While Abel goes undescribed, in
4:5 Cain is reported to be angry and dejected showing his complex character. In
4:6, the Lord questions Cain, as he did the humans in Genesis 3:9-13. The Lord
then holds out two paths for Cain. The first mention of sin in the Bible, it is
not attributed to a human being but personified as a force waiting for him (cf.
personified Death in Jer 9:20). Sin is understood emblematically not as
inherent in the human person but external to it. The verb “lies in wait” may
suggest the image of a lion ready to attack (Gen 49:9; cf. Deut 33:20, 22)
and/or or a demonic force. Mesopotamian demons (sometimes good and some bad) are
similarly called rabiṣu. In this case, the negative sin would be a rbṣt(-demon)
at the door. “Its urge” Cain “can rule,” compare the verbal construction in
Psalm 19:14 referring to “arrogant ones” (possibly personified “presumptuous
sins,” zēdîm): “do not let them rule over (*mšl b-) me.” This language
also echoes the Lord God’s words to Eve in 3:16b (as Saint Augustine observed
in City of God) suggesting a parallel between the human choices and a
progression in their worsening consequences: with Eve desire is first manifest
in humans, leading to expulsion from the garden; and with Cain is the first
human manifestation of sin, leading to murder and further distance from the
divine presence. (Mark S. Smith, “Genesis,” in The Jerome Biblical
Commentary for the Twenty-First Century, ed. John J. Collins, Gina
Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid, and Donald Senior [3d ed.; London: T&T
Clark, 2022], 211)
