Hidden Stories: Cain’s Wife

Hi, guys.

I’m Rebekah, here exploring the hidden stories of the Bible – people that go unnamed, their deeds unsung.

Trigger Warning for abuse.

 

 He frightens me.

Hands like iron… so much anger built up inside…

Sometimes I sit inside the house, drawing my knees tight to my chest, rocking back and forth.

He frightens me.

The mark of Cain sits on his forehead, shouting to all the world who he is and what he has become. I wish now that I had never married him. I wish now that I was never born.

Oh, what sin has done to our world.

His sandals make no sound on the hard-packed ground outside our home, but I can feel him in the dread that rises through my body. Sweat covers my hands and runs down my neck.

I sent our daughters with our sons out to the fields this day. The further from their father they are, the less they shall be influenced.

“Wife!” His words echo like trumpets through my head. I rise, straightening my tunic.

“Here, Cain.”

“Where are my children?” The door swings closed behind him and he latches it.

He stares at me now, and the anger shines from his eyes. Chiseled arms scarcely fit his tunic. Dark hair falls over the mark on his forehead.

“I sent them to the fields,” I say meekly as I place his bread and fish on the chipped plate. “How was your day?”

“Good enough.” He sits down silently, the stool creaking under his weight, and commences eating.

So full of anger.

I know not what to do with myself. My hands tremble. I push a piece of hair out of my eyes, move to stoke the fire. I can feel his eyes watching me.

He frightens me.

 

In the night, his shouts wake the children. “Abel! Am I my brother’s keeper? My punishment is greater than I can bear!”

He is troubled.

He murdered his brother.

The guilt still haunts him.

Yet still worse is the future that he makes for himself. He is an angry man, and he raises our sons to be the same.

Anger affects more than just Cain.

His anger has affected us all.

He frightens me.

 

What would you do, married to a man like Cain? And what “hidden stories” would you like to see here?

 

(Disclaimer: This is a fictional interpretation of a biblical story. For more information on Cain and his wife, read Genesis.)