Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 23:4 (Dec 1980)
Article: Linguistic And Thematic Links Between Genesis 4:1-16 And Genesis 2—3
Author: Alan J. Hauser

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JETS 23:4 (December 1980) p. 297

Linguistic And Thematic Links Between Genesis 4:1-16
And Genesis 2—3

Alan J. Hauser*

Biblical scholarship has frequently operated under the assumption that the Biblical text is most precisely and purposefully understood when broken into so-called original units, which then must be interpreted in terms of a hypothetical context in which they were created. Such an approach, in my opinion, is often less than helpful as an attempt to come to terms with the Biblical text. Gen 4:1–16 is a case in point. It has long been argued that these verses form a stow originally independent of Genesis 2—3.1 This has frequently led to an interpretation of 4:1–16 as a unit complete in itself, with its own motifs and perspectives. Likewise any accompanying discussion of Genesis 1—11 focuses on the attempts of an editor to link the various independent units. In this paper, however, I will argue that Gen 4:1–16, as received, is closely and carefully integrated, both linguistically and thematically, with Genesis 2—3. In fact any attempt to understand 4:1–16 apart from this context requires not only a slippery trek into the world of Sitz im Leben fantasy but also causes an un:ortunate myopia that obscures many of the delicate and subtle syntactic structures present in the text.

Of necessity this paper is parasitic on my earlier work, “Genesis 2—3: The Theme of Intimacy and Alienation.”2 The structure, vocabulary and motifs of Genesis 2—3 are there treated in more detail than is possible here, and the reader may wish to refer to that work for a more complete discussion of ideas presented here in capsule form.

I. Structural Similarities

The first point to be examined is the structural similarities betwen Genesis 2—3 and Gen 4:1–16. The following items represent patterns employed in both of the sections:

1. The principal characters are introduced in terms of their functions. Man is ...

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