dis2@houxm.UUCP (A.NESTOR) (01/13/84)
Since the sources of the Pentateuch are mostly monotheistic, social
history events are always personified as people. The Cain Abel story
is a personification of two events:
1. The archetypal conflict between argricultural and pastoral
peoples.
2. The Israelites' conflicts with their neighbours.
1:
Of course the nomad diety Yahweh would prefer the animal holocaust
of Abel, spurning the vegetable offering of Cain. However, the
agricultural peoples were eventually dominant in spite of Yahweh's
preferences. Accordingly, Cain slays Abel ( 'hapel' meaning
'breath' i.e evanescent or short-lived), but he is marked so that he
is preserved. (Why mark him for protection if there are only three
other people?) Cain reverts temporarily to becoming a nomad ( "in
the land of Nod") but eventually becomes a city dweller, even a city
builder; thus reflecting the development of cities from settled
agriculture.
It is interesting to note the odd reversal of this conflict during
the range wars in this country. The Christian churches were
predominantly pro-agricultural, even though Scripture clearly
portrays Jesus as using both agricultural and pastoral metaphors.
It was from sermons stressing God's disapproval of the pastoral and
hence those involved with it, that the cowboy first acquired an
unsavoury reputation - his "mark of Cain".
2:
As a newer migration with need for land for both pastoral and
agricultural uses, the Israelites were in frequent and prolonged
conflict with their neighbours. Not only the Pentateuch, but much
of the Old Testament is filled with imprecations aginst the
Israelites' neighbours and explanations of why they are excluded
from Jahweh's favour and promise of the land. Cain's descendants
are , in additon to the development of cities, credited with:
a. The development of domestication of herds (as against nomad
herding).
b. The developement of musical instruments ("Jubal's lyre").
c. The development of metal working. One entymology of Cain is
'qaiyn' meaning 'smith'.
Cain is protrayed as untrustworthy even before his oblation is
rejected. Thus while Israel's neighbours might be more "advanced"
and "clever", they are not pleasing to Jahweh springing as they do
from the accursed criminal Cain. Such "sour grapes" xenophobic rat-
ionalisations are still a commonplace!
Creighton Clarke