על הכרובים ט״זOn the Cherubim 16
א׳
1[53] We may note with surprise the form of expression, which, contrary to the usual practice, the lawgiver often employs and in the case of many persons. For when after speaking of the earth-born pair he begins the story of the first-born child of man, though he has said nothing at all of him hitherto, he says simply “she brought forth Cain.” It is as though the name had been often mentioned before, instead of being now for the first time introduced for use in the narrative. We may ask the author “Who or what is this Cain?” What has he told us small or great about him in the past?
ב׳
2[54] Surely he is not ignorant how the names of persons should be given. We see indeed that later on he will show his knowledge plainly in speaking of this same person Eve. “Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived and brought forth a son, and called his name Seth” (Gen. 4:25). Surely it was far more necessary in the case of the firstborn, who was the beginning of human generation through two parents, first to state the male sex of the child, and then to give his personal name, Cain, as it might be.
ג׳
3[55] Since then it was clearly not because he was ignorant how names should be given, that he rejects the usual method in the case of Cain, we must consider why he speaks thus of the children of our first parents and uses the form natural to an incidental mention of the names, rather than that which is usual when names are originally assigned. I conjecture that the reason is as follows.
