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(ֶ ‫ת‬ ‫ת‬ ‫־‬ ‫ו־‬ ‫׃ה‬ ‫ו‬ ִ֥ ֵּ֣ ‫)יא‬. 47 Cain’s vocation is the same as his father Adam’s. 48 Abel, however, chooses a new
calling by becoming a shepherd. 49 Cassuto observes that both occupations reflect the preceding
chapters of Genesis – being a shepherd reflects the dominion over all living creatures 50 , while
tilling the soil reflects the both the beginning of Gen 2 51 and the end of Gen 3. 52 53 Interestingly,
Byron observes that in continuing in his father’s occupation of tilling the soil, and then in being
cursed from the soil, Cain, in a sense, perpetuates the curse pronounced upon Adam in Gen 3:17-
19, whereas Abel’s vocation as a shepherd, in a sense, distances him from that curse. 54
Genesis 4:3-4a
‫ֶאת‬
ֶ ‫וֶי‬
ִֶ֖ ַ ‫־‬ ‫תה‬ ‫ת‬ ‫י‬ ֶ ‫ת‬ ‫־‬ ‫׃הו־‬ ֶ ‫ת‬ ‫־‬ ‫ו‬ ‫ו‬ ִ ‫י‬ ‫ה‬ ‫ת‬ ‫י‬ ‫א‬ ‫וי‬ ‫י‬ ֶ ‫י‬ ‫׃‬ ֵּ֣ ַ ‫־‬ ‫י‬ ֶ ‫וו‬ ‫־ת‬ ִ ‫י‬ ‫ו‬ ‫מ‬ ֵּ֣ ‫ת‬ ‫י‬ ‫ו‬ ֶ ִ֖ ‫י‬ ‫תבוה‬ ‫י‬ ֶ
‫ִא‬ ֶ ‫ה‬ ֵּ֣ ‫תה‬ ‫ַה‬ ‫־ת‬
ֵּ֣ ‫א‬ ִ֖‫א׃ת‬ ‫ן‬ ָֽ‫א‬ ‫ו‬ ִ֥ ‫ֹא‬ ‫֥ה‬ ‫ת‬ ‫י‬ ‫־׃‬ ֶ ‫אֶו‬ ‫ו׃‬ ִ֥ ‫י‬ ֵֶּ֣ ‫ת‬ ‫ה‬ ַ‫ֶה‬ ‫יה‬
And it happened at the end of days, Cain brought the fruit of the ground as an offering to
the Lord. / Then Abel came also bringing firstling sheep and their fat portions.
Both brothers bring an offering to the Lord. In terms of the word used (ֶ ‫ַ־‬ ‫תה‬ ‫)ת‬,
there is no
distinction made between the offerings of the brothers. 55 A possible indication of a distinction in
the worthiness of the offerings is in the details given regarding to Abel’s offering. The text states
that Abel’s offering came from the firstlings of his flock (ָֽ‫א‬ ‫ו‬ ִ֥ ‫ֹא‬ ‫֥ה‬ ‫)ת‬.
Throughout the Pentateuch,
47
Victor P Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1-17, Scribd.com edition, 354.
K. A. Mathews, Genesis 1-11, Kindle edition, 265.
49
Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis, The JPS Torah Commentary, Verbum edition, 32.
50
Gen 1:28 ‘And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and
subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that
moves upon the earth”’ (RSV).
51
Gen 2:5b ‘the L ORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the
ground’ (RSV)
52
Gen 3:23 ‘therefore the L ORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which
he was taken’ (RSV).
53
Umberto Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Genesis, Kindle edition, 197.
54
John Byron, Cain and Abel in Text and Tradition (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 33.
55
Victor P Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1-17, Scribd.com edition, 356.
48