Kayin was born with his mother Chava’s attitude of acquisition – “קניתי” (see Beraishis 4A Motherhood). His name קין means acquisition which defines his personality. His crime was due to the same root character flaw, jealousy (קנאה).
Now that he realized that he had lost everything as a result of his crime, true to his self centered personalty, he still doesn’t mention his brother and what he had done to him. He continues to focus on himself and tells God “(The results of) my crime are too much for me to bear.”
In other words, he could have tolerated the crime he committed had he himself not been so terribly affected. But this isolated and frustrated existence is too much for him to bear.
Beraishis 4:13
pages 136-137
One Reply to “Beraishis 4I The selfish mind of a criminal”
Comments are closed.