Midrash on Bereishit
Kayin and Hevel
Said Rabbi Huna: What is the reason which Rabi Nathan assigns for the opinion of Beit Shammai?
Because it is written, And again she bore his brother Hevel (which implies:) Hevel and his sister; Kayin and his sister.
And it is also written, For G-d has appointed me another seed instead of Hevel; for Kayin slew him.
And the Rabbis?
She was merely expressing her gratitude.
"Kayin said to Hevel his brother..." (Bereishit 4:8). What Kayin said to Hevel was: Come and let us divide the world between us.
Hevel replied: Very well.
So Kayin said: You take animals, and I will take land.
And it was stipulated between them that neither should have any claim against the other about this division.
Nevertheless, when Hevel proceeded to graze the flock, Kayin said: The land you are standing on is mine.
Hevel replied: The wool you are wearing is mine.
"Strip!" said Hevel.
"Seat!" said Kayin.
At that, "Kayin rose up against Hevel his brother" (Bereishit 4:8).
The meaning of "rose up" will be explained in what follows:
Kayin proceeded to chase Hevel from hill to valley and from valley to hill, until the two grappled.
Hevel overcame Kayin, so that Kayin fell underneath Hevel.
Kayin, aware how badly it was going with him, began to plead aloud: Hevel my brother, there are only two of us in the world. What are you going to tell our father?...
Hevel, filled with compassion for his brother, let him go.
At once Kayin rose up against him and slew him. For the verse "Kayin rose up against Hevel his brother, and slew him" implies that at first Kayin had been underneath Hevel.
How did he slay him?
Kayin took a stone and inflicted many contusions and bruises on Hevel's arms and legs, for he did not know what part of the body the soul goes out of, until, when he got to his neck, Hevel died.
After he slew him, Kayin said: I must flee from my father and mother. Since, except for Hevel and me, there is no one else in the world, they will demand an accounting from me.
Immediately the Holy One revealed Himself to him, saying, "You may flee from your parents, but not from Me. 'Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?' (Yirmeyahu 23:24)
'Where is Hevel your brother?'" (Bereishit 4:9)
Said Rabbi Huna: What is the reason which Rabbi Nathan assigns for the opinion of Beit Shammai?
Because it is written, And again she bore his brother Hevel (which implies:) Hevel and his sister; Kayin and his sister.
And it is also written, For G-d has appointed me another seed instead of Hevel; for Kayin slew him.
And the Rabbis?
She was merely expressing her gratitude.
"Kayin said to Hevel his brother..." (Bereishit 4:8). What Kayin said to Hevel was: Come and let us divide the world between us.
Hevel replied: Very well.
So Kayin said: You take animals, and I will take land.
And it was stipulated between them that neither should have any claim against the other about this division.
Nevertheless, when Hevel proceeded to graze the flock, Kayin said: The land you are standing on is mine.
Hevel replied: The wool you are wearing is mine. "Strip!" said Hevel.
"Seat!" said Kayin.
At that, "Kayin rose up against Abel his brother" (Bereishit 4:8).
The meaning of "rose up" will be explained in what follows:
Kayin proceeded to chase Hevel from hill to valley and from valley to hill, until the two grappled.
Hevel overcame Kayin, so that Kayin fell underneath Hevel.
Kayin, aware how badly it was going with him, began to plead aloud: Hevel my brother, there are only two of us in the world. What are you going to tell our father?...
Hevel, filled with compassion for his brother, let him go.
At once Kayin rose up against him and slew him. For the verse "Kayin rose up against Hevel his brother, and slew him" implies that at first Kayin had been underneath Hevel.
How did he slay him?
Kayin took a stone and inflicted many contusions and bruises on Hevel's arms and legs, for he did not know what part of the body the soul goes out of, until, when he got to his neck, Hevel died.
After he slew him, Kayin said: I must flee from my father and mother. Since, except for Hevel and me, there is no one else in the world, they will demand an accounting from me.
Immediately the Holy One revealed Himself to him, saying, "You may flee from your parents, but not from Me. 'Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?' (Yirmeyahu 23:24)
'Where is Hevel your brother?'" (Bereishit 4:9)
Kayin replied, "I do not know. Why ask me about him? I should be asking You where he is!"
"O wicked one," the Holy One replied, "the voice of your brother's bloods cries to me" (Bereishit 4:10).
G-d's reply may be illustrated by the parable of a man who entered a garden patch, took some mulberries, and ate them. When the owner ran after him, saying, "What's in your hands?" and the man replied, "Nothing," the owner said, "But your hands are stained!"
Or G-d's reply may also be illustrated by the parable of a man who entered a pasture, seized a kid, and slung it over his back. When the owner of the pasture ran after him, saying, "What are you holding?" and the man replied, "Nothing," the owner said, "But the kid is bleating behind your back!"
"The voice of yourbrother's bloods cries out against Me from the ground" (Bereishit 4:10). Rabbi Simeon ben Yochai said: This verse is all but intolerable to recite and impossible to explain.
For it seems to regard Kayin and Hevel as two gladiators, wrestling in the king's presence [in an arena, where] if the king desires it, he may separate them; or if he does not desire to separate them, and one gladiator prevails over the other and is about to kill him, the other may cry out, "Who will intercede for me with the king?"
Therefore G-d said: Since I, the King, did not interfere between Kayin and Hevel, "The voice of your brother's blood cries out against Me."
Another comment: Kayin said to G-d, "Am I [expected to be] my brother's keeper?" (Bereishit 4:9). You are the keeper of all creatures, yet You call me to account for him.
Kayin's question may be understood by the parable of a thief who stole some vessels during the night and was not caught.
The following morning, the gatekeeper did catch him and asked, "Why did you steal the vessels?"
The thief replied, "I, thief that I am, did not slacken at my trade, but you; your trade is to keep watch at the gate. Why did you slacken in your occupation?"
Accordingly, Kayin's question is in fact a defiant assertion: I slew Hevel; it was You who created in me the impulse to evil. But You are the keeper of all things; yet You let me slay him. It is You who slew him. Had You accepted my offering as You did his, I would not have been jealous of him.
Immediately the Holy One countered, "What have you done? 'The voice of thy brother's bloods cries'"
Then [in self-defense] Kayin pleaded: Master of the universe, I never in my life knew or saw anyone slain. How was I to know that if I struck Hevel with a stone, he would die?
Kayin went on, "Is my sin so great that it cannot be borne?" (Bereishit 4:13).
He said further: Master of the universe, are there, in Your presence, informers who come up to denounce a person before You? My father and mother are on the earth, and yet they do not know that I slew Hevel. You are in heaven; how do You know?
The Holy One replied: Fool! The whole world, all of it, I bear.
Kayin then said: The whole world, all of it, You bear, yet my sin You cannot bear! "Is my sin so great that it cannot be borne?"
[Now that Kayin spoke of his act as a sin], the Holy One said: Since you vowed repentance, go forth as a wandering exile from this place, "and Kayin went out from the presence of Hashem and dwelt in the land as a wanderer" (Bereishit 4:16).
As he went forth, wherever he walked, the earth quaked beneath him, and all animals, wild and tame, shaken at the sight of him said, "What sort of a creature is this?"
Then, to one another, "Kayin has slain his brother Hevel; so the Holy One has decreed for Kayin, 'A fugitive and a wanderer you shall be.' (Bereishit 4:12) Let's go at him and devour him," and they surrounded him and came at him to exact reckoning for Hevel's blood.
The tears began to flow from Kayin's eyes as he said: Whither shall I go From Your spirit?
Or whither shall I flee From Your Presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in the nether world, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, or dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there would Your hand Apprehend me, and Your right hand would Seize me. (Tehillim 139:7-10)
At that, the Holy One [reassuring him] said, "Whoever slays Kayin, sevenfold vengeance shall be taken on him." (Bereishit 4:15).
After Hevel was slain, he was lying in a field, his blood spattered over sticks and stones. The dog who had been guarding Hevel's flock now also guarded Hevel's corpse from the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky.
Adam and his mate came and sat by the corpse, weeping and mourning for him, but they did not know what to do with Hevel's body.
A raven whose companion had just died said: I will teach Adam what to do. The raven took his dead companion, dug up the earth before the eyes of Adam and his mate, and buried him in it.
Adam said: We will do as the raven. At once he took Hevel's corpse and buried it in the ground.
MISHNAH: FOR THUS WE FIND IN THE CASE OF CAIN, WHO KILLED HIS BROTHER, THAT IT IS WRITTEN: THE BLOODS OF YOUR BROTHER CRY TO ME: NOT THE BLOOD OF YOUR BROTHER, BUT THE BLOODS OF YOUR BROTHER, IS SAID HIS BLOOD AND THE BLOOD OF HIS [POTENTIAL] DESCENDANTS. ALTERNATIVELY, THE BLOODS OF YOUR BROTHER, TEACHES THAT HIS BLOOD WAS SPLASHED OVER TREES AND STONES. FOR THIS REASON WAS MAN CREATED ALONE, TO TEACH YOU THAT WHOEVER DESTROYS A SINGLE SOUL OF YISRAEL, SCRIPTURE IMPUTES [GUILT] TO HIM AS THOUGH HE HAD DESTROYED A COMPLETE WORLD; AND WHOEVER PRESERVES A SINGLE SOUL OF YISRAEL, SCRIPTURE ASCRIBES [MERIT] TO HIM AS THOUGH HE HAD PRESERVED A COMPLETE WORLD.
"And Hashem provided Kayin with a token for his protection" (Bereishit 4:15). He gave him a dog, according to Rav; but according to Abba Yose, He made a horn sprout on his forehead.
Lamech, seventh in the generations of mankind, who was Kayin's grandson, was blind. One time he went out hunting, with his young son holding him by the hand. The child saw something that looked like a beast's horn and said, "I see something that looks like a beast."
Lamech bent the bow, [let go the arrow], and slew Kayin.
When the child, still at a distance, saw that it was a dead man with a horn on his forehead, he said to Lamech, "My father, this looks like a slain man with a horn on his forehead."
Lamech cried out, "Woe is me! It is my grandfather."
In contrition, he clapped his two hands together, inadvertently striking the child's head and killing him.
It is concerning this double slaying that Lamech said, "By a wound of mine [my blindness] I slew a man, and by a blow of mine [clapping my hands] a child" (Bereishit 4:23).
"Kayin went out from the Presence of Hashem" (Bereishit 4:16). How can it be said that a man went out from the Presence of Hashem?
However, according to Rabbi Yudan, citing Rabbi Aibu, the verse signifies that Kayin left [his consciousness of] Hashem's Presence by tossing off the words ["My sin is greater than can be forgiven"], as if by mouthing them he could blunt the Almighty's awareness of his sin.
Kayin [did not speak deceitfully, but] went forth as one glad in heart.
Adam met him and asked, "What was done in punishment of you?"
Kayin replied, "I vowed repentance and was granted clemency."
Upon hearing this, Adam, in self-reproach, began to strike himself in the face as he said, "Such is the power of repentance, and I knew it not."
Then and there Adam exclaimed, "It is a good thing to confess to Hashem." (Tehillim 92:2)
It was taught: Rabbi Nathan stated: Beit Shammai ruled: Two males and two females (were born to Chavah); and Beit Hillel ruled: A male and a female.
It was taught: R. Nathan stated: Beit Shammai ruled: Two males and two females (were born to Eve); and Beit Hillel ruled: A male and a female.