Strata: The Bible In the News: Answers to Cain’s Question

“Am I my brother’s keeper?” The first person to utter this question, Cain (in Genesis 4:9), more than likely expected, or at least hoped for, an answer in the negative. It is clear, though, that readers of the Bible are intended to respond in the positive: Yes, I am my brother’s (and sister’s) keeper.

In contemporary society, at least as based on reports in major newspapers worldwide, the appropriate response to this eternal query is decidedly more mixed. For example, advice columnists tend to proffer resounding “hands-off” responses. A Canadian asks, “My brother is a lifelong heavy smoker. He’s now 29, married for two years, and the very proud father of a beautiful baby girl ... I’ve nagged and at times pleaded with him to stop [smoking]. Where do my ethical obligations to ‘be my brother’s keeper’ begin and end on this matter?” According to the expert (in the Toronto Star), the inquiring writer “should get off your brother’s case ... Your intentions are noble, but all you’re accomplishing is distancing yourself from him and making him feel guiltier than he already feels ... Your brother, in this case, has to be his own keeper.” Something, I suppose, like “physician, heal thyself.”