Cain and Abel

File:Peter Paul Rubens - Cain slaying Abel (Courtauld Institute).jpg

Cain slaying Abel, by Peter Paul Rubens, Template:C.

In the biblical Book of Genesis, CainTemplate:Efn and AbelTemplate:Efn are the first two sons of Adam and Eve.Template:Sfn Cain, the firstborn, was a farmer, and his brother Abel was a shepherd. The brothers made sacrifices, each from his own fields, to God. God had regard for Abel's offering, but had no regard<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> for Cain's. Cain killed Abel and God cursed Cain, sentencing him to a life of transience. Cain then dwelt in the land of Nod (Template:Langx), where he built a city and fathered the line of descendants beginning with Enoch.

In the Qur'an, Cain and Abel are known as Qābīl (Template:Langx) and Hābīl ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), respectively. The events of the story in the Qur'an are virtually the same as the Hebrew Bible narrative. Both brothers offered individual sacrifices to God; God accepted Abel's sacrifice and rejected Cain's; out of jealousy, Cain slew Abel – the first case of murder committed on Earth.

Genesis narrative

File:Cain leadeth abel to death tissot.jpg

Cain leadeth Abel to death, by James Tissot, Template:Circa

The story of Cain's murder of Abel and its consequences is told in Genesis 4:1–18:<ref>Alter, Robert, trans. 2008. "Genesis 4." In The Five Books of Moses. p. 29.</ref>

Book of Genesis, 4:1–18<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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Origins

Etymology

Cain and Abel are traditional English renderings of the Hebrew names. Cain (Hebrew, Kayin), derives from kinyan, or acquisition. Abel (Hebrew, Hevel) means empty, vain, or transitory.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Context of the story

The story has interpretations. Abel, the first murder victim, is sometimes seen as the first martyr, while Cain, the first murderer, is sometimes seen as an ancestor of evil. Some scholars suggest the pericope may have been based on a Sumerian story representing the conflict between nomadic shepherds and settled farmers.Template:Citation needed Modern scholars typically view the stories of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel to be about the development of civilization during the age of agriculture; not the beginnings of man, but when people first learned agriculture, replacing the ways of the hunter-gatherer.Template:Sfn It has also been seen as a depiction of nomadic conflict, the struggle for land and resources (and divine favour) between nomadic herders and sedentary farmers.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The academic theologian Joseph Blenkinsopp holds that Cain and Abel are symbolic rather than real.Template:Sfn Like almost all of the persons, places and stories in the primeval history (the first eleven chapters of Genesis), they are mentioned nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible, a fact that for some scholars suggests that the history is a late composition attached to Genesis to serve as an introduction.Template:Sfn The date is also disputed: the history may be as late as the Hellenistic period (first decades of the 4th century BCE)Template:Sfn or as early as the 9th-8th centuries BCE,Template:Sfn but the high level of Babylonian myth behind its stories has led others to date it to the Babylonian exile (6th century BCE).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn A prominent Mesopotamian parallel to Cain and Abel is Enlil Chooses the Farmer-God,Template:Sfn in which the shepherd-god Emesh and the farmer-god Enten bring their dispute over which of them is better to the chief god Enlil,Template:Sfn who rules in favor of Enten (the farmer).Template:Sfn

Christian interpretation

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The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in Hebrews 11:4, makes a brief reference to the Cain and Abel story:

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain's. Through this he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts; he died, but through his faith he still speaks.{{#if:Hebrews 11:4, New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref>|{{#if:|}}

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Islamic interpretation

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File:Cain and abel islamic manuscript.jpg

Cain burying Abel: Persian miniature of a version of Stories of the Prophets

The story of Cain and Abel appears in the Quran 5:27–31:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

[Prophet], tell them the truth about the story of Adam's two sons: each of them offered a sacrifice, and it was accepted from one and not the other. One said, 'I will kill you,' but the other said, 'God only accepts the sacrifice of those who are mindful of Him. If you raise your hand to kill me, I will not raise mine to kill you. I fear God, the Lord of all worlds, and I would rather you were burdened with my sins as well as yours and became an inhabitant of the Fire: such is the evildoers' reward.' But his soul prompted him to kill his brother: he killed him and became one of the losers. God sent a raven to scratch up the ground and show him how to cover his brother's corpse and he said, 'Woe is me! Could I not have been like this raven and covered up my brother's body?' He became remorseful.{{#if:The Quran, translated by Muhammad Abdel-Haleem|{{#if:|}}

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The story of Cain and Abel has been used as a deterrent from murder in Islamic tradition. Abdullah ibn Mas'ud reported that Muhammad said in a hadith:<ref>Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim</ref>

No soul is wrongfully killed except that some of the burden falls upon the son of Adam, for he was the first to establish the practice of murder.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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Muslim scholars were divided on the motive for Cain's murder of Abel, and why the brothers were obliged to offer sacrifices to God. Some scholars believed that Cain's motives were jealousy and lust. Both Cain and Abel desired to marry their sister, Adam's beautiful daughter, Aclima (Arabic: Template:Transliteration). Seeking to end the dispute, Adam suggested that each present an offering to God. The one whose offering God accepted would marry Aclima. Abel, a generous shepherd, offered the fattest of his sheep as an oblation to God. But Cain, a miserly farmer, offered only a bunch of grass and some worthless seeds. God accepted Abel's offering and rejected Cain's—an indication that Abel was more righteous than Cain, and thus worthier of Aclima. As a result, it was decided that Abel would marry Aclima. Cain would marry her less beautiful sister. Blinded by anger and lust for Aclima, Cain sought to get revenge on Abel and escape with Aclima.<ref>Ibn Kathir. "Surat Al-Ma'ida." In Tafsir al-Qur'an al-adhim [Interpretation of the Holy Qur'an].</ref><ref name=Benslama189>Template:Cite book</ref>

According to another tradition, the devil appeared to Cain and instructed him how to exact revenge on Abel. "Hit Abel's head with a stone and kill him," whispered the devil to Cain. After the murder, the devil hurried to Eve shouting: "Eve! Cain has murdered Abel!" Eve did not know what murder was or how death felt. She asked, bewildered and horrified, "Woe to you! What is murder?" "He [Abel] does not eat. He does not drink. He does not move [That is what murder and death are]," answered the Devil. Eve burst into tears and started to wail madly. She ran to Adam and tried to tell him what happened. However, she could not speak because she could not stop wailing. Since then, women wail broken-heartedly when a loved one dies.<ref>Adapted from Ibn Abul-Hatim's narrative in Tafsir al-Qur'an al-adhim and Tafsir al-Tabari, Surat Al-Ma'ida</ref> A different tradition narrates that while Cain was quarreling with Abel, the devil killed an animal with a stone in Cain's sight to show him how to murder Abel.<ref name="ReferenceA">Tafsir al-Qur'an al-adhim and Tafsir al-Tabari, Surat Al Ma'ida</ref>

After burying Abel and escaping from his family, Cain married and had children. They died in Noah's flood among tyrants and unbelievers.<ref>The Beginning and the End, Ibn Kathir – Volume I</ref>

Some Muslim scholars puzzled over the mention of offerings in the narrative of Cain and Abel. Offerings and sacrifices were ordained only after the revelation of Template:Transliteration to Moses in Islam. This suggested to some scholars, such as Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, that the sons of Adam, as mentioned in the Quran, are actually two Israelites, not Cain and Abel.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Gnostic interpretation

In the Apocryphon of John, a work used in Gnosticism, Cain and Abel are Archons, being the offspring of the lesser god or Demiurge called Yaldabaoth, placed over the elements of fire, wind, water and earth. In this narrative their true names are Yahweh and Elohim, but they are given their earthly names as a form of deception.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Legacy and symbolism

File:Cain and Abel. Plaster cast after bronze (1425-1438 CE) by Jacopo Della Quercia (1374-1483 CE), Bologna, Italy. National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.jpg

Cain and Abel. Plaster cast after bronze (1425–1438) by Jacopo Della Quercia (1374–1438), Bologna, Italy. National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh

File:Cain and Abel, 15th century.jpg

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File:Titian - Cain and Abel.JPG

Cain and Abel, 16th-century painting by Titian

Allusions to Cain and Abel as an archetype of fratricide appear in numerous references and retellings, through medieval art and Shakespearean works up to present day fiction.Template:Sfn

The serpent seed explanation for Cain being capable of murder is that he may have been the offspring of a fallen angel or Satan himself, rather than being from Adam.<ref name="Ginzberg">Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, Vol. 1, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998, Template:ISBN, pp. 105–09</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

A treatise on Christian Hermeticism, Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism, describes the biblical account of Cain and Abel as a myth, in that it expresses, in a form narrated for a particular case, an "eternal" idea. It argues that brothers can become mortal enemies through the very fact that they worship the same God in the same way. According to the author, the source of religious wars is revealed. It is not the difference in dogma or ritual which is the cause, but the "pretention to equality" or "the negation of hierarchy."<ref name="Meditations on the Tarot">Powell, Robert, trans. [1985] 2002. Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism. pp. 14–15</ref>

There were other, minor traditions concerning Cain and Abel, of both older and newer date. The apocryphal Life of Adam and Eve tells of Eve having a dream in which Cain drank his brother's blood. In an attempt to prevent the prophecy from happening the two young men are separated and given different jobs.<ref>Williams, David. 1982. "Cain and Beowulf: A Study in Secular Allegory." p. 21. University of Toronto Press.</ref>

Cultural references

Like other prominent biblical figures, Cain and Abel appear in many works of art, including works by Titian, Peter Paul Rubens and William Blake.

Multiple plays allude to the story. In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, the characters King Claudius and King Hamlet are parallels of Cain and Abel.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Lord Byron also rewrote and dramatized the story in his own play Cain (1821), viewing Cain as symbolic of a sanguine temperament, provoked by Abel's hypocrisy and sanctimony.<ref name="deVries76">Template:Cite book</ref> The 2008 Danish stage play {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} discusses and reenacts various Biblical stories, including Abel's murder by Cain.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Many novels feature the characters, or are closely based on them. Miguel de Unamuno's 1917 novel Abel Sánchez: A Story of a Passion is a re-telling of the Cain and Abel story.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> John Steinbeck's 1952 novel East of Eden (also a 1955 film) refers in its title to Cain's exile and contains discussions of the Cain and Abel story which then play out in the plot.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> James Baldwin's 1957 short story, "Sonny's Blues", has been seen as alluding to the Cain and Abel story.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Author Daniel Quinn, first in his novel Ishmael (1992) and later in The Story of B (1996), proposes that the story of Cain and Abel is an account of early Semitic herdsmen observing the beginnings of what he calls totalitarian agriculture, with Cain representing the first 'modern' agriculturists and Abel the pastoralists.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> José Saramago's 2009 novel Cain (novel) is a ironical re-telling of Cain's history.

They have also featured in television series and, allegorically, in film. In Dallas (1978), Bobby and J.R. Ewing have been described as variations of Cain and Abel.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> More direct references include the appearance of Cain and Abel as characters in DC Comics since the 1950s. In 1989, Neil Gaiman made the two recurring characters in his graphic novel series The Sandman.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In Darren Aronofsky's allegorical film Mother! (2017), the characters "oldest son" and "younger brother" represent Cain and Abel.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref>

The Bruce Springsteen song "Adam Raised a Cain" (1978) invokes the symbolism of Cain.<ref>Margotin, Philippe; Guesdon, Jean-Michel (2020). Bruce Springsteen All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. London: Cassell Illustrated. p. 112</ref> It is also the title of a season 2 episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold has a song called Chapter Four (2003) which is based on the story of Cain and Abel.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> American heavy metal band Danzig has a song named Twist of Cain which lyrically is inspired by the story of Cain and Abel.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See also

• Biblical figures in Islamic tradition
• Biblical narratives and the Qur'an
• Debate between sheep and grain, Sumerian creation myth that has been compared to the story of Cain and Abel
• Debate between Winter and Summer, Sumerian creation myth that has been compared to the story of Cain and Abel
• Nabi Habeel Mosque, considered to be the burial-place of Abel
• Seth, third son of Adam and Eve

References

Bibliography

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Further reading

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• A Practical Christian Commentary on Cain and Abel by Friedrich Justus Knecht, London, B. Herder (1910)

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External links

• Template:Bibleref2 at BibleGateway.com
• Story of Cain and Abel in Sura The Table (Al Ma'ida) Template:Webarchive
• Rashi on Genesis, Chapter 4, by Rashi
• Sanhedrin 37b, Sefaria