Cain and Abel, Artist: Pietro Novelli, Oil on canvas, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome
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The oldest known copy of the biblical narration is from the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QGenb = 4Q242, mid 1st century), inspected using infra-red photography and published by Jim R Davila as part of his doctoral dissertation in 1988. 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. A few scholars suggest the pericope may have been based on a Sumerian story representing the conflict between nomadic shepherds and settled farmers.

Allusions to Cain and Abel as an archetype of fratricide persist in numerous references and retellings, through medieval art and Shakespearean works up to the present day.

Etymology

Lamentation of Adam and Eve on the Dead Abel, Artist: Giovanni Battista Caracciolo, Oil on canvas, 200 x 148 cm private collection
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More recent scholarship has produced another theory, a more direct pun. Abel is here thought to derive from a reconstructed word meaning "herdsman", with the modern Arabic cognate ibil, now specifically referring only to "camels". Cain, on the other hand, is thought to be cognate to the mid-1st millennium BC South Arabian word qyn, meaning "metal smith". This theory would make the names merely descriptions of the roles they take in the story—Abel working with livestock, and Cain with agriculture—and would parallel the names Adam ("man") and Eve ("life", Chavah in Hebrew).

The name Abel has been used in many European languages as both surname and first name. In English, however, even Cain features in 17th century, Puritan-influenced families, who had a taste for biblical names, sometimes despite the reputation of the original character. Contrary to popular belief, the surname McCain does not mean "Son of Cain" in Gaelic, rather it is a contraction (also McCann) of Mac Cathan. Gaelic cathan means "warrior", from cath "battle".

Murder and motive

1. murder and motive and
confrontation and consequences.

Biblical Account

¹ Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD." ² And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. ³ In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, ⁴ and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, ⁵ but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. ⁶ The LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? ⁷ If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it."

⁸ Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. (Genesis 4:1-8 ESV)

Motives

Though 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.

⁵ but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. ⁶ The LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? ⁷ If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it." ⁸ Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

Abel's death

Abel is invoked in the litany for the dying in the 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.

Underworld

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.

Confrontation and consequences

⁹ Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?" ¹⁰ And the LORD said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. ¹¹ And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth." ¹³ Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is greater than I can bear. ¹⁴ Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me." ¹⁵ Then the LORD said to him, "Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. ¹⁶ Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. (Genesis 4:9-16 ESV)

Comments

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 with an unnamed wife of unknown origin (Gen. 4:17), and founding a city, which he named Enoch after the name of his son.

Mark of Cain

The word Oth in Hebrew also means "a letter" (of the alphabet). Jewish mysticism, among other ancient lores, assigns spiritual ideas or powers to written letters and verses. The Mark of Cain may be a letter, a verse, a message, or a talisman.

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 some form of protection, in that harming Cain involved the harm being returned sevenfold. This 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 did not dispute the punishment but only begged that the terms of his sentence be altered slightly, protesting "Whoever meets me will kill me!" For unspecified reasons, 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. He confesses to his wives that he killed two men (possibly one), and that if his grandfather Cain was protected seven times, then he should have it 77 times.

"Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say:
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for striking me.
²⁴ If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold,
then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold." (Genesis 4:23-24)

Wanderer

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, the Wandering Cain theme has appeared in Mormon folklore (but not scripture)—a second-hand account relates that an early Mormon leader, David W. Patten, encountered a very tall, hairy, dark-skinned man in Tennessee who said that he was Cain. The account states that Cain had earnestly sought death but was denied it, and that his mission was to destroy the souls of men. The recollection of Patten's story is quoted in Spencer W. Kimball's The Miracle of Forgiveness, a popular book within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) (note that Mormonism deviates from biblical, historical Christian beliefs and their bible and teachings do not correspond to the canonical Christian bible).

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 than 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".

Origin

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[vague] seen as simply the priesthood's addition to the story, to emphasise that one form of sacrifice is better than the other.

In later mythology, though still before 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.

Legacy and symbolism

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.

Literature

Some form of legacy or curse of the name is often seen in literature: the monster Grendel in Beowulf is a descendant of Cain. In the epilogue to Agatha Christie's novel And Then There Were None, the author refers to the Mark of Cain in laying out the clues.

Cain was traditionally considered to have red hair; the expression "Cain-coloured beard" is used in Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Their names are often used in works of fiction simply as a reference, also. In Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, the character of Estragon tries to guess the names of two other characters. He guesses Abel and Cain. One of Jason Bourne's many names in the The Bourne Identity and its sequels was Cain, an operative name in the Treadstone 71 program.

In Daniel Quinn's book Ishmael, the biblical story is interpreted as a tale with roots in the emergence of agriculture, where Abel is seen as symbolic of the hunter-gatherer societies that was in majority, and Cain as the then-new and emerging farming cultures. Cain represented the pale, Aryan race coming to destroy more peaceful, dark-skinned Semitic peoples. The mark of Cain is therefore speculated as lighter skin.

In Hermann Hesse's novel Demian, the author uses the story of Cain and Abel to state that Cain actually was rewarded with the mark given by God.

Alexander Trocchi titled his account of life as a heroin addict Cain's Book.

In Kaori Yuki's story Godchild, the name Cain was seen as a curse on the story's protagonist as he had tried to kill a relative.

The protagonist of Iain Banks' novel A Song of Stone is named Abel.

In Brad Meltzer's 2008 book, The Book of Lies, the protagonist is in search of the weapon Cain used to kill Abel. Suggesting that the father of Superman's co-creater, Jerry Siegel, was murdered with a similar weapon.

References

• "She conceived and gave birth to Cain. .. Then she also gave birth to his brother Abel." Genesis 4:1-2 (Holman Christian Standard Bible, HCSB).
• "God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground." Gen 3:23 (HCSB).
• "Cain cultivated the land." Gen 4:2 (HCSB).
• "Abel became a shepherd." (Genesis 4:2).
• Genesis 4:1,3 and others (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, BHS).
• Relevant passage quoted in text below.
• Jim R Davila, Unpublished Pentateuchal Manuscripts from Cave IV Qumran: 4QGenExa, 4QGenb-h, j-k, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1988.
• PaeleoJudaica, Davila's blog post [search for 4QGenb].
• Jubilees 4:31; Patriarchs, Benjamin 7; Enoch 22:7.
• Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses 1:7:5 (c. 180) describes (unfavourably) a Gnostic interpretation. Church Fathers, Rabbinic commentators and more recent scholars have also proposed interpretations.
• Notably by Jesus of Nazareth as quoted by Matthew 23:35 (mid 1st century), "The blood of righteous Abel," in a reference to many martyrs.
• Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer 21 (c. 833) and others.
• Transliteration of original language version: Dumuzid and Enkimdu at Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL) founded by Jeremy Allen Black from Oxford University. English translation at "Chapter IV. Miscellaneous myths: Inanna prefers the farmer". Sacred Texts. Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
• "Cain and Abel". USBible.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
• Brown Driver Briggs (BDB), p. 210.
• Julius Wellhausen, Skizzen und Vorarbeiten, volume 3, (1887), p. 70.
• Eberhard Schrader, Die Keilinschrift und das Alte Testament, 1872.
• "Holy of Holies". Time Emits. Retrieved on 2007-09-08.
• Hebrews 11:4; John%203:12;;&version=KJV; 1 John 3:12; Jude 1:11.
• Novum Testamentum Graece (NA27).
• Richard S. Hess, Studies in the Personal Names of Genesis 1-11, pp. 24-25. ISBN 3-7887-1478-6.
• See Adam and Eve for details.
• For popularity in Thornton, Yorkshire see 'Thornton Village: History' [Internet], Brontë County.
• For a neutral comment regarding America see Myra Vanderpool Gormley, 'Given Names in Early America: Shaped by history, religion and traditions' [Internet], RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees, (Los Angeles Times Syndicate, 1989).
• For general unpopularity note that, "There was a natural dislike of Cain, Delilah, Jezebel, Herod." Donald Lines Jacobus, Genealogy As Pastime and Profession, 2nd revised edition, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publication Company, 1978), p. 29. ISBN 978-0-8063-0188-4
• Henry Harrison, Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary, (London: 1912), p. 65.
• Franklin D. Richards, The Pearl of Great Price: Being a Choice Selection from the Revelations, Translations and Narrations of Joseph Smith, (Liverpool: KD Richards, 1851).
• Literally, the Lord (HCSB).
• The bracketed text has been added for clarity (HCSB).
• or fat calves, or milk Josephus — all plausible renderings the Hebrew consonants
• Lit and his face fell (HCSB).
• Lit. why has your face fallen (HCSB).
• Sam, LXX, Syr, Vg; MT omits Let's go out to the field (HCSB).
• For copies of a spectrum of notable translations and commentaries see Hebrews 12:24 at Biblos.com.
• Holweck, F. G., A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1924.
• The bracketed text has been added for clarity. HCSB
• Or sin
• LXX, Syr, Vg read Not so!
• Or suffer severely.
• S. Abul A'la Maududi The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation and Brief Notes. Lahore, Pakistan: 13E, Shahalam Market, 12th Edition 1995.
• BDB, p. 16f.
• Genesis 1:14
• Genesis 17:11).
• Exodus 4:8-9).
• Letter by Abraham O. Smoot, quoted in Lycurgus A. Wilson (1900). Life of David W. Patten, the First Apostolic Martyr (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret News) p. 50 (pp. 46–47 in 1993 reprint by Eborn Books).
• Linda Shelley Whiting (2003). David W. Patten: Apostle and Martyr (Springville, Utah: Cedar Fort) p. 85.
• Spencer W. Kimball (1969). The Miracle of Forgiveness (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, ISBN 0884944441) pp. 127–128.
• Dante, The Divine Comedy, Inferno, canto 20, line 126 and 127. The Dante Dartmouth Project contains the original text and centuries of commentary.

  • "For now doth Cain with fork of thorns confineOn either hemisphere, touching the waveBeneath the towers of Seville. YesternightThe moon was round."

• Also in Paradiso, canto 2, line 51.

  But tell, I pray thee, whence the gloomy spotsUpon this body, which below on earthGive rise to talk of Cain in fabling quaint?"

• Kramner, S, Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium B.C., Revised Edition, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998) 101-103
• de Vries, Ad (1976). Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company, p. 75. ISBN 0-7204-8021-3.
• oxid.it - Cain & Abel