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ויאמר קין אל הבל AND CAIN SPAKE TO ABEL — He began an argument, striving and contending with him, to seek a pretext to kill him. There are Midrashic explanations of these words, but this is the plain sense of the text.

AND CAIN SPOKE TO ABEL HIS BROTHER. He began a conversation of argument and contention with him in order to seek a pretext against him and so kill him. This is the language of Rashi. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that the interpretation that appears most likely to him is that Cain related to Abel all the chastisements with which G-d had reprimanded him [and Cain accused Abel of having brought them upon him].
But in my opinion it is connected with the following words of Scripture: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, meaning that Cain said to Abel, “Let us go forth into the field,” and there he secretly killed him.
It is possible that his intention in killing Abel was that the world be built up from himself for he thought that his father would not have any more children. He also feared that the main building up of the world might be from his brother, [which seemed likely since it was he] whose offering had been favorably accepted.

ויאמר קין אל הבל אחיו, how upset he was, and how he had become downcast on account of his brother.

-14. ויאמר קין אל הבל אחיו. Cain spoke softly to his brother Abel. The addition of the word "his brother" indicates that Cain spoke in a friendly manner. Cain had made it plain previously that he was jealous of Abel. He did not want Abel to think that he also hated him on account of that. Therefore he stressed the brotherhood they had in common so as not to put Abel on guard against him. He deceived his brother into thinking that he did not harbour hatred in his heart. Verse 8 should really have been two verses, the first half concluding after the word אחיו. The Torah wrote it as one in order to make us understand why Abel was not on his guard.

ויאמר קין אל הבל אחיו, apparently, Kayin had no remorse, did not try to respond to G’d’s promise and warning. Proof is that he proceeded to do something far worse than what he had been guilty of thus far, by killing his brother.

ויאמר קין, “Kayin said, etc.” according to Rashi Kayin began to quarrel with Hevel. According to Ibn Ezra Kayin told Hevel all the admonitions G’d had subjected him to. This is why the Torah did not have to repeat what he said to Hevel. Nachmanides explains that the words ויאמר קין אל הבל אחיו, are to be understood as part of the words ויהי בהיותם בשדה, “it was when they were both in the field, etc,” i.e. the second half of our verse. We need to understand the whole sequence as Kayin saying to Hevel: “let’s go out into the field, etc.” His intention was to kill him there in a spot that was not within view of his parents or twin sister. He was under the impression that his parents would not beget any more children. He was also afraid that the human species would be built up by the descendants of Hevel seeing that only his gift had been accepted by G’d. Some commentators believe that the subject of their conversation was to divide up the earth between them, Kayin claiming agriculture as his domain, claiming all arable land as belonging to him, whereas Hevel, being a shepherd, claimed all that was above the ground. Eventually, Kayin used this as a pretext to deny his brother setting foot on his soil, whereas Hevel denied Kayin the right to breathe the air. This led to a fight between them.

ויאמר קין אל הבל אחיו, "Kayin said to Hevel his brother" The Torah did not spell out what Kayin told his brother. According to the Targum Yerushalmi on this verse he told him that he did not believe in the system of reward and punishment and that there was no judgment in the hereafter.
The second sin Kayin committed was that he slew his brother as reported in the Torah ויקם קין אל הבל אחיו ויהרגהו, “Kayin arose against his brother Hevel and killed him (4,8)”.
Kayin’s third sin was when he responded to G-d’s question —

He engaged him in argument and dispute. Rashi is answering the question: Why does the verse not explain what Kayin said? It must be that “he engaged him in argument...” (Devek Tov) In Bereishis Rabbah (22:7) it explains that Kayin the soilworker would argue that the soil belongs to him, thus Hevel the shepherd had no place in the world. Kayin would not allow him to graze his flocks. This caused a dispute.

Es wird nicht angegeben, was Kain dem Hebel gesagt habe. Sehr wahrscheinlich das Vorangehende, das, was Gott zu ihm gesprochen hatte, um so mehr, da Hebel ja mit darin beteiligt war, und Gott Hebels Bevorzugung und Kains Zurücksetzung als etwas möglicherweise Vorübergehendes, keineswegs als für immer entschieden erklärt hatte.

ויאמר קין אל הבל אחיו, “Kayin said to his brother Hevel;” seeing that the Torah does not elaborate on the content of Kayin’s words, we must assume that he told his brother about what G–d had said to him. (verse 6-7) He made it plain to his brother that he was very upset that G–d had not seen fit to accept his offering as He had done with Hevel’s offering. Hevel reacted to G–d having criticised Kayin with joy. When Kayin saw that his brother had been glad that he had been criticised by G–d, he arose with the intent of killing him. (second half of this verse). His motive was plain jealousy. Our author cites an additional or different interpretation of the incomplete sentence: “Kayin said to his brother Hevel,” which he had heard in the name of Rabbi Joseph Kara (turn of 11th century, not to be confused with Joseph Karo author of Shulchan Aruch, of Safed who lived during the most of the 16th century). that initially Hevel, having heard from Kayin what G–d had said to him, was afraid of him seeing that his brother was so angry, and remained on guard against him. When Kayin told him that G–d had held out hope for him by promising that He would relate to him with fondness if he changed his ways, Hevel dropped his guard feeling certain that Kayin would indeed change his ways. When Kayin spoke to him in a friendly mien, i.e. ויאמר, he thought that this was proof that Kayin had changed. He therefore dropped his guard with fatal consequences for himself.

ויהי בהיותם בשדה, away from the presence of their parents.

ויאמר קין, Kayin accused his brother of being the cause that G’d had rebuked him. As a result his anger had intensified. He did not attack Hevel physically at that time as he was afraid of the reaction of his father. He kept his fury under control until the two of them were alone together in the field. This is when he killed him out of jealousy.

ויקם קין, “Kayin arose, etc.” According to the Midrash (Bereshit Rabbah 22,7-8) Hevel succeeded in wrestling Kayin to the ground, whereupon Kayin asked him if he planned to kill him, pleading that they were the only two human beings in the world, and would it not be terrible to kill half the human race? Thereupon Hevel had pity on him and released him. At that point Kayin exploited Hevel’s weakness and killed him. Seeing that he did not know where to administer a lethal blow he had to strike him in numerous places until he found the most vulnerable spot in his body. (according to the Midrash, he observed two ravens fighting , one of them standing over the other and killing it and then burying it in the earth. Kayin simply copied the raven)

ויהי בהיותם בשדה. It was when they were both in the field. We need to know why the Torah wanted us to know that what follows occurred in the field. Besides, why did the Torah have to mention that "Cain arose?" It would have sufficed to simply state that Cain killed Abel! Furthermore, why did G'd have to ask Cain where his brother Abel was? Why was Cain foolish enough to tell the One who knows everything that he did not know where his brother was? After all, who would be aware of G'd's supervising everything that occurs on earth if not the people with whom G'd had communicated directly such as Adam, Eve, Cain, etc.? Why did Cain add the gratuitous and provocative remark: "Am I my brother's keeper?" Why did G'd have to mention (verse 10) that Abel's blood cried out to Him "from the earth?" Besides, what was the nature of that outcry? Why did G'd curse the earth in addition to the murderer? What harm did it do for the earth to have swallowed Abel's blood? The alternative would have been for the dogs to lick it up. Did earth not act very properly by covering up the blood of the dead? G'd's words almost defy our understanding.

ויהי בהיותם בשדה. Es wird durchaus nicht gesagt, dass Streit zwischen ihnen gewesen. Das ויקם אל spricht vielmehr das Gegenteil aus. Es kommt noch einmal beim Saul in der Höhle vor, ולא נתנם לקום אל שאול, und dort heißt es auch ein un- erwartetes Überfallen. קום אל, nicht על, heißt ja wörtlich: sich aufmachen, um erst zu dem Andern hinzugehen, setzt also voraus, dass sie nicht nebeneinander und miteinander waren. Demgemäß heißt denn auch das בהיותם בשדה nichts anders als: sie waren ruhig im Felde bei der Arbeit, der auf seinem Acker, jener bei seiner Heerde, da kam dem Kain plötzlich der schreckliche Gedanke, er ging zu Hebel hin und erschlug ihn.

ויקם קין, Kayin arose without any previous quarrel, similar to Deuteronomy 19,11 וארב לו וקם עליו, “he ambushed him and attacked him.”

The word אל in our verse is to be understood as equivalent to על, upon. We have a similar use of the word אל in Ezekiel 18,6 אל ההרים לא אכל, “he did not eat upon the mountains.” There are numerous examples in Scriptures of such a use of the word אל. In Bereshit Rabbah 22,7 the subject of the conversation between the two brothers is described as follows: They were discussing how to carve up the earth between them. They agreed that one of them would lay claim to the real estate, whereas the other would own all the movable objects on earth. Thereupon one of them claimed that the ground the other stood on belonged to him, whereas the second one claimed that the clothing his brother wore actually belonged to him. Kayin, who had laid claim to the earth, told Hevel to fly off as he did not want him to set foot on his earth. Hevel countered by telling Kayin to strip off his clothing. The resulting feud led to Kayin killing Hevel.
Rabbi Yehudah bar Ami said that they quarreled about whether the original woman had died immediately after having eaten from the tree of knowledge, and that G’d had given Adam a substitute for her, [so that they had both not been the children of a sinful mother and therefore not inherited a tendency to sin, Ed.] or if they had been born of Chavah, Adam’s original wife.
Yet another opinion (Rav Hunna) quoted in the Midrash describes the subject of their quarrel as being the extra twin sister born with Hevel. Hevel claimed her as his wife, seeing she had been born with him, whereas Kayin claimed her as his wife, seeing he was the eldest. We need to understand why these scholars in the Midrash offer so many divergent views as to what Kayin and Hevel quarreled about. Not only this, but in the commentaries dealing with the mystical dimension of the Torah, the kabbalah, we find yet more opinions on this subject. Moreover, in the Jerusalem Targum the version of our verse is equivalent to: ”Kayin said to his brother: ‘lets go outside and have a talk.” When they had gone outside, Kayin said to his brother that there is no justice and no judge in the universe, that there is no afterlife, neither is there a reward or punishment. If there were, why would G’d have rejected his offering and accepted that of Hevel? Hevel disagreed, saying that there was a judge (G’d) that there was justice, and that there was a judge, There was reward and punishment and there was an afterlife beyond the material physical world they lived in. The world had been created as an act of love, not as Kayin had said that there was no love. Proof was the very fact that his offering had been accepted, seeing that he had served his Creator faithfully. Seeing that their argument had become not merely philosophical but personal, Kayin attacked his brother Hevel and killed him.

Cain was jealous of Abel because he thought that Abel's existence was the cause that he himself had been degraded. He thought that his own shortcomings had come to light only by comparing him to his brother. Once his brother would be out of the way G'd would have to turn to him seeing there was no one else to turn to. This is why he planned to kill Abel. He realised that the stench of Abel's decaying body would rise heavenwards. Inasmuch as man had been forbidden to murder, Cain sought a way of killing Abel without laying a hand on him. We have heard that Cain was a man of the earth; he was familiar with how the earth functioned. Our sages (compare Nedarim 39) say that earth has limbs just like a human being, i.e. the equivalent of hands, feet, etc. Cain knew which part of the earth served as its mouth, its eyes, etc. As a result of this familiarity with the earth he found a way to kill Abel with guile without actually laying a hand on him. The Torah describes that while Cain and Abel walked in the field Cain found a suitable spot to carry out his evil plan. The word ויקם is not part of the act of murder. It means he simply stood over him in a spot where the earth would swallow him. The earth actually did the killing. While the Torah does not spell out the exact nature of Abel's death in our verse, it does so in verse 11.

When G'd asked Cain where his brother was, He did so to find out if Cain was aware of his sin. When Cain answered that he did not know Abel's whereabouts, G'd told him that he should have made it his business to know. To this Cain replied: "Have You made me his keeper?" He did not confess his evil deed. He either thought that G'd would not punish him for an indirect act, a cause, or he thought that G'd did not exercise this kind of supervision over man. When G'd persisted by asking: "What did you do?" He informed Cain that his wicked deed was the cause that the earth had swallowed Abel. The words: "the voice of your brother Abel's blood cries out to me from the earth," mean that Abel thought it was the earth that killed him, not Cain. This is why he complained to G'd. G'd cursed Cain even more severely than the earth because he was the cause of what the earth had done. Henceforth the earth was no longer permitted to open its mouth (Sanhedrin 37). Isaiah 24,16 describes the songs of the earth as originating in its "wings," i.e. its periphery. Had the earth not been forbidden to open its mouth, no doubt its songs would have originated from its mouth. When the earth was to swallow all the Egyptians who had drowned, it was worried about opening its mouth until G'd gave it special permission as alluded to in Exodus 15,12: "You inclined Your right hand and the earth swallowed them." Perhaps this is the problem the sages referred to when they claimed that Cain killed Abel with a stone. As a result Abel suffered many injuries which would account for the Torah writing דמי אחיך צועקים instead of דם אחיך צועק, i.e. the plural for the word blood. Death would not have been due to any single injury as in the case of someone who is slain by the sword. We already explained that the fact that Abel suffered multiple injuries cleansed him of any sins he might have committed prior to his death.