Cain and Abel

The story of Cain and Abel, mentioned in the Torah and the Bible at Genesis 4, and Qu'ran at 5:27-32, tells of the murder of Abel by his brother Cain, Cain and Abel being sons of Adam and Eve. In the Torah, this event constitutes the first recorded murder. It is more widely seen as an archtypical story of human relationships and the first war and the persistence of sin and violence in history. While some religions view this story as merely a story of the origin of humanity, and others as a justification of murder, it is generally interpreted as a tragedy in human relationships. The story is set in the Ancient Near East about 6,000 years ago. Many modern scholars believe it derived from earlier stories of conflict between the traditional hunter-gatherer way of life and the agricultural way of life which was developing in the Fertile Crescent.

Origin

In critical 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 competetive 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 1500B.C.E., 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.

The Scriptures

Cain leads Abel to Death, by James Tissot

The Torah presents a brief account of the brothers. It states that Cain was a tiller of the land while his younger brother Abel was a shepherd, and that one day they both offered sacrifice to God. Cain offered fruit and grain, and Abel offered fresh meat from his flock. For an unspecified reason, God favors Abel's sacrifice, and subsequently Cain murders Abel, for another unspecified reason, often assumed simply to be jealousy over God's favoritism. The Torah continues with God apparently unable to find either Abel or his body, and then questioning Cain about Abel's location. 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 a life of wandering 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 "whomsoever 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 his curse, Cain is later mentioned as fathering a lineage of children, and founding a city, which he named Enoch after the name of his son.

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), but Cain is not named, though Islamic tradition records his name as Qābīl (قابيل).

A once common English folk etymology held that Abel was composed from ab and el, effectively meaning source of God. However, this is a fallacy, as the original hebrew only contains the three letters HVL (הָבֶל), which is quite different from ABEL (אבאל). Biblically, the word Hevel (Abel) appears in Ecclesiastes in a context implying it should be translated "pointless" (the King James Version translates it as "vanity," which at the time of translation had the same English meaning, but does no longer), and also appears, in the masoretic text, at 1 Samuel (at 6:18) apparently with the meaning "lamentation." Both biblical uses are traditionally taken to imply that Abel's name is word-play, in reference to Abel's brief life.

The Bible gives a folk etymology for Cain's name; "And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain, and said I have gotten a man from the Lord." The word here translated "gotten" being qanithi in the original Hebrew, a word derived from qanah ("to get"), and hence a word-play on qayin, though there is no etymological relationship between these two words. (See Allen C. Myers, et al.) Some have proposed the name should be identified with the Assyrian word aplu, simply meaning "son," though it is more plausible that the traditional interpretation is correct, namely that is strongly connected to the meaning "lance"/"spear".

Academic considerations have produced a different interpretation, a more direct pun. Abel is here thought to derive from a 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 millenium B.C.E. South Arabian word word qyn, meaning "metal smith" (See Richard S. Hess, Studies in the Personal Names of Genesis 1-11, ISBN 3-7887-1478-6. pp. 24-25). Hence their names are merely descriptions of the roles they take in the story—Abel as a pastoral farmer, and Cain as an agriculturist.

Theological Explanations

To explain God's preference for Abel's offering, Judaism has traditionally pointed to the blood sacrifices (korbanot) as ordained in Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and elsewhere. The New Testament, on the other hand, says that Abel made his offering one of faith (Hebrews 11:4), whereas Cain was inherently evil (1 John 3:12). St. Augustine's developed the classical Christian view in The City of God. Mormonism adds that Cain loved Satan more than God, and only made the sacrifice because Satan told him to. Unificationism teaches that Cain and Abel are archetypes of human beings with two orientations, with Cain focused on the physical body and Abel focused on internal truth. The Fall of Adam and Eve had cut the first family off from God, but Cain killed Abel (who had a better connection to God), he was cut off from the possibility of restoring a relationship with God.

Although most post-medieval Judeo-Christian groups have interpreted Cain's motive in killing Abel as simply being one of jealousy concerning God's favoritism of Abel, this is not the older view. The Midrash, as well as the Qur'an, records 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 and Qur'an record 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 the Book of Moses (part of the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible), which describes that Cain's motive was still jealousy, but it was jealousy of Abel's livestock.

Vengance, Pacifism, Predestination or Restoration?

In the Torah, God is frustrated by the violent and unfaithful society descended from Cain, and the story of the flood judgement describes God's attempt to start the human race afresh with the faithful descendants of Seth, a brother of Cain and Abel. God vowed never to try that approach to eliminate evil from the world again (Gen. 8:20-22).

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 in Sheol, 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.

While the Torah simply states that Cain killed Abel, the Midrash records the tradition that the two brothers fought, until Abel, who was the stronger of the two, overcame Cain, but mercifully spared his life. Cain, however, took Abel unawares and, overpowering him, killed him. The exact method of murder varies with some traditions proposing a stone, others a cane, and others by strangulation. Medieval traditions viewed the murder weapon as being a plow. The Qur'anic version is similar, stating that Abel refused to defend himself against Cain, and hence, in the view of some liberal movements within Islam, Abel is the primary Qur'anic proponent of pacifism and non-violence.

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 (as per Christian belief about Jesus' death) but that of Abel as demanding vengeance (hence the curse and mark).

In The City of God, St. Augustine speaks of two types of men forming two types cities, the way of Babylon and the way of Jerusalem. The earthly cities were corrupt and hopeless and destined for hell, whereas God's chosen people, those represented by Abel (the Church), were pilgrims on this earth moving toward a higher and more perfect eternal life in heaven. This frequently led to the view that God's chosen people were more important, and hence a basis for religious bigotry.

The unificationist position critiques Augustine's argument, saying that one brother cannot be in heaven without the other. True parents can never rest in peace when children do not get along. Hence it develops a paridigm of peaceful reconciliation of the two brothers, whose unity provides a foundation for the entire family to be restored. Hence, one of the goals of God's providence in bringing the kingdom of heaven on earth is for Abel-type and Cain-type people to overcome their fallen nature and live together harmoniously, perfecting the balance of internal and external in each person's character and in the character of society. In Jesus' time, Abel was reflected in the Hebraic view of life and Cain in the Hellenistic view. In modern times this division is between worldviews holding faith in God that give meaning and purpose to life and secular materialistic and atheistic worldviews which lead to moral relativism or deification humanity.

The Mark of Cain

Much has been written about the curse and "mark" of Cain. The word translated as "mark" could mean a sign, omen, warning, or remembrance. In the Torah, 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.

Early Syriac Christianity interpreted the mark as a permanent change in skin color, i.e. that Cain was turned Black. This re-emerged amongst protestant groups, and the curse was often used by them in some attempts to justify racism of one form or another, such as the slave trade, banning interracial marriage, and apartheid. These views have since been disowned by most protestant groups, many now pointing to the tale of Snow-white Miriam as a counter argument, although Christian Identity groups tend to support the interpretation though swapping Blackness being the curse for Jewishness. It is significant to note that these interpretations were not, and are not, recognized by the Mar Thoma groups, Orthodox Christianity, Roman Catholicism, or Coptic Christianity.

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. Conversely, in popular culture, since Victorian times, Cain's bloodlust has often seen him being portrayed as the progenitor of vampires. An even more Satanic role is seen in Latter-day Saint theology, where Cain is considered to be Satan's master, the quintessential Son of Perdition, or Perdition itself, 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.

Burial

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

Although not explicit, God's apparent inability to identify the corpse of Abel has led many to speculate that Abel was buried, or at least hidden. Since at this point in the Genesis account, no-one had ever died, the concept of burial was unknown. In the Talmud, the corpse remained unburied for some time, with Abel's dog keeping away predators and scavengers, until at God's command, two turtle-doves flew down in front of Adam and Eve, one dying when it landed. The other dug a hollow place and moved the dead one into it, hence Adam and Eve did likewise to Abel's body. The Midrash records the opinion that the place of murder was cursed to be desolate forever, with later Jewish tradition identifying it as Damascus.

In 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, 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 - unless it be 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.

Cain and Abel in popular culture

In popular culture, as the first murderer, and murder victim, Cain and Abel respectively have often formed the basis of tragic drama:

• Grendel, son of Cain in the norse-Christian saga of Beowulf
• Kane is the anti-hero of a series of books and short stories by the late Karl Edward Wagner in which the swordsman can never die save by violence and whose eyes are the mark given to him by God.
• The death of Abel is the subject of a poem by Gessner and a tragedy by Legouvé.
• John Steinbeck's East of Eden is a retelling of the Cain and Abel story in the setting of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries and the western migration towards California.
• Cain and Abel were the hosts of the comic books "House of Mystery" and "House of Secrets", respectively, published by DC comics in the 1960s. In Alan Moore's run of the Swamp Thing, these characters were shown to actually be the Biblical characters. Cain is depicted as easily becoming angered and killing Abel, who comes back to life a short while later. When confronted about this, he says, "Don't talk to me about murder! I invented murder!" He claims that both are being punished for their roles, he for being the first predator, Abel for being the first victim. In Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, Cain and Abel became recurring characters, the custodians of the stories, because they had been in the first story.
• Cogliostro, a hellspawn in the Spawn comics, is really Cain, the first one to go to hell.
• Abel Nightroad is the protagonist in the Japanese anime Trinity Blood.
• Cain is the main character in the Japanese manga Count Cain.

The story has also often been considered a source of musical inspiration:

• The story of Cain and Abel appears in Alanis Morissette's "No Avalon," a song about the value of life.
• The second song from Bruce Springsteen's fourth album, Darkness on the Edge of Town is called "Adam Raised a Caine".
• U2's popular song, "In God's Country" from "The Joshua Tree" album, references "Sons of Cain".
• Liam Gallagher wrote the song "Guess God Thinks I'm Abel" for the 2005 Oasis Album, Don't Believe the Truth
• The band Avenged Sevenfold's (whose name comes from the story) "Chapter Four" is named after Genesis 4, which is also the subject matter.
• The Mark of Cain is a band from Adelaide, South Australia.
• Cain is also the subject of two songs by the band Danzig: "Twist of Cain" and "Do You Wear the Mark?".

Characters based on Cain and Abel also appear in various games:

• In Command and Conquer, the leader of the evil Brotherhood of Nod, Kane, is believed by his followers to be the biblical Cain. In the Tiberian Sun franchise, he leads the Brotherhood of Nod, and in the alternate history of Red Alert, he is seen as an advisor to Stalin.
• In the Vampire: The Masquerade role playing game, Caine is held to be the original vampire.
• Kain, a fictional character from Eidos Games who entitles the Legacy of Kain series
• A less connected reference is Abel's Ark, a giant structure in the game Xenosaga Episode I.
• In the original game in the Fire Emblem series, Cain and Abel were a pair of cavaliers that shared a friendly if competitive rivalry. These characters set the standard for common character archetypes in the series, and thus every Fire Emblem game typically has a "Cain" character and an "Abel" character.
• In the game Sanity: Aiken's Artifact, the protagonist and antagonist are brothers and have the names Cain and Abel respectively.
• Cain is the main character of an alternative web comic entitled Cain.

See also

Wikisource has an original article from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica about:

Abel

• Curse and mark of Cain
• Similarities between the Bible and the Qur'an
• Lamech, descendant of Cain
• Generations of Adam
• Cainites - a small gnostic Christian sect of the 2nd century.
• Fratricide
• Cain In Final Fantasy - Cain is one of the main characters in Final Fantasy IV.
• Ishmael (novel)

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Augustine. The City of God. New York: Image Books, 1958. ISBN 0385029101

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