Moses wrote (Genesis 3:22-24 Tanakh):

And HaShem (y^ehôvâh, יהוה) G-d (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים) said: ‘Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever’ [Table].  Therefore HaShem (y^ehôvâh, יהוה) G-d (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים) sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken [Table].  So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden the cherubim, and the flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way to the tree of life.

John wrote in the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must happen very soon.  He made it clear by sending his angel to his servant John, who then testified to everything that he saw^[1] concerning the word of God and the testimony about Jesus Christ^[2] (Revelation 22:1, 2 NET):

Then the angel showed me the river^[3] of the water of life – water as clear as crystal – pouring out from the throne of God and of the Lamb, flowing down the middle of the city’s main street.  On each side^[4] of the river is the tree of life producing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding^[5] its fruit every^[6] month of the year.  Its leaves are for the healing of the nations.

Placing the cherubim and the flaming sword to keep (shâmar, לשמר; Septuagint: φυλάσσειν, a form of φυλάσσω) the way to the tree of life from Adam and Eve was never about withholding life from humanity.  Though Adam and Eve knew (y^edaʽ, וידעו; Septuagint: ἔγνωσαν, a form of γινώσκω) that they were naked,^[7] y^ehôvâh ʼĕlôhı̂ym knew what it meant when sin entered the world through one man.^[8]  Consider Jesus’ teaching (John 8:31, 32 NET):

Then Jesus said to those Judeans who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, you are really my disciples and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Jesus addressed those Judeans (KJV: Jews) who had believed him, arguably the best of the best.  Though they were hardened they were among the most spiritually cultivated (Romans 9-11) people to have walked the earth to that time, and they had begun to believe Jesus, and Jesus told them to continue to follow his teaching (μείνητε ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ ἐμῷ).  Now hear with faith how He described these most spiritually cultivated people who had believed Him (John 8:44 NET):

You people are from your father^[9] the devil, and you want to do what your father desires.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not^[10] uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him.  Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

Spiritually cultivated they were and they had begun to believe Jesus but they were not yet born from above, not yet led by the Spirit of God, not yet the sons of God: For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.^[11]  No one born of Adam, whether confessing some sin or not, wants to hear, you people are from your father the devil, or you want (θέλετε, a form of θέλω) to do what your father desires (ἐπιθυμίας, a form of ἐπιθυμία).  But I’ll consider the story of Abel, a keeper of sheep and his elder brother Cain, a tiller of the ground in this light (Genesis 4:2b-5 Tanakh).

And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto HaShem [Table].  And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.  And HaShem had respect unto Abel and to his offering [Table]; but unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect.  And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell [Table].

It seems that Cain got the bright idea to bring y^ehôvâh an offering.  His little brother Abel just tagged along.  Each brought the fruit of his labor.  Who does y^ehôvâh think he is, discriminating this way between them?  After all, it’s the thought that counts!^[12]  That, by the way, was not my thought.

Oh, I wrote it.  Yes, I heard the thought in my mind.  But by faith I no longer recognize such thoughts as me (Galatians 2:20, 21) or mine.  I recognize—again, by faith in the word of God—that there is something in me—call it what you will, sin in the flesh, the old man—something that hates y^ehôvâh, everything He says, everything He does.  He can do nothing right.  Paul described this phenomenon in his letter to believers in Rome (Romans 7:21-25 NET Table1 Table2).

So, I find the law that when I want to do good (καλόν, a form of καλός), evil (κακὸν, a form of κακός) is present with me.  For I delight in the law of God in my inner being (ἄνθρωπον, a form of ἄνθρωπος).  But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members.  Wretched man (ἄνθρωπος) that I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks^[13] be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Then the Lord (y^ehôvâh, יהוה) said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why is your expression downcast?^[14]  I’ve approached the next verse incidentally, tangentially, judgmentally and, curiously enough in retrospect, lawfully in other essays.  Here, I wanted to approach it directly.

Another version of the Tanakh reads: Is it not so that if you improve, it will be forgiven you?  If you do not improve, however, at the entrance, sin is lying, and to you is its longing, but you can rule over it.^[15]  In another essay I wrote, “you must subdue it looks and sounds to me like a religious mind trying to turn a word into a law long before the law was given.”  That wasn’t quite fair.

I was surprised that תמשל (mâshal)—translated mayest rule, can rule (Tanakh), must subdue (NET), BibleHub.com offers should rule—was so uncertain.  It makes sense to me that knowing good and evil makes each of us individually responsible for choosing good, but mayest rule and especially can rule imply the ability to do so as well.  Struggling with this I perused the commentaries.  Alexander MacLaren pointed out the similarity here to what y^ehôvâh had said to Eve after she had led Adam astray (Genesis 3:1-6): and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.^[17]

There was no equivocation here, no wiggle room in the translation of ימשל (mâshal).  Surely man’s experience ruling over a wife has been at least as perplexing as ruling over sin.  Of course, male Bible expositors present the latter part of y^ehôvâh’s word to Eve as a rule for women to obey.  I haven’t heard the latter part of his word to Cain abstracted that way.   The translations divide here along party lines: those who have accepted Jesus as the Christ hear responsibility (must subdue, should rule), those who have not hear a promise of ability (mayest rule, can rule).

I thought at first that the rabbis who translated the Septuagint eschewed any personification of sin lying, crouching, desiring or longing.

I had rejected the Septuagint here because it seemed to refer back to Abel.  Charles Ellicott offered a similar interpretation in his commentary:

“At present thou art vexed and envious because thy younger brother is rich and prosperous, while thy tillage yields thee but scanty returns.  Do well, and the Divine blessing will rest on thee, and thou wilt recover thy rights of primogeniture, and thy brother will look up to thee in loving obedience.”

I can’t assume that Abel was “rich and prosperous” while Cain’s “tillage yields…but scanty returns,” or that yehôvâh was concerned with Cain’s “rights of primogeniture” from what is written in the text.  I’ve assumed that HaShem had respect unto Abel and to his offering because yehôvâh foreknew that a Passover lamb would become important to his people rather than a Passover kumquat.  (No, I have no idea what kind of produce Cain offered Him.)  But if I consider now that the referent of his and him was sin rather than Abel, I get a different picture.

The rabbis understood רבץ (râbats) as an imperative ἡσύχασον (Be still) directed to Cain rather than as a description of sin lying or crouching.  Had Cain believed y^ehôvâh’s command to be still, he would have realized y^ehôvâh’s promise—you will rule (NETS), thou shalt rule (Elpenor) over sin—without equivocation.  I called this “yehôvâh at his most aloof,”^[19] relative to the time and attention He lavishes on me.  (The philosophical bent of my mind still longs for a thousand page discourse where y^ehôvâh sits down with Cain and explains his understanding of sin, righteousness and redemption.)  Be still as y^ehôvâh’s command to Cain reminds me of Peter (Matthew 14:28 NET).

Peter said to [Jesus], “Lord, if it is you, order me to come to you on the water.”

Here is an example of what I meant by the spiritual cultivation of Israel.  Peter wasn’t a priest, a scribe or a religious professional of any sort.  He was a fisherman.  But he believed that if Jesus the Christ ordered or commanded him to come to Him on the water it would be so.  But this is probably too facile an explanation.  Peter’s lack of religious sophistication may have enhanced his spiritual cultivation.  Of his more religiously sophisticated (Philippians 3:5-7) brethren, Paul wrote (Romans 10:2, 3; 9:31, 32 NET Table):

…I can testify that [my fellow Israelites] are zealous for God, but their zeal is not in line with the truth (ἐπίγνωσιν, a form of ἐπίγνωσις).  For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

…Israel even though pursuing a law of righteousness did not attain it.^[20]  Why not?  Because they pursued it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works.^[21]  They stumbled over the stumbling stone…

In my zeal for God,^[22] Paul wrote of his own religious sophistication, I persecuted the church.^[23]

I wondered if be still here had any relationship to, Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.^[24]  But the Hebrew word translated Be still there was הרפו (râphâh), translated σχολάσατε (a form of σχολάζω) in the Septuagint.  As I contemplated the definition of σχολάζω in the Greek Lexicon online I was lifted out of the weeds, so to speak, fussing over the meaning of word strings in the Bible, and into that eternal life of knowing the only true God, and Jesus Christ.  The definition of σχολάζω reads:

to devote oneself; to have leisure; to devote, have spare time, be at leisure, take a vacation; to take it easy; to have time to be busy with one’s interests apart from work; to take time to devote to study

This accurately describes the life I’ve received from Him, received in that same active sense that Jesus’ disciples accepted the words He gave them.  And, yes, σχολάσατε is an active form of σχολάζω.  This active stillness is how I pursue (ζητεῖτε, a form of ζητέω) his kingdom and righteousness: But above all, Jesus commanded, pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things [food, drink, clothing] will be given to you as well.^[25]  The definition of ζητέω in the Greek Lexicon online reads:

to seek, search, look for; to inquire, investigate, examine, consider, deliberate; to try to obtain, desire to possess; to strive for, aim for, desire, wish; to ask for, request, demand (something); to claim (as entitlement); to appeal to someone for guidance

Back again in the weeds, the rabbis who translated the Septuagint offered no Greek counterpart for לפתח (pethach; translated at the door, at the entrance [Tanakh], at the door [NET]).  Why would they ignore לפתח (pethach) before Jesus was revealed to Israel?  Why would Masoretes add it afterward?  Frankly, I can’t imagine any plausible scenarios at the moment.  So as far as understanding what y^ehôvâh said to Cain, I’m more uncertain now than when I began this study.  I have, however, encountered many provocative ideas ripe for further study.  And what He said hardly mattered to the narrative.  Cain ignored it (Genesis 4:8 Tanakh).

And Cain spoke unto Abel his brother.  And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.^[26]

Cain was from [his] father the devil, and wanted to do what [his] father desires.  As Jesus said to those Judeans who had believed him…[the devil] was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth (ἀληθείᾳ), because there is no truth (ἀλήθεια) in him.  There was no ritual or intentionality required for Cain to be from his father the devil.  It is the natural condition of those born of the flesh of Adam and Eve.  “What is born of the flesh is flesh,” Jesus told Nicodemus, “and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all be born from above.’”^[27] 

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God,^[28] Paul wrote to believers in Rome (Romans 8:5-7 NET).

For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit.  For the outlook of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace, because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so.

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, Paul continued, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.  Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him.  But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is your life because of righteousness.  Moreover if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you.^[29]

As a child trusting Jesus for a place in heaven I comforted myself and fell asleep many nights planning the perfect murders of my neighbor and his entire family.  My plan was never quite perfect.  I feared I would be caught.  Then people would misunderstand and call me names like “murderer” when I was the hapless victim balancing the scales of justice.  So I never murdered my neighbor or his entire family.

My fear—that I would be caught and my motives would be misunderstood—was not the righteousness of God…revealed in the gospel.^[30]  It was not the love that does no wrong to a neighbor, not the love that is the fulfillment of the law.^[31]  It was not the love that is the fruit of his Spirit (Galatians 5:22, 23).  Not murdering my neighbor and his entire family was indisputably better than murdering them would have been.  And clearly, it was possible for me to avoid committing murder apart from the righteousness of God.  But imagine standing face to face with Jesus and offering Him the fact that I did not murder my neighbor and his entire family as a righteousness of my own derived from the law after having rejected the gift He offered, the gift of God Himself (Acts 2:36-41).

It is inevitable, I suppose, that a reader wonders what my neighbor did to me: It was nothing in particular.  He was a year younger than I and didn’t treat me with the deference I felt I deserved.  And he got away with it.  My god failed to punish him for his sin.  This was not a singularly low point in my childhood, certainly not a turning point.  My darkness deepened into my teens until atheism became my only “rational” choice.

This kind of self-awareness might crush the spirit in any other form of life.  In this eternal life of y^ehôvâh’s Holy Spirit it encouraged me to stay the course when I had begun to waver.  I had begun to judge some as undeserving of “my persistent prayer for justice.”  At least I had confessed in prayer that I was embarrassed to bring them before the Lord again.  But now in the light of his utmost patience and mercy toward the boy who consoled himself with murder, I pray with renewed vigor:

My persistent prayer for justice (Luke 18:1-8) is for the mercy on which everything depends, for it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on [You] who shows mercy.^[32]  And You have consigned all people to disobedience so that [You] may show mercy to them all.^[33]

The love of Christ that surpasses knowledge^[34] is not some vague affection (1 Corinthians 13:4-13) He hoards for us but the omnipotent engine of righteousness He gives to us in the person of his own Holy Spirit.  No one is good except God alone.^[35]

The tables I made to write this essay comparing Genesis 3:22-24; 4:2b-5; 4:6, 7; 3:16; Psalm 46:10 and Genesis 4:8 in the Tanakh and NET, and the tables comparing Genesis 3:22; 3:23; 3:24; 4:2b; 4:3; 4:4; 4:5; 4:6; 4:7; 3:16; Psalm 46:10 and Genesis 4:8 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow.  Following those are tables comparing Revelation 1:2; 22:1, 2; John 8:44; Romans 9:31; Philippians 3:6 and Romans 8:9 in the NET and KJV.