ness of conception in 41-16 which contrasts unfavourably with the convincing lucidity of ch. 3, as if the writer's touch were less delicate, or his gift of imaginative delineation more restricted. Such impressions are too subjective to be greatly trusted; but, taken along with the material differences already enumerated, they confirm the opinion that the literary connexion between ch. 3 and 41ff. is due to conscious or unconscious imitation of one writer by another.—On the whole, the evidence points to the following conclusion: The story of Cain and Abel existed as a popular legend entirely independent of the traditions regarding the infancy of the race, and having no vital relation to any part of its present literary environment. It was incorporated in the Yahwistic document by a writer familiar with the narrative of the Fall, who identified the Cain of the legend with the son of the first man, and linked the story to his name in the genealogy. How much of the original genealogy has been preserved it is impossible to say: any notices that belonged to it have certainly been rewritten, and cannot now be isolated; but v.1 (birth of Cain) may with reasonable probability be assigned to it (so Bu.), possibly also 2bβ (Cain's occupation), and 3b (Cain's sacrifice).—Other important questions will be best considered in connexion with the original significance of the legend (p. 111 ff.).
IV. 1-16.—Cain and Abel.
Eve bears to her husband two sons, Cain and Abel; the first becomes a tiller of the ground, and the second a keeper of sheep (1. 2). Each offers to Yahwe the sacrifice appropriate to his calling; but only the shepherd's offering is accepted, and Cain is filled with morose jealousy and hatred of Abel (3-5). Though warned by Yahwe (6f.), he yields to his evil passion and slays his brother (8). Yahwe pronounces him accursed from the fertile ground, which will no longer yield its substance to him, and he is condemned to the wandering life of the desert (10-12). As a mitigation of his lot, Yahwe appoints him a sign which protects him from indiscriminate vengeance (14f.); and he departs into the land of Nod, east of Eden (16).
1-5. Birth of Cain and Abel: their occupation, and sacrifice.—1. On the naming of the child by the
1. (
Hebrew characters)] A plup. sense (Ra.) being unsuitable, the peculiar order
of words is difficult to explain; see on 31, and cf. 211. Sta. (Ak. Red.
239) regards it as a proof of editorial manipulation.—The euphemistic
use of (Hebrew characters) is peculiar to J in the Hex. (7 times): Nu. 3117. 18. 35 (P: cf. Ju.
2111. 12) are somewhat different. Elsewhere Ju. 1139 1922. 25, 1 Sa. 119,
1 Ki. 14,—all in the older historiography, and some perhaps from the
