More on Two Brothers, a Field and the Temple
A while ago I posted here on the folk tale about Two Brothers, a Field and the building of the Temple. Recently, Admiel Kosman has published an article about this folk tale with a different approach and conclusion than most of those scholars whom I quoted in my earlier post. Using Bible scholar Yair Zakovitch’s theory of Biblical stories that are בבואה, mirror images of other stories or “counter stories,” Kosman has put forth a theory that the story about the two brothers is actually a mirror image of the following midrash.
ויאמר קין אל הבל אחיו וגו’ על מה היו הדינין אמורים, אמרו בוא ונחלק העולם, אחד נטל את הקרקעות ואחד [נטל] המיטלטלין, דין אמר ארעא דאת קאים דידי היא ודין אמר מה דאת לביש דידי הוא, דין אמר חלוש ודין אמר פרוח, מתוך כן ויקם קין אל הבל וגו’, ר’ יהושע דסיכנין בשם ר’ לוי שניהן נטלו את הקרקעות ושניהם נטלו המיטלטלין, ועל מה היו אותן הדינין, זה אמר בתחומי בית המקדש ניבנה וזה אמר בתחומי ויהי בהיותם בשדה, אין שדה אלא בית המקדש היך מה דאת אמר ציון
שדה תחרש (מיכה ג יב), מתוך כן ויקם קין וגו’
בראשית רבה (תיאודור-אלבק) פרשה כב ד”ה (ח) ויאמר קין
“And Cain spoke to Abel his brother” (Gen. 4:8): What did they argue about? They said ‘Let us divide up the world.’ One took the land and the other the movable objects. This one said, ‘The land that you are standing on is mine,’ that one said ‘What you are wearing is mine.’ This one said, ‘Take your clothes off,’ that one said, ‘Fly into the air.’ Because of this, “Cain rose up against his brother Abel…” R. Yehoshua of Siknin said in the name of R. Levi: “Both of them took land and both of them took movable objects. What did they argue about? This one said ‘In my domain the Temple will be built,’ and that one said ‘In my domain the Temple will be built.’ “And it came to pass when they were in the field,” the only meaning of “field” is the Temple, [as it is written] “Zion shall be plowed as a field” (Micah 3:12). Because of this, “Cain rose up against his brother Abel…”
Genesis Rabbah, chap. 22:7
Kosman feels that although the first written evidence of this story is from a 19th c. non-Jewish source, this does not necessarily mean that the origins of this story are not in a Jewish story whose origins are much earlier.
Source: Admiel Kosman, “Sippur ha-Aggadah al Riv Bein Kein ve-Hevel ve-Sippur ha-be-Vuah Shelo al Shnei ha-Ahim ha-Ahuvim,” in Minha le-Menachem, pp. 443-452.