Genesis 4, Murder

Adam and Eve have been kicked out of paradise. The first effect of the Fall is jealousy and murder.

Genesis 4:1-2, First children

    Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man." Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.

NIV footnotes say that Cain sounds like the Hebrew for "brought forth'"or 'acquired" and imply that Eve may has said, "I have brought forth THE man," thinking of the seed promised in the previous chapter.

Genesis 4: 3-5, Cain gets angry

In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. 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.

It is not clear why Abel's offering is acceptable to God and Cain's is not. Presumably Cain ignores some suggestion or requirement. Commentators have pointed out that given the future flow of the Old Testament, leading up to Christ's sacrifice, it is possible that God had ask for portions of an animal sacrifice, involving blood and death.

Genesis 4:6-7, God instructs Cain

Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you 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."

Here it is clear that Cain has been instructed on the right thing to do and has apparently ignored that. We are not told what it is that Cain is not doing; there have been many conjectures.

Genesis 4: 8-12, Murder

 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" 

"I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"

The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth."

In verse 8 the Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac manuscripts have "let's go out to the field"; the Masoretic text does not have this phrase.

Cain's deflection is notorious and so human. "What? Am I supposed to keep up with my younger brother?"  Its cruelty is made obvious in this case -- Cain clearly knows exactly where his brother's body is.

Here, once again, God asks a question to which He knows the answer. Then He lets Cain know that the truth is known and with it comes a curse, a continuation of the Fall. (In the five books of the Torah it is generally not good if God asks you a question.  After all, the questioning is not for the purpose of God gaining information He does not yet have.)

Genesis 4: 13-16, Cain, the wanderer, to be protected

Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."

But the LORD said to him, "Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.

So Cain went out from the LORD's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

NIV footnotes: In verse 15 the Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac manuscripts have "Very well" in place of "Not so".  In verse 16, the land of Nod is named after Cain's curse; Nod means "wanderer".

Genesis 4: 17-22, Cain, Enoch, Lamech
Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.

Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. His brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the harp and flute. Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain's sister was Naamah.

Where did Cain's wife came from?  In the short, story-telling sketches of this history, details are ignored; we get only broad strokes.  There is no suggestion as to where the wives and mothers came from and this is apparently not important for the author.

Genesis 4: 23-24, Lamech and more murder

Lamech said to his wives, "Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times."

Lamech appears to be boasting here, either about a past murder or one soon to be committed. Why does he make this boast to his wives? (I can read into this some type of domestic abuse or assault. Did Lamech feel the "young man" threatened his power or family?)

Genesis 4: 25-26, Seth

Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, "God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him." 

Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. 

At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD.

According to the NIV footnotes, the name Seth probably means "granted", as Eve has been granted her request.

Robert Alter, in his translation of Genesis, notes that Enosh is another Hebrew word for "man" and that the two words for mankind/man, Adam and Enosh, bracket this study of mankind.

We have here summaries of great swaths of history.  We have a strange ending to this chapter -- people in large groups are now beginning to call on (or react to) God.  The history of the God's covenant with humans continues.