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Cain’s use of ‫אוא‬ in his response to God is again reminiscent of his parents being driven
out of Eden and away from God’s presence, and the evocation of the banishment of Adam and
Eve from Eden suggests a deepening of the alienation between God and humanity with the sin of
Cain. 137 “There is a movement away from living in the presence of God to alienation. The story is
portraying movement from the breakdown of human relationship to the ground, which began in
Gen 3:17 and will climax in the flood story.” 138
Cain’s fear of retaliation for the sin he has committed raises in itself an interesting
question, namely, who were the people he feared? 139 Cain’s fear points to the existence of human
inhabitants upon the earth other than Adam, Eve, and Cain. 140 Westermann outlines several
possible alternative answers for this question: “one could think of wild animals, of “Pre-
adamites,” of east asiatic peoples independent of Adam, of Adam’s already ready existing or
future descendants.” 141 Hamilton argues that this quandary points to the possibility that the Cain-
Abel narrative was originally separate from the Adam-Eve narrative. 142
Genesis 4:15
‫אא‬ ‫׃‬ ‫ת‬ ‫ןה‬ ‫תא‬ ‫ֹּ־ת‬ ‫א‬ ָֽ ִ֖ ‫׃א‬ ָֽ‫ֹּא‬ ֶֶ ‫ו‬ ‫מ‬ ִ֥ ‫י‬ ‫תה‬ ‫י‬ ‫תה‬ ָֽ‫א‬ ‫׃‬ ‫־‬ ַ‫א‬ ‫וי‬ ‫י‬ ֶ ַ ‫תה‬ ֶ ‫ֶי־‬ ‫וה‬ ‫ו‬ ‫תה‬ ַ‫־‬ ‫י‬ ֶ ‫ו‬ ִ ‫־‬ ָּ֑‫ו‬ ‫ו‬ ‫ו‬ ‫י‬ ָֽ‫־‬ ִ֖ ֶ ֹ֣ ‫ה‬ ‫א‬ ‫י‬ ‫א‬ ‫וי‬ ‫י‬ ֶ ‫־‬ ‫א‬ ‫ו‬ ֵּ֣ ‫ֶא‬ ‫ֹּ־ת‬ ַ‫ֵֹּ֣א‬ ‫ת‬ ‫־‬ ֶ ‫י‬ ‫־‬ ‫י‬ ֶ ‫וה‬ ‫א‬ ‫ת‬ ‫ו‬ ‫׃תה‬ ‫א‬ ִ ‫י‬ ֶ
And the Lord said to him, ‘Thus whoever kills Cain will be avenged sevenfold.’ And the
Lord put onto Cain a sign that whoever he encountered would not kill him.’
God both reaffirms Cain’s punishment, but also protects him against retaliation. God’s
use of ַ‫ֵֹּ֣א‬ ‫ת‬ ‫־‬ gives His words the double context of a promise to Cain personally to protect him
from retaliation, as well as the sense of a royal decree to the world at large to ensure Cain’s
137
138
Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 1–15, Volume 1, Word Biblical Commentary, Verbum edition, 108.
Johnson T. K Lim, Grace in the Midst of Judgment: Grappling with Genesis 1-11 (Berlin: de Gruyter,
2002), 158.
139
Claus Westermann, A Continental Commentary: Genesis 1–11, Verbum edition, 310.
Victor P Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1-17, Scribd.com edition, 370.
141
Claus Westermann, A Continental Commentary: Genesis 1–11, Verbum edition, 310-311.
142
Victor P Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1-17, Scribd.com edition, 370.
140