Biblical Parallels Index – Bereshit 4/0

Biblical Parallels Index – Bereshit 4

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Tension Between Brothers

The story of Kayin’s murder of Hevel is the first of many stories of tension between brothers in Sefer Bereshit, and the first story of fratricide in Tanakh.

Tools

• Makbilot BaMikra lists other stories of fratricide in Tanakh, including Avimelekh and Avshalom's killing of their brothers, the former to ensure his power, the latter ostensibly an act of revenge against the rape of his sister, but perhaps also a play for power. Comparing the various stories gives insight into how sibling rivalry is often a quest for supremacy.

Articles / Lectures

• In קנאת אחים בספר בראשית, R. Shlomo Brin explores the pattern of tensions between brothers in Sefer Bereshit, beginning with the narrative of Kayin and Hevel.

Adam and Kayin

The first two stories about man are tales of egregious sins of different sorts.

Tools

The Tanakh Lab¹ demonstrates that one of the chapters that shares the most linguistic parallels to Bereshit 3 is Bereshit 4, perhaps hinting to the reader to compare the sins of Adam and Kayin. See here to compare the chapters.

Articles

• In Religious Sin, Ethical Sin and the Punishment of Exile, Professor Yonatan Grossman notes the parallels and contrasts between the stories of sin in Bereshit 3 and 4, and the purpose of these parallels in illustrating the different types of sin that warrant exile. 

Kayin and Korach

Articles

• In From Kayin to Korah: The Fellow Founders of Foment, R. Shlomo Zuckier compares the destruction of social fabric wrought by Kayin and by Korach.

¹ In the Tanakh Lab, click on the Torah icon for a list of linguistically similar chapters to that being displayed.