Why did Cain kill his brother Abel?

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One answer might be that he was jealous that Abel’s offering was accepted by God while his was not. So he let his passions rein and killed him.1

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And the message of this part of the story? Control your passions!   

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Yet one can question this explanation. Do we really need this biblical story to tell us that passions running amok can be hazardous?

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Moreover, jealousy is usually based on something being beyond a person’s reach. If it can be obtained with minimal effort, what reason is there to get jealous? 

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When warning Cain, God tells him that acceptance of an offering can easily be achieved. He just needs to work on his attitude. This is certainly within reach. 

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Motives of jealousy and passion just do not fit well into this story. 

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However, there is another possibility. Two things were uppermost in Cain’s mind — himself and his privileges. Perhaps inadvertently, Abel had stepped on both. 

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As discussed in the previous chapter, Cain regarded himself as the spiritual head of the family. Abel had butted in. Not only this, but he had even earned God’s favor while doing so.  

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The situation could not be so easily rectified. Cain could insist that his brother not butt in again, although Abel could protest that he already had a rapport with God while Cain did not. Alternatively, Cain could get rid of his brother. 

 

Following His rejection of Cain’s offering, God provides a warning to Cain. Does this warning accord with the explanation I have given regarding Cain position and privileges? I suggest it does. Not only this, but analysis of the text reveals many deep philosophical ideas introduced by the Torah for the very first time.

 

What type of warning was this?

 

God knows the innermost thoughts of man. He could surmise, knowing Cain’s character, that following His rejection of Cain’s offering there was the possibility of violence. It was appropriate, therefore, that He provide a warning to Cain.

 

Nevertheless, God’s warning constitutes one of the most enigmatic sentences in the Torah. I am not the only one to say this. The Talmud ranks this sentence among the five most puzzling in the Torah.2 Its language is poetic and not straightforward. Not surprisingly, therefore, one sees wide-ranging translations and interpretations.

 

An acceptable translation could be as follows:

 

And YHWH said to Cain: “Why are you upset and why has your countenance fallen? Surely, if you improve yourself, you will be lifted up (se’et) (שְׂאֵ֔ת). But if you do not improve, sin crouches (rovetz) at the door. Its desire (teshukatzo) is towards you, yet you can conquer it (Genesis 4:6). 

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ו) וַיֹּ֥אמֶר הָֹ֖׳ אֶל־קָ֑יִן לָ֚מָּה חָ֣רָה לָ֔ךְ וְלָ֖מָּה נָפְל֥וּ פָנֶֽיךָ׃

ז) הֲל֤וֹא אִם־תֵּיטִיב֙ שְׂאֵ֔ת וְאִם֙ לֹ֣א תֵיטִ֔יב לַפֶּ֖תַח חַטָּ֣את רֹבֵ֑ץ וְאֵלֶ֙יךָ֙ תְּשׁ֣וּקָת֔וֹ וְאַתָּ֖ה תִּמְשׇׁל־בּֽוֹ׃

 

What does the Torah mean when it says  - “….  if you improve yourself, you will be lifted up”?  Who or what is being lifted up?  

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Rashi, based on Targum Onkelos, translates the phrase as “you will be forgiven,” since in other contexts the Hebrew phrase “nose avon” (נשא עון) or lifting up a sin means forgiving a sin. Thus, if you improve yourself, your sin of bringing an imperfect offering will be forgiven. 

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However, it could be asked of Rashi and Onkelos — what type of sin had Cain committed? Without any nudging, Cain had made an offering. Disappointingly, it did not meet the grade. Nevertheless, it is difficult to regard Cain’s actions as being sinful.

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Nachmanides proposes that the lifting up relates to Cain’s status, and suggests the translation: “If you improve yourself you will have [added] lifting [beyond that of your brother, for you are after all the firstborn].”3

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Ibn Ezra suggests that it is “your countenance” that will be lifted up, since the beginning of the sentence refers to Cain’s countenance falling. Doing a better job would be the means of improving his self-esteem.4 God is recognizing Cain’s annoyance and depression and saying to him something like: “don’t feel dejected, put all this behind you, do a better job, and you will have good reason to feel more satisfied.”

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Whichever way one translates the first part of this sentence, the bottom line is that it is well within Cain’s capability to restore matters to their prior state. What he needs to do is make an offering with the right intent.

 

However, there is a further interpretation that places a somewhat different perspective on the verse. The verb “se’et” can mean either “you will be lifted up” in the masculine or “it will be lifted up” with a feminine construct. The word “mincha” or offering mentioned in a prior sentence is a feminine noun.5 Hence the verse could be saying – “if you do a better job, it (namely your offering) will be lifted up (i.e., your offering will become acceptable to God), but “if you do not improve, sin crouches at the door”.

This sentence now reads as a condemnation of people like Cain who use religion for furthering their desire for acquisition, power, and control. 

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We now need to explicate the second part of the verse:

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But if you do not improve, sin crouches (rovetz) at the door. Its desire (teshukatzo) is towards you, yet you can conquer it (Genesis 4:6). 

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Rashi and Nachmanides view these words as indicating that the yetzer hara, the evil inclination, or one’s passions to do evil, are lurking behind the door ready to pounce whenever they are given the opportunity.

 

However, although the word “rovetz” is often translated as “crouch,” this is not an accurate translation. 

This verb is typically associated with a lion as in: 

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Judah is a lion’s whelp, from prey my son you ascended; he stooped down, he crouched, laid down (rovetz) like a lion, and like an awesome lion who dares rouse him up? (Genesis 49:9)

 

In this context, the verb “rovetz” is not so much crouching and waiting for an opportunity, but lying down in a leisurely way.

 

Similarly, in this sentence from the Book of Exodus:

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Perhaps you will see the donkey of someone you hate lying (rovetz) under its burden, will you refrain from helping him? You shall surely help along with him (Exodus 23:5).

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Again, this is not a donkey ready to pounce, but a donkey lying down and struggling with its load.  

Two other words in God’s warning to Cain will also be familiar to us – “to desire” and “to rule” — since we met both in the previous chapter in relation to Eve’s desire for her husband:

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To the woman he said, I will greatly multiply the pain of your child bearing; in sorrow you shall bring forth children; and your desire (teshukatzcha) shall be to your husband, and he shall rule (yimshol) over you (Genesis 3:16).

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There is no malevolent intent here. The “desire” of a woman is not to trip up her husband but to become a partner with him in a joint mission. 

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This is no doubt why R’ Hirsch has a different spin on this part of the verse: 

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Sin, the appeal of the senses. . . .  It has the power to master you, but it remains quietly behind our door. . . .  If it is at home with you, yea, finally to become the master of your house, you must in the first instance have invited it in. . . . 

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God has given sensuality an appeal to your senses, not that it should master and direct it, but that you should master and direct it. . .  but “timshal”, regulate it, rule over it and . . . direct it. That is its whole purpose and calling.”6

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In other words, he is interpreting the words “Its longing is towards you/ and you shall rule over it” not as “Its longing is towards you yet you shall rule over it” as others have done, but rather “Its longing is towards you that you should rule over it.”

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R’ Hirsch has textual support and even a midrashic saying to support this interpretation:7

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In sum, God is saying that the desires and passions of a person should be a positive factor in that person’s development. Admittedly, these desires have the potential for being used for bad. Your role, Cain, is to use them as they were intended, namely for the betterment of yourself. 

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Cain now has a choice. He can admit that Abel’s offering was a more appropriate way of thanking God than his own. If he does this, he will be acknowledging Abel’s right to have had a relationship with God that includes formalistic ritual. In so doing, he will have diminished his own role as the religious functionary of the family although moving the family forward in its spirituality. Alternatively, he can get rid of Abel.  

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Before closing this section, there is an issue that could be asked about this verse, and that could also be asked about other verses in the Torah, namely why did the Torah put this warning in such an abstruse manner such that multiple interpretations are possible? 

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A likely answer is that the Torah employs different literary formats. In this passage it is inviting the reader to penetrate the subtleties of its language and formulate suggestions as to their meaning. It is not that any one suggestion is more correct than another, but that everyone will find the meaning and relevance most appropriate for themselves.

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There is another prominent example of this in this story. Prior to his killing of Abel, the Torah describes Cain meeting Abel in the field, and then he “said” to his brother. But the Bible provides no mention as to what Cain actually said! The verb “said” in Hebrew always requires a subject, just as it does in English:

 

And Cain said to his brother when they were in the field.  And Cain rose up against his brother and killed him (Genesis 4:8).

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Here also, the text is inviting the reader to suggest reasons for the absence of a speech. 

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So let us do so.

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Cain could well have told his brother that he, Cain, was the boss of the family and that Abel as a nobody had no right to infringe on his privileges. Perhaps an argument ensued. Nevertheless, whatever Cain said to Abel really made no difference, since he had already decided to kill him. This was less a sin of passion than premeditated murder.  

  

 

Does the punishment fit the crime?

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The Cain and Abel story introduces for the first time the vital concept that YHWH is concerned not only with relationships between Himself and mankind, but there is also a God-given moral code with respect to interpersonal relationships. This seems very obvious to us; but this is because we have been groomed by the Torah. In the ancient world, however, this would have been a revolutionary concept. The gods of that time were not concerned with human behavior. This story also introduces another radical idea — that the earth itself, the foundation of the Agricultural Revolution, also participates in this moral code.

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Well before Gilbert and Sullivan thought up the idea, the Torah formulated the concept that a punishment should fit the crime. Punishment is to be dispensed measure for measure according to the offence. This concept operates in this story too. The relevant verses are as follows:

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YHWH said to Cain: “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said: “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” Then He said: “What have you done? Behold, your brother’s bloods cry out to me from the ground. Therefore, you are cursed from the ground which opened wide its mouth to receive your brother’s bloods from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall not continue to yield its strength to you. You shall become a wanderer and exile on the land. Cain said to YHWH: “My iniquity is too great to bear. You have banished me this day from the face of the ground and I will be hidden from your presence. I will be a vagrant and wanderer on earth: whoever meets me will kill me!” . . .  Cain left the presence of YHWH and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden (Genesis 4:9-16).

 

Nothing is hidden from God, even the innermost thoughts of man. God asks Cain the whereabouts of his brother and then tells Cain that He knows full well where he is.8

 

And the measure for measure? 

 

Rashi looks at the next sentence about Abel’s life force crying out from the ground. The ground has been cursed ever since Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad and were driven from the Garden of Eden. This was a general curse applicable to all mankind. Now, he, Cain, will be cursed even more from the “ground” than previously and this additional curse will be directed specifically at him.9  

 

R’ Hirsch suggests that previously the “ground” had provided Cain the opportunity to use his position as firstborn to further his material acquisitions and maintain his position. Now that he has committed murder, measure for measure he is now cut off from the earth.10 

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The Cain and Abel story is a story about the Agricultural Revolution. The Torah is now telling us something new about the “ground” and its use and abuse by man. Cain’s exile is not only punishment but part of a metaphysical construct. As R’ Hirsch points out:

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When God placed the earth under man’s sway, it was to be elevated in the service of moral human purposes by the use of its powers. But crime severs the bond between earth and man.10

 

The earth is a moral entity. It is unable to yield its bounty to a murderer because it is soaked with the blood of his victim. Cain is an agriculturalist. Therefore, there is no option for him but to leave farming and become a wanderer on the face of the earth.

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Cain also recognizes, and God agrees with him, that because of this murder “I will be hidden from your face.” When God turns His face to an individual, he is exposed to Divine providence.11 When he is hidden from God’s face, there is loss of Divine providence and he is subject to the happenings of chance. Well almost. God will make sure that no avenger is able to kill him.

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Following his abandonment by God, Cain is exiled to the east of the Garden of Eden. Going eastwards is synonymous with leaving the presence of God.12 The exit from the Garden of Eden was at its easternmost aspect and Adam was sent eastwards. Cain is now further from the exit of the Garden and even further from the presence of God.

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To summarize some of the philosophical and ethical points raised by this story:

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• Human life is sacred.

 

• The crime of murder is so terrible that it cannot be forgiven.

 

• There is Divine providence in this world for those who merit it.

 

• Murder severs the connection between man and God and between man and the earth.

 

• To be banished to the east is to lose God’s favor.

 

Where is this story heading?

 

When confronted by God and asked: “Where is Abel your brother?” (ibid 4:9), Cain avoids all responsibility — “Am I my brother’s keeper?” There is no suggestion of remorse here. He sees his punishment only in terms of himself — “my iniquity is too great to bear. . . ”  and not in terms of the evil he has committed. The connection between himself, God and the earth has also been severed. He is now a wanderer and a vagrant with no fixed abode on earth.

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However, there is no turning back civilization. Either he or his son, and it is not clear from the text whom, builds a city (ibid 4:17). From a literal perspective, it makes most sense that it is Cain’s son who builds the city (since Cain was a wanderer) and Cain calls the city after his son. Future generations become involved in furthering the technology by which civilization progresses. Jabal works as a herdsman, Jubal develops musical instruments, and Tubal Cain sharpens copper and iron, presumably for making weapons. By the seventh generation, Lemech will boast to his wives about the murders he has done (ibid 4:23). In effect, Cain’s line is heading towards the moral collapse of society. Eventually, the “land” will reject the entire population of the world in a flood and destroy it except for the family of Noah.

 

However, the trajectory is not entirely downwards. After 130 years, Adam and Eve have another child whom Eve calls Seth:

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And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son, and she named him Seth (Shes) (שֵׁ֑ת), because “Elohim has provided (shos) (שָֽׁת) me another child in place of Abel, for Cain had killed him.” And a son was also born to Seth, and he named him Enosh; then it was begun to call in the name (likro beshem) of YHWH (ibid 4:25-26).

 

Eve’s approach to this pregnancy is very different from how she dealt with her previous ones. No longer is she sharing her accomplishments with God, but she now recognizes that this son came entirely from God “For God has provided me another child in place of Abel” (ibid 4:25).

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Seth’s son also recognizes the role of God, and in the next verse, which is also at the end of the chapter, this son “began to call out by the name of God“(ibid 4:26). This is proclaiming the existence of God, just as Abraham does many generations later.13

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This sets the stage for later generations from the line of Seth. An individual called Chanoch, the seventh generation from Adam “walked (vayithalech) with God” (ibid 5:22). Within ten generations from Adam, Noah will be born. And “Noah found grace in the eyes of YHWH” (ibid 6:8). 

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All of Cain’s generations will be wiped out in the flood, but a righteous remnant from the stock of Seth will retain knowledge of God. This remnant, in the person of Noah, will save the world.

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It is of interest that the Torah goes out of its way to emphasize the word “brother.” Hence, early in the story when discussing the birth of Abel: “And again she gave birth to his brother Abel” (ibid 4:2).14 But what else would Abel be but Cain’s brother since they both have the same mother? Cassuto also points out that the word “brother” is mentioned seven times in this biblical paragraph (4:1 to 4:26).14 This may not be a coincidence. When a word like this occurs seven times, it is functioning as a key word for emphasis.

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The Torah could well be telling us that there is such a thing as the brotherhood of man. Because of his self-centeredness, farmer Cain shattered this brotherhood. Nevertheless, in the future, a unique person of stature called Abraham will begin to put the broken pieces together.

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In sum, the Cain and Abel story elaborates on a new dimension to God’s concern. Unlike the pagan gods of the ancient world, YHWH and Elohim are deeply involved with the fate of mankind and its moral status. The rest of the Bible is the elaboration of this notion.

 

References

1.   A motive is not elaborated on in midrashic sources. That the Bible does not tell us what Cain “said” in Genesis 4:8 suggests to Rashi that Cain initiated a meaningless quarrel with Abel as an excuse for killing him, although Rashi does not elaborate on the reason for this quarrel. R’ D Fohrman in “Of Roses and Triangles” in “The Beast that Crouches at the Door”, p 181, Aleph Beta Press 2011 places the blame on unpremeditated passion. Nahmanides suggests that Cain was jealous and concerned that the world would be built up through Abel’s descendants rather than his own, since God had shown Abel favor.

 

2. TB Yoma 52b

 

3.  Translation by ArtScroll Series, The Torah: With Ramban’s Commentary Translated, Annotated, and Elucidated. Bereishis/Genesis, verse 3:7, p137, Mesorah Publications Ltd, 2004

 

4.  As in “perhaps he will lift up my face” in Job 32:21

 

5.   This grammatical analysis is pointed out in the chapter “Fratricide and Founding” in “The Beginning of Wisdom. Reading Genesis” by Leon R Kass, p141, The University of Chicago Press 2003.

 

6.  The Pentateuch, Translation and Commentary by Samson Raphael Hirsch on Genesis 4:7, p102. Judaica Press, United Kingdom, 1989.

 

7.   R’ Hirsch To Genesis 4:7 quotes one Rabbinic saying from among several about this verse: “R” Simone said: If your evil inclination comes to mock you [and cause you to sin], make him glad with words of Torah, for it says (Is 26:3) “with your controlled sensuality you keep peace” and then it will be reckoned to you as if you were the creator of both worlds, for it does not say you have created peace, but dual peace shalom shalom. And if you say this is beyond your powers, has not God already pronounced in His Torah: “his longing is towards you” (Midrash Rabba 22:6) 

 

8.  According to Rashi, Radak and Sforno this was a rhetorical question. God was providing Cain with the opportunity to repent. The explanation we have presented is that once Cain had committed murder, he could never be forgiven.

 

9. Rashi to Genesis 4:11.

 

10.   The Pentateuch, Translation and Commentary by Samson Raphael Hirsch on Genesis 4:12, p106. Judaica Press, United Kingdom, 1989.

 

11. This phrase is also found in the priestly blessing – “May God lift His countenance to you …” (Numbers 6:26)

 

12. The prime direction in the ancient world until the discovery of magnetic north was the east. In the pagan world, east was the direction from which the gods appeared. The gods slept during the night but awoke at dawn and then appeared in the east. This was why Pagan temples faced towards the east. The Garden of Eden was also in the east (ibid 2:8). However, when man was exiled from the Garden of Eden, the cherubim stood guard from the east of the Garden. (ibid 3:24) The Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and later the Temple faced towards the west, thereby distinguishing it from pagan places of worship.  In Jewish thought, the prime direction towards God is in the direction towards the west. Hence, when Cain moved to the land of Nod east of Eden, he was moving even further from the presence of God. Rabbi Solveitchik states: “When he (Cain) looked upon Eden, his promised land, he faced westwards, towards the horizon in the direction of the setting sun, Similarly, when Moses climbed the mountain to look upon the Land of Israel, he faced westward. … Historically, Israel was exiled to the east, a movement in a direction which represents failure. Repentance represents a return to one’s source, a retracing of one’s steps. On man’s trek westward towards Eden, he stumbled by violating the moral law. He had to go back where he started. The Kabbalistic idea of shechina bma’arav, the Divine Presence being in the west, is a reflection of man’s desire, whether conscious or unconscious, to come closer to God” from “In Chumash with commentary based on the teachings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik”, The Neuwirth Edition. Bereishis, Complied and edited by Dr. Arnold Lustiger, p41, OUPress, First edition 2013. 

 

13. The Midrashic interpretation of this phrase is far different from the one presented here. (Bereishis Rabba 23:7, Tanchuma, Noach 18, Targum Yonasana). The Hebrew verb “huchal” can also be interpreted not only as “began” but also as “profaned.” Hence Rashi will explain this verse as “to call me names of men and the names of the icons by the name of the Holy One, Blessed is He, to make of them idols and to call them deities.” This also led Maimonides to write “as time passed, the honored and revered name of God was forgotten by mankind and vanished from their lips and minds and they were unable even to recognize Him” (Hilchos Avodas Kochavim 1:2). My essay suggests the very opposite, that the knowledge of God was lost by the generations of Cain and only the generations of Seth retained this knowledge. This in turn was passed on to Noah. The forefathers “calling on the name of God” is mentioned several times in the Torah (Genesis 12:8, 13:4, 21:33, 26:25). There are other commentators who favor this interpretation rather than the midrashic one, namely Rashbam, Ibn Ezra, Ibn Caspi, Sforno, and R’ Hirsch.

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4. The Story of Cain and Abel, Introduction in “A Commentary on the Book of Genesis, Part One. From Adam to Noah” by U Cassuto, p192, First English Edition, The Magnes Press, P.O. Box 7695, Jerusalem 91076, Israel.