NOTES for Gen 4:1-26

Falling away from God and alienation from people - these two themes are closely intertwined both in life and in this story. Godlessness brings with it not only death as the limitation of life, but the death of life itself: absolute, ultimate loneliness. The strongest symbol of loneliness is murder; the most terrible murder is fratricide. Cain remains not only without God, but also without a brother, alone on this terrible, indifferent earth: no person will come near him anymore, not even to kill him. It is very important to understand that Cain is not simply the negative character of a moralizing story. He is a sorrowful symbol of every person for whom loneliness and alienation from people have become a reflection of inner emptiness, which only God can fill.