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In the Beginning: Art from the Book of Genesis

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In the Beginning: Art from the Book of Genesis In the Beginning: Art from the Book of Genesis Cain and Abel (Genesis 4) Julian Bell (British, (1952-), Cain and Abel, 2015 Genesis 4 4 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” 8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?” 10 And the LORD said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. 11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” 13 Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14 Look, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” 15 Then the LORD said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. 16 Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Reflection Sibling rivalry is a reality of life. For those who have a sibling or two, it starts young. Like the first-grader who came home and proudly reported to her dad she was now officially a "Brownie." Not to be outdone, her three-year-old brother rushed up and proudly announced he was a cupcake! It is easy then to make this story, the story of Cain and Abel, into a story about sibling rivalry. The book of Genesis is about relationships, it is often said, and Cain and Abel, the first two siblings, stand at the head of a long line of brothers and sisters who couldn’t get along. But the story of Cain and Abel is about more than family, about more than jealousy and anger, about more even than the first murder. It is, like the rest of the Bible, first and foremost about God. Indeed, if Genesis is about relationships, the chief relationship it concerns is the relationship between humanity and God. That God is at the center of this story can be seen in the fact that the dispute between the brothers arose in response to their making sacrifices to God. While surely we expect that this was not the first time tension arose between the two brothers, it was after the two had made their offerings to God that their rivalry exploded into fratricide. Genesis chapter 4 relates the story: “In the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.” It’s strange. Why did God reject Cain’s worship? Cain was worshiping the one true God, not an idol. Did Cain just choose the wrong item on the menu, the wrong thing to sacrifice – the fruit of the ground instead of the firstborn of the flock? Some argue that Cain’s offering failed because it wasn’t a blood sacrifice, and only bloodshed can atone for sin (Hebrews 9:22). So Cain approached God with nothing to cover his guilt. The problem with that view is that neither brother’s offering here was meant to atone for sin. These brothers were bringing to God not atonement but an “offering,” that is, devotion, thanks, tribute. In fact, later, in Leviticus, God tells the people of Israel that grain offerings are acceptable and appropriate for that purpose. So Cain’s offering of the fruit of the ground wasn’t the problem. The fact that we cannot see, in the biblical text, why God rejected Cain is the point. The difference between Cain and Abel was not visible. If we had been standing there that day, we might have been as perplexed as Cain was. But God did see something. There is a hint in verses 3-4: “In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions.” Cain offered some of his harvest, but Abel gave the firstborn of his flock, and their fat portions too – the tastiest parts. In fact, another translation of the verse reads, “and Abel, he also brought the choicest of the firstlings of his flock.” In other words, Cain threw a tip on the table, but Abel gave his best. Cain gave out of his profit, but Abel gave out of his capital. Cain made a gesture of thanks, but Abel risked his future growth potential by giving God some of his breeding stock. The difference between these two men was the difference between tokenism and love, and God took it seriously. From the beginning the Sons and Daughters of God have been set apart by their wholehearted worship, setting no preconditions on God, but offering themselves as living sacrifices for his glory. The apostle John in the New Testament takes the next step, connecting our wholehearted worship of God with how we treat one another: “This is the message that we have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s were righteous” (1 John 3:11-12). Again, what separated the offerings of Cain and Abel was not what they offered but how each brother offered them. Cain’s deeds were evil because they rose from a jealous and mean-spirited heart. But Abel offered his sacrifice out of gratitude. And that makes all the difference. Our ability to give to God, our sense of gratitude and our generosity to God, overflows into our treatment of others, into our honoring and gratitude to and for others. Likewise, our stinginess and ingratitude to God cannot help but be reflected in our mistreatment of others, our taking others for granted. The vertical and the horizontal always connect. Those who truly love God also love one another. Cain and Abel are a vivid, and tragic, illustration of this truth. Artistic Illumination Bacchiacca (Francesco d'Ubertino) (Italian, 1495– 1557), Eve with Cain and Abel, 1520s While it is easy for us today to dismiss criminals, especially murderers, as something not human, something alien or lesser than the rest of humanity, it is important to remember that both the victims of crime and the perpetrators of crime were at one time children, with parents and extended family. Here, our study of Cain and Abel in art begins appropriately with paintings of the brothers from when they were infants, clutching to their mother and playing with a ball. Lorenzo De Ferrari (Italian, 1680- 1744), Adam and Eve with the Infants Cain and Abel, 18th century Edward Knippers (American, 1946-), The Sacrifice of Cain, 2002 It is unlikely that the envy and sense of inadequacy had no precursor in the family interactions. Yet it was the matter of an offering, the offering of first fruits to God, that precipitated the heinous act. As Knippers portrays here, the sacrifices were quite different in weight—Abel a young lamb, Cain a handful of turnips! Edward Knippers (American, 1946-), Abel’s Sacrifice, 2001 Laszlo Hegedus (Hungarian, 1870-1911), Kain and Abel, 1899 Here the painter gives Abel (facing us) a self-righteous sneer, while Cain (the one with the bare backside) has red hair, symbolizing anger. Andrei Nikolaevich Miranov (Russian, 1975-), Cain and Abel, 2015 Note the naiveté and earnestness of Abel’s face and the look of resentment and hurt on the face of Cain. John Reilly (1928-2010), Cain and Abel, 1958 Cain’s fenced farmland, under intensive cultivation, and Abel’s extensive sheep runs are clearly delineated in the rolling landscape. The acceptance of Abel’s gift of a sacrificial lamb is represented by a bright and open area in which he and his herds are placed, with a vortex of light representing God’s acceptance of his gift, which descends from heaven and bathes him in its glow.
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