Skip to content

Genesis 4:5

And toward Spearhead and toward his gift he has not become dim.162b And he is kindling163 to Spearhead exceedingly, and his faces are falling.164

Footnote:

163

Cain vs. Abel: Who is Who?

Hebrew ויחר. and he is kindling/burning.  Kindled in a good way, or bad? The Hebrew charah (Strong’s #2734) meaning to kindle, glow, blaze up, has always been interpreted as "anger" and is used of people, not abstract things. It is typically and uniquely expressed as he is kindling to himself or he is kindling his nostril in. For example,

“And a nostril of Yahweh is kindling within Moses…” Ex. 4:14 RBT

"Yahweh within Moses" would mean Yahweh kindling within Moses. In instances like these translators force the singular masculine Qal form to mean an abstract (causative) “it”. That is, they assume that some “event” or “circumstance” is being referred to by the verb, i.e. it burned to Cain. From this odd conjecture, translators might then change it altogether to a causative “it angered” even though a Hiphil causative verb form is not used here. This is forcing an odd and ambiguous meaning onto a concrete verb in favor of a tradition. How does an “event” burn in anger? This same verb ויחר is used of Jacob in Gen. 30:2 who "kindled in Rachel."