Cain, Abel, and Seth

Cain, Abel, and Seth are the three sons of Adam and Eve listed in the Bible. Most of us know the story of Cain and Abel, but Seth is easily overlooked since there are no Biblical stories of him. However, it is through Seth that the lineage of the Jews links to Adam and Eve. In Jewish systems of gnosticism Seth therefore becomes the father of the chosen people, and in later Christian systems the racial implications become removed so that he is associated with the enlightened elite in general. In some systems Seth was synonymous with the expected Messiah.

In Valentinianism these three characters became symbols of the three different types of man. Cain, the worker of the fields who selfishly killed his brother out of envy, represented the base man, incapable of moral understanding. Abel, the worker of the herds who had made a pleasing sacrifice to God, represented the man of faith, who is capable of pleasing the Creator. But it was Seth, the vehicle from Adam to the race of the enlightened ones, who alone possessed true spiritual insight. In the painting Seth protects the truth, the lantern, that he possesses, from the corruption of his brothers, and of the world in general.

It’s specified in Genesis that Abel worked goats, but my side of beef was influenced by an interest in any number of paintings of that subject, including those by Rembrandt and Bacon. The stance of Cain with a gun reflects my fascination with action B-movies.

 

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(Paintings that feature the Seth character are "Cain, Abel, and Seth," "Conversion of Paul," "Crucifixion," and "Christ and the Adulterous Woman.)