Genesis: Chapter Four (Cain and Abel)

In which Eve thanks God for letting her give birth to a murderer.

Everyone knows about Cain and Abel. I'm about to recount the story as the Bible tells it, but before I do, I'd like to take a moment to bring everyone up to date on a genealogical point. According to the Bible, up to now, Earth's population is a whopping two people. There's a male named Adam and a female named Eve. That's all for now.

But in the first two verses, Adam and Eve make two babies, Cain first, then Abel. There is no measurement of time to say how much older Cain is than Abel, but I think it's safe to say that it's at least nine months. I won't accept a twin theory because the Bible uses the word "later" to suggest that there was significant time between the two births.

In the first verse, Eve thanks God for allowing her to bear children. This, in contrast to the fact that God supposedly just made childbirth really painful for her, leads me to conclude that she's either being sarcastic or she's brown-nosing.

4:2 says that "Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil." Over the next two verses, both make offerings to God, Cain providing "some of the fruits of the soil" and Abel yielding "fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock."

An interesting thing happens, and I'm not sure what to make of 4:4-5, which say, "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."

How did God alert Cain and Abel of his feelings? Why did God accept the meat and refuse the vegetation? When Cain confronts God about it, God responds, "Why are you so 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." (4:6-7)

Apparently, God has mastered the non-sequitur argument. Instead of answering Cain's question, he tells Cain that in order to be accepted, he must only do what is right. But then the conversation devolves into a rant about sin, which is a strangely Christian word. That is neither here nor there, however, and only shows how easy it is to introduce a non-sequitur into an argument. Even if God's answer is direct, how could Cain possibly know what he did wrong?

At any rate, Cain is angered by his rejection, and in 4:8, he invites his brother into the field, "and while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him."

I understand that Cain was angry, and I even understand why he would take it out on his brother. I have a brother, after all, and I can remember being angry at him sometimes for being more talented at certain things (he's far more athletic than I am, for instance), but fratricide is taking it a bit far.

Is God omnicient? I only ask because he then asks Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" in 4:9, and Cain responds, "I don't know," followed by the famous question, "Am I my brother's keeper?" For the record, and totally off-topic, that's better than being your brother's Trapper Keeper.

Yes, God is omnicient. Abel's "blood cries out to me from the ground." (4:10). In 4:11, God curses Cain, saying that from now on, Cain will be unable to raise crops. Cain will be a "restless wanderer on the earth."

Cain is concerned. He believes God says true, and also that "whoever finds me will kill me."

Let me draw you back to the genealogy lesson that started this post. Before Cain and Abel, there were two people on Earth, Adam and Eve. Then there were four after both kids were born. Now there are three. Who is Cain going to run into, save his own parents? Not that it matters. God puts a mark on Cain so that people won't kill him (out of fear that they'll reap God's vengeance sevenfold). This is much like a child's security blanket. It won't actually help him, but it helps him feel better.

Cain then moves out of town, and the Bible makes it seem like he never went back to his parents. Instead, he heads off to "the land of Nod, east of Eden." (4:16) Immediately after this, we have verse 4:17, "Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch."

STOP! Hold the presses! Where has this wife come from? There is no mention of Adam and Eve producing any more children (yet). There is no mention of God ever creating any other humans. So, unless my knowledge of baby-making is misinformed, there are still only three people on Earth. Only one of them is female. The name of Cain's wife is not mentioned. Did Cain have intercourse with his own mother? Even if he was willing, I find this highly implausible for two reasons:

1. Cain jetted from town as soon as his conversation with God ended, never seeing his parents again. If this is untrue, the Bible doesn't mention an alternate action.
2. Cain just killed Abel, Eve's other son. This is not a turn-on, and the only other possibility would be rape.

I am left to conclude that God condones rape and/or incest when it's necessary (now I really can't wait for Noah's Ark).

At the end of this chapter, we have a large family tree splaying out, and the incest probably thins out a bit during the process, and a few minor events and details pop up here and there. I'll shorten it up for you, since this spans verses 4:17-22:

• Cain builds a city and names it after his son, Enoch.
• Enoch's son is Irad.
• Irad's son is Mehujael.
• Mehujael's son is Methushael.
• Lamech is Methushaels' son.
• Lamech marries two women (Adah and Zillah), and Jabal and Jubal are borne of those wives respectively.
• Jabal is "the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock" while Jubal is "father of all who play the harp and flute."
• Zillah has a second son who made tools from bronze and iron, whose name was Tubal-Cain. He has a sister named Naamah.

Although it's presented in a strange manner, 4:23-24 mention that Lamech admits to his wives that he's killed a man for hurting him, and that he deserves precisely eleven times the amount of God's vengeance that Cain received. "If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times." Compare that to what God said to Cain in 4:15, and you'll find an inconsistency. God says then, "If anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Is Lamech saying he killed Cain?

Probably not. He's probably just misunderstanding God's words (something which still seems to happen today, but more frequently). The very next verse talks about Adam and Eve having another child named Seth. Eve thanks God again, this time for replacing Abel. In the same paragraph, Seth has a kid named Enosh. Time sure moves fast in the Biblical era.

The last verse, 4:26, leaves us with what probably amounts to the Bible's version of a cliffhanger. It says, "At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord."

All in all, this chapter is really a classic story told over a long period of time. We start with jealousy, murder, punishment, and a little bit of good-ole Biblical-fashion banishment. We travel through time, the vengeance of God falls onto somebody other than who it started on, and we finish with the birth of a new child, who everybody sees and proclaims (in the film version, they probably do this in chorus) the name of God unto the Heavens.

My problem with this chapter is how the authors (whoever they are) deftly dodge the issues of rape and incest, even though they must have happened. Unfortunately for them, the problem still stands for anyone intelligent enough to count to three. Surprisingly, this is never an issue I hear brought up by anyone ever.

Chapter Five