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Abel,
moreover, carries an additional symbol that works most strongly against a
pejorative reading of his name. He is, after all, the paradigmatic
shepherd. This is a vivid marker to anyone familiar with the Bible’s
greatest heroes: Abraham, Isaac, Rachel, and Jacob, as well as Moses and
David, are all shepherds. Shepherds are ever mobile, and their presence in
the Bible symbolizes the idea of life as a journey, and spirituality as an
ongoing quest. In fact, in Ecclesiastes and elsewhere, the image of the
shepherd is extended to God, and in the Song of Songs, also attributed to
Solomon, the author reserves the role of shepherd for himself. The idea of
the roving shepherd has ultimately come to represent the Jewish people as
a whole: When, for example, Joseph alludes to the metaphysical divide
between the worldviews of Egypt and Israel, he tells his brothers that
“all shepherds are abhorrent to Egyptians,”25 meaning that
the Egyptians disdained the spiritual freedom and “unattachment” which
shepherds represent, in favor of a Cain-like materialism. The brothers, in
turn, proudly tell Pharaoh, “We your servants are shepherds, as were
also our fathers.”26 Our fathers, that is, all the way back
to Abel. Like the nomadic Abraham, who left behind all that he knew in
Ur
to establish a new nation in
Canaan
, our self-identity as a nation of
shepherds symbolizes our dynamic historic mission. As such, Abel is the
forerunner of this spiritual lineage, and his transient life the
inspiration for all those on a quest for enlightenment. 27
A
better reading of hevel, then, and one that provides us with an
extremely important tool for understanding both Genesis and Ecclesiastes,
takes us back to the root meaning of the word: Vapor or mist.
What is important about the life of Abel is not its futility, but its
transience. It was as fleeting as a puff of air, yet his life’s calling
was nonetheless fulfilled. |
