Génesis 4:7 Cábala: Zohar

AND JACOB SENT MESSENGERS (lit. angels), ETC. R. Judah discoursed on the text: For he will give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways (Ps. 91, 11). ‘According to the companions,’ he said, ‘the moment a child is born into the world, the evil prompter straightway attaches himself to him, and thenceforth brings accusations against him, as it says, “sin coucheth at the door” (Gen. 4, 7), the term “sin” being a designation of the evil prompter,

AND JACOB DWELT IN THE LAND OF HIS FATHER’S SOJOURNINGS, IN THE LAND OF CANAAN. R. Hiya discoursed on the verse: Many are the ills of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all (Ps. 34, 20). ‘Many, indeed’, he said, ‘are the adversaries with whom a human being has to contend from the day that God breathes into him a soul in this world. For as soon as he emerges into the light of day, the evil prompter is at hand in readiness to join him, according to our interpretation of the verse: “Sin coucheth at the door” (Gen. 4, 7).

Better, therefore, is one who is “lightly esteemed” and who does not follow the evil prompter, but remains humble in heart and spirit and submits himself to the will of the Holy One, blessed be He. The evil prompter is bowed down before such a one, and so far is he from obtaining the mastery over the man that it is the man who obtains the mastery over him, as it says, “but thou mayest rule over him” (Gen. 4, 7).