be out of character, and hence take a different stance. Catholics officially view the curse being brought by the ground itself refusing to yield to Cain, whereas some Baptists view the curse as Cain's own aggression, something already present that God merely pointed out rather than added.

In Judaism, the mark is not a punishment but a sign of God's mercy. When Cain was sentenced to be a wanderer he didn't dispute the punishment but only begged that the terms of his sentence be altered slightly, protesting Whoever meets me will kill me! For reasons that aren't specified, God agrees to this request. He puts the mark on Cain as a sign to others that Cain should not be killed until he has had seven generations of children. Lamech his descendant thought that the mark was passed down to him and also that it multiplied, in Genesis 4:23-24, he confesses to his wife that he killed two men (possibly one) and that if his grandparent Cain was protected seven times then he should have it seventy seven times.

15th century depiction of Cain and Abel, Speculum Humane Salvationis, Germany.
15th century depiction of Cain and Abel, Speculum Humane Salvationis, Germany.

In medieval Christian art, particularly in 16th century Germany, Cain is depicted as a stereotypical ringleted, bearded Jew, while Abel is a blonde, European gentile. This traditional depiction has continued for centuries in some form, such as James Tissot's 19th century Cain leads Abel to Death, shown above. This was the result of an apparent necessity to resolve the problem of fratricide not involving an outsider, by explaining it as the result of a group historically vilified by Christianity.[7][8]

In popular culture, since Victorian times[citation needed], Cain's bloodlust has often seen him being portrayed as the progenitor of vampires. Another view is taken in Latter-day Saint theology, where Cain is considered to be the quintessential Son of Perdition, the father of secret combinations (i.e. secret societies and organized crime), as well as the first to hold the title Master Mahan meaning master of [the] great secret, that [he] may murder and get gain.

[edit] Wanderer

As Cain was ordered to wander the earth in punishment, a tradition arose that this punishment was to be forever, in a similar manner to the (much later) legend of the Flying Dutchman. According to some Islamic sources, such as al-Tabari, Ibn Kathir and al-Tha'labi, he migrated to Yemen.

Fernand-Anne Piestre Cormon's painting titled "Cain flying before Jehovah's Curse", c. 1880, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.
Fernand-Anne Piestre Cormon's painting titled "Cain flying before Jehovah's Curse", c. 1880, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Though variations on these traditions were strong in medieval times, with several claims of sightings being reported, they have generally gone out of favour. Nevertheless, both the Wandering Cain theme appeared in Mormon folklore (but not scripture).} The last known claim of a sighting appears to have been in the United States in the year 1868, when he was reported to have visited a Mormon named O'Grady (see Desert News, September 23, 1868). Prior to this in 1836, another early Mormon - David W. Patten - claimed to have encountered a very tall, hairy, dark-skinned man in Tennessee who said that he was Cain. Patten claimed that Cain had earnestly sought death but was denied it, and that his mission was to destroy the souls of men. Patten's story is quoted in Spencer W. Kimball's The Miracle of Forgiveness, which is popular among Mormons.

Despite these later traditional beliefs of perpetual wandering, according to the earlier Book of Jubilees (chapter 4) Cain settled down, marrying his sister, Awan, resulting in his first son, Enoch (considered to be different to the more famous Enoch), approximately 196 years after the creation of Adam. Cain then established the first city, naming it after his son, built a house, and lived there until it collapsed on him, killing him in the same year that Adam died.

A medieval legend used to say that at the end, Cain arrived at the Moon where he eternally settled with a bundle of twigs. This was originated by popular fantasy interpreting the shadows on the Moon face. An example of this belief can be found in Dante Alighieri's Inferno (XX, 126) where the expression "Cain and the twigs" is used as a synonym of "moon".

[edit] Origin

Cain killing Abel, from a 15th century manuscript.
Cain killing Abel, from a 15th century manuscript.

In scholarship, the prevailing theory is that the story is composed of a number of layers, with the original layer deriving from the Sumerian tale of the wooing of Inanna. In the tale, seen as representing the ancient conflict between nomadic herders and settled agrarian farmers, Dumuzi, the god of shepherds, and Enkimdu, the god of farmers, are competing for the attention of Inanna, chief goddess. Dumuzi is brash and aggressive, but Enkimdu is placid and easy going, so Inanna favours Enkimdu. However, on hearing this, Dumuzi starts boasting about how great he is, and exhibits such strong charisma that Enkimdu tells Inanna to marry Dumuzi and then wanders away.

The biblical correspondence in this theory being God to Inanna, Abel, the shepherd, to Dumuzi, and Cain, the farmer, to Enkimdu, and equating only to the competitive part of the story, Cain wandering away, and the extra-biblical traditions concerning the involvement of a beautiful woman. The presence of sacrifices, rather than mere words, in the biblical story, is sometimes seen as simply the priesthood's spin on the story, to emphasise that one form of sacrifice is better than the other.

In later mythology, though still prior to 1500s BC, Dumuzi had become conflated with Enkimdu, and so acted as a general agricultural deity, though still retaining some of the earlier myths. In his more general role, since he was responsible for the yearly crop-cycle, Dumuzi became seen as a life-death-rebirth deity. Exactly how the myth fits in with the marriage of Dumuzi to Inanna is not clear, since the surviving copies of the myth abruptly begin with Inanna descending to the underworld for an unknown reason. Innana can only escape by exchanging herself for a god not in the underworld, and so considers each of them in turn. Dumuzi is only too glad she has gone, and so, in anger, she sends demons upon him, and he dies, thus releasing her. She then changes her mind, showing favour, and bringing Dumuzi back by persuading his sister to take his place for 6 months each year (hence starting the annual cycle).

This murder of Dumuzi is thought, critically, to be the source of the murder of Abel. Since God, unlike Inanna, was seen as being powerful enough not to get stuck in the underworld, he would have had no need to escape, and so no motive to kill Abel, hence the blame shifting to the jealous Cain/Enkimdu. The part of the story involving perpetual annual resurrection and death is not given to Abel, who is supposedly merely mortal.

[edit] Commemorations

Abel is seen as being the first martyr and, thus, as a precursor to Christ. He is invoked in the litany for the dying in Roman Catholic Church, and his sacrifice is mentioned in the Canon of the Mass with those of Abraham and Melchisedek. The Coptic Church commemorates him with a feast day on December 28.[9]

[edit] Allusions

[edit] Literature

As the first murderer and first murder victim, Cain and Abel have often formed the basis of tragic drama. Their names are often used in works of fiction simply as a reference, also. Some notable explorations or references to Cain and Abel include:

[edit] Music

[edit] Games

  • Command and Conquer universe shows the character Kane, and in the ending of the first game, a piece from the Temple of Nod shows Cain killing Abel.
  • Xenogears features characters named Cain and Abel. Abel also appears in the spiritual successor to Xenogears, Xenosaga.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Chapter IV. Miscellaneous myths: Inanna prefers the farmer. Sacred Texts. Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
  2. ^ Cain and Abel. USBible.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
  3. ^ Holy of Holies. Time Emits. Retrieved on 2007-09-08.
  4. ^ .John J. Tierney. Abel. Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 2007-09-08.
  5. ^ Richard S. Hess, Studies in the Personal Names of Genesis 1-11, ISBN. pp. 24-25
  6. ^ S. Abul A'la Maududi The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation and Brief Notes. Lahore, Pakistan: 13E, Shahalam Market, 12th Edition 1995.
  7. ^ Mellinkoff, Ruth (1993). Outcasts: Signs of Otherness in Northern European Art of the Middle Ages. Univ of California Press. ISBN. 
  8. ^ Jonathan Miller. (2003) 'The Atheism Tapes: Jonathan Miller in Conversation' [TV-Series]. United Kingdom: BBC Four.
  9. ^ Holweck, F. G. A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1924.

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