The War to end all Wars: Genesis 3:14-19 and 4:6-12

In a previous post, I began to explore features of Genesis 3:14-19. This post continues that exploration, and widens the horizon to include 4:6-12. As Simon Holloway noted in a comment to the previous post, the second passage is symmetrical to the first. The passages are also asymmetrical. Whilst it is standard procedure to note textual symmetries, it is no less important to notice asymmetries.

In 3:15, the battle between serpentkind (a personification of temptation) and womankind is described as one which will be perpetual. The emphasis is on serpentkind having the wherewithal to do but limited harm to womankind. In 4:7, the same battle is described again. The emphasis is placed on humanity having the wherewithal to dominate sin. Sin is described in utterly convincing phenomenological terms as a being which lurks at the door.

3:15 and 4:7 complement one another. In the battle with temptation and sin, God tilts the playing field in favor of humanity. Will humanity exploit the fact so as to master the situation? The drama lies therein. Here is the Hebrew:

 

 15וְאֵיבָה אָשִׁית

בֵּינְךָ וּבֵין הָאִשָּׁה

 

וּבֵין זַרְעֲךָ

וּבֵין זַרְעָהּ

 

הוּא יְשׁוּפְךָ רֹאשׁ

וְאַתָּה תְּשׁוּפֶנּוּ עָקֵב׃

[God to the serpent]

And I shall set enmity

between you and the woman,

 

between your seed

and her seed.

 

He will bruise your head,

but you are able to bruise his heel.

 7לָמָּה חָרָה לָךְ

וְלָמָּה נָפְלוּ פָנֶיךָ׃

 

הֲלוֹא אִם־תֵּיטִיב שְׂאֵת

וְאִם לֹא תֵיטִיב

לַפֶּתַח חַטָּאת רֹבֵץ

 

וְאֵלֶיךָ תְּשׁוּקָתֹו

וְאַתָּה תִּמְשָׁל־בֹּו׃

[God to Cain]

Why does it burn you?

Why are you crestfallen?

 

If you are well-disposed, there’s uplift.

If you are not well-disposed,

Sin, a lurker, is at the door.

 

His desire is for you,

but you are able to dominate him.

 Correspondences are clear: ‘serpent and serpentkind // sin, a lurker’; ‘bruising the heel // waiting at the door, ready to pounce.’ The serpent is addressed in the first instance. The maximum damage the serpent can do (‘bruise the heel’) is specified last, and caps God’s speech. The human is addressed in the second instance. The maximum damage the human can do (‘dominate him,’ which is less than annihilating him) is specified last, and caps that divine speech.

‘Why does it burn you?’ The construction is impersonal. ‘It’ refers to a precedent fact, that of God preferring Abel’s offering to Cain's.

With Keil and Delitzsch, Sarna, Wenham et al., I take H יטב to refer to mood, not behavior, and שְׂאֵת to refer to a potential reversal of Cain’s crestfallenness, not forgiveness. Should Cain be well-disposed to his brother despite the circumstances, God will show favor to him as well.

Sibling relations are a preferred locus in Genesis for exploring the possibilities of sin and capacity for goodness. To think that Genesis describes his-story and her-story as only and always a descent into the abyss is a fundamental misreading of the book.

Remarkably, the positive foil to Cain is Esau, who is well-disposed to his brother despite everything God and his brother had done to him. It is Esau’s openness to the future which Cain lacks. In the narrative of Genesis, God reverses Isaac’s sad prediction of one brother lording it over the other through new facts on the ground. It is one more case of God being true to his word by overriding the surface of the word in favor of its subtext. A divine work within Jacob, subtly described, prepares the way for the reversal. Esau’s grace and openness, on the other hand, are a narrative surprise.

All of this is easily missed unless the book of Genesis is read as it was meant to be read, in one sitting around the campfire, while looking into the burning embers. For those like the ancients who care to see God’s hand at work in the unfolding of their lives, narrative surprises are a profoundly humbling experience.

In a final post, I will conclude this series on poetic passages in Genesis 3 and 4.