וישע ה' אל הבל ואל מנחתו, “the Lord turned favorably to Hevel and to his offering;” this verse is the best answer to the heretics who deny the existence of an afterlife, as seeing that Hevel was murdered shortly after G–d is on record as having gratefully accepted his offering, what use would that have been to him seeing that the same G–d did not even protect him against being murdered by his own brother. We must therefore view this verse as telling us that by dint of his offering Hevel acquired a share in afterlife. [The concept of afterlife was new, as his father having introduced mortality of human beings through his sin had not yet done anything to at least acquire an afterlife. Ed.]

ויאמר קין אל הבל אחיו, “Kayin said to his brother Hevel;” seeing that the Torah does not elaborate on the content of Kayin’s words, we must assume that he told his brother about what G–d had said to him. (verse 6-7) He made it plain to his brother that he was very upset that G–d had not seen fit to accept his offering as He had done with Hevel’s offering. Hevel reacted to G–d having criticised Kayin with joy. When Kayin saw that his brother had been glad that he had been criticised by G–d, he arose with the intent of killing him. (second half of this verse). His motive was plain jealousy. Our author cites an additional or different interpretation of the incomplete sentence: “Kayin said to his brother Hevel,” which he had heard in the name of Rabbi Joseph Kara (turn of 11th century, not to be confused with Joseph Karo author of Shulchan Aruch, of Safed who lived during the most of the 16th century). that initially Hevel, having heard from Kayin what G–d had said to him, was afraid of him seeing that his brother was so angry, and remained on guard against him. When Kayin told him that G–d had held out hope for him by promising that He would relate to him with fondness if he changed his ways, Hevel dropped his guard feeling certain that Kayin would indeed change his ways. When Kayin spoke to him in a friendly mien, i.e. ויאמר, he thought that this was proof that Kayin had changed. He therefore dropped his guard with fatal consequences for himself.

לכן כל הורג קין שבעתים יוקם, “therefore whosoever slays Kayin, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.” The plain meaning of this verse is that seeing that Kayin was worried about being murdered, G–d assured him that anyone murdering Kayin even after he had lived seven generations would be held accountable by Him. This is why Lemech who held himself as guilty of killing Kayin, even though he did so unintentionally, told his wives what would happen to anyone killing him on that account (Compare verse 25 in this chapter.) Lemech’s children were the seventh generation, after Adam. (Adam-Kayin-Chanoch-Irod-M’chuyael-M’tushael-Lemech-(Yaval,Yuval Tuval Kayin) He told his wives that the whole generation of such a killer fathered by himself would be held responsible for his murder by G–d, seeing that what he had done was due to his being blind and therefore totally innocent of any intent to harm a human being.

ושם השנית צלה, “and the name of his (Lemech’s) second wife was Tzilah.” According to Rashi, it had become a custom for men to marry two wives, one for child-bearing and one for co-habitation, (indulging one’s libido). The second type of wife would drink a potion which would prevent her from becoming pregnant as a result of having sexual relations. The Torah telling us about Tzilah giving birth to a son, is to inform us that something went awry, [perhaps she only pretended to drink that potion, Ed.] Our author questions this as the Torah reported simply that Tzilah also gave birth, without hinting that this was unusual. We must assume therefore that the explanation of Rashi is based on the unnecessary word גם, “also,” in our verse, as having born children would have been something completely normal.

'אז הוחל לקרא בשם ה, “then men began to abuse the name of the Lord, (by applying it to idols).” According to our author the meaning is that men began to swear false oaths using the name of the Lord to appear believable. The word הוחל is seen as analogous to Numbers 30,3: לא יחל דברו, “he must not desecrate his word” (when swearing an oath).