File talk:Cain leadeth abel to death tissot.jpg

Stereotypes

The article claims that "Cain is depicted as a stereotypical ringleted, bearded Jew, who killed Abel the blonde, European gentile symbolizing Christ. This traditional depiction has continued for centuries in some form, such as James Tissot's 19th century Cain leads Abel to Death."

I would question this claim. The illustrations shown do not support it. In the Tissot example, what we see are two people with familial characteristics. They differ mainly in one being a fully grown man, and the other a youth. The beard does not turn a Gentile into a Jew, but rather a youth into a man.Royalcourtier (talk) 05:39, 29 March 2014 (UTC)

Compare Esau and Jacob. There is an ongoing tradition of depicting the firstborn as a bearded man, and the latter as a youth. It's merely a penchant on the artist's part. That said; Jesus isn't closer to Abel than he is to Cain. Abel is the timeserving brother while Cain is the manual brother. Comparing this to Jesus; he said "eat my flesh", i.e. this world doesn't serve me, so get it over with (aligning him with Cain). On the other part, Jesus answered to his accusers "you will die in your sin", where he clearly acknowledged the life's sacrificial undertone. 86.80.22.172 (talk) 22:21, 6 December 2019 (UTC)