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Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume I

Book Seven — Cain and Abel

But Abel was a shepherd of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground

LatineEnglish

But Abel was a shepherd of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground.1

Fuit autem Abel pastor ovium, & Cain agricola.

Post peccatum Adami, primus omnium hominum, qui iustus & innocens appellatur in divina Scriptura, fuit Abel. Et hic primus omnium fuit pastor, suoque exemplo maiorem in modum hanc pastoralem artem cohonestavit ac nobilitavit, ut eam deinceps omnes Patriarchae & principes populi Hebraei praeter ceteras partes summo studio coluerint: nec profecto sine causa. Est enim pastoralis ars omnium simplicissima, minimeque operosa vel artificiosa, nec ita animum hominis occupatum tenet, ut non ei otium relinquat ad meditationem rerum naturalium, divinarumque contemplationem: neque certis indiget domiciliis, aut stabiles fixasque sedes exigit: sed a peregrinantibus etiam tractari & exerceri potest, eiusque multiplex utilitas est ad humanae vitae, & divini cultus usum. Suppeditat enim victum & vestitum, materiam item oblationum & sacrificiorum, quae Deo fieri oportet. Refert praeterea imaginem quandam...
After the sin of Adam, the first of all men who is called just and innocent in divine Scripture was Abel. And this one was the first of all a shepherd, and by his example in great degree honored and ennobled this pastoral art, so that thereafter all the Patriarchs and princes of the Hebrew people cultivated it above other pursuits with the highest zeal — and indeed not without cause. For the pastoral art is the simplest of all, and least laborious or artificial, nor does it so occupy the mind of man as not to leave him leisure for the meditation of natural things and the contemplation of divine things; nor does it need fixed dwellings, or require stable and fixed seats, but can be practiced and exercised even by wanderers; and its usefulness is manifold for the use of human life and of divine worship. For it supplies food and clothing, and likewise the material of offerings and sacrifices, which ought to be made to God. It presents besides a certain image...2
dam regalis administrationis & gubernationis: talem enim decet esse regem erga sibi subditos, qualiter pastor gregem suum regit: quapropter apud priscos illos non aliter boni reges, quam pastores populorum appellabantur [Homerus vocat reges ποιμένες λαῶν]. Quid plura? repraesentat haec pastorum ars & exercitatio, Dei providentiam erga homines, praesertim autem erga electos: quamobrem Deus & Christus dominus gaudet pastoris appellatione, eoque nomine frequenter in sacris litteris nominantur.
...[a certain image] of royal administration and governance: for such it behooves a king to be toward his subjects, as a shepherd rules his flock; wherefore among those ancients, good kings were called nothing else than shepherds of the peoples [Homer calls kings ποιμένες λαῶν, 'shepherds of peoples']. What more? This art and practice of shepherds represents the providence of God toward men, and especially toward the elect: wherefore God and Christ the Lord delight in the appellation of shepherd, and by that name are frequently named in the sacred writings.3
Sed unde Abel in exordio mundi didicit sacrificia offerre Deo? Didicit profecto vel ex patre Adamo, qui id a Deo doctus, itidem filios suos docuerat: vel etiam nullo docente, potuit id Abel naturali ratione cognitum habere, & tacito quodam naturae instinctu & impulsu ad id faciendum adduci. Quemadmodum enim naturalis ratio docet unum esse Deum omnium rerum conditorem ac dominum: ita docet ac praecipit hunc Deum esse ab homine omni cultu tam interiori quam exteriori colendum atque venerandum. Sicut enim inter homines, qui aliorum potestati & imperio subiecti sunt, & tributa pendunt, & munera offerunt dominis suis, quod id argumentum sit & dominationis eorum, suaeque subiectionis atque servitutis: ita oportet omnes homines exterius & interius venerari Deum, ea re profitentes atque testificantes, ipsum esse Dominum omnium, seque servos eius: qui nisi eius potestate ac benignitate, nec malis quibus premuntur liberari, nec bona quae optant consequi, nec ad aeternam vitam & felicitatem pervenire possunt. Ad hanc de sacrificio Abel illustrandam historiam, multa de his quae tractat B. Thomas in secunda secundae, quaest. 85. disputans de sacrificio, quod soli Deo, etiam secundum legem naturalem, a cunctis hominibus fieri debet, belle accommodari possunt.
But whence did Abel, at the beginning of the world, learn to offer sacrifices to God? He learned it certainly either from his father Adam, who, taught it by God, had likewise taught his sons; or even, with no one teaching, Abel could have known it by natural reason, and been led to do it by a certain silent instinct and impulse of nature. For just as natural reason teaches that there is one God, founder and lord of all things, so it teaches and prescribes that this God is to be worshiped and venerated by man with all worship, both interior and exterior. For just as among men, those who are subject to the power and rule of others both pay tributes and offer gifts to their lords — because this is a proof of their dominion and of their own subjection and servitude — so all men ought to venerate God exteriorly and interiorly, by that thing professing and testifying that he is Lord of all and that they are his servants, who — except by his power and kindness — can neither be freed from the evils by which they are pressed, nor attain the goods they wish, nor come to eternal life and felicity. For illustrating this history of Abel's sacrifice, many things from those which blessed Thomas treats in the Secunda Secundae, question 85, disputing about sacrifice — which ought to be made to God alone, even according to the natural law, by all men — can be aptly accommodated.4
Illud fortasse alicui mirandum accidet: Cum ceteros Patriarchas Deo sacrificasse sacra memoret historia, cur duos maxime insignes Patriarchas Adamum & Isaac sacrificasse Deo, nusquam in sacris litteris proditum sit? augetque magis admirationem, quod primus omnium hominum Adamus sacrificasse creditur, primusque fuisse posterioris suis sacrificandi doctor & auctor: Isaac vero, sanctum ac religiosum Dei cultorem quam qui maxime, quis dubitet saepenumero sacrificasse Deo. Verum sine dubitatione ulla credendum est, duos istos Patriarchas sacrificasse Deo propterea tamen de sacrificio Adam tacuit Scriptura, quod cum in eo fuisset origo peccati, non videbatur conveniens ac decens, ut in eodem ostenderetur origo sanctitatis & religionis: sed id potius in Abel, qui primus omnium mortalium appellatus est iustus & innocens, expressum est. Isaac porro, quoniam ea re fuit maxime illustris Christi domini figura, quod a patre suo, quantum in ipso fuit, immolatus & sacrificatus est, ut remaneret integra eius figurae vis plenumque mysterium: idcirco non inducit eum Scriptura offerentem Deo externa sacrificia. Quamquam & illud simplicius, ac veritati historiae proprius & convenientius fuerit...
This will perhaps seem wonderful to someone: since sacred history mentions that the other Patriarchs sacrificed to God, why is it nowhere handed down in the sacred writings that the two most notable Patriarchs, Adam and Isaac, sacrificed to God? And it increases the wonder more, that Adam is believed to have been the first of all men to sacrifice, and to have been the first teacher and author of sacrificing to his descendants; but Isaac — who would doubt that so holy and religious a worshiper of God as anyone very much sacrificed to God many times? But it must be believed, without any doubt, that those two Patriarchs sacrificed to God; yet Scripture was silent about Adam's sacrifice for this reason, that since in him had been the origin of sin, it did not seem fitting and decent that in the same [person] should be shown the origin of sanctity and religion — but that rather was expressed in Abel, who was the first of all mortals called just and innocent. But Isaac, since by that thing he was the most illustrious figure of Christ the Lord — that he was, as far as depended on him [his father], immolated and sacrificed by his own father, that the force of his figure and the full mystery might remain entire — therefore Scripture does not bring him in offering external sacrifices to God. Although it would be simpler, and nearer and more fitting to the truth of history...5
fuerit responsum, eorum dumtaxat sacrificia in sacra historia memorari, in quibus aliquid evenit divinitus mirabile admodum atque memorabile, cuiusmodi quia nihil in sacrificiis istorum accidit: propterea nihil etiam de illis esse proditum.
...it would have been answered, that only those sacrifices are recorded in sacred history in which something happened divinely quite marvelous and memorable; of which kind, because nothing happened in the sacrifices of these [Adam and Isaac], therefore nothing was handed down about them either.6

Translator’s notes

  1. New lemma: Genesis 4:2 (marginal 'VERS. 2.'). ↩
  2. Commentary on Gen 4:2: Abel is the first man called 'just and innocent' in Scripture, and the first shepherd, who ennobled the pastoral art (thereafter cultivated by all the Patriarchs and Hebrew princes). Praise of the pastoral art: the simplest and least laborious, leaving leisure for contemplation of natural and divine things; needing no fixed dwelling; practiced even by wanderers; supplying food, clothing, and the material of sacrifices. Marginal gloss: 'Laus pastoritiae artis.' Page footer signature 'ZZZ'; catchword 'dam' (quandam; continues on the next page). ↩
  3. Praise of the pastoral art (continued): it images royal governance (a good king rules like a shepherd) and God's providence toward men and the elect (God and Christ delight in the name 'shepherd'; John 10, Ezek 34). GREEK GLYPH verified by magnification: ποιμένες λαῶν (poimenes laōn, 'shepherds of peoples' — Homer's epithet for kings; the legible portion 'μένες λαῶν' with 'ποι-' hyphenated at the previous line). Marginal gloss: 'Homerus vocat reges ποιμένες λαῶν. Ioannis 10. Ezech. 34. & alibi.' Running head '720'; true printed page 730. ↩
  4. Whence Abel learned to sacrifice: either from Adam (taught by God) or by natural reason and instinct — for natural reason teaches there is one God, to be worshiped inwardly and outwardly (as subjects pay tribute to their lords, so all must venerate God, professing him Lord and themselves servants). Aquinas, ST 2a2ae q.85 (on sacrifice due to God alone by natural law) applies. Marginal glosses: 'Unde Abel cognoverit sacrificandum esse Deo'; 'Omnes homines lege naturali obligatos esse ut Deum tam interiori cultu venerentur, in signum eius dominationis, suaeque subiectionis, servitutis'; 'S. Thomas.' ↩
  5. A puzzle: why does Scripture never record the sacrifices of Adam and Isaac, though the other Patriarchs' are recorded? Both surely sacrificed (Adam the first author of it); but Scripture is silent about Adam because, having the origin of sin in him, it was unfitting to show in him the origin of sanctity — shown rather in Abel (first called just and innocent). Isaac, the great figure of Christ (immolated by his father Abraham, Gen 22), is not shown offering external sacrifices, that the figure remain entire. Marginal glosses: 'Cur nusquam Scriptura memoret Adamum & Isaac sacrificasse Deo'; 'Genes. 22.' Catchword: 'fuerit' (continues on the next page). ↩
  6. The simpler explanation why Adam's and Isaac's sacrifices are unrecorded: Scripture records only sacrifices at which something marvelous occurred, and nothing marvelous happened at theirs. Running head '721'; true printed page 731. ↩