Page:Legends of Old Testament Characters.djvu/81

VI.] the day that blood was spilt upon it, thistles and thorns sprang up; for the face of earth grew sad, its joy was gone, the stain was on its brow. Abel's offering had been of the fattest of his sheep, the Targum adds, but Cain offered flax.

Abel's offering, say certain Rabbis, was not perfect; for he offered the chief part to God, but the remainder he dedicated to the Devil, and Cain offered the chief part to Satan, and only the remainder to God. The Rabbi Johanan said, Cain exclaimed when accused by God of the murder, "My iniquity is greater than I can bear," and this is supposed to mean, "My iniquity is too great to be atoned for, except by my brother rising from the earth and slaying me." What did the Holy One then? He took one letter of the twenty-two which are in the Law, and He wrote it on the arm of Cain, as it is written, "He put a mark upon him."

After Abel was slain, the dog which had kept his sheep guarded his body, says the Midrash. Adam and Eve sat beside it and wept, and knew not what to do. Then said a raven whose friend was dead, "I will teach Adam a lesson," and he dug a hole in the soil and laid his friend there and covered him up. And when Adam saw this, he said to Eve, "We will do the same with Abel." God rewarded the raven for this by promising that none should ever injure his young, that he should always have meat in abundance, and that his prayer for rain should be immediately answered. But the Rabbi Johanan taught that Cain buried his brother to hide what he had done from the eye of God, not knowing that God can see even the most secret things.

According to some Rabbis, all good souls are derived from Abel and all bad souls from Cain. Cain's soul was derived from Satan, his body alone was from Eve; for the Evil Spirit Sammael, according to some, Satan, according to others, deceived Eve, and thus Cain was the son of the Evil One. All the children of Cain also became demons of darkness and nightmares, and therefore it is, say the Cabbalists, that there is no mention in Genesis of the death of any of Cain's offspring.

When Cain had slain his brother, we are told in Scripture that he fled. Certain Rabbis give the reason:—He feared lest