Cain - Abel Conflict: A Biblical-Exegetical Reading

Abstract

The anonymous author of the tenth century, of Yahwist tradition, makes a “current” reading of the living problems of the Jewish people, finding its explanation in the myth of the beginning. The Cain-Abel conflict thus considered, is used to understand family conflicts, but mainly what the author means as the self-destruction of the people.
The sedentarization process of the Hebrew tribes resulted in the loss of several values that for centuries have been critical to the survival of the people.
Before the sedentarizarion wich, at the time of the the author, already had a history of about three hundred years, the fundamental value, source of all other values, was based on tribal solidarity. By becoming a farmers (“cain”) the elements of the people gradually lost the sense of fraternity of the nomad/shephard (“abel”) people.
For the author, God can not look favorably upon the situation of the people of his time, nor feel happy with the service provided. The farmer/Cain people killed the shepherd/Abel people.
The condition for the people to remain in the Promised Land was to “honor father and mother”, that is, to respect the values of the past. Because they have rejected these values, the punishment will be a wandering life, that has been going on throughout the history of the Hebrew people.