Keeper of your brother

The first real sin committed in the Bible is fratricide. Abel is killed by Cain. The very first sin which Christianity celebrates as “the original sin” (What’s original about it? James Joyce wondered) is not a sin but an assertion of hegemony. The biblical God just wanted to ensure that He (not She; women were as good as cattle for the Jewish man who created the Genesis myth) was the Boss in Paradise. The biblical Paradise is a place where every creature is a servile subject of God. The “original sin” was a challenge hurled at that hegemony. The shrewd Jew who created that myth was ensuring that the entire Jewish race would forever remain servile to the religious hierarchy. The guy must have been a misogynist too. He put the primary blame for the “original sin” on Eve rather than Adam.  

So, Eve eats the apple and then seduces Adam. The result is Cain. This guy Cain goes on to kill his brother Abel just because God, with whom Cain has nothing to do really, is happier with Abel’s offering of a lamb than Cain’s offering of grains. Yahweh is bloodthirsty right from beginning. He sucked up the blood of Abel’s lamb. Later, he demanded nothing less than the blood of Abraham’s son. Just imagine. Abraham managed to get his wife Sara pregnant with much difficulty at the age of 99 and he was a centenarian when his only son Isaac was born. Now his God calls him and says, “Come on, Abe, I want your son’s blood.” And there goes centenarian Abraham like a docile ass to fetch a knife to slit the throat of his only son. That asinine docility is what every religion demands. That murderous docility is the highest virtue in most religions.

Cain is different, however. He will offer a part of his income to Yahweh as a ritual. Like many Christians going to church on Sundays or others going to their respective temples. Ritual. Cain follows the ritual. But he has contempt for his God who wants this sort of ego-enhancing rituals. His contempt is a product of an ego that is not as gargantuan as Yahweh’s. This ego makes him unhappy when Yahweh finds Abel’s servility more pleasing. “Why can’t you be man enough to accept my manliness and stop being a beggar for attention?” Cain seems to be asking that to Yahweh. What he does not understand is that Yahweh does not want any other man than Himself. “I am the only Man. Thou shalt not have any other man.” Yahweh is a macho megalomaniac. But Cain knows that he is a man too.

The clash is between Yahweh’s ego and Cain’s ego. The victim is innocent Abel. Even God cannot prevent the death of that innocence. What an impotent God! His only power is to question Cain. “Where is your brother Abel?” And Cain’s answer is: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

God laughs. He loves Cain. Cain is fun. Abel was a big bore with his stupid servility and idiotic innocence. That’s why Cain’s children multiplied in geometric progression on the planet while Abel vanished like the morning mist. Cain’s children screw each other at every bend in the street asking the same question: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

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