There's more to this concept than initially meets the eye since Abraham's circumcision is the foundation for the conception and birth not just of Isaac, but of the Jewish people too, who, as a corporate entity, are represented by the nation of Israel. Where it's recognized that Abraham's circumcision is a ritual precursor and parallel to the Akedah, i.e., the sacrifice of the original ראשית firstborn בכור, this sacrificial motif undeniably transfers from Isaac, as the ראשית בכור (original firstborn), to the nation of Israel as the ראשית בכור, the original firstborn of nation of God. What's good for the singular "original firstborn" ראשית בכור is good for the nation. The nation of Israel must endure its own corporate Akedah (
Tisha B'Av 70 AD) to fulfill the founding motif of Abraham's circumcision and the sacrifice of Isaac.
For all these reasons the first-born, which is ראשית [origin, original], is more like G'd who is the quintessence of all ראשית. On earth no first-born is a true ראשית [origin, original], since every first-born was sired by a father and born by a mother who both preceded him. It follows that only God can be a true ראשית. . . Having shown that the בכור, first-born, does contain an element of ראשית within himself, at least vis-a-vis those who are born after him, we are to select the בכור to perform the service to G'd which will bring us closer to Him. This service represents a rapprochement between man and G'd, after G'd had withdrawn from man for most of history since Adam was expelled from גן עדן.
Shney Luchot Habrit, vol. 2, p. 452-453.
The Shelah has much more to say on this topic that's germane to this examination. But his statement above segues seamlessly into the narrative of the original ראשית firstborn בכור of the human race.
And Eve said: I have gotten the man of the Lord. From this statement another reason my be gathered why Eve did not call Cain a son [as she did her later offspring], namely, that because of her excessive joy and reverence she was unwilling to call him son but had something greater in mind about him, as though Cain would be the man who would crush the head of the serpent. For this reason she does not simply call him a man, but the "man of the Lord," of whom the Lord God had promised (Gen. 3:15): "Your Seed will crush the head of the serpent."
Luther, Genesis 4:1.
Eve was aware that the "serpent" was one of the intermediate powers of the celestial region whom the Shelah relates to Samael. So the promise of one who will crush the head of this angelic serpent, who happens to be the original bringer of death, relays to Eve the idea that the conquering power from the
seed of the woman will himself be from the celestial regions such that she thinks of this one greater than the serpent as a divine-Christ (a messianic son of God) rather than the firstborn of her and Adam who the scripture presents as Seth.
Although this was a false hope, it nevertheless is clear that Eve was a saintly woman and that she believed the promise concerning the future salvation through the blessed Seed. And because she believes, she is so happy about her son and speaks of him in such grand terms: "I have gotten the man of God who will conduct himself more properly and with greater good fortune than my Adam and I conducted ourselves in Paradise. For this reason I do not call him my son, but he is the man of God who was promised and provided by God.". . Her extreme trust in the promise causes Eve to reach a hasty conclusion, and she believes that her son is the one about whom the Lord had given His promise.
Ibid.
In the literal Hebrew, Eve claims that her first son is the "son of the Lord," or the "Lord himself." The sages in
Midrash Rabbah Bereshis admit as much and claim that for that reason the text mustn't be read literally.
WITH THE HELP OF (ETH) THE LORD. R. Ishmael asked R. Akiba: “Since you have served Nahum of Gimzo for twenty-two years, [and he taught], Every ak and rak is a limitation, while every eth [את] and gam is an extension, tell me what is the purpose of the eth [את] written here [Gen. 4:1]? ‘If it said, “I have gotten a man the Lord,” he replied, “it would have been difficult [to interpret (since Cain became a murderer . . .)]; hence ETH [with the help of] THE LORD is required.”
Midrash Rabbah Bereshis, XXII, 2-4.
Midrash Rabbah Bereshis points out that literally speaking, Eve thinks she's birthed a messianic-Christ from the celestial regions. Sadly, her belief that Cain is Christ turns into the nightmare that in fact he's the precursor of the antichrist such that when the scripture speaks of the time of the offerings that will be brought by Cain and Abel, the literal Hebrew calls it "
the end of days" which is a Hebraism for "
the days of Messiah." Keil and Delitzsch's commentary points out that the literal Hebrew is "the end of days" which is known as a term for the messianic-age, while Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan's,
The Living Torah, translates Genesis 4:3, "
An era ended," and footnotes the literal Hebrew this way:
An era ended. Literally, "It was the end of days." It's significant that this same expression is used to denote the Messianic era, when the present era will end.
John