God's Dealings during the Life of Cain: A Juridical-Theological Reopening of the Case in Genesis 4

The interpretive tradition of Genesis 4 focuses almost invariably on Cain: his jealousy, his guilt, the killing of Abel, and his punishment. This study takes a different approach and asks a question that precedes these concerns: how does God Himself act within this narrative? It is not God's existence or being that is at issue, but the actions that the text attributes to Him. The study develops a method referred to here as forensic exegesis, situated at the intersection of biblical studies, legal theology, and hermeneutics. It consistently distinguishes between textual fact, qualification, and normative judgement, and treats legal concepts as analytical instruments rather than as rules directly applicable to the narrative. Genesis 4 is first reconstructed as a case file and then examined through a contemporary legal thought experiment. The analysis concerns God's unexplained preference for Abel, the situation in which rivalry between the brothers could arise, God's warning to Cain, the absence of any acknowledgement of responsibility for that situation, the protection Cain receives after the killing, and the absence of redress or representation for Abel. Within the chosen hermeneutical framework — the ethical core of Jesus' proclamation: love of one's neighbour, the Golden Rule, love of one's enemies, and the perspective of the victim — these actions raise questions of endangerment, negligence, role confusion, and the absence of an authority before which accountability can be demanded. A concluding theological section reads the narrative through two conceptions of God: 'God Without Transaction' and 'God Is Love'. 'God Without Transaction' describes a relationship in which human beings approach God without transaction: human expectations, desires, and needs are kept outside the relationship between God and human beings. 'God Is Love' is then examined as an obvious and influential conception of God. Rather than using the statement that God is love to explain or justify God's actions in advance, the study asks what kind of love comes into view when the concrete effects of those actions are taken seriously. Precisely because this conception of God can be extended to every episode, it constitutes the most demanding test. The study does not decide the question of God's guilt or innocence and does not prescribe a particular conception of God. It leaves that judgement to the reader and makes visible the tension between what tradition says about God and the actions that Genesis 4 attributes to Him. This upload contains both the English original and a Dutch translation of the article.