man, born of woman.2: the invention of murder

"and the Lord said unto cain, why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
if thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
and cain talked with abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that cain rose up against abel his brother, and slew him." (genesis 4:6-8)

one of my favourite oscar wilde aphorisms, the theme of his amazing de profundis, is that all sin results from a lack of imagination. perhaps eve had not been able to imagine that any creature so glittery as the serpent would not speak gold.

cain, who had been his mother's favourite, now can imagine no other way to regain the holy one's respect than to kill his brother. he cannot imagine that he could, as the holy one tells him, rule over [sin]. rather than hearing the good news, "if thou doest well, shall thou not be accepted," he seems to think that if he is the only son, he will be the favourite son. so, he talks with his brother, takes him out to "the field," and murders him. in these few notes is already written the story of jesus' crucifixion, when, after the accusers talk to him, they take him outside the city to murder him.

into the joyous song of creation comes the dark cacophonic theme of murder, as well as the motif of adversity between the first- and second-born.