The Curious Curse Of Cain

July 29, 1997
Sarasota

(Genesis 4 1/25)

The story of Cain’s murder of Abel has several odd aspects, including the curious punishment the Lord pronounced on Cain: “you shall be banned from the soil, which opened its mouth wide to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. If you till soil, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. You shall become a ceaseless wanderer on the earth.”

In this theme of “The Curious Curse of Cain” there are several points I submit for your consideration:

1) How the myth of Cain and Abel demonstrates that the ancient scriptures we call the Old Testament or the Hebrew Scriptures, particularly Genesis, are not a single document, without error, revealed by God, but a blending of ancient myths and legends from pre-historic tribes with unlike legends and cultures.

2) Then I would have you consider the difficulty of using scripture as a source of legal or religious authority with which, or by which, to judge alleged criminal acts.

3) Then I will use this old story as a bridge to our own times to ask whether in this modern, enlightened nation, as we attempt to deter homicides, we become confused and illogical as our emotions are whipsawed between justice and revenge.

First, the ancient scripture named “Genesis” – the story of beginnings – is not a single narrative but a blend of several ancient traditions. Almost all biblical scholars agree on that interpretation. The scholarly arguments deal with which stories are part of which of the 3 or 4 ancient cultural/religious deposits, usually named J, E, D, [and] P. Robert Pfeiffer, who was a noted bible scholar at Harvard, and whose textbook was used when I was studying these traditions, concluded that the Cain and Abel story was one of the stories from the “S” tradition (for “Seir”), coming from primitive tribes then located in Edom, near the Dead Sea.

The Cain and Abel story may have its origins in a saga of continuing feuds between nomadic Bedouins and settled agricultural peasants. The flocks of sheep and goats tended by Abel would be more characteristic of wandering tribes. Cain, a tiller of soil, represented a more settled agricultural culture.

When Cain and Abel brought their respective offerings to the Lord – Cain, an offering of the fruit of the soil; Abel, the choicest of his lambs – the Lord rejected Cain’s gift and accepted Abel’s. When the brothers had gone to the field, Cain angered by rejection, killed Abel. (A modern parallel may be the 19th century conflicts in the Western U.S. between ranchers and farmers, which at times were lawless, vicious, and murderous.)

The Lord, when he finds out about the murder of Abel, pronounces a curse on Cain, [and] tells him he will never be able to grow crops, and says, “You shall become a ceaseless wanderer on earth.” In addition, the Lord places a mark on Cain so that no one will kill him. The Lord, in this strand of tradition at least, did not believe in or practice capital punishment for murder. So Cain is banished.

Elie Wiesel, survivor of the Holocaust (in which he lost his father, mother, and sister), winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and prolific author with great impact not only on Jewish thought but millions of persons in other traditions, in his book, MESSENGERS OF GOD, deals with Cain and Abel and comments (p. 40) “No other Biblical situation contains so many questions or arouses so many uncertainties.”

Wiesel asks many questions – each one formidable enough for a forum – where were the parents in this confrontation? Why did God favor Abel’s gift over Cain’s? He also comments that there is less Midrashic material (commentary) about Cain and Abel than any other Biblical figures.

My assertion, as a father to two sons, would be that you don’t reject one son’s gifts and accept the others – no way – not unless you are a stupid or vicious or unbalanced parent.

The curse is curious. As Alice in Wonderland said about her experiences, it gets “curiouser and curiouser.” There’s an “O Henry” twist or surprise ending. We read in the old story that Cain does NOT become a wanderer. He settled in the Land of Nod, “East of Eden”. Cain marries. Who is the woman if Adam and Eve were the first persons on earth? That has always been a provocative question for those who believe in the literal inerrancy of the Bible.

In the famous Scopes evolution trial in 1924, when Clarence Darrow was cross-examining William Jennings Bryan about the literal truth of the Bible, Darrow asked Bryan if he knew where Cain got his wife. Bryan answered, “No, I leave the agnostics to hunt for her.” That was a clever and crowd pleasing response, but ducked the question completely. Where did the people come from who lived in the city founded by Cain?

Did you ever wonder why Cain settled down and founded a city rather than becoming the ceaseless wanderer to which he had been sentenced? Why didn’t the Lord extradite Cain for violating parole? I assume the Lord couldn’t extradite because the Land of Nod was out of his jurisdiction; a different theological venue. The varying tribal cultures all had their own god or gods. All gods are jealous gods, I surmise, – emotional creatures.

There are fascinating developments in the city and culture of Cain. His great-great-great-grandson was Lamech, who was the first bigamist recorded in scriptures, for it says, “Lamech had two wives, Adah and Zillah.” By the way, there is no condemnation of Lamech for having two wives.

According to scripture, the children of Cain, Adah and Zillah, were remarkable. Jabal was the “ancestor of those who dwell in tents and amidst herds.” Jubal was the ancestor of all who play the pipe and lyre. Tubal-Cain began the art of metal working; and later became part of the Masonic tradition.

In other words, if one believes the Bible literally, the descendants of Cain, the Kenites, were the innovators of music, settled cities, the pastoral life and metal-working. That’s quite a heritage from Cain, who killed his brother and was cursed by the Lord. After all, according to many fundamentalists, “that’s what the Bible says.”

Lamech was not persuaded from his tradition that murder was evil. He orated to Adah and Zillah his wives,

“I have slain a man for wounding me
And a lad for bruising me.
If Cain is avenged seven-fold,
Then Lamech seventy-seven fold.”

Lamech represents a culture centuries removed from the more primitive days. Of course, the founding of cities, music, metal working did not begin in just one place, but among many peoples on the earth. The stories of Cain in the Land of Nod are the passed-down boasts of a tribal culture which was clever with tools, valued music, and was brutally fierce with its enemies.

Which brings me to the next point: There is great difficulty in using scripture either as the source for a standard of morals or for the proper dispensing of justice.

The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20 1/17) represent the most famous code of conduct in the Judeo-Christian heritage, even though the stated rules have been persistently broken by countless individuals and most nations. The 6th Commandment is usually quoted, “thou shalt not kill.” In some translations it is, “thou shalt not murder.” This would seem to exempt the soldier in war, the policeman on duty or a person defending a home because the intention is not to murder but to take action in fidelity to one’s pledge, duty or self-protection.

But such exemptions would not seem to apply to such death penalty offences as:

“He that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be be put to death.” (Exodus 21:12 14/07)

“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” (Exodus 22 v. 18)

“Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a sabbath rest unto the Lord: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death.”

“The man that commiteth adultery with another man’s wife, the adulterer, and the adulteress shall be put to death.” (Leviticus 20, 1/16)

“He that stealeth a man and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall be surely put to death.”

You may recall the rather indelicate story of Onan (Genesis 38/30) who was killed by the Lord for practising birth control. If true then, or could be true now, there would be a goodly number of millions subject to capital punishment. Just about every man, guys.

There are many other offences punishable by death found in these old scriptures. These cruel punishments are supposed to be The Word of God. But also, the same god that pronounced, “thou shalt not kill (or murder)”.

The Lord, who paroled Cain in Genesis 4, is certainly inconsistent with the harsh god of Leviticus and parts of Exodus. In the curious curse of Cain also, Cain is quoted as saying, “my punishment is greater than I can bear.” That line has been the text for innumerable sermons about the destructive powers of remorse and guilt. But, as we have seen, Cain not only could bear it, but founded a city and a long line of creative and fierce descendants, one of whom became a role model and hero for the distinguished Masonic order. That’s another O Henry twist.

Throughout the ages there have been many offences punishable by execution. In 1994 Congress added the death penalty for more crimes: drug felonies and drive-by shootings. In our country, murder and treason are punishable by death. In recent weeks, Timothy McVeigh has raised the national consciousness of the death penalty. There was satisfaction when the jury decreed he must die. The overwhelming sentiment and belief is that it is proper and just that he should die for the terrible crime for which he was found guilty.

Since the Supreme Court restored the legality of the death penalty in 1976, nearly 400 have been executed since Gary Gilmore was executed by a firing squad in Utah. In Florida, executions in the electric chair have been temporarily suspended since the grisly experience of Pedro Medina in April. When the switch was turned on, orange and blue flames flared from the leather mask around his head.

I am one of a minority who is still opposed to capital punishment, the death penalty. I am aware that 8 out of 10 people favor the death penalty. Although outnumbered 4 to 1, I still believe that violence in our society will not be cured by violence. In my judgment revenge is the predominant motive for the death penalty. But satisfying the feeling for revenge never has brought back one victim from the grave.

In our nation, there are more than 3,200 persons on death row waiting for execution. Texas has the most, 448; California next with 444; Florida third with 350 persons waiting to be strapped into the electric chair in Stark.

Even if you completely disagree with me on the death penalty, are you willing that innocent persons be executed? A study this year by a University of Florida scholar, Michael Radelet, showed nearly 70 inmates have been released from death row in the past 25 years because of doubts about their guilt. About 10 days ago (July 14) NBC News had a similar story – doubts about the guilt of some who have been sentenced to death. This week – O’Dell.

Other studies in the past have disclosed much the same results. The Veach Committee, a few years ago, sponsored a study that showed at least 25 innocent persons were executed. Ernest van de Haag, then of Fordham University, was quoted as saying that 25 wrongful executions were an acceptable number. I do NOT find this an acceptable number. An innocent person who is executed would not find this an acceptable number. Neither would his/her family and friends.

Capital punishment has been abolished in most of the Western world. Law changes. We reject execution the many ways prescribed in the old scriptures and in laws throughout the centuries. It is not easy to forget that there was a time when people were executed for not believing in the Trinity. Laws attempt to adjust to the needs of society but adjustment is usually slow and lags behind needs and developments.

The curious curse of Cain, and the death penalties prescribed in Leviticus and Exodus are, a remnant of customs and mores with no relevance for society’s fumbling attempts to be just and fair.

Even though polls indicate that those of us opposed to the death penalty are outnumbered 4 to 1, I still do not believe that we will stop people from killing people by killing people.

BENEDICTION:

Hold on to what is good,
even if it is a handful of earth

Hold on to what you believe,
even if it is a tree which stands
by itself.

Hold on to what you must do,
even if it is a long way from
here.

Hold on to life,
even if it is easier letting go.

Hold on to the hand of your neighbor,
even when we are apart.

(adapted from Pueblos of New Mexico)