Cain and Abel: What Really Happened in Genesis?

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily match my own. - Dr. Bart D. Ehrman

The story of Cain and Abel in the book of Genesis is one of the best-known and widely interpreted narratives in religious and literary traditions. The story raises important questions about divine favor, the nature of sin, and the human condition but also leaves us with significant ambiguities.

In this article, I’ll examine the story’s complexities, including its historical roots, its interpretations over the centuries, and the lessons it may hold for us today.

The Cain and Abel Story

We can find the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4:1-16. The story takes place after Adam and Eve have been expelled from the Garden of Eden for disobeying God. Rather than merely summarize the story, I’ll put the verses here in their entirety so we can unpack what’s actually there.

The name Cain (Hebrew: Qayin) means acquire or possess, which is why Eve, after giving birth to Cain, says in the original Hebrew phrase “I have acquired a man from Yahweh.” Rabbi David Zaslow says that the name also carries connotations of creating or building, which makes sense since after Cain is banished, we are told that he manages to build an entire city in Genesis 4:17.

The name Abel (Hebrew: Hevel) comes from a Hebrew root meaning breath, and Rabbi Zaslow notes that it is “commonly used of anything transitory, evanescent, frail.” This makes sense, of course, since Abel does not have a long life. Rabbi Zaslow also says that “the etymologies of [Cain and Abel’s] names give us a hint that this story may never have been intended to be taken as an historical account.” He therefore calls it an allegory. But to what does this allegory refer?

In his book History Begins at Sumer: Thirty-Nine Firsts in Recorded History, Samuel Noah Kramer writes that like many stories in the book of Genesis, the story of Cain and Abel may have roots in a Sumerian story about rival gods. The story says that the gods Emesh (meaning “summer”) and his brother Enten (meaning “winter”) had specific roles in the world. The higher god Enlil put Emesh in charge of producing trees, building houses, temples, cities and other tasks, not unlike Cain who first raised crops and then built a city. Enlil put Enten, on the other hand, in charge of the reproduction of animals. These brothers had violent clashes as well.

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In Traditions of the Bible: A Guide to the Bible As It Was at the Start of the Common Era, James Kugel notes that most scholars believe the stories of Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel are actually about the growth of civilization during the agricultural era. He goes on to note that the Cain and Abel story is most likely about conflicts over territory and resources between itinerant herders and sedentary farmers. If so, this might mean that the story was not intended as a moral lesson but rather as a kind of allegorical description of what happened when herders and farmers came into conflict with each other.

Having said this, various moral lessons have been derived from this story for centuries so let’s look at how people have interpreted it.

What Is the Lesson of Cain and Abel?

Before we look at some interpretations of the story, it’s important to note that there are ambiguities in the story that are difficult to ignore. For example, unless you are prepared to say that herding is morally superior to farming, there is no explicit explanation for why God liked Abel’s sacrifice and not Cain’s. The original Hebrew says that God “looked favorably” upon Abel’s offering and but “did not respect” Cain’s offering. It doesn’t say that Cain did anything wrong up to this point, so God’s choice seems all but arbitrary. Was the offering supposed to be a competition wherein God could only accept one offering? The text doesn’t say so. At this point, no moral lesson is apparent.

However, Cain becomes angry at God for not accepting his offering, and subsequently murders his brother out of envy. One can certainly read into this a lesson on the danger of envy (and, of course, murder!). But rather than unilaterally punishing Cain for his sin, God also gives him lifelong protection. He punishes him by taking away Cain’s ability to farm, but then gives him a mark (we aren’t told what the mark is or where it is on Cain’s body) that prohibits anyone from killing him and allows him to have a rather successful life as a city-dweller. How are we to interpret such a story morally or ethically? What is the lesson of Cain and Abel?

Rabbi Zaslow believes that the main lesson of the story is that humans must accept responsibility for the well-being of other people. He says that “humanity is still trying to achieve the sense of brotherly, sisterly, and neighborly obligation implied by this story. Is Cain still asking God if he is his brother’s keeper? It certainly seems so. Does not Abel’s blood cry out from the ground today too? It certainly seems so.”

As for Christian interpretations, they begin with Hebrews 11:4, which refers to Cain and Abel in this way:

While the author doesn’t get this information from the scanty details of the original story, he interprets God’s approval of Abel’s sacrifice as the result of the faith with which Abel offers it, implying that Cain’s faith was either absent or deficient. This is an argument for faith reckoned as righteousness, also referred to in Paul’s allegorical interpretation of the story of Abraham in Romans 4:3.

Later church fathers would go on to interpret the Cain and Abel story as well. For instance, in Against Heresies, 2nd-century Christian author Irenaeus of Lyon had this to say about the moral of the story:

Irenaeus assumes here that Abel was righteous and Cain unrighteous, even before they had given their offerings to God. This is not said in the original story, of course. But we can see how the lesson of keeping one’s heart and mind pure could be derived from this interpretation.

Fourth-century Christian author Didymus of Alexandria (also known as Didymus the Blind) modifies Irenaeus’ interpretation in his Commentary on Genesis:

For Didymus, then, righteousness is sincerity, represented by Abel, while evil is indifference represented by Cain. How do we know Cain and Abel were oriented this way, according to Didymus? Because Abel offered the best of his animals while Cain did not offer the best of his crops. Again, the story doesn’t say anything about the quality of Cain’s crops; nevertheless, this could be interpreted as a lesson on only giving one’s best to God.

Didymus goes on to offer a further lesson from the story as well, an observation about how our internal states can result in external actions and consequences he finds in the Cain and Abel story:

As an educated man of his time, including in Greek philosophy, Didymus believed that sin and vice were the result of a failure of reason. Thus, any evil internal thoughts, if reason is not applied to them, will result in evil actions. The lesson, then, is to use reason to mitigate any impure thinking that occurs to you before choosing to act.

Conclusion

The story of Cain and Abel is iconic, referred to in literature and films and almost universally known. Despite the brevity (and lack of detail) of the story, it has had a major influence on religious thinkers for centuries. But what is the lesson of Cain and Abel?

In the story, we are not told why God accepts Abel’s gift but not Cain’s. This leaves the rest of the story somewhat ambiguous. Why did God make this choice? Was Cain not entirely liable for his murderous actions since God had arbitrarily provoked him? Was God’s protection of Cain perhaps an acknowledgement of this?

Various interpreters have offered ideas on how the story should be understood. In our own time, for instance, some have interpreted the phrase “Am I my brother’s keeper?” as an injunction to take care of those around us rather than ignore their needs and prioritize our own. Church fathers like Irenaeus and Didymus, on the other hand, emphasized assumptions not evident in the story to develop moral lessons, such as the need for faith and a pure heart in one’s relationship with God.