Hebrew Word Study – Brother’s Keeper?   Heshomer    Hei Shin Mem Resh

 Genesis 4:9: “And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?”

This Biblical phrase “Am I my brother’s keeper?” has become an idiom in our English language and is used by someone who is trying to say; “Hey, I am not responsible for the actions of this person, they are of age, I am not their guardian so I have no responsibility.” 

Most commentators often use our modern idiom to explain this Biblical expletive. However, such an explanation does not fit the context.  This would be as if Cain is saying: “Why ask me where he is at, I am not responsible for his actions.” I suppose this could work if you view God as a parent asking Cain where his brother is and Cain trying to cover his actions and saying what any self-respecting toddler would say; “I don’t know.” My problem with that is, did Cain honestly believe he could hide murdering his brother from God? I know the rest of the conversation would make this obvious. But there are other ways to translate it and I will take that up in a later study. Right now I am interested in this part of the conversation where Cain is responding to God’s question as to the location of his brother by saying: “Am I my brother’s keeper.” 

What strikes me about this response is the word for keeper is heshomer. Rashi, a Medieval linguist and Hebrew master as well as Hebrew grammarian wrote in his grammar that when you have a chataf patach under a Hei, the Hei is not a definite article, as is taught by Christian grammarians, but it indicates that this is an expression of astonishment.  In other words, Cain was not giving a surly answer to God like a rude, disrespectful child, he was sincerely shocked by this suggestion from God that he was indeed his brother’s keeper. 

This word keeper in Hebrew is shamar. Shamar means to be a guardian.  The question is that in this context what is he a guardian of or who?  I don’t believe Cain was playing the innocent child, but he was giving a defense. God could have very easily raised Abel from the dead. He chose not to do this.  Perhaps Abel was shocked to find that God did not raise him from the dead.  

Later when God gave His laws to mankind we find in Exodus 22:10-13 that the responsibility of a shomer or guardian is laid out.  If someone is given the responsibility of care for a living creature and it is taroph yitareph, that is torn to pieces, by a wild animal, the guardian or shomer is not responsible for the loss.  In the story of Joseph, it was the elder brother Reuben who came up with the idea of presenting to their father the evidence that their brother Joseph was taroph yitareph torn to pieces by a wild animal as the elder brother was responsible or the shomer of the younger brother.  Reuben hoped to clear himself of any responsibility before his father for Joseph’s death. Keep in mind the laws had not yet been given on Mt. Sinai at this point in time, yet, according to Jewish teaching, God’s people carried the knowledge of the Torah in their hearts. They understood these finer points of the law. 

Cain was likely offering his defense by saying that he was not responsible for his brother’s future work that he was to perform nor for his future generations, his understanding was that was God’s responsibility. Then God said that his brother’s blood cried out.  The rendering of this word for crieth out does not go far enough.  It is the word tso’ekim which is not just crying out but crying out in grief, sorrow, and pain. This is what Cain was found guilty of, that was inflicting sorrow, grief, and pain and for that, he would be punished.  We have no idea what the attitude of death was in the time of Cain and Abel. They saw animals die all the time, particularly when offered as a sacrifice and after all was not that the point of contention. God accepted the death of an animal by Abel but not Cain’s vegetables.  Abel was an animal that died, why would God be upset about that? God could resurrect him or just bring him into another realm. But what Cain did was bring sorrow, grief and pain to his brother and that was not acceptable. This could be just a case of manslaughter and not premeditative first-degree murder. Cain lost his cool and hurt his brother. He probably didn’t mean for him to die, but death may not have been thought of as the tragedy that we consider it to be today. After all, there is no evidence Cain even witnessed any human death. 

Perhaps the reason God did not condemn Cain to death for his crime, although he was punished, was because he was the shomer of his brother’s heart, not his brother’s life. Being a guardian of your brother’s life is a natural response so long as that relationship is in harmony with God.  Cain was not the guardian of his brother’s vocation, that was God’s responsibility.  Cain’s heart was broken when Abel’s offering was accepted and his was not resulting in what we call a crime of passion. Had he truly been the guardian of his brother’s heart that comes naturally through the love that God gives to others he would have tried to understand why his brother’s offering was accepted, talk it over with him, and maybe realize the ground was cursed because of their father and Cain was offering something cursed by God. 

This, of course, is pure speculation on my part. Yet the point is that he was his brother’s keeper as we are our brother’s keeper today. Not so much to be their guardian of their physical well-being, which should be natural, but to be the guardian of our brother and sister’s heart.  Cain obviously felt his brother deserved what he got. But he did not seek to understand his brother’s heart. Had he done so, he would not have become so enraged that he killed him.  So too, in our community and fellowship, we will have misunderstandings. Dear friends in the Lord will break our hearts. We can be like Cain and lash out feeling this offender deserves it or we can seek to understand the heart of the one who has offended us. Odds are, that if both of you are true believers, then the offense could have been totally unintentional and amends can be made

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