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Chapter 3.
Many Doors for Opening up God's Word: Part 1
It's time for a taste of the multiplicity of interpretations that Genesis 4 is open to. Throughout history, this story has been read in ways that are many and varied. It's not that multiplicity has been a problem. The biggest problems have come when a particular interpretation has presented itself as the only right one.
It is a strength of a text like Genesis 4 that it is not limited to one lesson or one meaning only. And it is an ideal text to demonstrate how variety naturally enters the scene. We can approach this text from directions: it all depends what aspects of life readers currently have on their minds. We come with differing, but not necessarily conflicting, interests and issues and it is as if we enter the text through a different door depending on where we are coming from.
a. The Door-way of Issues with the Sacrifice
- Why did God disregard Cain's sacrifice? What was the problem with it?
Perhaps there was something wrong with Cain or something right with Abel that needed showing up.
But it could be the case that, just as the text makes no issue of the sacrifice, so it is of no concern to the narrator. Perhaps it is a 'narrative means' to get to the real point of concern, namely, how to respond to experiences like failure, rejection or feeling disadvantaged.
Yet many interpreters seem to have ignored how little the text says about the whys and wherefores of the sacrifice and speculated on it at length. They may have noticed the narrative silence but felt it inappropriate to disregard the 'noise' in their own heads or to silence their own questions about God's justice.
It may be a plot mechanism, but it throws up its own issues. As a narrative means to a narrative end it seems awfully risky to use God's rejection of a sacrifice to make a point. Does the end always justify the means for a narrator? Hinting at injustice on the part of a one of the key characters - God - is very problematic.
Some theories about why Cain's contribution was rejected
- The phrase "in the course of time" (v.3) suggests that Cain made his sacrifice when he got round to it, with no urgency nor any sense of priority: Abel stands for virtue and Cain for vice (Philo of Alexandria). "Some of the fruit of the ground" (v.3) is a phrase that contrasts with Abel's "firstlings and fat portions" (v.4), implying that Cain only brought leftovers (Genesis Rabba). It is faith that makes the difference for Abel (The Book of Hebrews). For the type of sacrifice involved (minha) the intentions of the one who offers it are paramount, so there must have been something wrong with Cain's intentions (Robert Daly). The blame rests squarely with Adam - the sin which Cain inherits - and the text is a lesson in God's judgment (John Calvin). It is their occupations that are the problem: shepherds have a caring, kingly role, as "watchmen of God's creation"; agriculturalists get results by using the earth and exploiting it for their own gain (Philo again, and Josephus). God likes the smell of meat best! (Saul Levin. Levin observes that God's nose is a very important feature in the Old Testament - note how Noah got a favourable response in Genesis 8:21 and that the phrase "slow to anger" is literally "long of nose" in Hebrew). In all, questioning the sacrifice means questioning the human beings involved, the merit of their actions or the worth of their character. "Attempts to demonstrate the inferiority of Cain's gift … assume that divine acceptance will always be the product of human performance."[3.]
b. An Ethical Door-way
Regardless of these debates about the sacrifice, Cain's reaction - he is infuriated - gets the story to a crucial point, which for a number of interpreters is an ethical point.
1. Genesis 4 connects with previous texts, particularly Genesis 2-3 but also Genesis 1, to explore the question 'what will life be like for these creatures God has called into being?' "With the knowledge of good and evil, human beings have the capacity for either,"[4.] so the stress is now on choice and decision[5.]. God confronts Cain with his relationship with his brother Abel and the fact that Cain demonstrates, first in his response of anger, then in his act of murder, that he does not behave as a brother should. Indeed Cain "is never called the brother of Abel", a point that is in stark contrast to Abel who is "invariably called the brother of Cain."[6.] God's questioning invites Cain to face up to his responsibility for his violent act but it "also conveys a sense of community."[7.] God offers a lesson in human life as lived in watchfulness with and for others.
2. The first ethical lessons are, however, back at the moment of choice. Cain stands on the threshold given him by the knowledge of good and evil as he feels the anger rise up inside himself. He has a choice and God gives him advice to help him choose good and not evil. Sin is like an animal lying in wait, perhaps a wild animal, perhaps a domestic animal - a cat or a dog - "that lies in repose at the door of one's dwelling," [8.] which has its attractions and its quirks but is domesticated from the wild and under continually re-asserted and re-negotiated control. You must find a way to deal with it, says God, deal with the enemy inside you, rather than project it onto the other.
There's an element of subjectivity in Cain. It's hard to know exactly what's going on inside him. He's made a spiritually expansive gesture, and then he's rejected. He's clearly just cast completely into himself. It's a maelstrom. And then God says something very interesting: "The choice is yours."... God is saying, "The blood is boiling in your veins. But if you get outside it, get over it, look at it, see it, you can master it."[9.]
Having cast out Cain's parents "for fear that they're becoming too Godlike in having eaten of the Tree of Knowledge", here "God seems to be saying to their son, 'Be a little more Godlike!'"[10.]
3. The consequences of Cain's action are an important ethical feature of this story. A common approach is to interpret the consequences as punishment, meaning that the outcomes are a specific and targeted response by God to Cain's behaviour. By passing judgment on right and wrong and exacting retribution from the wrongdoer this is to be a lesson for future reference. Boundaries of right and wrong are clearly drawn and God is installed as humankind's keeper and judge.
4. There is no let off for Cain before this judge. Lies do not work. Cain may think he exists as an independent and separate individual (and that's why the rejection hits so hard - the failure is all on his shoulders and he gets no consolation from the success of his brother). But the connections hold beyond Cain and another voice, the soil, speaks its part to God the creator and keeper of the connections. Rhetoric doesn't work either for Cain. The question 'am I my brother's keeper?' is sharp and petulant: the word 'keeper' is a stronger term than might be required for God's purposes here, and it enables Cain to use the classic ploy of overstating the case in order to deny all responsibility. A caring watchfulness, yes, but not the dependency-based custodial role he is suggesting. Maybe the extremes of the word 'keeper' continue to act as an escape route in relation to this story as it is read in contemporary contexts. It can be argued that killing is unavoidable in the context of war and that wars happen because we cannot be 'keepers' for all people, especially not those who threaten our own safety. We rationalise harming others, economically and socially, as an unavoidable consequence of needing to 'keep' ourselves and our own but unable to look after everyone.
5. But rather than seeing the consequences for Cain as intentional punishment they can be seen as simply the logical outcome of Cain's destructive act. For example, "A man who cannot live in peace with his brother has no choice but to leave the land"[11.] and "if he cannot 'keep' his brother, neither can he keep the land."[12.] For Alan Boesak the consequences for Cain are a lesson for all oppressors, that they "shall have no place on God's earth", especially in the respect that it is a curse that "strikes at Cain's very way of life, bound up with the land..."[13.] The outcome of Cain's deed is indicative of the way decisions for evil often come back on the person who makes them, undermining the foundation of their livelihood and value system.
6. Genesis 4 presents lessons in social ethics. This is in contrast to, and a significant development from, Genesis 1-3 where the lessons concerned the relationship of individuals to God and to other human individuals. As Walter Brueggemann puts it: "To live in God's world on God's terms is enough of a problem (Genesis 2-3)... But to live with God's other creatures, specifically human creatures (the brother), is more of a dilemma."[14.]
7. Living together in community has risks even before human beings start making choices. Basic realities of life on earth, which make circumstances far from equal and fair for everyone can put human beings on the back foot from the start. The narrator is highlighting the fact that "Inequality enters where there should be equality,"[15.] and 'throwing up' an example of inequality in order to point out its dangers, and then point towards the best options. Learn from this, the narrator is saying: recognise the destructive in life as it comes to you, and uncover the constructive even when life seems unfair. Learn what is death-dealing and what is life-giving, and choose well.
- But is God soft on Cain in not imposing "proportional punishment" that could then be an effective deterrent for potential killers in the future? Is the opposite of deterrence is suggested, namely, that with God you can get away with murder?[16.]
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[3.] Mark G. Brett, Genesis: Procreation and the politics of identity Routledge, London and New York: 2000, 36.
[5.] cf. Shamai Gelander, , The Good Creator: Literature and Theology in Genesis 1-11, Scholars Press, Atlanta: 1997, 49.
[6.] Ellen van Wolde, "The Story of Cain and Abel: A Narrative Study" JSOT 52 (1991), 33.
[7.] Kenneth M. Craig Jnr, "Questions Outside Eden (Genesis 4.1-16): Yahweh, Cain and their Rhetorical Interchange", Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 86 (1999): 121.
[8.] John van Seters, Prologue to History: The Yahwist as Historian in Genesis, Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville: 1992, 138.
[9.] Bill Moyers Genesis: A Living Conversation Doubleday, New York: 1996, 78.
[11.] Devora Steinmetz, From Father to Son: Kinship, Conflict and Continuity in Genesis, Westminster/John Knox Press, Louisville: 1991,91.
[13.] David M. Gunn and Danna Nolan Fewell, Narrative in the Hebrew Bible, Oxford University Press, Oxford: 1993, 25.
[14.] Walter Brueggemann, Genesis, John Knox Press, Atlanta: 1982, 55.
[15.] Claus Westermann, Genesis 1-11: A Commentary, Augsberg, Minneapolis: 1984, 297.