In Genesis 4:12-13 God continues to elaborate on the consequences of Cain ’s action. This verse makes us wonder, again, if a punishment was handed by God, or is God elaborating on the consequences as a matter of cause and effect?
Cain follows with an ambiguous defence statement, which can be interpreted either as an admission of guilt, or the exact opposite.
This is the second post about Gen 4:7. In the previous one, we discussed whether doing good deeds guarantees a reward (at least in this world). Here, the verse continues to discuss the concept of sin, warn us from his lust, and gives us the commandment us to reign over it.
Continue readingIn this part of this discussion, we explore Gen 4:2 in which we are introduced to the two brothers, Cain and Abel, now adults.
| ב וַתֹּסֶף לָלֶדֶת, אֶת-אָחִיו אֶת-הָבֶל; וַיְהִי-הֶבֶל, רֹעֵה צֹאן, וְקַיִן, הָיָה עֹבֵד אֲדָמָה | |
|---|---|
| And she continued to give birth | וַתֹּסֶף לָלֶדֶת |
| to his brother Abel. The word אֶת as discussed in a previous post, has no equivalent in the English language, and it is mostly used as an object marker. More on that in the following discussion. | – אֶת–אָחִיו אֶת הֶבֶל |
| And Abel would become | וַיְהִי–הֶבֶל |
| רֹעֵה – Someone who takes animals to the field צֹאן – is collective word for sheep and goats | רֹעֵה צֹאן |
| And Cain was | וְקַיִן, הָיָה |
| עֹבֵד – worker אֲדָמָה – soil, land, earth Putting the two words together is an expression meaning a farmer. | עֹבֵד אֲדָמָה |
| 2. And she (Eve) continued to give birth to his brother, (and named him) Abel; and Abel would become a shepherd, and Cain would become a farmer. |
In addition to our regular blog postings, I also give online lesson to help you gain fresh insights. This is an example of such a Study Session Recording discussing the first part of the story of Cain and Abel, the meaning of a name and the birth of Cain.
In this part of the video lesson we will be discussing Genesis 4:1-5.
We also invite you to discover the other topics in our blog.
To attend live sessions please check our meetups
You can see here the text of the Bible (Genesis 4) both in Hebrew and in English: https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0104.htm
In this second post about Cain and Abel, we will finish verse 1 (you can find the first part here: https://hebrew-bible.net/2021/10/18/cain-and-abel-part-1-whats-in-a-name/.
Eve is giving birth to Cain and Abel.
| א וְהָאָדָם, יָדַע אֶת-חַוָּה אִשְׁתּוֹ; וַתַּהַר, וַתֵּלֶד אֶת-קַיִן, וַתֹּאמֶר, קָנִיתִי אִישׁ אֶת-יְהוָה. | |
|---|---|
| And she got pregnant | וַתַּהַר |
| And she gave birth to Cain | וַתֵּלֶד אֶת-קַיִן |
| And she said | וַתֹּאמֶר |
| This word comes from the root קנה. It has multiple meaning. The most common one is to buy. For example, Gen 25:10 הַשָּׂדֶה אֲשֶׁר–קָנָה אַבְרָהָם מֵאֵת בְּנֵי-חֵת–שָׁמָּה קֻבַּר אַבְרָהָם, וְשָׂרָה אִשְׁתּוֹ. The field that Abraham bought from Beni Chet A different meaning of the word is to create, as we can see in Gen 14:19 יט וַיְבָרְכֵהוּ, וַיֹּאמַר: בָּרוּךְ אַבְרָם לְאֵל עֶלְיוֹן, קֹנֵה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ. Blessed Abraham from Supreme God who created heavens and earth. BTW, the י at the end of the word means I, as the person who conducted the action. So, depending on the interpretation, it can mean either I bought, or I created. | קָנִיתִי |
| Man | אִישׁ |
| This word is a preposition that denotes the object of an action. It does not have an equivalent in English, so normally it is not translated, as in Gen 1:1 א בְ רֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ. In the beginning God created the sky and the earth However, this interpretation of the word is hard to understand in this context. We will expand on it in the following discussion. | |
| God | יְהוָה |
| The translation will depend on your own interpretation of the words. I will not write the translation here. Instead let’s move directly to the discussion. |
The ways of reading the Bible are as plenty as the number of religions, sub-religions, cults, and philosophies. While some believe it is a holy book handed down by God, others see it as a masterful compilation that encompasses human morals, philosophy, and code of behaviour. Historians and archaeologist are using it to learn about the past; for others it is a book of spiritual guidance, regardless of religion.
My name is Ran. And I subscribe to the latter.
I was born and raised in Jerusalem, where the Bible is the beacon of truth for numerous groups.
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