(BA) Genesis 4:1

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2 August 2022 Navigate 'up to the Genesis index: index-genesis.

And the human knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Qayin, and she said, Qaniti ish et Yhwh.

knew

A standard biblical euphemism for sex.

Qayin

When you come to a passage like this, it is a mistake to assume that these folk etymologies are a guide to historical etymology. Yes, the author is intending to link word Qayin ("Cain") with qaniti (I have created, or whatever). No, that doesn't mean the name Cain originally comes from that verb. This becomes clear if you look at enough of these folk etymologies: whatever Abraham means, for example, it certainly isn't actually an abbreviated version of ab hamon goyim.

Anyhow, if I remember right, the most widely accepted etymology for Qayin is smith, that is, a metal-worker, on the basis of various similar words in related languages. If you follow Cain's lineage down to its end in 4:22, you find a descendant of his named Tubal Cain (Tubal Qayin), who is described as involved in work with bronze and iron. So the association shows up in the Bible itself.

There is, in the Bible, an indigenous people of Canaan known as Qayin, whose members are Qeini, "Kenite." Because much of Genesis concerns itself with ethnogenesis, it is tempting to think that Cain may have had some original position as the forefather of the Kenites. This connection, if it is correct, is not made explicitly clear anywhere, though Judges 4:11 uses the exact term Qayin to describe the Kenite people.

The equation of Cain to Kenites is not some odd thing I've come up with. R. W. L. Moberly (2007, in Harvard Theological Review) says, speaking specifically of the latter part of Genesis 4, "Cain here represents a group of people, most likely a tribe of which he is the eponymous ancestor — again, a dimension of the text that is widely recognized" (here, page 17). That article is worth reading.

Qaniti ish et Yhwh

Qayin is typically spelled Cain in English. The verse intends to relate it to the verb qnh, as it appears in the phrase Qaniti ʾiš ʾet Yhwh, "I have gotten a man from the LORD" (KJV). Another interpretation, I have created a man with Yahweh. Yet another, I have procreated a man with Yahweh.

Grammatically, one could even read the sentence as, "I have created a man who is Yahweh", although this reading makes no real sense. Eve wouldn't mistakenly think her son was Yahweh, and surely the writer would dwell on such an exceptional claim a bit if he made it.

The phrase is difficult, and several possible interpretations are mentioned by David Bokovoy in Vetus Testamentum.

Kittel suggested that there may be a textual error at work here. Instead of et Yhwh, the odd "with (?) Yahweh," perhaps the original read me'et Yhwh, "from Yahweh" or  ot Yhwh, "a sign from Yahweh." The Septuagint's reading here is difficult: see here.

Through chapter 3 and most of chapter 2, the deity has been called Yahweh God. Before that, through chapter 1 and the first few verses of 2, the deity was called God. Now, starting with this verse, the deity is called Yahweh. Why Yahweh God breaks off and is here replaced by Yahweh, I am not quite sure.