Cain and Abel
Read Genesis 4:1, 2. What do we learn from these passages about the
births of the two males?
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The first event recorded by the biblical author immediately after
Adam’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden is a birth. In the Hebrew
phrase in Genesis 4:1, the words “the Lord” (YHWH) are directly
linked to the words “a man,” as the following literal translation indi-
cates: “ ‘I have acquired a man, indeed the Lord Himself.’ ” It is ren-
dered by the International Standard Version as “ ‘I have given birth to
a male child—the Lord.’ ”
This literal translation suggests that Eve remembers the Messianic
prophecy of Genesis 3:15 and believes that she has given birth to her
Savior, the Lord. “The Saviour’s coming was foretold in Eden. When
Adam and Eve first heard the promise, they looked for its speedy ful-
fillment. They joyfully welcomed their first-born son, hoping that he
might be the Deliverer.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 31.
In fact, Cain occupies most of the story. He not only is the firstborn,
a son that the parents almost “worshiped”; but in the chapter, he also is
the only brother who, in the Genesis text, speaks. While Eve excitedly
comments on Cain’s birth, she says nothing at Abel’s, at least nothing
that is recorded in the text, in contrast to the birth of Cain. The narrator
simply reports that she “bore again” (Gen. 4:2, NKJV).
The name Cain itself is derived from the Hebrew verb qanah, which
means “to acquire” and denotes the acquisition, the possession of
something precious and powerful. On the other hand, the Hebrew name
Hebel, in English Abel, means “vapor” (Ps. 62:9, NKJV), or “breath”
(Ps. 144:4, NKJV) and denotes elusiveness, emptiness, lack of sub-
stance; the same word, hebel (Abel), is used repeatedly in Ecclesiastes
for “vanity.” Though we don’t want to read more into these short texts
than is there, perhaps the idea is that Adam and Eve’s hope rested, they
believed, only in Cain, because they believed he, not his brother, was
the promised Messiah.
What are things in life that, truly, are hebel, but that we treat as
if they mattered much more than they do? Why is it important
to know the difference between what matters and what doesn’t?