506 HAUPT— AN ANCIENT PROTEST [April 22, 



ancient protest against the curse on Eve, which we find in the fol- 

 lowing chapter of the Book of Genesis, containing the legend of 

 Cain and Abel. 



The story of Cain and Abel is an institutional legend.^* Just as 

 the narrative of Jacob's wrestling at Peniel (Genesis, xxxii., 24-32) 

 explains why the Jews do not eat the great sciatic nerve, so the story 

 of Cain and Abel shows why the Cainites, or Kenites,^^ had the 

 mark of Cain,'^'^' that is, a tattooed tribal mark which warned every 

 man not to slay a member of that tribe. The murder of a Kenite was 

 avenged sevenfold: if a Kenite was killed, the Kenites would slay 

 seven fellow-tribesmen of the slayer. The tribe of Lamech avenged 

 even the slightest scratch by the death of a youth of the tribe to 

 which the assailant belonged. Lamech and Cain represent tribes, 

 not individuals.^'^ The Lamechites guarded their tribal honor even 

 more jealously than did the Kenites: if a Kenite was slain, seven 

 fellow-tribesmen of the slayer were slain to avenge his blood ; a 

 Lamechite, however, was not avenged sevenfold, but seventy-seven- 

 fold ; even a wound inflicted on a Lamechite was punished by the 

 death of a fellow-tribesman of the assailant, and a boy of the hostile 

 tribe had to pay with his life for the slightest scratch received by a 

 Lamechite. Therefore an ancient tribal poet addressed the women 

 of Lamech : 



O Adah and Zillah, attend to my voice ! 



Ye wives of Lamech, give ear to my utterance : 



A man, if they hurt us, we slay; a boy, if they scratch us, we kill; 



If sevenfold Cain be avenged, then seventy-sevenfold, Lamech!" 



The Kenites were a nomadic tribe in the desert south of Judah.^^ 

 They came to Canaan with the men of Judah from the Palm City, 

 that is, the port of Elath,-° at the northeastern end of the Red Sea. 

 Moses' father-in-law is said to have been a Kenite.-^ The Kenites 

 were worshipers of Jhvh,-- but their oft'erings were dififerent from 

 the sacrifices of the sheepmen of Judah,-'' represented in the story 

 of Cain and xA.bel by Abe!, that is Jicrdsiiiaii, herder.-*' Cain brought 

 to Jhvh ofiferings of the fruit of the ground, but Abel brought of 

 the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof ; and Abel's sacrifice 

 was more acceptable to Jhvh than Cain's bloodless ofifering. The 



