Genesis Four

I was reading Genesis Four this weekend, and though it is a slight aside from our class assignment, I thought I would bring up a couple of the things that I found interesting.

1. Eve says that “I have got me a man with the LORD.” Although she “knew” Adam before she conceived and bore Cain, she does not mention Adam at all. In fact, Adam does not come into the picture after the first sentence. This made me wonder, who is the father of Cain and Abel? I would certainly think that Adam would do something if his sons were running around killing each other; instead its only God who Cain and Abel speak to.
2. Who, in the story, has the good life: Abel, who tended to what God had created, or Cain, who tilled the soil and cultivated his own fields? What does their respective ends say about the good life? Why does God protect Cain when he hadn't protected Abel? And how, after Cain is sentenced by God to be a wanderer, does he found a city? I outlined my interpretations in verse; please find my poem below.

I think that this additional story gives insight into what a good life is. Moreover, I would recommend to all, if you have the time, to read Steinbeck’s East of Eden, or to watch Elia Kazan’s film adaptation of the same name (the film is certainly more time-friendly and is available in the Bentley Library; it gives an interesting contrast in what the good life might be through the differing lives of Kate and Adam Trask.)

Thanks! See you tomorrow!

Genesis Four A poem by Jennifer Berkley

Abel and Cain

Twins but not same,

For Cain came first,

And was declared worst

Since from his birth

He grew the earth.

And Abel, second,

Called best, was beckoned

To tend to the sheep

And let his mind sleep.

So when God set his price,

Bid the twins’ sacrifice,

Cain gave what he had made

While Abel gave life with his blade.

Now God loved Abel’s killing

And scorned Cain’s tilling,

For Cain’s innovation

Gave God a vexation.

And though still proud of his seed,

Cain turned to Abel with greed.

And just as Abel had ended

The sheep’s life he had tended,

For the love of another,

Cain slew Abel, his brother.

But God did not like

Cain’s mindless strike.

So he gave him blame

And banished his name.

Still Cain wasn’t neglected

For he God protected

With heavenly mark,

A promise most stark:

To fearlessly wander

But Cain persisted to ponder.

He mused on good and right,

Yet that idea he couldn’t fight:

That good was found in thought.

And so creation’s bug he caught.

For then he stopped his ordered walk,

And formed his kingdom, Enoch

In that land, East of Eden,

Where his mind finally freed him.

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