Comentario sobre Génesis 4:11

ארור אתה מן האדמה CURSED BE THOU FROM THE GROUND or, MORE THAN THE GROUND — More than the ground has already been cursed on account of its sin (cf. Rashi on Genesis 1:11): in this, too, it has again sinned

CURSED ART THOU FROM THE GROUND — more than it has already been cursed on account of its sin. In this, too, it has further sinned in that it hath opened its mouth to take thy brother’s blood. Therefore, I impose upon it an additional curse: it shall not continue to give unto thee her strength.⁴³⁰Verse 12. Thus the words of Rashi.
But this is not correct since here He did not curse the ground because of him as He did in the case of his father, rather He said that he be cursed through the ground. The explanation of the curse is that the earth shall not continue to give him its strength, and that he be a fugitive and a wanderer in it,⁴³⁰Verse 12. and He further stated, “When thou tillest the ground⁴³⁰Verse 12. with all your efforts to cultivate it properly by plowing and hoeing, and in all manner of service in the field⁴³¹Exodus 1:14. and by properly sowing it, it shall not continue to give unto thee her strength.⁴³⁰Verse 12. Instead, you will sow much and harvest little.” This then was the curse, in the same sense as in the verse: And I will curse your blessings.⁴³²Malachi 2:2. Thus He uttered the curse in connection with his occupation for he was a tiller of the ground,⁴³³Verse 2. and so He cursed his work. This then is the sense of the expression, it shall not continue to give unto thee her strength,⁴³⁰Verse 12. meaning, “It will no longer yield to you its full produce as it had done till now when you cultivated it.” And so did Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explain it.
It is possible that He also cursed him though the ground in that it should no longer yield its strength to him of its own accord; the fig-tree and the vine would not yield their strength⁴³⁴See Joel 2:22. in his estate, and the trees of the field would not yield him their fruit.⁴³⁵See Leviticus 26:4. Then He added, “Even when you work the ground by plowing and sowing, it will not continue to give you its strength as before.” Thus there were two curses relating to his occupation, and a third one — that he be a fugitive and a wanderer in the world. This means that his heart will not be at rest, and he will lack the tranquility to remain in one place on the earth; he will wander forever for the punishment of murderers is exile.
The expression in that it hath opened its mouth to take thy brother’s blood means: “You have killed your brother and covered his blood with the earth, and I will decree upon it that it uncover its blood, and she shall no more cover her slain⁴³⁶Isaiah 26:21. for it will be punished together with all that is covered up in it, such as seed and plant.” This is the punishment for all blood-letting on the earth, even as it is written, For blood, it polluteth the land.⁴³⁷Numbers 35:33. The pollution of the land consists of a curse upon its produce, as it is written: When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten; when one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty press-measures, there were but twenty.⁴³⁸Haggai 2:16.

ארור אתה מן האדמה, cursed and deprived of the good the earth has to offer.

ועתה ארור אתה מן האדמה, the curse will be spelled out in the verse following, where G’d explains that Kayin will experience that the source of his curse is the very earth he had used to hide his crime. This earth would not continue to provide its strength for Kayin.

ארור אתה מן האדמה אשר פצתה את פיה, “you are cursed from the earth which opened its mouth, etc.” It is difficult to understand how the earth could be faulted. After all, the earth acts as receptacle for everything which is poured out upon it. The answer given is that in this instance the earth deliberately tried to conceal the deed by swallowing all of Hevel’s blood (and body) so that not a trace of what happened there remained visible. Rashi explains the words ארור אתה מן האדמה, as meaning “you are cursed now even more than the first curse which had been decreed against the earth as a result of your father’s sin when he ate from the tree of knowledge.” [that curse had also been described as ארורה, although Rashi substituted the term קללה. Ed.] Nachmanides disagrees with Rashi, saying that this time the earth itself was not cursed as when Kayin’s father had sinned, but in this instance Kayin’s vocation as a farmer was the subject of the curse. Whereas previously he had been a very successful farmer, he would find now that even his best efforts would not be rewarded with the expected success.

ארור אתה אשר פצתה את פיה, ”you are cursed more than the ground which opened its mouth, etc.” The meaning may be “you are cursed (separated) from the ground (which was your source of sustenance) which has opened its mouth, etc. From now on the earth would not yield its produce to you voluntarily.
The second curse was that even if Kayin would labour mightily to make the earth yield its produce the way it had done previously. This is why the Torah said in verse 12 —

Even more... This refers to the ground’s sin of bringing forth [inedible] trees bearing fruit; when Adam was cursed, so too was the ground. It does not refer to the ground’s sin of opening its mouth. For about that sin it cannot be said, “You are cursed more than the curse of the ground,” as the ground had not yet been cursed for it.

Und nun, ארור אתה, Gott braucht dich gar nicht weiter zu richten, du bist schon gerichtet, indem sich die ganze Erdwelt gegen dich erhebt. In diesem Schrei liegt dein Urteil. Bemerken wir, dass erst hier über einen Menschen, den Verbrecher, der Fluch ausgesprochen worden. Oben traf der Fluch die Erde zur Erziehung des Menschen. — ארר, ja verwandt mit ערר, wovon ערער, vereinsamt. Während dem ברוך alles harmonisch zuströmt, ihm sein Heil und sein Gedeihen zu fördern, steht der ארור vereinsamt, außer Zusammenhang mit allem, aus welchem des Menschen Gedeihen und Blühen kommt. מן האדמה, getrennt von ארור אתה, entweder: hinweg von dem Boden usw. oder wie wir es übersetzt haben: von dem Boden usw. Du hast schon den Fluch und zwar von dem Boden usw. — פצה, verwandt mit פצח ,פצע, ist immer ein gewaltsames Öffnen, entweder mit Widerwillen, oder durch zwingende Verhältnisse. So bei Gelübden, die in der Not getan werden, bei Jephta, ואנכי פציתי פי, so auch: .(selbst in der Angst wagte keiner den Mund zu öffnen (Jes. 10 ,ופוצה פה ומצפצף So auch hier: die ihren Mund öffnen musste, du hast sie gezwungen, das Blut deines Bruders von deiner Hand aufzunehmen. מידך, der Mensch kehrt allerdings zurück, allein von der Hand des Bruders erwartet die Erde den Bruder nicht.

מן האדמה, according to Rashi: “more than the previous curse decreed on earth as a result of Adam’s having eaten from the tree of knowledge when it was punished for failing to have produced trees with edible trunks.”An alternate exegesis: the verse is to be understood as “you, Kayin, the farmer, are to have to work an earth cursed additionally when you work it, during this year, as it will not continue to yield its fruit for you in the year to follow; seeing that this is so, from now on you will be wandering on earth without permanent homestead, noting that you are cursed,”

אשר פצתה את פיה לקחת את דמי אחיך IN THAT IT HATH OPENED ITS MOUTH TO TAKE THY BROTHER’S BLOOD: therefore do I impose upon it an additional curse regarding you—“it shall not henceforth yield unto thee its strength”.

אשר פצתה את פיה, because it allowed itself to be used to cover up the killing of your brother. As a result, earth will no longer be free to provide the needs of your livelihood in the degree it did up until now. There was no need to spell out the penalty for the murderer. His punishment is part of the principle applying to the penalty for anyone causing willful damage, i.e. he will experience tit for tat as spelled out in Leviticus 24,19.

אשר פצתה את פיה, a reference to soaking up Hevel’s blood, [not as in the case of Korach being actively involved in swallowing Hevel. Ed.] We have a similar incident in Job 16,18 ארץ אל תכסי דמי, “Earth, do not cover my blood!” Also Ezekiel 24, 7-8 uses similar language, i.e. כי דמה היה על צחיח סלע שמתהו לא שפכתהו על הארץ לכסות עליו עפר, “For her blood remained within her, she placed it on a smooth rock. She did not pour it upon the ground to cover it with dust.”

It continued to sin. Rashi apparently holds that the term פצתה means to open extra wide, which was the [ground’s] sin, as Tosafos says (Sanhedrin 37b ד"ה מיום): “It left no trace [of Hevel’s blood] at all.” (Nachalas Yaakov) Re’m asks: Here, it was considered bad for the ground to open its mouth. So why does it say in Sanhedrin 37b: “From the day the ground opened to accept Hevel’s blood it has not opened [again] for the good”? This implies that opening its mouth was good! However, I do not understand what the question is. Surely it was good for Kayin that Hevel’s blood be covered, but for Hevel it was bad [that the ground opened and covered his blood] because as long as Hevel’s blood remains visible, his death would be avenged — as was the case with the blood of Zechariah the prophet (see Gittin 57b). (Divrei Dovid)

אשר פצתה את פיה לקחת את דמי אחיך, “because it opened its mouth, to accept, (hide) the blood of your brother, cooperating with you in hiding your foul deed.” As long as you and your descendants are living on earth; you will therefore have to find new earth to till, earth whose productivity has not been exhausted from the previous year’s harvest. [Kayin’s male descendants came to an end at the time of the deluge. If Noach’s wife was descended from Kayin, this does not contradict this interpretation, as women did not till the soil. Ed.] We have a verse in Job 15,23, which describes the wicked man as wandering in search of bread without succeeding.”