Midrash sur La Genèse 4:9

(Deut. 11:26:) “See, I [am setting before you today a blessing and a curse]. This text is related (to Jer. 21:8), “And (to) [unto] this people you shall say, ‘Thus says the Lord, “See, I am setting before you the road of life and the road of death.”’” It is also written (in Ps. 78:1), “A maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my Torah […].” And it is written (in Deut. 4:9-10), “Only take heed to yourself and watch [yourself closely, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; make them known to your children and to your children's children]: The day that you stood [before the Lord your God at Horeb]….” [This is] to tell you that [when] anyone despises the words of Torah, it is as though he were denying the Holy One, blessed be He,, because He only bestowed Torah so that Israel would be occupied with it day and night, as stated (in Josh. 1:8), “and you shall meditate on it (i.e., on the Torah) day and night.” And it is written (in Ps. 1:2), “But their delight is in the law (Torah) of the Lord, [and on his law (Torah) they meditate day and night].” And when anyone occupies himself with the Torah and fulfills it, [it is] as though he had received it from Sinai. It is therefore written (in Deut. 4:9), “make them known to your children […],” and adjacent to it (in Deut. 4:10), “The day that you stood before the Lord your God….” When Asaph came, he began to say (in Ps. 78:1) “Give ear, O my people, to my Torah.” So also did Solomon say (in Prov. 4:2), “For I gave you good instruction; [do not abandon my Torah].” Israel said to Asaph, “Is there another Torah, such that you say (in Ps. 78:1), ‘Give ear, O my people, to my Torah?’ We have already received it from Mount Sinai.” He said to them, “The sinners of Israel say that the Prophets and the Writings are not Torah, and they do not believe in them, as stated (in Dan. 9:10), “And we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in His Torah, which He set before us at the hand of His servants the prophets.” Ergo, the Prophets and the Writings are Torah. As so is it stated (in Ps. 78:1), “Give ear, O my people, to my Torah (in this case to a writing of Asaph).” Another interpretation (of Ps. 78:1), “Give ear, O my people, to my Torah.” This text is related (to Prov. 16:23), “The heart of a wise person, instructs his mouth […].” When Israel sins, they are withheld from anything good; and so you find that, when they committed the act (of the golden calf), everything good was withheld from them, as stated (in Exod. 32:19), “And it came to pass that as soon as he drew near unto the camp and saw the calf [and the dancing, Moses burned with anger; so he threw down the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain].” Then when Moses sought mercy for them, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “Moses, I created the world only for Torah, as stated (in Is. 51:16), “Moreover, I have put My words (i.e., the Torah) in your mouth …, [so that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth].” But they have exchanged My glory for the image of a bull,¹Cf. Ps. 106:20. and you have broken the tablets; so how will the world continue without Torah? He said to Him, “What shall I do?” He said to him (in Deut. 10:1), “Carve out two tablets of stone like the first ones.” It is therefore said (in Prov. 16:23), “The heart of a wise person, instructs his mouth….” For that reason, when Asaph [was alive], he mentioned above (in Ps. 77:21), “You led Your people like a flock [by the hand of Moses and Aaron].”²It is Ps. 77:1 that designates this Psalm as a work of Asaph. Then after that it is written (in Ps. 78:1), “A maskil (a psalm of wisdom) of Asaph.”

And the Lord knew what Cain had done unto his brother and the Lord appeared unto Cain and ‎said unto him: Where is thy brother Abel who was with thee? But Cain denied all knowledge of ‎Abel and said: I know not; am I my brother's keeper? And the Lord said unto him: What hast ‎thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground; thou hast killed ‎thy brother and hast denied it to me, thinking in thine heart that I have not seen thee, and ‎that I would not know all the deeds that thou hast done.‎ And now that thou hast killed thy brother, simply because he told unto thee the truth, be thou ‎therefore cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth to receive the blood of thy ‎brother from thy hand, and because thou hast buried him in her.‎ And when thou tillest the ground it shall not henceforth yield unto thee its strength as ‎heretofore, but it shall bring forth unto thee thorns and thistles also. A fugitive and a vagabond ‎shalt thou be in the earth until the day of thy death.‎ And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord from the place that was his home, and he ‎wandered around a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth eastward of Eden, he and all that ‎were his.‎ And Cain knew his wife at that time and she conceived and bare a son, and he called his name ‎Enoch, saying: In those days the Lord began to give me peace and rest in the land. At the same ‎time Cain began building a city and when the city was built he called her name Enoch, after the ‎name of his son; for the Lord had given him rest upon the earth in those days, and he did not ‎live any more like a fugitive and a vagabond as theretofore.‎ And unto Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begat Mehujael; and Mehujael begat Methusael; and ‎Methusael begat Lamech.‎ And it was in the one hundred and thirtieth year of the life of Adam upon the earth, that Adam ‎knew Eve his wife and she conceived and bare a son in his image and likeness, and called his ‎name Seth saying: God hath appointed unto me another offspring instead of Abel whom Cain ‎hath killed.‎ And Seth lived one hundred and five years and he begat a on.‎ And Seth called the name of his son Enos, saying: At that time the sons of man began to ‎multiply upon the face of the earth and to injure their hearts and souls by rebelling and ‎transgressing against the Lord.‎ And it was in the days of Enos that the sons of man continued the more so to rebel and ‎transgress against the Lord, and to increase the burning anger of the Lord against the sons of ‎man. For the sons of man went and served other gods, and forgot the Lord who created them ‎upon the earth.‎ And the sons of man of those days, made unto themselves images of iron and of copper, and ‎of wood and of stone, and bowed down before them, and served them.‎ And every man made his own god and bowed down before it, and the sons of man forsook ‎the Lord through all the days of Enos and his sons.‎

After killing Abel, he said to himself: “I must flee from my mother and father, for they will ask me where he is, since there are only the two of us.” The Holy One, blessed be He, appeared before him immediately, saying: “You can flee from your parents but not from Me, as it is said: Can any man hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? (Jer. 23:24).” The Holy One asked: Where is Abel, your brother? (Gen. 4:9), and then He continued: “Woe unto him who was merciful to you and refrained from killing you when you were beneath him. When he permitted you to rise, you killed him!”

How did he kill him? He inflicted numerous bruises upon his body with a stone. He smote him over his entire body, from his hands and feet to his throat, for he had no way of knowing from where his soul would depart. When the Holy One, blessed be He, asked him: Where is Abel, your brother? he replied: “I know not; am I my brother’s keeper? (Gen. 4:9). You are the guardian of all, yet You seek him from me!” This may be compared to a thief who steals during the night but is not apprehended while committing the crime. When the watchman seizes him the next morning and asks: “Why did you steal those utensils?”, the thief replies: “I am a thief and I did not neglect my profession. Your job is to keep watch at the gate. Why did you neglect your duties? Now you question me?” So Cain retorted: “True, I slew him, but You created the evil inclination within me. Since You are the guardian of all, why did You permit me to slay him? You who are called the I³³I am the Lord your God (Exod. 20:2). killed him, for if You had accepted my sacrifice as You accepted his, I would not have been envious of him.” The Holy One, blessed be He, replied immediately: What have you done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me (ibid., v. 10). This verse indicates that he inflected numerous wounds upon Abel.

(Gen. 19:1:) THEN THE TWO ANGELS CAME TO SODOM IN THE EVENING…. Let our master instruct us: How many < methods for > executions are given over to the court?⁵⁴Tanh., Gen. 4:9. Four, and these are (according to Sanh. 7:1) STONING, BURNING, BEHEADING, AND STRANGULATION.⁵⁵See Sanh. 9:3; Sanh. 49b-50a. And which is the most severe? Our masters have said: Stoning. R. Simeon ben Johay says: Burning, because it was inflicted on a priest's daughter who had committed adultery. See how serious sexual perversion is when < it is punished > by burning. R. {Simeon} [Joshua] ben Levi said in the name of Bar Qappara: The Holy One granted atonement for everything except sexual perversion, as stated (in Prov. 6:29): NO ONE WHO TOUCHES HER WILL BE CLEANSED. R. Joshua bar Nehemiah said: The Sodomites also were liable to fire because they had erupted into sexual perversion. Thus it is stated (in Gen. 19:24): THEN THE LORD RAINED DOWN UPON SODOM AND UPON GOMORRAH BRIMSTONE AND FIRE. When they were found guilty, the Holy One said to the angels: Why are you standing about? Go and destroy them. They immediately descended and carried out the keleusis⁵⁶The word is Greek. {i.e., the command} of their Creator. Where is it shown? From what they read on the matter (Gen. 19:1): THEN THE TWO ANGELS CAME TO SODOM < IN THE EVENING >.

6 "And Balak saw" (Numbers 22:2) When his messengers came to Bilaam, the Holy One, blesed be He, said to him, "Who are these people" (Numbers 22:9). Bilaam said to him, (Numbers 22:10), "Balak son of Beor, king of Moav, sent to me." Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said, "This is one of three people that the Holy One, blessed be He, examined and found to be a carriage of urine: Kayin, Chizkiyah and Bilaam. Kayin - at the time that the Holy One, blessed be He, said, 'Where is Hevel, your brother' (Genesis 4:9), he sought to - as if it were possible - deceive Him. He should have said, 'Master of the world, the hidden things and the revealed things are revealed in front of You, and You ask me about me about my brother?' Instead he said to Him (Genesis 4:9), 'I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?' The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, 'By your life, this is how you spoke? "The blood of your brother is crying out."' Chizkiyah - when he got up (recovered) from his illness, Merodach-baladan sent him a gift - as it is stated (Isaiah 39:1), 'At that time, Merodach-baladan, sent' - Yishayah came [and] said to him, 'What did those people say, and from where did they come to you.' He should have said, 'You are a prophet of the Omnipresent, and you ask me?' Instead he began to be haughty and said (Isaiah 39:3), 'From a distant land; they have come from Babylonia.' Isaiah said, 'Since you have spoken like this (Isaiah 39:6-7), "Days are coming when everything in your palace, will be carried off [...]. And some of your sons, your own issue, whom you will have fathered, will be taken to serve as eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylonia."' And likewise Bilaam the evildoer - at the time that Balak sent to him, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, 'Who are these people with you'; he should have said, 'Master of the world, 'Everything is revealed in front of You and there is not anything hidden from you, and You ask me?' Instead, he said to Him (Numbers 22:10), 'Balak son of Beor, king of Moav, sent to me.' The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, 'Since you speak to Me like this (Numbers 22:12), "you may not curse the nation."' The Holy One, blessed be He, said, 'Evildoer of the world, it is written about Israel (Zechariah 2:12), "since one who touches you is like one who touches the pupil of his eye," and you are going to touch them and curse them? His eye shall be removed.' As it is stated (Numbers 24:3), 'with the shut eye,' to fulfill, whoever 'touches them is like one who touches the pupil of his eye.'"

Rabbi Jochanan said: Cain did not know that the secrets are revealed before the Holy One, blessed be He. He took the corpse of his brother Abel and hid it in the field. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: "Where is Abel thy brother?" (Gen. 4:9). He replied to Him: Sovereign of the world ! A keeper of vineyard and field hast Thou made me. A keeper of my brother Thou hast not made me; as it is said, "Am I my brother's keeper?" (ibid.). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: || "Hast thou killed, and also taken possession?" (1 Kings 21:19). "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground" (Gen. 4:10). When Cain heard this word he was confused. And He cursed him, that he became a wanderer on the earth because of the shedding of the blood, and because of the evil death.

Rabbi Yehoshua from Sichnin in the name of Rabbi Levi said: It is written 'The wicked have drawn out the sword [and have bent their bow; to cast down the poor and needy, to slay such as are upright in the way] (Ps. 37:14) - 'The wicked have drawn out the sword and have bent their bow' this is Kayin; 'to cast down the poor and needy, to slay such as are upright in the way' this is Hevel. 'Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. ' (Ps. 37:15). "You shall become a ceaseless wanderer on earth" (Gen. 4:9) "and God said to Kayin, where is Hevel your brother"(Gen. 4:12) - a parable: a governor was walking in the middle of the square, he encountered a murdered body and someone over it, and asked 'who killed him?' And the other responded: 'I ask you the same thing.' And the governor answered: you didn't answer. A parable: one entered in a orchard and collected strawberries and ate, and the owner of the garden run after him, and asked: 'what do you have in your hands?' he answered: 'nothing!', the owner says: 'look at your dirty hands!' So too, Kayin answered the Holy One of Blessing: 'Am I my brother's keeper?' (Gen. 4:9) "The voice of the bloods of your brother scream etc." (Gen. 4:10) - Rabbi Yudan and Rabbi Huna and the rabbis [comment]. Rabbi Yudan says: It is not written 'the blood of your brother', but 'the bloods of your brother', [this teaches] his blood and the blood of his descendants. Rabbi Huna said: "Surely I have seen yesterday the bloods of Navot, and the bloods of his sons, says Ad-nai" (II Kings 9:26) - it is not written 'the blood of Navot and the blood of his sons', but the bloods of Navot and the bloods of his sons - his blood and the blood of his descendants. The rabbis say 'and he died..' 'the blood of Yehoyada' is not written, rather, 'the bloods of Yehoyada' (II Chron. 24:25) - his bloods and the bloods of his descendants. Said rabbi Shime'on Bar Yochai: It is hard to say this thing, and the mouth cannot explain it completely, [it is similar] to two athletes that are wrestling before the king, if the king wanted to [he could] separate them, but the king did not want to separate them, one overwhelmed the other and killed him, so 'the voice of the bloods of your brother scream to Me from the land'. She (the voice of Hevel’s blood) could not go up above/lema'lah, for as yet no soul/neshamah had gone up to there; and below/lematah she could not stand, for no human had been buried there yet, and [so] his blood was cast upon the trees and the stones.

(Gen. 3:24, cont.:) TO KEEP THE WAY [TO THE TREE OF LIFE. R. Samuel bar Nahman said: TO KEEP THE WAY] comes before THE TREE OF LIFE. The Holy One said to < Adam >: I put you in the Garden of Eden so that you would labor in the Torah⁷⁵PRE 12. and eat from the tree of life; but now that you have sinned, what are you doing here? Get out! So he drove out the human. The Holy One said to him: You should have uttered songs before me about how I created you and about what I did with you, but you did not speak. Here I was talking to myself, as stated (in Is. 5:1): LET ME SING TO MY BELOVED….⁷⁶In the biblical context both the singer and the beloved are God. What did the Holy One do? He drove him from this world, as stated (in Job 14:19): ITS TORRENTS WASH AWAY THE DUST OF THE EARTH.⁷⁷According to Gen. 2:7; 3:19, Adam is dust. R. Simon said: Even the first Adam was washed away in water.⁷⁸Cf. Gen. R. 28:3. R. Simeon ben Judah the man of Kefar 'Akko said in the name of R. Simeon ben Johay: The radiance of the first Adam's face was unchanged, and < its > lights were not eclipsed until the Sabbath ended; for when he had judged him, he kept the Sabbath holy. Therefore, he utters (according to Ps. 92:1): A PSALM, A SONG FOR THE SABBATH DAY.⁷⁹Cf. Gen. R. 22:13. You find that when Cain killed Abel, the Holy One appeared to him and said to him (in Gen. 4:9): WHERE IS YOUR BROTHER ABEL? He sought to deceive the one above. The Holy One said to him (in Gen. 4:10): WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? YOUR BROTHER'S BLOOD CRIES OUT UNTO ME. When Cain heard < that >, he began to make a fraudulent repentance, as stated (in Gen. 4:13): AND CAIN SAID TO THE LORD: MY SIN IS GREATER THAN I CAN BEAR. He said to him: Sovereign of the World, since you bear with the heavenly and the earthly ones, can you not bear my sin?

The Lord said to Moses: “Hew these two tablets of stone” (Exod. 34:1). May it please our masters to teach us: How many verses of the Torah must the reader recite? Thus did our masters teach us: One who reads the Torah may not recite less than three verses to correspond to the three patriarchs on whose behalf the Torah was given to Israel, as it is said: And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain (ibid. 19:3). How do we know the patriarchs were called mountains? Because it is said: Hear, O ye mountains, the Lord’s controversy (Mic. 6:2). Therefore a man must guard the Torah, for it guards his soul. R. Tanhum the son of Hanilai said: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: My daughter is in thy hands, and thy daughter is in My hands. “My daughter is in thy hands’ refers to the Torah. “And your daughter is in My hands” alludes to the soul: In whose hand is the soul of every living thing (Job 12:10). If you guard what is Mine, I shall guard what is yours. Thus Scripture says: Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently (Deut. 4:9).