At our October 2019 Regular Meeting, our Masonic Education Officer presented a paper on John Steinbeck and themes in his 1952 novel, East Of Eden
John Steinbeck’s novel East Of Eden is centered around Genesis, Chapter 4.
Here are some online sources for the full Torah text of Genesis, Chapter 4:
- Here is the Torah text of Genesis, Chapter 4:
- Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, and she said, “I have acquired a man with the Lord.”
2. And she continued to bear his brother Abel, and Abel was a shepherd of flocks, and Cain was a tiller of the soil.
3. Now it came to pass at the end of days, that Cain brought of the fruit of the soil an offering to the Lord.
4. And Abel he too brought of the firstborn of his flocks and of their fattest, and the Lord turned to Abel and to his offering.
5. But to Cain and to his offering He did not turn, and it annoyed Cain exceedingly, and his countenance fell.
6. And the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you annoyed, and why has your countenance fallen?
7. Is it not so that if you improve, it will be forgiven you? If you do not improve, however, at the entrance, sin is lying, and to you is its longing, but you can rule over it.”
8. And Cain spoke to Abel his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him.
9. And the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
10. And He said, “What have you done? Hark! Your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the earth.
11 And now, you are cursed even more than the ground, which opened its mouth to take your brother’s blood from your hand.
12. When you till the soil, it will not continue to give its strength to you; you shall be a wanderer and an exile in the land.”
13. And Cain said to the Lord, “Is my iniquity too great to bear?
14. Behold You have driven me today off the face of the earth, and I shall be hidden from before You, and I will be a wanderer and an exile in the land, and it will be that whoever finds me will kill me.”
15. And the Lord said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be wrought upon him sevenfold,” and the Lord placed a mark on Cain that no one who find him slay him.
16. And Cain went forth from before the Lord, and he dwelt in the land of the wanderers, to the east of Eden.Note that the title of John Steinbeck’s novel, East Of Eden, comes from Genesis, Chapter 4, Verse 16.John Steinbeck’s novel focuses particularly on Genesis, Chapter 4, Verse 7 but, before going into that, it is worth noting the implications of Genesis, Chapter 4, Verses 8 and 9:
8. And Cain spoke to Abel his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him.
9. And the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Cain obviously knew he had killed his brother Abel. So Cain’s denial, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” is clearly a lie. The fact that Cain lies about Abel’s murder implies that he knew what he had done was wrong, which in turn implies the existence of human conscience.After all, at this point in the Bible, God had not said that murder was wrong.
So Torah scholars interpret this as meaning that, even without a Divine revelation that murder is wrong, human beings have a conscience which is able to determine the difference between right and wrong. This means that free will exists and people can choose to act in a moral manner. Freemasonry emphasizes the exercise of free will.
But the key verse for John Steinbeck is Verse 7:
7. Is it not so that if you improve, it will be forgiven you? If you do not improve, however, at the entrance, sin is lying, and to you is its longing, but you can rule over it.”
The first sentence is also translated by other Torah scholars as, “Surely, if you do right, there is uplift….” In other words, doing good (i.e. right) is uplifting….
The second sentence is also translated in the Torah as, “If you do not do right, sin crouches at the door….”
This is about living a moral life. Habitually doing good (acting morally) leads to living a moral life and vice versa…i.e. Sin is waiting to take control of behaviour.
This idea of habitual moral behaviour also appears in Aristotle’s Nichomachian Ethics:
“We have become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts… It makes no small difference, then, whether we form habits of one kind or another from our very youth; it makes a very great difference, or rather all the difference….”
Aristotle (384-322 BC) ´Note the connection here to the Four Cardinal Virtues: Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude and Justice.
The idea of habitual moral behaviour also appears in Enlightenment works such as Adam Smith’s The Wealth Of Nations, published in 1776:
“To become known as an honest merchant, one has to be an honest merchant…..”
Adam Smith (1723-1790), author of The Wealth Of Nations (1776) and The Theory Of Moral Sentiments (1759) But the key passage in the Torah translation of Genesis, Chapter 4, Verse 7 is:
“Is it not so that if you improve, it will be forgiven you? If you do not improve, however, at the entrance, sin is lying, and to you is its longing, but you can rule over it.” [Italics added]
That means that man CAN or MAY rule over sin through free will and, through free will, choose to live a good and moral life.
´In East Of Eden, John Steinbeck focuses on Genesis, Chapter 4, Verse 7 by having a character called Lee, a Chinese-American man who reads Genesis, Chapter 4 Verse 7 and becomes obsessed with its meaning.
´Lee consults the King James version of the Bible, which interprets Genesis, Chapter 4, verse 7 as:
´”If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. “ [italics added]
´This means man SHALL rule over, or conquer, sin.
Note the key difference between the Torah (Man CAN or MAY conquer sin) and the King James Version (Man SHALL conquer sin).
´Lee then looks up Genesis, Chapter 4, Verse 7 in the American Standard Bible, which translates it as:
“If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” [italics added]
Lee takes this translation to mean that God is ordering man to MASTER, or conquer, sin.
Note the key differences in these translations and their resulting implications.
The Torah says “CAN or MAY conquer sin”;
´The King James Version says “SHALL conquer sin”;
´The American Standard Bible says “MUST conquer sin”;
´Faced with these three different interpretations of the same verse, Lee goes to San Francisco, where he consults the wisest sages in the Chinese community about the real meaning of the verse.
´The sages are intrigued and they spend two years studying the problem. They hire rabbis to teach them Hebrew so they can translate the original Hebrew text for themselves.
The sages conclude that the Hebrew word “timshol” in the Hebrew text means, “you MAY”, thus the passage means man MAY conquer sin, not SHALL or WILL conquer sin. This has significant implications for the idea of free will.
John Steinbeck explains the significance of this, through Lee, as follows:
´“What makes a man [i.e. what distinguishes man from animals]…A cat has no choice; a bee must make honey…[Man has a choice, and] these sixteen verses [of Genesis, Chapter 4] are a history of humankind in any age or culture or race…”
John Steinbeck concludes the novel East Of Eden with the word “timshol”, “you MAY”.
Here are some sources for further reference:
Some biographical documentaries on John Steinbeck;
John Steinbeck quotes:
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