Cain and Abel
[CAST]
Cain
Abel
Adam
Eve
—
Cain: From my hands, I have raised these fields from which our mouths are fed. I have brought forth plenty to my Lord, yet he despises my offering. The trees and plants shrivel and rot before my eyes; yet next to mine offering, my brother, whose portions are far less, smell sweet and esteems the Lord’s highest favor. By my father’s sweat and toil, I too have labored hard over the fields and yet the Lord has turned away from my gifts. The flames burn wildly and uncontrollably. A black and vile smoke pushes me away from the altar. What sin have I committed against my Lord? Why does He ignore me so?
Abel: And I Lord, I have raised the livestock you have entrusted me from whence I came to work the same lands as my father and brother. My offering radiates, slowly burning in mirth. I have little Lord, not nearly as much as my brother Cain. But to you I shall give thee the fattest and youngest of my flock. Anything to please you, Lord. Oh, forgive me, for as I look down upon what I have brought to thee, I see that it is not nearly enough to satisfy you, yet you embolden your flames even more. Surely by your gesture, you are pleased, but if I fail in my outward giving, look inward to my heart, and see that I am ready to give all to thee. Just say it Lord, and it shall be done.
Cain: Foul brother, your little portion comes from the lack of effort you have put in the fields. Look here at my hands and feet and you shall see the burdening callouses embroiled over me by my toils. Labor is not meant to be soft, yet your skin remains so. Soft and mellow as a child. By what mercy of God do you speak of that you have safeguarded His flock. He and whose gifts you have hardly multiplied. Wicked! You lazy man. You use this opportunity before the Lord to display your zeal, but where was it in raising your livestock. I have provided more for our family than you have from the meat of your flock. Do you kiss your sheep and speak to your cows? Why do you appear so comfortable, for this cannot be humility. You have nothing to show for yourself.
Abel: Cain, my eldest, I submit to you for I love you. Brother, I am wicked and poor as you have said. My heart has no rest every night for I wallow in disappointment in what I bring to the Lord. You insult me brother, yet I love you. Though you hate me, I love you so and ask you to soften your words, for my heart insults me enough. I turn to thee for I hope that you will hear my woes and comfort me, but you stand above me and cut me with your words. Yet, here I am and see how I kiss your feet for what more can I do to show thee my submission to your brotherly authority. Do with me as you please—take my livestock as your own!
Cain: Gah! Look how your flames grow brighter! What deceit have you brought forth to the Lord that He has multiplied His blessings upon you even more? For surely as you are my blood, I cannot have one inferior be seen before the Almighty as greater. What is this anguish and despair that burns in my heart?
Abel: Brother, look away from my sacrifice! It is not for you, but for the Lord. Detest your jealous rage and let us embrace each other in reconciliation.
Cain: Jealousy, you say? What abomination is boiling within me, this anger? Righteous am I, for I have worked greater and harder than thee. This cannot by jealousy, but a righteous zeal. Yes, a resonating passion to cut thee from me, for you are the wicked chaff that has mixed upon my crop. Away from me, your false act hath made you broken to me!
Abel: Alas! My brother can see no good in me. He has lost his reason. He is a hard-working man, but his heart is harder. Turn from it, I beseech thee to calm thyself and look not down on me in shame for I am thine brother. Remember me, Abel, your sweet and loving brother. You are good to me! For though you denounce me with your words, I shall love you forever. I am blood of your blood, and we, the blood of our mother and father. We are in nature, bred to love and care for one another. Has your jealously of me consumed thee to the point of violent ambition? Look now how my offering has lost its flame. The Lord has looked away this moment and His gaze elsewhere has left us to each other. Let us work—
Cain: Thine prudent words have no effect. Let go of my feet! Your innocence is a sneer and no more. Ack! Remove your arms from my legs, or else I shall drive this stone into thy soft head. Do not drive me to my anger for my anger has consumed me. A rush of passion has overcome me, and you are no white lamb to me, but a lost and black sheep.
Abel: Then bring me back to thee, for that what is done to lost flock? Does the shepherd watch and curse the sheep that is lost? Nay—he reaches out his hand and loves it as his own!
Cain: You are a sheep over the cliff. Dead to me. Your fur is black with lies. As false as your offerings to the Lord. To Him, I shall do this favor. Turn your eyes away from me, for even now, your eyes make my heart gasp.
Abel: Brother, I weep for you and me. May God judge our hearts. Forsake him not Father. Hear my voice and spare my loving brother for my heart shall now be yours. I am now a lamb that is slain! I shall be the first tragedy of humanity!
Cain: I shall take this stone—
Abel: Brother, I cry to thee—
Cain: And I shall dash thee and wipe thee as speck from God’s earth—
Abel: Brother, wait! Hear mine anxious heart pound in fear, oh Father, hear my cries!
[Cain repeatedly brings down a large and jagged stone against his brother’s head]
Cain: It is done. I weep. What have I done? Oh, brother mine! Awake! Awake! Oh, what have I done? This blood, is it yours or mine? It is together ours, for your blood is mine and mine yours. It pours before us both. How your blood spreads unto me. I am guilty. I cry aloud for I have committed an egregious act. Blood of my blood, forgive me. My anger is purged, and my senses feel clarity. Your blood grabs ahold of me. Your blood cries out to me! I hear you beg for mercy. OH! Father, what have I done? Alas, alas… I am the wicked abomination. For I have mercilessly murdered my own brother. Beloved son of my father and mother. And I have murdered the sweetest boy of all. Gah! I have killed my own nature.
[Enter Adam and Eve]
Adam: Cain, my son! I saw thine flames upon the alter from afar. Tell me, is the Lord pleased with your sacrifice?
Eve: Come Adam, surely the Lord has expressed his pleasure for the fire was great. Tell me Cain, was the Lord pleased with Abel’s offering?
Cain: The Lord is pressing upon my guilt. Father, the Lord has turned away from my offering for it was not the best of the best. Mother, the flames you had seen from afar were not mine, but Abel’s.
Adam: And where is our beloved son, your brother Abel?
Cain: Ask me not…
Eve: Tell us my son.
Cain: I cannot. Am I my brother’s keeper?
Adam: Though the Lord turned from thine offering, worry not for He shall love you still. You shall have the opportunity again to please Him. Now tell us of your brother—Alas, what is this pool of thick blood around our feet.
Eve: Oh Cain! Whose blood is this? Have you taken from your brother’s livestock?
Cain: Nay, worse.
Adam: Why doth the blood stream endlessly? Is this not a clear example of why the Lord has entrusted the livestock to your brother for he does well in preparing the flock for sacrifice. And to you, the Lord entrusted the green of the earth for you are good in raising fruit from the ground. Now tell us, which of your brother’s flock have you taken?
Cain: Woe to you father! Woe to you mother! And woe is me! For this blood is not of his flock. Aye, this blood is mine as much as it is yours, for it is the blood of Abel. Oh, hear how it cries out to us from the ground!
[Eve stumbles upon Adam and faints in the pool of blood]
Adam: Oh Cain! Cain, Cain, Cain! What have you done to my son? Was Abel a monster that you had to murder your own flesh and blood? You, Cain, keeper of the ground, have soiled it forever with your brother’s blood. Hear now, the Lord’s cursed mark upon thy forehead. Now He banishes thee forever unto foreign land. As your mother and I were banished from the Garden, so will you from our presence. Now you shall no longer be in communion with God and with us. You wicked son! How your jealously has driven you away from us.
Cain: The Lord must not cut me off! What shall become of me in foreign land? For there are men far more merciless and vicious than I. Men who kill other men for sport. Do not exile me father! To be removed from the communion of God is a curse above all curses. Father, why do you look away? Can it be? Have you forsaken me? Answer me! Where shall I go?
Adam: Go unto the land of Nod. There you shall start a family of your own. Men who shall grow from your loins of jealousy and wrath. Now, you have removed yourself from us for you have committed a great and terrible sin—murder upon your own kin! Leave now for the Lord’s anger is stirring above. See how the clouds darken and the earth shakes. Will you murder your mother and I too?
Cain: Father, from whom I have been born. Today, I am no longer your son. Once protected, now targeted. Once loved, now despised. Though I have this curse upon my forehead, the Lord still shows me mercy for whomever kills me shall be cursed seven times over. Even in my lonely banishment, the Lord still shows His grace. Sorrow upon me and sorrow upon my children for they are cursed to become like their father! God have mercy!
Image credit: Cain Killing Abel by Jacopo Palma Junior, 1603