AM I MY BROTHER’S KEEPER?


The story of Cain and Abel
is the second installment
of the Fall narrative,
describing the first manifestation
of evil in humankind. Genesis 4
tells how Adam and Eve’s elder
son, Cain, murders his brother,
Abel. It follows a similar pattern
to the previous chapter: ignoring
divine warnings and committing
a sin is punished, in this case with
exile. While Adam and Eve disobey
God’s specific command, Cain’s sin
is violent: his anger at God and
jealousy of Abel lead him to commit
an act of fratricide.
Sibling rivalry
Genesis 4 begins with the birth
of the two brothers to Adam and
Eve. When the boys reach
adulthood, they pursue different
occupations. The elder brother,
Cain, becomes an agriculturalist,
a tiller of the soil, like his father;
Abel, the second son, becomes
a pastoralist, a keeper of sheep
and goats. These were the chief
occupations during the time in
which the authors of Genesis were
writing, and tensions sometimes
flared up between agriculturalists
and pastoralists over the use of
the land. However, there is nosuggestion that disputes over
land use—or any inherent conflict
between the occupations—was
the source of the animosity
between Cain and Abel.
In the passage, both brothers
bring sacrificial offerings to God.
Abel takes “fat portions from some
of the firstborn of his flock,” while
Cain brings “some of the fruits of
the soil” (4:3). God responds
favorably to Abel’s offering, butnot to Cain’s, which is less
valuable. Cain is jealous of Abel.
Noticing Cain’s anger (4:7), God
warns him that if he does not do
what is right, sin will “crouch” at
the door (the Hebrew word for
“crouching” being the same as the
Babylonian word for a demon that
waits in doorways, a play on words
by the authors of Genesis, who
were writing during the Jews’
captivity in Babylon in the sixth
century bce). God tells Cain to
master the demonic temptation
of sin. Cain, however, does not
temper his impulses. Instead, he
lures his brother out into the fields
and murders him.