Cain & Abel
Twin brothers
Genesis 4: 1-2 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” 2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
I know you know the story of Cain and Abel but there are some interesting facts that I discovered which I would like to share with you. To begin with: Cain and Abel were twin brothers. To prove the point, we have to look at two parts in the Bible where birth is given. In Genesis 29:32-33 where it states that Leah conceived and bore a son, and then she conceived again and bore a son. Note that there are two conceptions and two births. But notice how it is worded in Genesis 4:1-2. says that: Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain; And again, she bore his brother Abel.
Notice that there is only one conception, but two births. The Hebrew word for "again" is asaph, meaning to add something, in this case, the birthing of Abel was added to the birthing of Cain. Cain and Abel were twins. Although they were twin brothers, Cain was still born first and therefore we can say that Cain was the oldest. It is important to remember it because later it will tell us why Cain was so angry that he killed his brother.
In Hebrew, Cain means to acquire or possess something that is why Eve said "I have gotten/acquired (qanah, also from the root QN) a man"
On the other hand, the name Abel means vain or vanity (Gen 4:1). It means to be empty of substance.
In other words you will agree with me that Cain was a possessor, one who has a reflection of character and substance while Abel was the one without substance.
The assumption we can make is that Cain thought he had a higher authority than his younger brother. Let's keep this all in mind as we look at the sacrifices brought to God.
According to the Biblical text, Abel was a shepherd. The KJV uses the word "keeper," but the Hebrew word ro'eh means shepherd. Cain was a "tiller of the ground." The Hebrew word translated as "tiller" is o'ved, which literally means a "servant." in Genesis 3:23 where it states that when Adam was expelled from the garden he was sent to "till" (avad) the ground. Therefore, Cain, who is the older of the twins, takes on the profession of his father, a very common occurrence in the Hebrew culture.
Their Sacrifices
Genesis 4-7 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel brought of the firstlings 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 countenance fell.
6 So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
When the two brothers brought their sacrifices to God, God had respect for Abel's sacrifice, but not for Cain's.
We are not told why Cain's sacrifice was not respected. (King James Version)
I've always thought that Moses received the first commands but apparently, it's not so because, in this story. we can make the following assumption that God gave rules to Adam and Eve and their children and that Abel obeyed it, but Cain didn't.
According to what we read in the following text section, it appears that God warned him that sin lies and waits at the door, but according to the Hebrew translation, it is not the case. Instead, God warned him against his flesh that rules over his spirit.
And to prove this point of view, we have to look what is the meaning of the following words:
Genesis 4:6-7 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. (King James Version)
It is very important to know that all name words in Hebrew are male or female. The word sin is "female". This is proving the point above that God did not point to sin, but to a person. Otherwise, it should have read as follows. "And unto thee shall be "hers "desire, and thou shalt rule over "her".
We come to the conclusion that God refers to a person and not to sin. In this passage, God actually tells Cain to let go of his jealousy over his brother. According to the Hebrew translation, that there was a possibility that Abel wanted to take over the leadership because he felt superior to Cain as his sacrifice was accepted by God. Because Cain always had authority over his younger brother, he now thought that his younger brother would take over the authority because God accepted his sacrifice and not his. And he could not accept that. Also, remember that Cain's character was one of substance and Abel's was of vanity.
Thank you for reading, part 2 will follow soon, don't miss it!
May you be blessed abundantly by this study!
Source: www.ancient-hebrew.org - The untold story of Cain and Abel
