In
Gen 4:1-16, readers receive their first glimpse of life outside Eden. There
they encounter the two sons of Eve, and they learn that the elder becomes angry
when divine favor falls not on him, but on the younger. God intervenes and
speaks to Cain about his anger, which is quite remarkable given that the
divine word in Genesis is reserved for the most significant of developments,
including the creation of the world and the establishment of various covenants.
And yet in sharp contrast to divine words elsewhere, God’s word in ch. 4 falls
flat. Cain refuses to heed God’s warning, He kills his brother after Abel has
done nothing wrong. Fratricide represents one extreme of what can happen with
anger. (Matthew R. Schlimm, “Emotion, Embodiment, and Ethics: Engaging Anger in
Genesis,” in Bodies, Embodiment, and the Theology of the Hebrew Bible,
ed. S. Tamar Kamionkowski and Wonil Kim [Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
Studies 465; London: T&T Clark, 2010], 151-52)