With the "cherubim and flashing sword flashing back and forth" the way back to the Garden of Eden is closed forever (3:24). The narrative opens with decisive switch now to life outside Eden: the word order of the Hebrew sentence—opening with the subject followed by the verb—is emphatically disjunctive and marks out a new beginning. Though banished, however, this chapter makes clear that life outside of Eden is neither without grace nor without faith. God had emphasized to the first couple in the Garden of Eden of the danger of eating of the poisonous fruit, "the day you eat of it you shall surely die." In the first murder—of Abel by Cain—God's truthfulness is proven beyond doubt. Yet death, at least for the couple, was postponed until a viable succession to his line—and the possibility of new beginnings—was established. Cain deserved the punished meted out on him, yet when he voiced his fear of being murdered as he had murdered his brother, Yahweh marked him with protection (v15). So much for the silly remark so often made that the OT is a book of law while the NT is a book of grace.
Structurally the story divides into three sections:
1. Cain and Abel - the First Death, vv1-17,
2. Cain and His Line, vv18-24.
3. Seth and His Line, vv25-26.
The three sections, however, form a unit — each section introduced in the same fashion "A [Adam in v1 & v25; Cain in v18] lay with his wife . . . and she gave birth to . . ." As with much else of Genesis, this simple structure belies the artistic figuring overlaying it:
A. "Adam lay with his wife Eve . . . " 4:1a.
B. "she gave birth to Cain, saying, 'With the help of Yhwh . . ." 4:1b.
C. Cain kills Abel, e:2-10.
D. Cain to Lamech: "Cain is cursed ('arar), driven from the ground (ha'adamah) and banished from Yhwh's presence (4:11-16) — this is followed by six individuals from Cain to Lamech, who ended his life a violent vengence (vv17-24).
A. "Adam lay with his wife again . . . " 4:25a.
B. "she gave birth to . . . Seth, saying, 'God has granted me . . .'" 4:25b.
C. "in place of Abel, since Cain killed him," 4:25c.
D. Seth to Ham, Shem & Japheth: "At that time men began to call on the name of Yhwh" (4:26) — this is followed by twelve (the full complement of Israel (?) and twice that of Cain's line) individuals from Seth to Japheth, with a Lamech who ends his life with a son whom he named Noah, on the hope that "he will comfort us in the labour and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground (ha'adamah) Yhwh has cursed ('arar) (4:25-5:32)
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, 2018
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