Therefore, Cain, who is the older of the twins, takes on the profession of his father, a very common occurrence in the Hebrew culture. Cain is a 'tiller of the ground.' The Hebrew word translated as 'tiller' is o'ved, which literally means a 'servant.' The word o'ved, is the participle form of the verb avad and the verb avad is found in Genesis 3:23 where it states that when Adam was expelled from the garden he was sent to 'till' ( avad) the ground. The KJV uses the word 'keeper,' but the Hebrew word ro'eh means shepherd. Cain and Abel were twins.Īccording to the Biblical text, Abel was a shepherd. The Hebrew word for 'again' is asaph, meaning to add something, in this case the birthing of Abel was added to the birthing of Cain.

Notice that there is only one conception, but two births. Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain And again, she bore his brother Abel.

But notice how it is worded in Genesis 4:1-2. Note that there are two conceptions and two births. In the normal Hebraic accounting of multiple births the conception then birth of each child is mentioned such as we can see in Genesis 29:32-33 where it states that Leah conceived and bore a son, and then she conceived again and bore a son. It is a well-known fact that Jacob and Esau were twins, but what is not commonly known is that Cain and Abel were also twins. This may seem odd to us, because we have always assumed that Abel was the good guy and Cain the bad, but this is an oversimplification of the facts, as according to their names, a reflection of their character, Cain is what we would call 'a man of character,' but Abel is 'vain.' Cain is a possessor, one who has substance while Abel is empty of substance. In Hebrew thought, ones name is reflective of one's character and the Hebraic meanings of the names of 'Cain and Abel' are windows into their characters. The Hebrew word for 'name' is shem and literally means breath or character. The word הבל ( havel) means to be empty, often translated as vain or vanity in the sense of being empty of substance.

The word קין ( qayin, from the root QN) means to acquire or possess something which is why Eve ( chavah in Hebrew) said 'I have gotten/acquired ( qanah, also from the root QN) a man' (Gen 4:1). In Hebrew, Cain is קין ( qayin) and Abel is הבל ( havel). The names Cain and Abel come from the Greek Septuagint, a 2,000 year old Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, where their names are written as 'Kain' and 'Abel.' These names are the Greek transliterations of the Hebrew. However, if we carefully study the text, we find that there is much, much more, to this story. Because of Cain's sin, he is branded with a mark and sent away.

Out of jealousy, Cain take's his brother out into the field and kills him. Two brothers bring their sacrifices to God Abel's sacrifice is accepted, but Cain's sacrifice is not. We have all heard the story of Cain and Abel. The Untold Story of Cain and Abel By Jeff A.

Cain and abel twins