Family Feuds: Cain and Abel

By Kristina Emmons

The story of brothers Cain and Abel is legendary as the tale of the first recorded murder, and it was brought about by sibling rivalry. Cain was the firstborn of Adam and Eve after their unfortunate incident in the Garden of Eden. Prior to that life was pretty simple. They had only to take care of the food trees in the garden, which appears to have been light labor since a river watered the garden for them, and there is no record of hardship or suffering. God walked with them daily in the garden.

After Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil there came a separation between God and man. They could no longer have free access to him, and there were other consequences. One was that the ground would be hard to till instead of giving yield easily as it had before. Child-bearing would be painful and eventually death would come. Death is always the consequence of sin, according to the Bible. In all, the separation from God meant life would contain plenty of hardship. Adam and Eve were banished from the garden and they started a new way of life: toiling to survive. This leads to Cain and Abel. The story can be read in Genesis 4:2-16 in the Bible.

It opens that Abel kept flocks as a shepherd and Cain worked the soil. Now that the land was hard to work, we can imagine Cain put plenty of effort into growing food. Naturally he must have been proud of his accomplishments; he might have even felt what he did was more worthy of approval than herding animals like Abel. In any case, when making an offering to God Cain offered from his crops and God did not look favorably on the offering, but Abel’s offering from the first of his new flock was accepted. There was jealousy directed at Abel afterwards. I wonder if Cain had a textbook sibling rivalry thought, ‘He always gets it easy! Everything he does gets rewarded but I’m always being shafted!’

God even spoke to Cain, asking why he was angry. He told him it was his own fault for not doing right and we warned him not to give in to sin but to have power over it. By this I can only assume God referred to the boiling anger within that had the potential to get the best of Cain. He must not have listened because later Cain led Abel into a field and attacked and killed him.

God said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” and Cain replied, “I don’t know, am I my brother’s keeper?”

God replies, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.” He proclaims Cain is now under a curse, that even if he works the ground he won’t be able to get anything to grow because it swallowed up his brother’s blood. He was to be a restless wanderer from that point on and he basically had to leave where he lived. He feared he will be killed by anyone he would come across but God said he would spare him from that.

There aren’t listed how many other children were born after Cain and Abel or how old they were but we can assume by Cain’s fear of being killed that there were a significant amount of people born by this point (after all, the Bible states a little later that Adam lived over 900 years! Human lifespan was later cut significantly). Cain and Abel couldn’t have been very young and they had a history, likely a competitive one.

Going back to what might have been unacceptable about Cain’s offering to God; it was customary to give thanks offerings with the very best of the first of the flocks and crops. There were also sin offerings with strict rules as to the animal, often a lamb, which had to be unblemished and a first born.  The shed blood was to be a temporary payment for sin and a painful reminder that sin has terrible consequences. With Adam and Eve, God made them clothing from animal skins before leaving the garden, another instance of shed blood after wrongdoing. Quoting Hebrews 9:22: “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Such offerings took place in designated Jewish temples until the last temple was destroyed in 70 AD, but Christians believe Jesus’ crucifixion constituted the final sacrificial sin offering for humanity as the Lamb of God.

All that said, we don’t know if Cain was making a sin offering without an animal or if perhaps it was a stingy thanksgiving offering made up of inferior produce. Either way Abel had nothing to do with it but Cain still killed him, probably as a result of many years of pent up jealousy and/or hatred. Becoming a restless wanderer afterward likely meant Cain was at the mercy of others for the rest of his life.

Fitting after he’d been so merciless with his brother.

Kristina Emmons lives in greater Seattle, WA with her husband and two children. She hopes to convey a sense of community and justice through her writing.

Women Did It Better: Bible Hunting

By Michelle Styles

How accurate is the modern Bible was question that occupied the 19th century mind--not just in its claims about the Garden of Eden, the Great Flood and such, but how accurate is the translation? In particular are the words of the New Testament the same as the words that the early Christians read? And how could you prove it? Even the Codex Vaticancus, which only the Pope and a few cardinals were allowed to read, was rumoured to have certain stories missing. For those of the Jewish faith, was the Wisdom of Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus to Christians) and one of the fourteen books included in the Greek Old Testament originally written in Hebrew or not?

These were questions that troubled Biblical scholars through out the nineteenth century, and the answers would be provided by two intrepid Scottish sisters, Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Smith Gibson. They succeeded where men before them failed.

Looking behind St Catherine's
The sisters inherited their wealth from their father and became great travellers. Agnes wrote one of the first guidebooks to Cyprus. At a time when women didn't attend university, they learnt fourteen languages between them. Among other things, it made it easier to communicate to their dragoman and servants in Arabic. (An early voyage down the Nile had seen them cheated). They married late in life, Margaret to a scholar and Agnes to the librarian of Parker Library in Cambridge, Samuel Savage "Satan" Lewis. The Parker Library founded by Matthew Parker (the original nosy Parker) houses three quarters of all known Anglo Saxon manuscripts and it is here Agnes learnt about old manuscripts.

Inside St Catherine's
In January 1892, the sisters set out for St Catherine's in the Sinai armed with photographic equipment, portable water filters and variety of medicines. For the trip, Agnes had learnt Syriac, one of the early languages of the New Testament. They already knew Arabic and Modern Greek and so could converse easily with the monks and the Bedouin. They had managed to procure permission to visit one of the most remote monasteries in the world, and the place most likely to hold an ancient version of the Bible.

Their mission was complicated by the fact that in 1857, Constantin von Tischendorf had borrowed (stolen according to the monks) the Codex Sinaiticus and published it to great acclaim. After Von Tischendorf's discovery, as far as they were able bible hunters scoured the monastery for more manuscripts. The sisters were convinced that something else was there, if one could get access to the library.

The sisters, with their knowledge of the Orthodox Greek ways, gained the trust of the librarian of St Catherine's. There in a dark closet, they discovered the Sinaiticus Palimpsest. A monk at some point had cleaned a copy of the New Testament in Syriac and written a Martyrology of Female Saints (basically porn for monks) over it. Agnes with her background was able to recognise it for what it was, photographed it and went back to Cambridge. There, she interested three Biblical scholars in it, persuaded them to join another expedition and the work was eventually translated. It proved to be one of the most complete and earliest manuscripts of the Four Gospels. Today, the most important book in the library at St Catherine's is the Sinaiticus Palimpsest and it still resides in the wooden box that the sisters had made for it.

Later, the two sisters returned to Cairo and bought some manuscripts pages in Hebrew. They had their friend Schetcher look at them. He immediately recognised the pages for what they were--an early Hebrew version of the Ben Sira. He also had a good idea where the manuscripts came from and travelled to Cairo. There he discovered a genizah or dead letter drop for Jewish people that contained over 800 years of manuscripts and other documents as according to Jewish law one did not destroy anything containing the Four Letters of the Holy Name. It proved to be the richest source of medieval Jewish materials in existence.

Later still Agnes purchased two Syriac palimpsests. They proved to be the only non Biblical documents of any length to survive in Palestinian Syriac, a dialect that was wiped out through the spread of Islam. So the women's contribution to our knowledge of the ancient world was immense. You can read more about them and their exploits in Sisters In Sinai by Janet Soskice.

Palimpsests are still being recovered today in odd forgotten corners of the world, and who knows what others works might be uncovered, particularly as modern techniques are so much better.

Michelle Styles writes historical romances for Harlequin Historical. She recently visited St Catherine's on a book research expedition. It is a fascinating place, made all the more fascinating by the exploits of the Smith sisters. Her next UK release is THE VIKING'S CAPTIVE PRINCESS (Dec 10), and in the US A QUESTION OF IMPROPRIETY (Dec 10). There will a free online read starting on 15 November on e-Harlequin to celebrate the publication of A QUESTION OF IMPROPRIETY.

Women Did It Better: Deborah and Yael

By Anna C. Bowling

Before there was Judge Judy, there was Judge Deborah, whose story can be found in the Biblical Old Testament Book of Judges. Her story connects with that of a woman named Yael, who proves that Army wives can get the job done. Whether one considers the spiritual side of Deborah and Yael's adventure fact or fable, their tale is a compelling one. Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, held her court between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, serving as leader as well as settling disputes. During the time Deborah led her people, Israel faced an impressive enemy in Sisera, captain of the Canaanite army. For twenty years, Sisera's army oppressed Israel and Israel had had enough.

Deborah, a prophetess as well as a judge, summoned Barak, one of Israel's greatest military men, and told him that God had laid out a plan for Barak to follow which would deliver Sisera's army, with nine hundred iron chariots, into Israelite hands. Barak agreed to follow this plan, but only if Deborah would go with him. If she would not, neither would he. Deborah did accompany Barak, but told him that because of the way he was going about this, the honor for the victory would not be his, and God would hand the enemy over to a woman. Barak, Deborah and ten thousand soldiers set out for Mount Tabor to face off against Sisera.

According to Deborah's prophecy, the plan succeeded. The Israelites conquered the Canaanites, but Sisera managed to escape on foot. Fleeing to a tent he suspected would give him safe haven, Sisera found himself greeted by Yael, who welcomed him into her tent. Yael gave Sisera a drink of milk and covered him with a blanket. Yael, seeing her chance, waited for Sisera to fall asleep and then drove a tent peg through his skull.

"Jael Slaying Sisera" by Maarten van Heemskerck, 1551.
When Barak came searching for Sisera, he found his enemy in Yael's tent, already dead. This fulfilled the second part of Deborah's prophecy, that the honor of dispatching Sisera would go to a woman.

Disasters: The Plagues of Egypt

By Jean Adams

This is not meant to belittle anyone's religion, but is offered as a rational explanation of the plagues.

Have you ever wondered how true those 10 plagues of Egypt were? Here's a brief reminder.

God told Pharaoh to let the Israelites go or he would send them send them a plague. Pharaoh refused so:

Water to blood: Aaron laid his staff upon the waters of Egypt and they immediately became blood so no one could drink it.

Frogs: Still Pharaoh refused so God sent a plague of frogs.

Lice: Once again Aaron stretched out his staff, smote the dust and it became lice to annoy the Egyptians. The Egyptians in fact had an ongoing problem with lice.

Flies: Flies everywhere. Ick!

Livestock diseased: Every horse, ass, camel (in fact there were no camels in Egypt until the Persians invaded around 500BC, oxen and sheep caught some terrible disease.

Boils: Moses was then told to take ash and throw it heavenward. When it came down it would become boils on all the people and animals. Slow learner, this Pharaoh, whoever he is--Ramses we're told.

Thunder and hail: "Tomorrow about his time, I will cause it to rain." Once again Moses lifted his staff to the heavens and it started to hail fire, destroying Egypt's orchards and crops. Once again Pharaoh "hardened his heart."

Locusts: More bad news for poor old Pharaoh. Still he refused to "let the people go" so along came the locusts to eat the Egyptians out of house and home.

Darkness: Moses stretched his staff towards heaven and a thick darkness fell over the land.

Death of firstborn: And Moses said, "Thus saith the Lord, About midnight (not too sure this term was used back then) will I go out into the midst of Egypt and all the firstborn of Egypt shall die, (a retribution) from the first born of Pharaoh, to the firstborn of the maidservant, and the firstborn of beasts."

Some archaeologists have considered historical evidence of the Ten Plagues. An ancient water-trough bears hieroglyphic markings detailing a period of darkness. An Egyptian papyrus describes a series of calamities befalling Egypt, including a river turned to blood, and the land generally turned upside down. This, however, is usually thought to describe a general and long term ecological disaster lasting for decades, such as that which destroyed the Old Kingdom (long before Ramses was even a twinkle in his ancestors' eyes), the dates usually given for the Exodus, making them wrong by several hundred years.

Some science writers and Bible researchers have suggested that the plagues were passed-down accounts of ordinary natural disasters, and not supernatural miracles.

Plague 1: Water turned into blood and fish died. The redness in the Nile could have been pollution caused by volcanic activity, specifically that of Thera, now Santorini, Greece, which erupted around 1600BC. Ash from this eruption is found in the Nile region. The silt could make the Nile turn blood red.

Plague 2: Frogs. Any water blight that killed fish would also have caused frogs to leave the river and likely die.

Plagues 3 and 4: Biting insects and flies. The lack of frogs in the river would have led to massive insect populations, normally kept down by the frogs.

Plagues 5 and 6: Livestock disease and boils. There are biting flies in the region which transmit livestock diseases; a sudden increase in their number would spark epidemics.

Plague 7: Fiery hail. Volcanic activity not only brings with it ash, but also brimstone, and alters the weather system, sometimes producing hail. Hail could also have occurred as a completely independent natural weather event, with accompanying lightning as the "fire".

Plague 8: Locusts. Hail will destroy most crops, leaving several insects and other animals without a normal food supply. The remaining crops would become targeted heavily, and thus be destroyed by swarms of locusts. Swarms are not uncommon today. There was a plague of locusts in Egypt in 2004.

Plague 9: Darkness. There could be several causes for unusual darkness: a solar eclipse, a sandstorm, volcanic ash, or simply swarms of locusts large enough to block out the sun.

Plague 10: Death of the firstborn.

If the last plague indeed affected the firstborn, it could be due to food polluted during the time of darkness, either by locusts or other natural causes. When people emerged after the darkness, the firstborn would be given priority, as was usual at that time, and would be more likely to be affected by any toxin or disease carried by the food.

The documentary Exodus Decoded, by Jewish Canadian filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici, theorized that the selectiveness of the tenth plague was caused by a major eruption on Santorini, 650 miles to the northwest of Egypt. It is one of the largest on record, rivaling Tambora, which resulted in 1816's Year Without a Summer. It would have set off a chain of events resulting in the plagues, eventually killing the first born.

However, all estimates of the date of this eruption are hundreds of years before the Exodus is believed to have taken place; thus the eruption can only have caused some of the plagues if one or other of the dates is wrong, or if the plagues did not actually immediately precede the Exodus.

In his book The Plagues of Egypt: Archaeology, History, and Science Look at the Bible, Siro Igino Trevisanato explores the theory that the plagues were initially caused by the Santorini eruption. He considers a two-stage eruption over a time period of a little under two years. He places the first eruption in 1602BC, when volcanic ash tainted the Nile, causing the first plague and forming a catalyst for many of the subsequent plagues. In 1600BC, the plume of a Santorini eruption caused the ninth plague, the days of darkness. He also has a theory that the Egyptians (at that time under the occupation of the Hyksos), resorted to human sacrifice in an attempt to appease their gods. This human sacrifice became known as the tenth plague.

After the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland and its resulting widespread devastation, this explanation of the Egyptian plagues is more believable.

Post for the 13th

It’s the 13th of the month, and therefore my turn to be profound and authorly. (According to my word processor, that’s not a word, but I’m going to run with it anyway.) Sorry, I'm running a bit late. I wrote this ahead of time, and then lost it in the vast confines of my laptop computer. Oops.

I’ve given some thought to my topic and decided to take a look at historical superstitions. The 13th happens to be my lucky number, which is why I chose it as my day for 'official' posting, but many consider it to be unlucky. Hotels sometimes won't have a 13th floor, which is silly because of course they do have a 13th floor, they just don't mark it as such. I've seen elevator keypads with buttons for 11, 12, 14, 15 … But I digress.

Since today is the 13th, even though it's not a Friday, I thought I'd start there. The following are some myths and rumors that concern this date...

* Jason and his mother are not real people.
* Jesus was crucified on Friday the 13th.
* Eve fed Adam the apple on Friday the 13th.
* Cain killed Abel on Friday the 13th.
* The Knights Templar were massacred on Friday the 13th.

I’ll stop there for now, though if you do a search on the internet you'll find many more. The first rumor is true. Other than the fact that I am a mother, and my son's name is Jason, the Jason and his mother of Friday the 13th fame are purely fictional. Neither Jason, nor his mother, of Friday the 13th movie fame ever existed. Surprised? I know I was!

The next three are interesting, taken in turns. The Bible doesn't specify what the date of Jesus' crucifixion was, mainly because our modern date system wasn't invented and put into practice for another several hundred years. Even the Christian celebration of Easter (three days after the crucifixion) was created by the church years later to fall into a time that would make the conversion of pagans to Christianity a little bit easier. (They did that a lot, by the way). The name of the holiday, Easter, finds its root in the name of the Pagan Goddess, Eastre. Back up three days from the traditional Sunday celebrations of Easter and you have a Friday. But there is no evidence Christ actually died on Friday.

For all we know, Friday the 13th already had a bad reputation and that's why those folks responsible for putting the bible together chose 3 days back from the rising, etc. etc. I'm not speaking of a theological reasoning, but a practical one. (The literal translation of "40" days, which we see quite often in biblical reference is closer to 'umpteen'. The number 40 was important to the biblical Jewish community, but we don't know for certain if it rained for 40 days, or if Jesus wandered the desert for 40 days on a literal level. So if that's true, then perhaps the translation of the number of days that Christ was dead, from his execution to his ressurection, is also less literal, and was turned into 3 to accomadate his dying on a Friday? The 13th no less? -- I'm thinking out loud, of course.)

Which leads us to the next two Biblical references. There is no evidence in the Bible or anywhere else that these two events occurred on Fridays. But, just for a moment, let’s suppose they are true. Which came first? The chicken or the egg? Would the fact that these events occurred on Friday the 13th, hypothetically, mean that those days were 'unlucky,' or did the perceived notion that this date/day combination is unlucky find its birth because of these events? To revisit my earlier question: Did those responsible for putting the bible together place the crucifixion on a Friday because everyone already knew that Fridays, falling on the 13th, were unlucky?

I'm not so sure. Luck, in my opinion, would have had nothing to do with the events. Christ was born to be killed. It was prophesy. Eve handed Adam the Forbidden Fruit for the Tree of Knowledge and he chose to bite into it. Cain chose to kill Abel. (Of the five people involved, Abel would have been the only 'unlucky' one in the bunch.)

Some say the mythology of Friday the 13th stems from the fact, yes fact, that the Knights Templar found their end, predominately, on Friday, the 13th of October in the Julian Calendar year 1307. (I say 'predominately' because the order was given to track them down, arrest them, kill those who resisted, and I doubt they found everyone in a single day.)

In the end, I can’t say as there is anything cryptic about Friday the 13th or anything having to do with 13 in general. I kinda like 13.

It's my birthday.

So what do you think? Is 13 unlucky? What about Friday the 13th in general? Do you know of any mythology or superstitions from history that might be fun to discuss? Speak on, readers... quick... before something bad happens!

Hugs,
Marjorie