16. and dwelt in the land of Nôd] The vb. (
Hebrew characters) is not
necessarily inconsistent with nomadic life, as Sta. alleges
(see Gn. 1312, 1 Ch. 510 etc.). It is uncertain whether the
name (Hebrew characters) is traditional (We. Gu.), or was coined from the
participle (Hebrew characters) = 'land of wandering' (so most); at all events
it cannot be geographically identified. If the last words
(Hebrew characters) belong to the original narrative, it would be
natural to regard Ḳayin as representative of the nomads
of Central Asia (Knob. al.); but the phrase may have been
added by a redactor to bring the episode into connexion
with the account of the Fall.
The Origin of the Cain Legend.—The exposition of 41-16 would be
incomplete without some account of recent speculations regarding the
historical or ethnological situation out of which the legend arose. The
tendency of opinion has been to affirm with increasing distinctness the
view that the narrative "embodies the old Hebrew conception of
the lawless nomad life, where only the blood-feud prevents the wanderer
in the desert from falling a victim to the first man who meets him."[1]
A subordinate point, on which undue stress is commonly laid, is the
identity of Cain with the nomadic tribe of the Ḳenites. These ideas,
first propounded by Ew.,[2] adopted by We.,[3] and (in part) by Rob.
Sm.,[4] have been worked up by Sta., in his instructive essay on 'The
sign of Cain,'[E] into a complete theory, in which what may be called
the nomadic motive is treated as the clue to the significance of every
characteristic feature of the popular legend lying at the basis of the
narrative. Although the questions involved are too numerous to be
fully dealt with here, it is necessary to consider those points in the
argument which bear more directly on the original meaning of vv.1-16.
1. That the figure of Cain represents some phase of nomadic life
may be regarded as certain. We have seen (p. 110) that in v.13ff. the
name Cain has a collective sense; and every descriptive touch in these
closing vv. is characteristic of desert life. His expulsion from the (Hebrew characters)
and the phrase (Hebrew characters), express (though not by any means necessarily,—*
(Greek characters); Σ. (Greek characters); Θ. (Greek characters);
V septuplum punietur; S (Syriac characters); TO (Hebrew characters)
(hence the idea that Cain was killed by Lamech the 7th from
Adam [see on v.24]).—16. (Hebrew characters)] [E] (Hebrew characters), G (Greek characters) ((Hebrew characters)?) with variants (see
Nestle, MM, p. 9).—ΣΘV (habitavit profugus in terra) [T?] take
the word as a participle; but the order of words forbids this.—(Hebrew characters)]
see on 214. 'In front of E.' and 'East of E.' would here be the same
thing (324).[Footnote: E Ak. Reden, 229-73.]
