Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained.
In today’s video, we’re going to discuss Cain: the first person to be born, as Adam
and Eve were created by God, not born in the traditional sense; the first person to murder
someone, his younger brother, Abel; a man cursed by God with the mark of Cain, which
would visit sevenfold the retribution upon anyone who perpetrated violence against Cain;
a man some versions claim is the son of Satan or another fallen angel; and a man who, in
one version, the one given in the Book of Adam and Eve, kills his brother so that he
can marry the more beautiful of their two sisters.
We’re going to begin by examining what is said about Cain in scripture, which, in this
video, will be the King James version of the Old and New Testament.
Following that, we’ll get into a little discussion about God rejecting Cain’s sacrifice
and Cain murdering his own brother.
Afterwards, we’re going to dive into several apocryphal works, examining details from each,
like demons and archons, that pertain to Cain.
And finally, we’re going to finish the video off with a more in-depth look at the Book
of Adam and Eve, which goes into great detail about the lives of Cain and Abel.
Let’s get into it.
After Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, they had two children together,
two sons: Cain, their first born, and Abel.
Cain worked the earth, a farmer, and Abel kept sheep, a shepherd.
Both of them made offerings to God, but not both of their offerings were accepted.
Cain offered up some of his harvest, and Abel offered up the first born lambs of his flock.
Cain’s offering was found wanting and rejected, while Abel’s was graciously accepted.
This put Cain, already a vessel for sin, in a dark mood, filling him with anger, to which
God responded: “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?
And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.
And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.”
After these words, Cain and Abel talk, and later, Cain murders his brother in a field.
God confronts Cain, asking him where his brother is, and Cain says he doesn’t know: “Am
I my brother’s keeper?”
God says that Abel’s blood cries out from the earth and that Cain is now cursed by the
earth.
From then on, Cain became a fugitive and a vagabond.
He says that the punishment is more than he can bear and bewails that anyone who finds
him will kill him for his transgression.
God proclaims that anyone who harms Cain will have their offense visited back on them sevenfold,
and to ensure no one accidentally harmed Cain, he marks him so that all the world would know
him.
Cain became an exile, banished from the presence of God, and he came to dwell to the East of
Eden, in the land of Nod, where he and his wife had a son, Enoch; and they built a city
that they named after their son.
Why God rejected Cain’s offering isn’t delineated, but a popular belief stems from
the quality of each sacrifice, which, in turn, is symbolic of each brother’s character
and their faith in God, their dedication to the righteous path.
The first born of one’s flock is much more valuable than a generic portion of one’s
harvest, as it is not only the result of one’s labors, but something indispensable for future
prosperity, ensuring the continuation of the flock.
An equivalent offering on Cain’s part, perhaps, would have been a portion of the seed he intended
to plant the following year or to have burned and salted a swathe of his fields.
Because of this, Abel’s offering is a pledge of faith, placing himself, his life, and his
success in the hands of the Lord.
By comparison, what Cain offered was paltry, for it was but a meager showing from something
that would be produced each year; thus, it was not a gesture of faith, but more so a
halfhearted, performative gesture, a generic token, tantamount to going through the motions
of something only done because it was expected.
Basically, you get what you give: if you do right, you will benefit, and if you don’t,
sin will suffuse.
This idea is made clearer in the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, in which each offering is described
with greater detail, going further in highlighting the disparity between the two.
Here’s the passage from the JPS Tanakh: “Cain brought an offering to the Lord from
the fruit of the soil; and Abel, for his part, brought the choicest of the firstlings of
his flock.”
Had Cain offered the best of his harvest, his offering, I’m guessing, would have been
accepted, but even then, because Abel’s offering impacted his future success, the
offerings of each brother still would not have been of equal value, as you can’t grow
your flock, let alone sustain it, if it isn’t being replenished with newborns.
As for why Cain murdered Abel, well, there doesn’t seem to be much to explain Here.
Cain Wasn’t a man imbued with virtue; rather, he was innately sinful and prone to all that
entailed, namely, greed, jealousy, and anger: he was jealous of Abel, whose offer was accepted,
and he was angry at God, who rejected his offer.
His jealousy and anger compounded into murderous intent, which resulted in Cain killing his
own brother.
In the New Testament, no additional information pertaining to Cain’s life is given.
The few times he is mentioned, his name is synonymous with sin and is used like a curse
to illustrate greed and wickedness.
Here are two examples: Jude 1:11
“Woe unto them!
For they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for
reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.”
John 3:12 “Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one,
and slew his brother.
And wherefore slew he him?
Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.”
Though there is little said about Cain in the New Testament, one line from John 3:12,
“who was of that wicked one”, has led to an interesting line of thought, which is
that Cain was actually the son of Satan or of a fallen angel, a notion given credence
by the use of the epithet “that wicked one” to describe Cain’s origins, either of his
birth or nature.
Perhaps the most prominent of the Christian commentators to espouse this was Tertullian,
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, in Latin, who was an early Christian theologian,
born sometime between 155 and 160, living until 220.
This idea is also considered and expanded upon in Jewish exegesis, such as the Targum
Jonathan, in which the serpent in the garden is identified with Samael, here called the
angel of death.
He sheds his serpent’s coils and reveals himself to Eve in his angelic form in the
Garden of Eden.
Later, when the birth of Cain is told, it is said that Eve, who is called Hava, desired
the angel.
That Samael was the serpent in the Garden, and that Eve was said to have desired the
Angel in connection with the verse in which Cain is conceived and born, seems to indicate
that Cain was a spawn of sin, not sired by Adam, the original progenitor and patriarch
of humanity.
Other works that discuss Cain include the Apocryphon of John, a second century Sethian
Gnostic work, the Hypostasis of the Archons, an exegesis written sometime in the third
or fourth century that uses the first six books of Genesis to express Gnostic mythology,
Pseudo-Philo, a first century Jewish work, and the Book of Jubilees, written about 100
BC.
In the Apocryphon of John, Eve is seduced by Yaldaboth, an evil deity depicted as a
lion-headed serpent.
In the Hypostasis of the Archons, Eve is taken against her will by a pair of Archons, entities
we’ll touch on presently.
In Gnosticism, as well as other religions similar to it, there are seven Archons, each
one connected to a planet.
They, including Yaldaboth, who is counted among their number, built the physical universe
to prevent souls from transcending to spiritual bliss.
The material plane is the prison, and the flesh each person is encased in is the shackles.
Pseudo-Philo recounts how Cain was 15 years old when he murdered his brother, going on
to detail Cain’s life following his escape from the Land of Nod, where he was exiled
to after taking his brother’s life.
Per this account, Cain sired six children.
With the exception of Enoch, the only one of the six to be mentioned in the bible, the
other five children and their descendants went on to spread evil throughout the world.
Here, Cain lived to the very old age of 730.
Lastly, in the Book of Jubilees, Cain’s story is expanded upon, explaining how he
used a rock to bludgeon Abel to death and, later, how his instrument of murder became
the cause of his own death when his house caved in with him inside, stones crushing
him.
Here’s a passage from the Book of Jubilee that explains the concept of tools of murder
becoming the demise of their wielders: “with the instrument with which a man kills his
neighbor with the same shall he be killed; after the manner that he wounded him, in like
manner shall they deal with him.”
As well, there is a Talmudic tradition in which God makes a horn grow from Cain’s
head after he murders Abel, with Cain later being killed by Lamech, his own grandson.
We’re going to spend the rest of the video looking at Cain’s life as it is presented
in the Life of Adam and Eve, which is generally thought to have been written sometime in the
first century.
In this version, Eve first gives birth to twins, Cain and his sister Luluwa.
Cain, said to mean ‘hater’, was named so because he hated his sister while they
shared the warm dark of their mother’s womb, and Luluwa, said to mean ‘beautiful', was
so named because she was even more beautiful than her mother.
They conceived again, and later, Eve gave birth to another set of twins, Abel and his
sister Aklia.
Even as a young child, Cain was callous, selfish, and disobedient, frequently choosing not to
accompany his father and brother when they offered sacrifices to God.
First Satan came to Abel, but he was repelled when Abel prayed to God.
Following this failure, Satan approached Cain, telling him that his parents intended to marry
Cain’s beautiful sister to Abel because they loved him more, leaving him the younger
ugly sister to marry.
Satan then counsels Cain to kill his brother, which would allow him to Marry Luluwa instead.
Interestingly, in this account the vocations of each brother are switched, making Abel
the farmer and Cain the shepherd.
Brought to the altar by Adam, Abel’s offering is accepted because God perceived his heart
and the goodness therein, Cain’s, though, is rejected: he only offered a sacrifice to
placate his father, and when the sacrifice was made, his eyes were on the lamb, focused
on his own profit, his heart not open to God, instead filled with thoughts of greed and
violence.
When the boys were older, Cain 15 and Abel 12, Adam and Eve thought it was time for them
to take wives, deciding to marry Cain to Abel’s sister, and vice versa.
Satan finds Cain a second time, revealing the impending marital plans in-store for him,
telling Cain to do what he says; that if he does as instructed, the beautiful sister will
be his wife, and he will be showered in gifts.
After this, Cain promptly goes to the cave where Eve was, proceeding to beat and curse
his mother, a petty and cruel expression of acute displeasure about what his parents intended.
Subsequently, more sacrifices are made; Cain’s are rejected, Abel’s are accepted; and all
the while, hatred smoldered in Cain’s heart until it blazed, consumed by it, resolving
him to kill his brother.
Cain lures his brother into the fields by asking him to accompany him on a walk.
Once alone, far from their parents and sisters, Cain, who contrived the activity so that Abel
walked in front, attacks his brother from behind, brutalizing him with a walking staff.
Here’s the passage: “Then Cain came up to him, comforted him
with his words while walking a little behind him.
Then he ran up to him and beat him with the staff, blow after blow, until he was dazed.
But when Abel fell down on the ground and saw that his brother meant to kill him, he
said to Cain, “O, my brother, have pity on me.
By the breasts we have sucked, do not hit me!
By the womb that bore us and that brought us into the world, do not beat me to death
with that staff!
If you are set on killing me, take one of these large stones and kill me outright.”
Then Cain, the hard-hearted, and cruel murderer, took a large stone, and beat his brother’s
head with it until his brains oozed out, and he wallowed in his blood, before him.
And Cain was not sorry for what he had done.”
Cain immediately attempts to bury his brother’s mangled body, but the earth wouldn’t accept
it, rejecting it and spitting it out three times.
God, furious, knew what Cain had done, so He marked him in the way that was described
earlier in the video.
Cain returns to his parents in a sorry state, both pitiable and despicable: terrified, defiled,
and blood-soaked.
Upon learning of what transpired, a profound sorrow set into Adam and Eve, and Cain left,
never to reunite with his parents.
He took Luluwa, the older beautiful sister, with him, making her his wife and siring many
children by her.
Years after the death of Abel, Adam and Eve conceived one last time, a son, Seth, who
was good like Abel was good, yet greater in mind and body: intelligent, willful, tall,
handsome, and strong.
When Seth was grown, he married Cain’s twin sister, whom it was originally intended that
Cain should marry.
They had children, and Seth forbade them from spending time with Cain’s children, who
made their home to the West, below the place Cain murdered Abel years earlier, keeping
the two families separate.
Because Cain was cursed by God, he could find no peace, nor could he settle anywhere, forced
to wander from place to place.
Eventually, he came to visit one of his sons, Lamech, who was now blind and well into his
years.
Cain went out to the field, but unfortunately for him, Lamech, blind man that he was, mistook
him for a threat, thinking him a wild beast or robber.
He let loose an arrow, piercing Cain in the side, then followed up that shot with stone
from his sling.
Here’s the passage that describes Cain’s death:
“Then Lamech shot at Cain with his arrow and hit him in his side.
And Lamech struck him with a stone from his sling, and the stone struck his face and knocked
out both his eyes.
Then Cain fell dead instantly.
Then Lamech and the young Shepherd came up to him and found him lying on the ground.
And the young shepherd said to him, “It is Cain our grandfather, whom you have killed,
my lord!
Then Lamech grieved in bitterness and regret.
And he clapped his hands together and struck the head of the youth with his flat palm,
and the youth fell as if he were dead.
But Lamech thought the youth was pretending, so he took up a stone and struck him, and
smashed his head until he died [,perpetuating the sin of kinslaying].”
And that’s it for this video!
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