The man knew Eve his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Cain, and said, "I have gotten a man with the Lord's help."
KJV
And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
Commentary
Commentary
In this chapter we have both the world and the church in a family,
in a little family, in Adam's family, and a specimen given of the
character and state of both in after-ages, nay, in all ages, to the
end of time. As all mankind were represented in Adam, so that
great distinction of mankind into saints and sinners, godly and
wicked, the children of God and the children of the wicked one,
was here represented in Cain and Abel, and an early instance is
given of the enmity which was lately put between the seed of
the woman and the seed of the serpent. We have here,
I. The
birth, names, and callings, of Cain and Abel, ver. 1, 2 .
II. Their
religion, and different success in it, ver. 3, 4 ,
and part of ver. 5 .
III. Cain's anger at God and the reproof of him for that anger, ver. 5-7 .
IV. Cain's murder of his brother, and the process
against him for that murder. The murder committed, ver. 8 .
The proceedings against him.
1. His arraignment, ver. 9 ,
former part.
2. His plea, ver. 9 ,
latter part.
3. His conviction, ver. 10 .
4. The sentence passed upon him, ver. 11, 12 .
5. His complaint
against the sentence, ver. 13, 14 .
6. The ratification of the sentence, ver. 15 .
7. The execution of the sentence, ver. 15, 16 .
V. The family and posterity of Cain, ver. 17-24 .
VI. The birth of
another son and grandson of Adam, ver. 25, 26 .
1 And Adam knew Eve his wife;
and she conceived, and bare
Cain, and said, I have gotten a man
from the L ORD .
2 And she again
bare his brother Abel. And Abel was
a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a
tiller of the ground.
Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters, ch. v. 4 .
But Cain and Abel seem to
have been the two eldest. Some think they
were twins, and, as Esau and Jacob, the
elder hated and the younger loved. Though
God had cast our first parents out of paradise,
he did not write them childless; but, to show
that he had other blessings in store for them,
he preserved to them the benefit of that first
blessing of increase. Though they were
sinners, nay, though they felt the humiliation
and sorrow of penitents, they did not write
themselves comfortless, having the promise
of a Saviour to support themselves with. We
have here,
I. The names of their two sons.
1. Cain signifies possession; for Eve, when she bore
him, said with joy, and thankfulness, and
great expectation, I have gotten a man from
the L ORD . Observe, Children are God's
gifts, and he must be acknowledged in the
building up of our families. It doubles and
sanctifies our comfort in them when we see
them coming to us from the hand of God,
who will not forsake the works and gifts of
his own hand. Though Eve bore him with
the sorrows that were the consequence of sin,
yet she did not lose the sense of the mercy in
her pains. Comforts, though alloyed, are
more than we deserve; and therefore our
complaints must not drown our thanksgivings.
Many suppose that Eve had a conceit
that this son was the promised seed, and
that therefore she thus triumphed in him, as
her words may be read, I have gotten a man,
the L ORD , God-man. If so, she was wretchedly
mistaken, as Samuel, when he said, Surely the L ORD 's anointed is before me, 1 Sam. xvi. 6 .
When children are born, who
can foresee what they will prove? He that
was thought to be a man, the L ORD , or at
least a man from the L ORD , and for his
service as priest of the family, became an
enemy to the L ORD . The less we expect
from creature s, the more tolerable will disappointments
be.
2. Abel signifies vanity. When she thought she had obtained the promised
seed in Cain, she was so taken up with
that possession that another son was as vanity
to her. To those who have an interest in
Christ, and make him their all, other things
are as nothing at all. It intimates likewise
that the longer we live in this world the more
we may see of the vanity of it. What, at
first, we are fond of, as a possession, afterwards
we see cause to be dead to, as a trifle.
The name given to this son is put upon the
whole race, Ps. xxxix. 5 .
Every man is at
his best estate Abel--vanity. Let us labour
to see both ourselves and others so. Childhood
and youth are vanity.
II. The employments of Cain and Abel.
Observe,
1. They both had a calling.
Though they were heirs apparent to the
world, their birth noble and their possessions
large, yet they were not brought up in
idleness. God gave their father a calling,
even in innocency, and he gave them one.
Note, It is the will of God that we should
every one of us have something to do in this
world. Parents ought to bring up their
children to business. "Give them a Bible
and a calling (said good Mr. Dod), and God
be with them."
2. Their employments were
different, that they might trade and exchange
with one another, as there was occasion.
The members of the body politic have need
one of another, and mutual love is helped by
mutual commerce.
3. Their employments
belonged to the husbandman's calling, their
father's profession--a needful calling, for the
king himself is served of the field, but a
laborious calling, which required constant
care and attendance. It is now looked
upon as a mean calling; the poor of the land serve for vine-dressers and husbandmen, Jer. lii. 16 .
But the calling was far from being a
dishonour to them; rather, they were an honour to it.
4. It should seem, by the order
of the story, that Abel, though the younger
brother, yet entered first into his calling, and
probably his example drew in Cain.
5. Abel
chose that employment which most befriended
contemplation and devotion, for to these a
pastoral life has been looked upon as being
peculiarly favourable. Moses and David kept
sheep, and in their solitudes conversed with
God. Note, That calling or condition of
life is best for us, and to be chosen by us,
which is best for our souls, that which least
exposes us to sin and gives us most opportunity
of serving and enjoying God.
3 And in process of time it came
to pass, that Cain brought of the
fruit of the ground an offering unto
the L ORD .
4 And Abel, he also
brought of the firstlings of his flock
and of the fat thereof. And the
L ORD had respect unto Abel and to
his offering:
5 But unto Cain and
to his offering he had not respect.
And Cain was very wroth, and his
countenance fell.
Here we have,
I. The devotions of Cain
and Abel. In process of time, when they
had made some improvement in their respective
callings (Heb. At the end of days, either at the end of the year, when they kept
their feast of in-gathering or perhaps an
annual fast in remembrance of the fall, or
at the end of the days of the week, the
seventh day, which was the sabbath)--at
some set time, Cain and Abel brought to
Adam, as the priest of the family, each of
them an offering to the Lord, for the doing of
which we have reason to think there was a
divine appointment given to Adam, as a
token of God's favour to him and his thoughts
of love towards him and his, notwithstanding
their apostasy. God would thus try Adam's
faith in the promise and his obedience to the
remedial law; he would thus settle a correspondence
again between heaven and earth,
and give shadows of good things to come. Observe here,
1. That the religious worship
of God is no novel invention, but an ancient
institution. It is that which was from the
beginning ( 1 John i. 1 );
it is the good old
way, Jer. vi. 16 .
The city of our God is indeed
that joyous city whose antiquity is of
ancient days, Isa. xxiii. 7 .
Truth got the
start of error, and piety of profaneness.
2. That is a good thing for children to be
well taught when they are young, and trained
up betimes in religious services, that when
they come to be capable of acting for themselves
they may, of their own accord, bring
an offering to God. In this nurture of the
Lord parents must bring up their children, ch. xviii. 19; Eph. vi. 4 .
3. That we should
every one of us honour God with what we
have, according as he has prospered us. According
as their employments and possessions
were, so they brought their offering.
See 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2 . Our merchandize and
our hire, whatever they are, must be holiness
to the Lord, Isa. xxiii. 18 .
He must have
his dues of it in works of piety and charity,
the support of religion and the relief of the
poor. Thus we must now bring our offering
with an upright heart; and with such sacrifices
God is well pleased. 4. That hypocrites
and evil doers may be found going as far as
the best of God's people in the external services
of religion. Cain brought an offering
with Abel; nay, Cain's offering is mentioned
first, as if he were the more forward of the
two. A hypocrite may possibly hear as many
sermons, say as many prayers, and give as
much alms, as a good Christian, and yet,
for want of sincerity, come short of acceptance
with God. The Pharisee and the
publican went to the temple to pray, Luke xviii. 10 .
II. The different success of their devotions.
That which is to be aimed at in all
acts of religion is God's acceptance: we
speed well if we attain this, but in vain do
we worship if we miss of it, 2 Cor. v. 9 .
Perhaps, to a stander-by, the sacrifices of
Cain and Abel would have seemed both
alike good. Adam accepted them both, but
God, who sees not as man sees, did not. God
had respect to Abel and to his offering, and
showed his acceptance of it, probably by
fire from heaven; but to Cain and his offering
he had not respect. We are sure there
was a good reason for this difference; the
Governor of the world, though an absolute
sovereign, does not act arbitrarily in dispensing
his smiles and frowns.
1. There was a difference in the characters
of the persons offering. Cain was a wicked
man, led a bad life, under the reigning
power of the world and the flesh; and therefore
his sacrifice was an abomination to the
Lord ( Prov. xv. 8 ); a vain oblation, Isa. i. 13 .
God had no respect to Cain himself, and
therefore no respect to his offering, as the
manner of the expression intimates. But
Abel was a righteous man; he is called righteous
Abel ( Matt. xxiii. 35 );
his heart was
upright and his life was pious; he was one
of those whom God's countenance beholds
( Ps. xi. 7 )
and whose prayer is therefore his
delight, Prov. xv. 8 .
God had respect to
him as a holy man, and therefore to his
offering as a holy offering. The tree must
be good, else the fruit cannot be pleasing to
the heart-searching God.
2. There was a difference in the offerings
they brought. It is expressly said
( Heb. xi. 4 ),
Abel's was a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain's: either,
(1.) In the nature of it. Cain's
was only a sacrifice of acknowledgment offered
to the Creator; the meat-offerings of
the fruit of the ground were no more, and,
for aught I know, they might be offered
in innocency. But Abel brought a sacrifice of atonement, the blood whereof was shed in
order to remission, thereby owning himself a
sinner, deprecating God's wrath, and imploring
his favour in a Mediator. Or,
(2.) In the qualities of the offering. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, any thing that came
next to hand, what he had not occasion for
himself or what was not marketable. But
Abel was curious in the choice of his offering:
not the lame, nor the lean, nor the refuse,
but the firstlings of the flock --the best
he had, and the fat thereof --the best of those
best. Hence the Hebrew doctors give it
for a general rule that every thing that is
for the name of the good God must be the
goodliest and best. It is fit that he who is
the first and best should have the first and
best of our time, strength, and service.
3. The great difference was this, that Abel
offered in faith, and Cain did not. There
was a difference in the principle upon which
they went. Abel offered with an eye to
God's will as his rule, and God's glory as his
end, and in dependence upon the promise of a
Redeemer; but Cain did what he did only for
company's sake, or to save his credit, not in
faith, and so it turned into sin to him. Abel
was a penitent believer, like the publican that
went away justified: Cain was unhumbled;
his confidence was within himself; he was like
the Pharisee who glorified himself, but
was not so much as justified before God.
III. Cain's displeasure at the difference
God made between his sacrifice and Abel's.
Cain was very wroth, which presently appeared
in his very looks, for his countenance
fell, which bespeaks not so much his grief
and discontent as his malice and rage. His
sullen churlish countenance, and a down-look,
betrayed his passionate resentments:
he carried ill-nature in his face, and the show
of his countenance witnessed against him. This anger bespeaks,
1. His enmity to God,
and the indignation he had conceived against
him for making such a difference between his
offering and his brother's. He should have
been angry at himself for his own infidelity
and hypocrisy, by which he had forfeited
God's acceptance; and his countenance
should have fallen in repentance and holy
shame, as the publican's, who would not lift
up so much as his eyes to heaven, Luke xviii. 13 .
But, instead of this, he flies out against
God, as if he were partial and unfair in distributing
his smiles and frowns, and as if he
had done him a deal of wrong. Note, It is
a certain sign of an unhumbled heart to
quarrel with those rebukes which we have,
by our own sin, brought upon ourselves. The foolishness of man perverteth his way, and then, to make bad worse, his heart fretteth
against the Lord, Prov. xix. 3 .
2. His
envy of his brother, who had the honour to
be publicly owned. Though his brother
had no thought of having any slur put upon
him, nor did now insult over him to provoke
him, yet he conceived a hatred of him as an
enemy, or, which is equivalent, a rival.
Note,
(1.) It is common for those who have
rendered themselves unworthy of God's favour
by their presumptuous sins to have indignation
against those who are dignified
and distinguished by it. The Pharisees
walked in this way of Cain, when they neither
entered into the kingdom of God themselves nor suffered those that were entering to go in, Luke xi. 52 .
Their eye is evil, because
their master's eye and the eye of their fellow-servants
are good.
(2.) Envy is a sin that
commonly carries with it both its own discovery,
in the paleness of the looks, and its own
punishment, in the rottenness of the bones.
6 And the L ORD said unto Cain,
Why art thou wroth? and why is thy
countenance fallen?
7 If thou doest
well, shalt thou not be accepted? and
if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the
door. And unto thee shall be his desire,
and thou shalt rule over him.
God is here reasoning with Cain, to convince
him of the sin and folly of his anger
and discontent, and to bring him into a good
temper again, that further mischief might be
prevented. It is an instance of God's patience
and condescending goodness that he
would deal thus tenderly with so bad a man,
in so bad an affair. He is not willing that
any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance. Thus the father of the prodigal
argued the case with the elder son
( Luke xv. 28 ,
&c.), and God with those Israelites who
said, The way of the Lord is not equal, Ezek. xviii. 25 .
I. God puts Cain himself upon enquiring
into the cause of his discontent, and considering
whether it were indeed a just cause: Why is thy countenance fallen? Observe,
1. That God takes notice of all our sinful passions
and discontents. There is not an angry
look, an envious look, nor a fretful look, that
escapes his observing eye.
2. That most of
our sinful heats and disquietudes would soon
vanish before a strict and impartial enquiry
into the cause of them. " Why am I wroth? Is there a re al cause, a just cause, a proportionable
cause for it? Why am I so soon
angry? Why so very angry, and so implacable?"
II. To reduce Cain to his right mind
again, it is here made evident to him,
1. That he had no reason to be angry at
God, for that he had proceeded according to
the settled and invariable rules of government
suited to a state of probation. He sets
before men life and death, the blessing and
the curse, and then renders to them according
to their works, and differences them according
as they difference themselves--so shall
their doom be. The rules are just, and
therefore his ways, according to those rules,
must needs be equal, and he will be justified
when he speaks.
(1.) God sets before Cain life and a blessing:
" If thou doest well, shalt thou not be
accepted? No doubt thou shalt, nay, thou
knowest thou shalt;" either,
[1.] "If thou
hadst done well, as thy brother did, thou
shouldst have been accepted, as he was." God is no respecter of persons, hates nothing
that he had made, denies his favour to none
but those who have forfeited it, and is an
enemy to none but those who by sin have
made him their enemy: so that if we come
short of acceptance with him we must thank
ourselves, the fault is wholly our own; if we
had done our duty, we should not have
missed of his mercy. This will justify God
in the destruction of sinners, and will aggravate
their ruin; there is not a damned sinner
in hell, but, if he had done well, as he might
have done, had been a glorious saint in
heaven. Every mouth will shortly be stopped
with this. Or,
[2.] "If now thou do well,
if thou repent of thy sin, reform thy heart
and life, and bring thy sacrifice in a better
manner, if thou not only do that which is
good but do it well, thou shalt yet be accepted,
thy sin shall be pardoned, thy comfort and
honour restored, and all shall be well." See
here the effect of a Mediator's interposal between
God and man; we do not stand upon
the footing of the first covenant, which left
no room for repentance, but God had come
upon new terms with us. Though we have
offended, if we repent and return, we shall
find mercy. See how early the gospel was
preached, and the benefit of it here offered
even to one of the chief of sinners.
(2.) He sets before him death and a curse:
But if not well, that is, "Seeing thou didst
not do well, didst not offer in faith and in a
right manner, sin lies at the door, " that is,
"sin was imputed to thee, and thou wast
frowned upon and rejected as a sinner. So
high a charge had not been laid at thy door,
if thou hadst not brought it upon thyself,
by not doing well." Or, as it is commonly
taken, "If now thou wilt not do well, if thou
persist in this wrath, and, instead of humbling
thyself before God, harden thyself against
him, sin lies at the door, " that is,
[1.] Further
sin. "Now that anger is in thy heart,
murder is at the door." The way of sin is
down-hill, and men go from bad to worse.
Those who do not sacrifice well, but are careless
and remiss in their devotion to God,
expose themselves to the worst temptations;
and perhaps the most scandalous sin lies at
the door. Those who do not keep God's ordinances
are in danger of committing all
abominations, Lev. xviii. 30 .
Or,
[2.] The
punishment of sin. So near akin are sin and
punishment that the same word in Hebrew
signifies both. If sin be harboured in the
house, the curse waits at the door, like a
bailiff, ready to arrest the sinner whenever he
looks out. It lies as if it slept, but it lies at
the door where it will be soon awaked, and
then it will appear that the damnation slumbered
not. Sin will find thee out, Num. xxxii. 23 .
Yet some choose to understand this also
as an intimation of mercy. "If thou doest
not well, sin (that is, the sin-offering ), lies at
the door, and thou mayest take the benefit
of it." The same word signifies sin and a
sacrifice for sin. "Though thou hast not
done well, yet do not despair; the remedy is
at hand; the propitiation is not far to seek;
lay hold on it, and the iniquity of thy holy
things shall be forgiven thee." Christ, the
great sin-offering, is said to stand at the door, Rev. iii. 20 .
And those well deserve to
perish in their sins that will not go to the
door for an interest in the sin-offering. All
this considered, Cain had no reason to be
angry at God, but at himself only.
2. That he had no reason to be angry at
his brother: " Unto thee shall be his desire, he shall continue his respect to thee as an
elder brother, and thou, as the first-born,
shalt rule over him as much as ever." God's
acceptance of Abel's offering did not transfer
the birth-right to him (which Cain was jealous
of), nor put upon him that excellency of
dignity and of power which is said to belong
to it, ch. xlix. 3 .
God did not so intend it;
Abel did not so interpret it; there was no
danger of its being improved to Cain's
prejudice; why then should he be so much
exasperated? Observe here,
(1.) That the
difference which God's grace makes does not
alter the distinctions which God's providence
makes, but preserves them, and obliges us
to do the duty which results from them: believing
servants must be obedient to unbelieving
masters. Dominion is not founded
in grace, nor will religion warrant disloyalty
or disrespect in any relation.
(2.) That the
jealousies which civil powers have sometimes
conceived of the true worshippers of God as
dangerous to their government, enemies to
Cæsar, and hurtful to kings and provinces (on
which suspicion persecutors have grounded
their rage against them) are very unjust and
unreasonable. Whatever may be the case
with some who call themselves Christians, it
is certain that Christians indeed are the best
subjects, and the quiet in the land; their
desire is towards their governors, and these
shall rule over them.
8 And Cain talked with Abel his
brother: and it came to pass, when
they were in the field, that Cain rose
up against Abel his brother, and slew
him.
We have here the progress of Cain's anger,
and the issue of it in Abel's murder, which
may be considered two ways:--
I. As Cain's sin; and a scarlet, crimson,
sin it was, a sin of the first magnitude, a sin
against the light and law of nature, and
which the consciences even of bad men have
startled at. See in it,
1. The sad effects of
sin's entrance into the world and into the hearts of men. See what a root of bitterness
the corrupt nature is, which bears this gall
and wormwood. Adam's eating forbidden
fruit seemed but a little sin, but it opened
the door to the greatest.
2. A fruit of the
enmity which is in the seed of the serpent
against the seed of the woman. As Abel
leads the van in the noble army of martyrs ( Matt. xxiii. 35 ),
so Cain stand in the front
of the ignoble army of persecutors, Jude 11 .
So early did he that was after the flesh persecute
him that was after the Spirit; and so
it is now, more or less
( Gal. iv. 29 ),
and so it
will be till the war shall end in the eternal
salvation of all the saints and the eternal
perdition of all that hate them.
3. See also
what comes of envy, hatred, malice, and all
uncharitableness; if they be indulged and
cherished in the soul, they are in danger of
involving men in the horrid guilt of murder
itself. Rash anger is heart-murder, Matt. v. 21, 22 .
Much more is malice so; he that
hates his brother is already a murderer before
God; and, if God leave him to himself, he
wants nothing but an opportunity to render
him a murderer before the world. Many
were the aggravations of Cain's sin.
(1.) It
was his brother, his own brother, that he
murdered, his own mother's son
( Ps. l. 20 ),
whom he ought to have loved, his younger
brother, whom he ought to have protected.
(2.) He was a good brother, one who had
never done him any wrong, nor given him the
least provocation in word or deed, but one
whose desire had been always towards him,
and who had been, in all instances, dutiful
and respectful to him.
(3.) He had fair
warning given him, before, of this. God
himself had told him what would come of it,
yet he persisted in his barbarous design.
(4.) It should seem that he covered it with a
show of friendship and kindness: He talked
with Abel his brother, freely and familiarly,
lest Abel should suspect danger, and keep
out of his reach. Thus Joab kissed Abner,
and then killed him. Thus Absalom feasted
his brother Amnon and then killed him.
According to the Septuagint [a Greek version
of the Old Testament, supposed to have
been translated by seventy-two Jews, at the
desire of Ptolemy Philadelphus, above 200
years before Christ], Cain said to Abel, Let
us go into the field; if so, we are sure Abel
did not understand it (according to the modern
sense) as a challenge, else he would not
have accepted it, but as a brotherly invitation
to go together to their work. The Chaldee
paraphrast adds that Cain, when they were
in discourse in the field, maintained that
there was no judgment to come, no future
state, no rewards and punishments in the
other world, and that when Abel spoke in
defence of the truth Cain took that occasion
to fall upon him. However,
(5.) That which
the scripture tells us was the reason why
he slew him was a sufficient aggravation of
the murder; it was because his own works
were evil and his brother's righteous, so that
herein he showed himself to be of that wicked
one ( 1 John iii. 12 ),
a child of the devil, as
being an enemy to all righteousness, even in
his own brother, and, in this, employed
immediately by the destroyer. Nay,
(6.) In
killing his brother, he directly struck at God
himself; for God's accepting Abel was the
provocation pretended, and for this very
reason he hated Abel, because God loved
him.
(7.) The murder of Abel was the more
inhuman because there were now so few men
in the world to replenish it. The life of a
man is precious at any time; but it was in a
special manner precious now, and could ill
be spared.
II. As Abel's suffering. Death reigned
ever since Adam sinned, but we read not of
any taken captive by him till now; and now,
1. The first that dies is a saint, one that was
accepted and beloved of God, to show that,
though the promised seed was so far to destroy
him that had the power of death as to
save believers from its sting, yet still they
should be exposed to its stroke. The first that
went to the grave went to heaven. God
would secure to himself the first-fruits, the
first-born to the dead, that first opened the
womb into another world. Let this take off
the terror of death, that it was betimes the
lot of God's chosen, which alters the property
of it. Nay,
2. The first that dies is a
martyr, and dies for his religion; and of such
it may more truly be said than of soldiers
that they die on the bed of honour. Abel's
death has not only no curse in it, but it has
a crown in it; so admirably well is the property
of death altered that it is not only rendered
innocent and inoffensive to those that
die in Christ, but honourable and glorious to
those that die for him. Let us not think it
strange concerning the fiery trial, nor shrink
if we be called to resist unto blood; for we
know there is a crown of life for all that are
faithful unto death.
9 And the L ORD said unto Cain,
Where is Abel thy brother? And he
said, I know not: Am I my brother's
keeper?
10 And he said, What hast thou
done? the voice of thy brother's blood
crieth unto me from the ground.
11 And now art thou cursed from the
earth, which hath opened her mouth
to receive thy brother's blood from
thy hand;
12 When thou tillest the
ground, it shall not henceforth yield
unto thee her strength; a fugitive and
a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
We have here a full account of the trial
and condemnation of the first murderer. Civil
courts of judicature not being yet erected for
this purpose, as they were afterwards
( ch. ix. 6 ),
God himself sits Judge; for he is the
God to whom vengeance belongs, and who will be sure to make inquisition for blood,
especially the blood of saints. Observe,
I. The arraignment of Cain: The Lord
said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? Some think Cain was thus examined the next
sabbath after the murder was committed,
when the sons of God came, as usual, to present
themselves before the Lord, in a religious
assembly, and Abel was missing, whose place
did not use to be empty; for the God of
heaven takes notice who is present at and
who is absent from public ordinances. Cain
is asked, not only because there is just cause
to suspect him, he having discovered a malice
against Abel and having been last with him,
but because God knew him to be guilty; yet
he asks him, that he may draw from him a
confession of his crime, for those who would
be justified before God must accuse themselves,
and the penitent will do so.
II. Cain's plea: he pleads not guilty, and
adds rebellion to his sin. For,
1. He endeavours
to cover a deliberate murder with a
deliberate lie: I know not. He knew well
enough what had become of Abel, and yet
had the impudence to deny it. Thus, in
Cain, the devil was both a murderer and a
liar from the beginning. See how sinners'
minds are blinded, and their hearts hardened
by the deceitfulness of sin: those are strangely
blind that think it possible to conceal their
sins from a God that sees all, and those are
strangely hard that think it desirable to conceal
them from a God who pardons those
only that confess.
2. He impudently charges
his Judge with folly and injustice, in putting
this question to him: Am I my brother's
keeper? He should have humbled himself,
and have said, Am not I my brother's murderer? But he flies in the face of God himself,
as if he had asked him an impertinent
question, to which he was no way obliged
to give an answer: " Am I my brother's
keeper? Surely he is old enough to take care
of himself, nor did I ever take any charge of
him." Some think he reflects on God and
his providence, as if he had said, "Art not
thou his keeper? If he be missing, on thee
be the blame, and not on me, who never
undertook to keep him." Note, A charitable
concern for our brethren, as their keepers,
is a great duty, which is strictly required of
us, but is generally neglected by us. Those
who are unconcerned in the affairs of their
brethren, and take no care, when they have
opportunity, to prevent their hurt in their
bodies, goods, or good name, especially in
their souls, do, in effect, speak Cain's language.
See Lev. xix. 17; Phil. ii. 4 .
III. The conviction of Cain, v. 10 .
God gave no direct answer to his question, but
rejected his plea as false and frivolous:
" What hast thou done? Thou makest a light
matter of it; but hast thou considered what
an evil thing it is, how deep the stain, how
heavy the burden, of this guilt is? Thou
thinkest to conceal it, but it is to no purpose,
the evidence against thee is clear and
incontestable: The voice of thy brother's blood
cries. " He speaks as if the blood itself were
both witness and prosecutor, because God's
own knowledge testified against him and
God's own justice demanded satisfaction.
Observe here,
1. Murder is a crying sin,
none more so. Blood calls for blood, the
blood of the murdered for the blood of the
murderer; it cries in the dying words of
Zechariah
( 2 Chron. xxiv. 22 ), The Lord look
upon it and require it; or in those of the
souls under the altar
( Rev. vi. 10 ), How long,
Lord, holy, and true? The patient sufferers
cried for pardon ( Father, forgive them ), but
their blood cries for vengeance. Though
they hold their peace, their blood has a loud
and constant cry, to which the ear of the
righteous God is always open.
2. The blood
is said to cry from the ground, the earth,
which is said to open her mouth to receive his
brother's blood from his hand, v. 11 .
The earth did, as it were, blush to see her own
face stained with such blood, and therefore
opened her mouth to hide that which she
could not hinder. When the heaven revealed
Cain's iniquity, the earth also rose up against
him
( Job xx. 27 ),
and groaned on being thus
made subject to vanity, Rom. viii. 20, 22 .
Cain, it is likely, buried the blood and the
body, to conceal his crime; but "murder
will out." He did not bury them so deep
but the cry of them reached heaven.
3. In
the original the word is plural, thy brother's bloods, not only his blood, but the blood of
all those that might have descended from
him; or the blood of all the seed of the
woman, who should, in like manner, seal the
truth with their blood. Christ puts all on one
score
( Matt. xxiii. 35 );
or because account
was kept of every drop of blood shed. How
well is it for us that the blood of Christ
speaks better things than that of Abel! Heb. xii. 24 .
Abel's blood cried for vengeance,
Christ's blood cries for pardon.
IV. The sentence passed upon Cain: And
now art thou cursed from the earth, v. 11 .
Observe here,
1. He is cursed, separated to all evil, laid
under the wrath of God, as it is revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men, Rom. i. 18 .
Who knows
the extent and weight of a divine curse, how
far it reaches, how deep it pierces? God's
pronouncing a man cursed makes him so;
for those whom he curses are cursed indeed.
The curse for Adam's disobedience terminated
on the ground: Cursed is the ground for thy
sake; but that for Cain's rebellion fell immediately
upon himself: Thou art cursed; for God had mercy in store for Adam, but
none for Cain. We have all deserved this
curse, and it is only in Christ that believers
are saved from it and inherit the blessing, Gal. iii. 10, 13 .
2. He is cursed from the earth. Thence
the cry came up to God, thence the curse came up to Cain. God could have taken
vengeance by an immediate stroke from
heaven, by the sword of an angel, or by a
thunderbolt; but he chose to make the earth
the avenger of blood, to continue him upon
the earth, and not immediately to cut him
off, and yet to make even this his curse. The
earth is always near us, we cannot fly from
it; so that, if this is made the executioner of
divine wrath, our punishment is unavoidable:
it is sin, that is, the punishment of sin, lying
at the door. Cain found his punishment
where he chose his portion and set his heart.
Two things we expect from the earth, and
by this curse both are denied to Cain and
taken from him: sustenance and settlement. (1.) Sustenance out of the earth is here withheld
from him. It is a curse upon him in his
enjoyments, and particularly in his calling: When thou tillest the ground, it shall not
henceforth yield unto thee its strength. Note,
Every creature is to us what God makes it,
a comfort or a cross, a blessing or a curse.
If the earth yield not her strength to us, we
must therein acknowledge God's righteousness;
for we have not yielded our strength
to him. The ground was cursed before to
Adam, but it was now doubly cursed to Cain.
That part of it which fell to his share, and of
which he had the occupation, was made unfruitful
and uncomfortable to him by the
blood of Abel. Note, The wickedness of the
wicked brings a curse upon all they do and
all they have
( Deut. xxviii. 15 ,
&c.), and this
curse embitters all they have and disappoints
them in all they do.
(2.) Settlement on the
earth is here denied him: A fugitive and a
vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. By this
he was condemned,
[1.] To perpetual disgrace
and reproach among men. It should
be ever looked upon as a scandalous thing to
harbour him, converse with him, or show him
any countenance. And justly was a man
that had divested himself of all humanity
abhorred and abandoned by all mankind,
and made infamous.
[2.] To perpetual disquietude
and horror in his own mind. His
own guilty conscience should haunt him
wherever he went, and make him Magormissabib, a terror round about. What rest
can those find, what settlement, that carry
their own disturbance with them in their
bosoms wherever they go? Those must needs
be fugitives that are thus tossed. There is
not a more restless fugitive upon earth than
he that is continually pursued by his own
guilt, nor a viler vagabond than he that is at
the beck of his own lusts.
This was the sentence passed upon Cain;
and even in this there was mercy mixed, inasmuch
as he was not immediately cut off,
but had space given him to repent; for God
is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that
any should perish.
13 And Cain said unto the L ORD ,
My punishment is greater than I can
bear.
14 Behold, thou hast driven
me out this day from the face of the
earth; and from thy face shall I be
hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a
vagabond in the earth; and it shall
come to pass, that every one that
findeth me shall slay me.
15 And
the L ORD said unto him, Therefore
whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance
shall be taken on him sevenfold.
And the L ORD set a mark upon Cain,
lest any finding him should kill him.
We have here a further account of the proceedings
against Cain.
I. Here is Cain's complaint of the sentence
passed upon him, as hard and severe.
Some make him to speak the language of
despair, and read it, My iniquity is greater
than that it may be forgiven; and so what he
says is a reproach and affront to the mercy of
God, which those only shall have the benefit
of that hope in it. There is forgiveness with
the God of pardons for the greatest sins and
sinners; but those forfeit it who despair of
it. Just now Cain made nothing of his sin,
but now he is in the other extreme: Satan
drives his vassals from presumption to despair.
We cannot think too ill of sin, provided
we do not think it unpardonable. But
Cain seems rather to speak the language of
indignation: My punishment is greater than
I can bear; and so what he says is a reproach
and affront to the justice of God, and a complaint,
not of the greatness of his sin, but of
the extremity of his punishment, as if this
were disproportionable to his merits. Instead
of justifying God in the sentence, he
condemns him, not accepting the punishment
of his iniquity, but quarrelling with it.
Note, Impenitent unhumbled hearts are therefore
not reclaimed by God's rebukes because
they think themselves wronged by them; and
it is an evidence of great hardness to be more
concerned about our sufferings than about
our sins. Pharaoh's care was concerning this
death only, not this sin
( Exod. x. 17 );
so was
Cain's here. He is a living man, and yet
complains of the punishment of his sin, Lam. iii. 39 .
He thinks himself rigorously dealt
with when really he is favourably treated;
and he cries out of wrong when he has more
reason to wonder that he is out of hell. Woe
unto him that thus strives with his Maker,
and enters into judgment with his Judge.
Now, to justify this complaint, Cain descants
upon the sentence.
1. He sees himself excluded
by it from the favour of his God,
and concludes that, being cursed, he is hidden
from God's face, which is indeed the
true nature of God's curse; damned sinners
find it so, to whom it is said, Depart from me
you cursed. Those are cursed indeed that
are forever shut out from God's love and
care and from all hopes of his grace.
2. He sees himself expelled from all the comforts of
this life, and concludes that, being a fugitive,
he is, in effect, driven out this day from the
face of the earth. As good have no place on
earth as not have a settled place. Better rest
in the grave than not rest at all.
3. He sees
himself excommunicated by it, and cut off
from the church, and forbidden to attend on
public ordinances. His hands being full of
blood, he must bring no more vain oblations, Isa. i. 13, 15 .
Perhaps this he means when
he complains that he is driven out from the
face of the earth; for being shut out of the
church, which none had yet deserted, he was hidden from God's face, being not admitted to
come with the sons of God to present himself
before the Lord. 4. He seen himself exposed
by it to the hatred and ill-will of all mankind: It shall come to pass that every one that
finds me shall slay me. Wherever he wanders,
he goes in peril of his life, at least he
thinks so; and, like a man in debt, thinks
every one he meets a bailiff. There were
none alive but his near relations; yet even of
them he is justly afraid who had himself been
so barbarous to his brother. Some read it, Whatsoever finds me shall slay me; not only,
"Whosoever among men," but, "Whatsoever
among all the creatures." Seeing himself
thrown out of God's protection, he sees
the whole creation armed against him. Note,
Unpardoned guilt fills men with continual
terrors, Prov. xxviii. 1; Job xv. 20, 21; Ps. liii. 5 .
It is better to fear and not sin than to
sin and then fear. Dr. Lightfoot thinks this
word of Cain should be read as a wish: Now,
therefore, let it be that any that find me may
kill me. Being bitter in soul, he longs for
death, but it comes not ( Job iii. 20-22 ),
as those under spiritual torments do, Rev. ix. 5, 6 .
II. Here is God's confirmation of the sentence;
for when he judges he will overcome, v. 15 .
Observe,
1. How Cain is protected
in wrath by this declaration, notified, we may
suppose, to all that little world which was
then in being: Whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance
shall be taken on him seven-fold, because
thereby the sentence he was under
(that he should be a fugitive and a vagabond)
would be defeated. Condemned prisoners
are under the special protection of the law;
those that are appointed sacrifices to public
justice must not be sacrificed to private revenge.
God having said in Cain's case, Vengeance
is mine, I will repay, it would have
been a daring usurpation for any man to
take the sword out of God's hand, a contempt
put upon an express declaration of
God's mind, and therefore avenged seven-fold.
Note, God has wise and holy ends in
protecting and prolonging the lives even of
very wicked men. God deals with some according
to that prayer, Slay them not, lest my
people forget; scatter them by thy power, Ps. lix. 11 .
Had Cain been slain immediately,
he would have been forgotten
( Eccl. viii. 10 );
but now he lives a more fearful and lasting
monument of God's justice, hanged in chains,
as it were.
2. How he is marked in wrath: The Lord set a mark upon Cain, to distinguish
him from the rest of mankind and to notify
that he was the man that murdered his brother,
whom nobody must hurt, but every
body must hoot at. God stigmatized him
(as some malefactors are burnt in the cheek),
and put upon him such a visible and indelible
mark of infamy and disgrace as would make
all wise people shun him, so that he could
not be otherwise than a fugitive and a vagabond,
and the off-scouring of all things.
16 And Cain went out from the
presence of the L ORD , and dwelt in
the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.
17 And Cain knew his wife; and she
conceived, and bare Enoch: and he
builded a city, and called the name of
the city, after the name of his son,
Enoch.
18 And unto Enoch was
born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael:
and Mehujael begat Methusael: and
Methusael begat Lamech.
We have here a further account of Cain,
and what became of him after he was rejected
of God.
I. He tamely submitted to that part of his
sentence by which he was hidden from God's
face; for
( v. 16 ) he went out from the presence
of the Lord, that is, he willingly renounced
God and religion, and was content to forego
its privileges, so that he might not be under
its precepts. He forsook Adam's family and
altar, and cast off all pretensions to the fear
of God, and never came among good people,
nor attended on God's ordinances, any more.
Note, Hypocritical professors, that have dissembled
and trifled with God Almighty, are
justly left to themselves, to do something
that is grossly scandalous, and so to throw off
that form of godliness to which they have
been a reproach, and under colour of which
they have denied the power of it. Cain went
out now from the presence of the Lord, and
we never find that he came into it again, to
his comfort. Hell is destruction from the
presence of the Lord, 2 Thess. i. 9 .
It is a
perpetual banishment from the fountain of all
good. This is the choice of sinners; and so
shall their doom be, to their eternal confusion.
II. He endeavoured to confront that part
of the sentence by which he was made a fugitive
and a vagabond; for,
1. He chose his land. He went and dwelt
on the east of Eden, somewhere distant from
the place where Adam and his religious
family resided, distinguishing himself and
his accursed generation from the holy seed,
his camp from the camp of the saints and the
beloved city, Rev. xx. 9 .
On the east of Eden,
the cherubim were, with the flaming sword, ch. iii. 24 .
There he chose his lot, as if to
defy the terrors of the Lord. But his attempt to settle was in vain; for the land he
dwelt in was to him the land of Nod (that is,
of shaking or trembling ), because of the continual
restlessness and uneasiness of his own
spirit. Note, Those that depart from God
cannot find rest any where else. After Cain
went out from the presence of the Lord, he
never rested. Those that shut themselves
out of heaven abandon themselves to a perpetual
trembling. " Return therefore to thy
rest, O my soul, to thy rest in God; else thou
art for ever restless."
2. He built a city for a habitation, v. 17 . He was building a city, so some read it, ever
building it, but, a curse being upon him and
the work of his hands, he could not finish it.
Or, as we read it, he built a city, in token of
a fixed separation from the church of God, to
which he had no thoughts of ever returning.
This city was to be the head-quarters of the
apostasy. Observe here,
(1.) Cain's defiance
of the divine sentence. God said he should
be a fugitive and a vagabond. Had he repented
and humbled himself, this curse might
have been turned into a blessing, as that of
the tribe of Levi was, that they should be divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel; but
his impenitent unhumbled heart walking contrary
to God, and resolving to fix in spite of
heaven, that which might have been a blessing
was turned into a curse.
(2.) See what
was Cain's choice, after he had forsaken God;
he pitched upon a settlement in this world,
as his rest for ever. Those who looked for
the heavenly city chose, while on earth, to
dwell in tabernacles; but Cain, as one that
minded not that city, built himself one on
earth. Those that are cursed of God are
apt to seek their settlement and satisfaction
here below, Ps. xvii. 14 .
(3.) See what method
Cain took to defend himself against
the terrors with which he was perpetually
haunted. He undertook this building, to
divert his thoughts from the consideration of
his own misery, and to drown the clamours
of a guilty conscience with the noise of axes
and hammers. Thus many baffle their convictions
by thrusting themselves into a hurry
of worldly business.
(4.) See how wicked
people often get the start of God's people,
and out-go them in outward prosperity. Cain
and his cursed race dwell in a city, while
Adam and his blessed family dwell in tents.
We cannot judge of love or hatred by all that
is before us, Eccl. ix. 1, 2 .
3. His family also was built up. Here is
an account of his posterity, at least the heirs
of his family, for seven generations. His
son was Enoch, of the same name, but not
of the same character, with that holy man
that walked with God, ch. v. 22 .
Good men
and bad may bear the same names: but God
can distinguish between Judas Iscariot and
Judas not Iscariot, John xiv. 22 .
The names
of more of his posterity are mentioned, and
but just mentioned; not as those of the holy
seed
( ch. v. ),
where we have three verses concerning
each, whereas here we have three or
four in one verse. They are numbered in
haste, as not valued or delighted in, in comparison
with God's chosen.
19 And Lamech took unto him
two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other
Zillah.
20 And Adah bare Jabal:
he was the father of such as dwell
in tents, and of such as have cattle.
21 And his brother's name was Jubal:
he was the father of all such as handle
the harp and organ.
22 And Zillah,
she also bare Tubal-cain, an instructor
of every artificer in brass and
iron: and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.
We have here some particulars concerning
Lamech, the seventh from Adam in the
line of Cain. Observe,
I. His marrying two wives. It was one of
the degenerate race of Cain who first transgressed
that original law of marriage that
two only should be one flesh. Hitherto one
man had but one wife at a time; but Lamech
took two. From the beginning it was not so. Mal. ii. 15; Matt. xix. 5 .
See here,
1. Those who desert God's church and ordinances
lay themselves open to all manner of
temptation.
2. When a bad custom is begun
by bad men sometimes men of better characters
are, through unwariness, drawn in to
follow them. Jacob, David, and many
others, who were otherwise good men, were
afterwards ensnared in this sin which Lamech
begun.
II. His happiness in his children, notwithstanding
this. Though he sinned, in marrying
two wives, yet he was blessed with
children by both, and those such as lived to
be famous in their generation, not for their
piety, no mention is made of this (for aught
that appears they were the heathen of that
age), but for their ingenuity. They were not
only themselves men of business, but men
that were serviceable to the world, and eminent
for the invention, or at least the improvement,
of some useful arts.
1. Jabal was a
famous shepherd; he delighted much in
keeping cattle himself, and was so happy in
devising methods of doing it to the best advantage,
and instructing others in them, that
the shepherds of those times, nay, the shepherds
of after-times, called him father; or
perhaps, his children after him being brought
up to the same employment, the family was a
family of shepherds.
2. Jubal was a famous
musician, and particularly an organist, and
the first that gave rules for the noble art or
science of music. When Jabal had set them
in a way to be rich, Jubal put them in a way
to be merry. Those that spend their days in
wealth will not be without the timbrel and
harp, Job xxi. 12, 13 .
From his name, Jubal, probably the jubilee-trumpet was so called;
for the best music was that which proclaimed
liberty and redemption. Jabal was their Pan
and Jubal their Apollo.
3. Tubal Cain was
a famous smith, who greatly improved the
art of working in brass and iron, for the service
both of war and husbandry. He was
their Vulcan. See here,
(1.) That worldly
things are the only things that carnal wicked
people set their hearts upon and are most ingenious
and industrious about. So it was
with this impious race of cursed Cain. Here
were a father of shepherds and a father of
musicians, but not a father of the faithful.
Here was one to teach in brass and iron, but
none to teach the good knowledge of the
Lord. Here were devices how to be rich,
and how to be mighty, and how to be merry,
but nothing of God, nor of his fear and service,
among them. Present things fill the
heads of most people.
(2.) That even those
who are destitute of the knowledge and grace
of God may be endued with many excellent
and useful accomplishments, which may make
them famous and serviceable in their generation.
Common gifts are given to bad men,
while God chooses to himself the foolish
things of the world.
23 And Lamech said unto his wives,
Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye
wives of Lamech, hearken unto my
speech: for I have slain a man to my
wounding, and a young man to my
hurt.
24 If Cain shall be avenged
sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and
sevenfold.
By this speech of Lamech, which is here
recorded, and probably was much talked of
in those times, he further appears to have
been a wicked man, as Cain's accursed race
generally were. Observe,
1. How haughtily
and imperiously he speaks to his wives, as
one that expected a mighty regard and observance: Hear my voice, you wives of Lamech. No marvel that he who had broken one law
of marriage, by taking two wives, broke another,
which obliged him to be kind and
tender to those he had taken, and to give
honour to the wife as to the weaker vessel.
Those are not always the most careful to do
their own duty that are highest in their demands
of respect from others, and most frequent
in calling upon their relations to know
their place and do their duty.
2. How
bloody and barbarous he was to all about
him: I have slain, or (as it is in the margin) I would slay a man in my wound, and a young
man in my hurt. He owns himself a man of
a fierce and cruel disposition, that would lay
about him without mercy, and kill all that
stood in his way; be it a man, or a young
man, nay, though he himself were in danger
to be wounded and hurt in the conflict.
Some think, because
( v. 24 )
he compares himself
with Cain, that he had murdered some
of the holy seed, the true worshippers of
God, and that he acknowledged this to be the
wounding of his conscience and the hurt of
his soul; and yet that, like Cain, he continued
impenitent, trembling and yet unhumbled.
Or his wives, knowing what
manner of spirit he was of, how apt both to
give and to resent provocation, were afraid
lest somebody or other would be the death
of him. "Never fear," says he, "I defy any
man to set upon me; whosoever does, let me
alone to make my part good with him; I will
slay him, be he a man or a young man."
Note, It is a common thing for fierce and
bloody men to glory in their shame ( Phil. iii. 19 ),
as if it were both their safety and their
honour that they care not how many lives
are sacrificed to their angry resentments, nor
how much they are hated, provided they
may be feared. Oderint, dum metuant--Let
them hate, provided they fear. 3. How impiously
he presumes even upon God's protection
in his wicked way, v. 24 .
He had
heard that Cain should be avenged seven-fold ( v. 15 ),
that is, that if any man should dare
to kill Cain he should be severely reckoned
with and punished for so doing, though Cain
deserved to die a thousand deaths for the
murder of his brother, and hence he infers
that if any one should kill him for the
murders he had committed God would much
more avenge his death. As if the special
care God took to prolong and secure the life
of Cain, for special reasons peculiar to his
case (and indeed for his sorer punishment, as
the beings of the damned are continued) were
designed as a protection to all murderers.
Thus Lamech perversely argues, "If God
provided for the safety of Cain, much more
for mine, who, though I have slain many, yet
never slew my own brother, and upon no
provocation, as he did." Note, The reprieve
of some sinners, and the patience God exercises
towards them, are often abused to the
hardening of others in the like sinful ways, Eccl. viii. 11 .
But, though justice strike
some slowly, others cannot therefore be sure
but that they may be taken away with a swift
destruction. Or, if God should bear long
with those who thus presume upon his forbearance,
they do but hereby treasure up unto
themselves wrath against the day of wrath.
Now this is all we have upon record in
scripture concerning the family and posterity
of cursed Cain, till we find them all cut off
and perishing in the universal deluge.
25 And Adam knew his wife again;
and she bare a son, and called his
name Seth: For God, said she, hath
appointed me another seed instead of Abel,
whom Cain slew.
26 And to
Seth, to him also there was born a
son; and he called his name Enos:
then began men to call upon the
name of the L ORD .
This is the first mention of Adam in the
story of this chapter. No question, the murder
of Abel, and the impenitence and apostasy
of Cain, were a very great grief to him
and Eve, and the more because their own
wickedness did now correct them and their
backslidings did reprove them. Their folly
had given sin and death entrance into the
world; and now they smarted by it, being,
by means thereof, deprived of both their sons
in one day, ch. xxvii. 45 .
When parents are
grieved by their children's wickedness they
should take occasion thence to lament that
corruption of nature which was derived from
them, and which is the root of bitterness.
But here we have that which was a relief to
our first parents in their affliction.
I. God gave them to see the re-building of
their family, which was sorely shaken and
weakened by that sad event. For,
1. They
saw their seed, another seed instead of Abel, v. 25 .
Observe God's kindness and tenderness
towards his people, in his providential
dealings with them; when he takes away one
comfort from them, he gives them another
instead of it, which may prove a greater
blessing to them than that was in which they
thought their lives were bound up. This
other seed was he in whom the church was to
be built up and perpetuated, and he comes
instead of Abel, for the succession of confessors
is the revival of the martyrs and as it
were the resurrection of God's slain witnesses.
Thus we are baptized for the dead ( 1 Cor. xv. 29 ),
that is, we are, by baptism,
admitted into the church, for or instead of
those who by death, especially by martyrdom,
are removed out of it; and we fill up their
room. Those who slay God's servants hope
by this means to wear out the saints of the
Most High; but they will be deceived.
Christ shall still see his seed; God can out
of stones raise up children for him, and make
the blood of the martyrs the seed of the
church, whose lands, we are sure, shall never
be lost for want of heirs. This son, by a
prophetic spirit, they called Seth (that is, set,
settled, or placed ), because, in his seed, mankind
should continue to the end of time, and
from him the Messiah should descend. While
Cain, the head of the apostasy, is made a
wanderer, Seth, from whom the true church
was to come, is one fixed. In Christ and his
church is the only true settlement.
2. They
saw their seed's seed, v. 26 . To Seth was
born a son called Enos, that general name for
all men, which bespeaks the weakness, frailty,
and misery, of man's state. The best men are
most sensible of these, both in themselves and
their children. We are never so settled but
we must remind ourselves that we are frail.
II. God gave them to see the reviving of
religion in their family: Then began men to
call upon the name of the Lord, v. 26 .
It is
small comfort to a good man to see his children's
children, if he do not, withal, see peace
upon Israel, and those that come of him
walking in the truth. Doubtless God's name
was called upon before, but now,
1. The worshippers
of God began to stir up themselves
to do more in religion than they had done;
perhaps not more than had been done at first,
but more than had been done of late, since
the defection of Cain. Now men began to
worship God, not only in their closets and
families, but in public and solemn assemblies.
Or now there was so great a reformation in
religion that it was, as it were, a new beginning
of it. Then may refer, not to the birth
of Enos, but to the whole foregoing story: then, when men saw in Cain and Lamech the
sad effects of sin by the workings of natural
conscience,--when they saw God's judgments
upon sin and sinners,-- then they were so
much the more lively and resolute in religion.
The worse others are the better we should
be, and the more zealous.
2. The worshippers
of God began to distinguish themselves.
The margin reads it, Then began men to be
called by the name of the Lord, or to call themselves
by it. Now that Cain and those that
had deserted religion had built a city, and
begun to declare for impiety and irreligion,
and called themselves the sons of men, those
that adhered to God began to declare for him
and his worship, and called themselves the sons of God. Now began the distinction between
professors and profane, which has been
kept up ever since, and will be while the
world stands.
INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 4
In this chapter an account is given of the two eldest children of Adam and Eve, their names and calling, Ge 4:1 and of their different offerings to the Lord, and the different respect had unto them by him, which in Cain issued in wrath and envy, which appeared in his countenance, and were taken notice of by the Lord, and about which he reasoned with him, Ge 4:3 but it had no effect upon him, he murdered his brother, upon which he was examined about him, but denied he knew anything of him where he was, Ge 4:8 he is arraigned, convicted and condemned, sentence passed upon him, and that executed, which he complains of, and is mitigated, or however a protection is granted him, and a mark set on him for his security, Ge 4:10 after which we have an account of his posterity for several generations, their names, and the business of some of them, Ge 4:16 and the chapter is closed with the birth of another son, and of a grandson to Adam and Eve, in whose days was the beginning of social religion.
Ver. 1. And Adam knew Eve his wife,.... An euphemism, or modest expression of the act of coition. Jarchi interprets it, "had known", even before he sinned, and was drove out of the garden; and so other Jewish writers, who think he otherwise would not have observed the command, "be fruitful and multiply": but if Adam had begotten children in a state of innocence, they would have been free from sin, and not tainted with the corruption of nature after contracted; but others more probably think it was some considerable time after; according to Mer Thudiusi, or Theodosius {t}, it was thirty years after he was driven out of paradise:
and she conceived and bare Cain; in the ordinary way and manner, as women ever since have usually done, going the same time with her burden. Whether this name was given to her first born by her, or by her husband, or both, is not said: it seems to have been given by her, from the reason of it after assigned. His name, in Philo Byblius {u}, is Genos, which no doubt was Cain, in Sanchoniatho, whom he translated; and his wife, or the twin born with him, is said to be Genea, that is,
hnyq, "Cainah": the Arabs call her Climiah {v} and the Jewish writers Kalmenah {w}; who are generally of opinion, that with Cain and Abel were born twin sisters, which became their wives.
And said, that is, Eve said upon the birth of her firstborn,
I have gotten a man from the Lord; as a gift and blessing from him, as children are; or by him, by his favour and good will; and through his blessing upon her, causing her to conceive and bear and bring forth a son: some render it, "I have gotten a man, the Lord" {x}; that promised seed that should break the serpents head; by which it would appear, that she took that seed to be a divine person, the true God, even Jehovah, that should become man; though she must have been ignorant of the mystery of his incarnation, or of his taking flesh of a virgin, since she conceived and bare Cain through her husband's knowledge of her: however, having imbibed this notion, it is no wonder she should call him Cain, a possession or inheritance; since had this been the case, she had got a goodly one indeed: but in this she was sadly mistaken, he proved not only to be a mere man, but to be a very bad man: the Targum of Jonathan favours this sense, rendering the words,
"I have gotten a man, the angel of the Lord.''
{t} Apud Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. p. 6. {u} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 1. c. 10. p. 34. {v} Abulpharag. ib. {w} Shalshaleth Hakabala, fol. 74. 2. {x} hwhy ta vya "virum Dominum", Fagius, Helvicus, Forster, Schindler, Luther, Pellican, Cocceius; "virum qui Jehovah est", Schmidt.
Genesis 4:2
Ver. 2. And she again bare his brother Abel,.... Or "added to bare" {y}, not directly or immediately, but perhaps the following year; though some have thought, because no mention is made of her conceiving again, that she brought forth Abel at the same time she did Cain, or that the birth of the one immediately followed upon that of the other: and it is the common opinion of the Jews {z} that with Abel, as with Cain, was born a twin sister, whom the Arabic writers {a} call Lebuda: the name of Abel, or rather Hebel, signifies not "mourning", as Josephus {b} observes, but "vanity", Eve not making that account of him as she did of Cain; or perhaps because by this time she became sensible of her mistake in him, or had met with something which convinced her that all earthly enjoyments were vanity; or by a spirit of prophecy foresaw what would befall this her second son, that he should be very early deprived of his life in a violent manner:
and Abel was a keeper of sheep: a calling which he either chose himself, or his father put him to, and gave him; for though he and his brother were born to a large estate, being the heirs of Adam, the lord of the whole earth, yet they were not brought up in idleness, but in useful and laborious employments:
but Cain was a tiller of the ground: of the same occupation his father was, and he being the first born, was brought up in the same business, and might be a reason why he was put into it.
{y} tdll Potw "et addidit ut pareret", Pagninus, Montanus; "addidit autem parere", Cocceius, Schmidt. {z} Pirke Eliezer. c. 21. {a} Abulpharag. ut supra. (Hist. Dynast. p. 6.) {b} Antiqu. l. 1. c. 2. sect. 1.
Genesis 4:3
Ver. 3. And in process of time it came to pass,.... Or "at the end of days" {c}; which some understand of the end of seven days, at the end of the week, or on the seventh day, which they suppose to be the sabbath day, these sons of Adam brought their offerings to the Lord: but this proceeds upon an hypothesis not sufficiently established, that the seventh day sabbath was now appointed to be observed in a religious way; rather, according to Aben Ezra, it was at the end of the year; So "after days" in Jud 11:4 is meant after a year; and which we there render, as here, "in process of time". This might be after harvest, after the fruits of the earth were gathered in, and so a proper season to bring an offering to the Lord, in gratitude for the plenty of good things they had been favoured with; as in later times, with the Israelites, there was a feast for the ingathering of the fruits of the earth, Ex 23:16. The Targum of Jonathan fixes this time to the fourteenth of Nisan, as if it was the time of the passover, a feast instituted two thousand years after this time, or thereabout; and very stupidly one of the Jewish writers {d} observes, that
"the night of the feast of the passover came, and Adam said to his sons, on this night the Israelites will bring the offerings of the passovers, offer ye also before your Creator.''
That Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord; corn, herbs, seeds, &c. the Targum of Jonathan says it was flax seed; so Jarchi makes mention of an "agadah" or exposition, which gives the same sense; and another of their writers {e} observes, that Cain brought what was left of his food, or light and trifling things, flax or hemp seed. This he brought either to his father, as some think, being priest in his family; or rather he brought and offered it himself at the place appointed for religious worship, and for sacrifices; so Aben Ezra, he brought it to the place fixed for his oratory. It is highly probable it was at the east of the entrance of the garden of Eden, where the Shechinah, or the divine Majesty, was, and appeared in some remarkable manner.
{c} Mymy Uqm "in fine dierum", Pagninus, Montanus; "a fine dierum", Schmidt. {d} Pirke Eliezer, c. 21. {e} Ib. Vid. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 8. 2.
Genesis 4:4
Ver. 4. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock,.... As he was a shepherd, his flock consisted of sheep; and of the firstlings of these, the lambs that were first brought forth, he presented as an offering to the Lord; and which were afterwards frequently used in sacrifice, and were a proper type of Christ, Jehovah's firstborn, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, a Lamb without spot and blemish; fitly signified by one for his innocence, harmlessness, and meekness:
and of the fat thereof; which is to be understood either of the fat properly, which in later time was claimed by the Lord as his own, Le 3:16 or of the fattest of his flock, the best lambs he had; the fattest and plumpest, and which were most free from defects and blemishes; not the torn, nor lame, nor sick, but that which was perfect and without spot; for God is to be served with the best we have. Josephus {f} says it was milk, and the firstlings of his flock; and a word of the same letters, differently pointed, signifies milk; and some learned men, as Grotius and others, have given into this sense, observing it to be a custom with the Egyptians to sacrifice milk to their gods: but the word, as here pointed, is never used for milk; nor were such sacrifices ever used by the people of God; and Abel's sacrifice is called by the apostle yusik, a "slain" sacrifice, as Heidegger {g} observes:
and the Lord had respect to Abel, and to his offering; as being what he had designed and appointed to be used for sacrifice in future time, and as being a suitable type and emblem of the Messiah, and his sacrifice; and especially as being offered up by faith, in a view to the sacrifice of Christ, which is of a sweet smelling savour to God, and by which sin only is atoned and satisfied for, see Heb 11:4. God looked at his sacrifice with a smiling countenance, took, and expressed delight, well pleasedness, and satisfaction in it; and he first accepted of his person, as considered in Christ his well beloved Son, and then his offering in virtue of his sacrifice: and this respect and acceptance might be signified by some visible sign or token, and particularly by the descent of fire from heaven upon it, as was the token of acceptance in later times, Le 9:24 and Theodotion here renders it, he "fired" it, or "set" it on "fire"; and Jarchi paraphrases it,
"fire descended and licked up his offering;''
and Aben Ezra,
"and fire descended and reduced the offering of Abel to ashes;''
so Abraham Seba {h}.
{f} Antiqu. l. 1. c. 2. sect. 1. {g} Hist. Patriarch. Exercit. 5. sect. 20. {h} In Tzeror Hammor, fol. 8. 2.
Genesis 4:5
Ver. 5. But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect,.... Not because of the matter of it, as some have thought; but because it was not offered in faith and sincerity, but in a formal and hypocritical manner, without any regard to the Messiah and his sacrifice, and without any view to the glory of God: no notice was taken, no approbation was given of it by the above token, or any other; so that it was manifest to Cain himself, that God did not approve of it, or was well pleased with it, as with his brother's:
and Cain was very wroth; with God, to whom he offered it, because he did not accept of it, and with his brother, because he and his sacrifice were preferred to him and his:
and his countenance fell; the briskness and cheerfulness of his countenance went off, and he looked dejected; and instead of lifting up his face towards heaven; he looked with a down look to the earth; he looked churlish, morose, and sullen, ill natured, full of malice and revenge, and as if he was studying which way to vent it; he knit his brows and gnashed his teeth, put on a surly countenance; and there might be seen in his face all the signs, not only of grief and disappointment, but of rage and fury; though {i} some interpret it of shame and confusion.
{i} R. Jonah apud R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 9. p. 2.
Genesis 4:6
Ver. 6. And the Lord said unto Cain, why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?.... Which was said not as being ignorant of his wrath and resentment, but to bring him to a conviction of his sin or sins, which were the cause of God's rejecting his sacrifice, and to repentance and amendment; and to show him that he had no cause to be displeased, either with him or his brother, for the different treatment of him and his offering; since the fault lay in himself, and he had none to blame but his own conduct, which for the future he should take care to regulate according to the divine will, and things would take a different turn.
Genesis 4:7
Ver. 7. If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?.... That is, either if thou doest thy works well in general, doest good works in a right way and manner, according to life will of God, and directed to his glory, from right principles, and with right views: so all the Targums,
"if thou doest thy works well;''
for it is not merely doing a good work, but doing the good work well, which is acceptable to God; hence that saying,
"that not nouns but adverbs make good works:''
or particularly it may respect sacrifice; if thou doest thine offering well, or rightly offereth, as the Septuagint; or offers not only what is materially good and proper to be offered, but in a right way, in obedience to the divine will, from love to God, and with true devotion to him, in the faith of the promised seed, and with a view to his sacrifice for atonement and acceptance; then thine offering would be well pleasing and acceptable. Some render the latter part of the clause, which is but one word in the original text, "there will be a lifting up" {k}; either of the countenance of the offerer, and so, if Cain had done well, his countenance would not have fallen, but have been lifted up, and cheerful as before; or of sin, which is the pardon of it, and is often expressed by taking and lifting it up, and bearing it away, and so of easing a man of it as of a burden; and in this sense all the Targums take it; which paraphrase it,
"it or thy sin shall be forgiven thee:''
and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door; if thou dost not do good works, nor offer an offering as it should be offered, sin lies at the door of conscience; and as soon as that is awakened and opened, it will enter in and make sad work there, as it afterwards did, Ge 4:13 or it is open and manifest, and will be taken cognizance of, and punishment be inflicted for it; or else the punishment of sin itself is meant, which lies at the door, is at hand, and will soon be executed; and so all the Targums paraphrase it.
"thy sin is reserved to the day of judgment,''
or lies at the door of the grave, reserved to that day, as Jarchi. Some render the word a sin offering, as it sometimes signifies; and then the sense is, that though he had sinned, and had done amiss in the offering he had offered, nevertheless there was a propitiatory sacrifice for sin provided, which was at hand, and would soon be offered; so that he had no need to be dejected, or his countenance to fall; for if he looked to that sacrifice by faith, he would find pardon and acceptance; but the former sense is best:
and unto thee shall be his desire; or "its desire", as some understand it of sin lying at the door, whose desire was to get in and entice and persuade him to that which was evil, and prevail and rule over him. The Targum of Jonathan, and that of Jerusalem, paraphrase it of sin, but to another sense,
"sin shall lie at the door of thine heart, but into thine hand I have delivered the power of the evil concupiscence; and to thee shall be its desire, and thou shalt rule over it, whether to be righteous, or to sin:''
but rather it refers to Abel; and the meaning is, that notwithstanding his offering was accepted of God, and not his brother Cain's, this would not alienate his affections from him, nor cause him to refuse subjection to him; but he should still love him as his brother, and be subject to him as his eider brother, and not seek to get from him the birthright, or think that that belonged to him, being forfeited by his brother's sin; and therefore Cain had no reason to be angry with his brother, or envious at him, since this would make no manner of alteration in their civil affairs:
and thou shall rule over him, as thou hast done, being the firstborn.
{k} tav "elevare", Montanus; "erit sublevatio", Fagius, "elatio", Drusius, "elevatio erit", some in Vatablus, Mercerus; so Aben Exra; "remissio", Junius & Tremellius, Schmidt; "venia erit", Pagninus; so Ainsworth.
Genesis 4:8
Ver. 8. And Cain talked with Abel,.... Or "said", or "spoke unto" him {l}; either what the Lord God said to him in the foregoing verses, as Aben Ezra; or he spoke to him in a kind and friendly manner, and thereby got him to take a walk in the field with him. The Vulgate Latin version adds, "let us go abroad"; and the Septuagint and Samaritan versions, "let us go into the field"; not to fight a duel, which Abel doubtless would have declined, had that been declared, but to have some friendly conversation; and there being a large pause here in the Hebrew text, the Jerusalem Targum gives us an account of what passed between them when in the field;
"Cain said to Abel his brother, there is no judgment, nor Judge, nor will a good reward be given to the righteous; nor will vengeance be taken of the wicked; neither is the world created in mercy nor governed in mercy; otherwise, why is thine offering received with good will, and mine not?''
Abel answered and said to Cain,
"there is a judgment,'' &c.
and so goes on to assert everything Cain denied, and to give a reason why the offering of the one was accepted, and the other rejected: and to the same purpose the Targum of Jonathan:
and it came to pass, when they were in the field; alone and at a distance from their parents, or from any town or city, if any were now built, as some think there were, and out of the sight of any person that might come and interpose and rescue: about a mile from Damascus, in a valley, yet on the side of a hill, are now shown the place, or the house on it, where Cain slew Abel {m}; and so Mr. Maundrel {n} speaks of a high hill near Damascus, reported to be the same they offered their sacrifice on, and Cain slew his brother, and also of another hill at some distance from Damascus, and an ancient structure on it, supposed to be the tomb of Abel:
that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him; in a furious manner assaulted him, without any just provocation, and took away his life, by some instrument or other, perhaps that was used in husbandry, which might be in the field where they were. The Targum of Jonathan is,
"he fixed a stone in his forehead, and slew him;''
and so the Jews say {o} elsewhere: our poet {p} says, he smote him in the breast with a stone, into the midriff or diaphragm: it must be by some means or other, by which his blood was shed; but it is not material to inquire what the instrument was, as Aben Ezra observes; since though there might be swords, yet there were stones and clubs enough, as he takes notice; and there must be even instruments for agriculture, one of which might be taken up, as being at hand, with which the execution might be made. The Jewish writers {q} say Abel was an hundred years old when he was slain; and some of them {r} make Abel to be the first aggressor: they say, that Abel rose up against him, and threw him to the ground, and afterwards Cain rose up and slew him; however this was not likely the case.
{l} rmayw "et dixit", Pagninus, , Fagius, Vatablus, Drusis. {m} Lud. Vartoman, Navigat. l. 1. c. 6. {n} Journey from , &c. l. 1. p. 131, 133, 134. {o} Pirke Eliezer, c. 21. {p} -----------------And, as they talk'd, Smote him into the midriff with a stone, That beat out life.---------- Milton's Paradise Lost, B. 11. l. 444, &c. {q} Josippon apud Abendana in Miclol. Yophi in loc. {r} Tikkune Zohar, correct. 69. fol. 112. l. 2.
Genesis 4:9
Ver. 9. And the Lord said unto Cain, where is Abel thy brother?.... Perhaps this was said to him the next time he came to offer, he not being with him: this question is put, not as being ignorant where he was, but in order to bring Cain to a conviction and confession of his sin, to touch his conscience with it, and fill it with remorse for it; and, for the aggravation of it, observes the relation of Abel to him, his brother:
and he said, I know not; which was a downright lie; for he must know where he had left him or laid him: this shows him to be under the influence of Satan, who was a liar, and the father of lies, as well as a murderer from the beginning; and that he was so blinded by him, as to forget whom he was speaking to; that he was the omniscient God, and knew the wickedness he had done, and the falsehood he now delivered, and was capable of confronting him with both, and of inflicting just punishment on him.
[Am] I my brother's keeper? which was very saucily and impudently spoken: it is not only put by way of interrogation, but of admiration, as Jarchi observes, as wondering at it, that God should put such a question to him, since he knew he had not the charge of his brother, and his brother was at age to take care of himself; and if not, it rather belonged to God and his providence to take care of him, and not to him: so hardened was he in his iniquity, he had stretched out his hand against his brother, and now he stretched it out against God, and ran upon him, even on the thick bosses of his buckler.
Genesis 4:10
Ver. 10. And he said,.... Not Cain, the last speaker, but the Lord God,
what hast thou done? what an heinous crime hast thou committed! how aggravated is it! I know what thou hast done; thou hast slain thy brother, thine own, thine only brother, a holy, righteous, and good man, who never gave thee any offence, or any just occasion of shedding his innocent blood: this he said as knowing what he had done, and to impress his mind with a sense of the evil, and to bring him to a confession of it, before the sentence was passed, that it might appear to all to be just, and of which there was full proof and evidence, as follows:
the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground; where it was split, and in which it was covered and hid, and where perhaps Cain had buried his body, that it might not be seen, and the murder not discovered; but God saw what was done, and the voice of innocent blood came into his ears, and cried for vengeance at his hands: it is in the original, "the voice of thy brother's bloods" {s}, in the plural; which the Jews generally understood of the posterity that would have descended from Abel, had he not been murdered: the Targum of Onkelos is,
"the voice of the blood of the seeds or generations that should come from thy brother;''
see 2Ki 9:26 or it may respect the blood of the seed of the woman, of all the righteous ones that should be slain in like manner. The Jerusalem Targum is,
"the voice of the bloods of the multitude of the righteous that shall spring from Abel thy brother,''
or succeed him; see Mt 23:35. Jarchi thinks it has reference to the many wounds which Cain gave him, from whence blood sprung; and every wound and every drop of blood, as it were, cried for vengeance on the murderer.
{s} ymd lwq "vox Sanguinum", Pagninus, Montanus, &c.
Genesis 4:11
Ver. 11. And now [art] thou cursed from the earth,.... From receiving benefit by it, and enjoying the fruits of it as before, and from having a settled dwelling in it, as is afterwards explained:
which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; the blood of his brother, which was shed by his own hand, was received and sucked into the earth, where it was spilt, through the pores of it, and drank up and covered, so as not to be seen; in which it was as it were more humane to Abel, and as it were more ashamed of the crime, and shuddered more, and expressed more horror at it, than Cain.
Genesis 4:12
Ver. 12. When thou tillest the ground,.... Which was the business he was brought up in and followed, Ge 4:2
it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; the earth had been cursed for Adam's sin, and was not so fruitful as in its original state; and now it was cursed again for Cain's sin; not the whole earth, but that part which belonged to Cain, and was cultivated by him; and so it must be supposed to be cursed, not only in the spot where he had been settled, but in every other place where he should come and occupy, and which through this additional curse became so barren that it did not yield such good fruits, and such an increase of it as before; it lost its native and vital juice, by which seed cast into it became not so fruitful, and did not increase; but instead of this, though much pains were taken to manure it, and much was sown, yet it brought forth little, at least but little to Cain, whatever it did to others; and therefore it is said, "shall not yield unto thee"; it would not turn much to his account, or yield much profit and increase to him, or bring forth much fruit; see Job 31:38
a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth; being obliged to quit his former habitation, and remove to a place at some distance from the house of his father Adam, which was near the garden of Eden, as Aben Ezra observes; and to wander about from place to place, having no quiet settlement in anyone place: the Septuagint render it "groaning and trembling"; the guilt of his sin lay heavy on his conscience, and filled him with such horror and terror that he was continually sighing and groaning, and was seized with such a tremor that he shook in all his limbs; so the Arabic writers {t} say, that he was trembling and quivering, and had a shaking in his head all the days of his life; and Aben Ezra observes, that there are some that say that the first of these words signifies to moan and lament; but it may be, it was not so much his sin, at least the evil of it, that he lamented, as the mischief that came by it, or the calamities and misfortunes it brought upon him.
{t} Patricides, apud Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. l. 1. c. 8. p. 223.
Genesis 4:13
Ver. 13. And Cain said unto the Lord,.... In the anguish of his spirit and the distress of his mind:
my punishment is greater than I can bear; thus complaining of the mercy of God, as if he acted a cruel part, inflicting on him more than he could endure; and arraigning his justice, as if it was more than he deserved, or ought in equity to be laid on him; whereas it was abundantly less than the demerit of his sin, for his punishment was but a temporal one; for, excepting the horrors and terrors of his guilty conscience, it was no other than a heavier curse on the land he tilled, and banishment from his native place, and being a fugitive and wanderer in other countries; and if such a punishment is intolerable, what must the torments of hell be? the worm that never dies? the fire that is never quenched? and the wrath of God, which is a consuming fire, and burns to the lowest hell? some render the words, "my sin is greater than can be forgiven" {u}; as despairing of the mercy of God, having no faith in the promised seed, and in the pardon of sin through his atonement, blood, and sacrifice; or, "is my sin greater than can be forgiven" {w}? is there no forgiveness of it? is it the unpardonable sin? but Cain seems not to be so much concerned about sin, and the pardon of it, as about his temporal punishment for it; wherefore the first sense seems best, and best agrees with what follows.
{u} avnm ynwe lwdg "major est iniquitas mea, quam ut veniam merear", V. L. "iniqutas mea? major est quam ut remittatur", Tigurine version, Fagius; "quam ut remittat, sub. Deus mihi", Vatablus; so the Targum of Onkelos, Sept. Syr. & Ar. {w} "Ergone majus est delictum meum, quam ut remittatur"; Schmidt.
Genesis 4:14
Ver. 14. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth,.... Not from being upon the earth, or had chased him out of the world as a wicked man is at death, but from a quiet settlement in it, and from society and converse with the inhabitants of it; and especially he was driven from that part of it, where he was born and brought up, and which he had been employed in manuring; where his parents dwelt, and other relations, friends, and acquaintance: and to be banished into a strange country, uninhabited, and at a distance from those he had familiarly lived with, was a sore punishment of him:
and from, thy face shall I be hid; not from his omniscience and omnipresence, for there is no such thing as being hid from the all seeing eye of God, or flying from his presence, which is everywhere; but from his favour and good will, and the outward tokens of it, as well as from the place where his Shechinah or divine Majesty was; and which was the place of public worship, and where good men met and worshipped God, and offered sacrifice to him: and from the place of divine worship and the ordinances of it, and the church of God and communion with it, an hypocrite does not choose to be debarred:
and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; as was threatened him, See Gill on "Ge 4:12":
and it shall come to pass, that everyone that findeth me shall slay me; that is, some one, the first that should meet him, for he could be slain but by one; so odious he knew he should be to everyone, being under such marks of the divine displeasure, that his life would be in danger by whomsoever he should be found: and this being near an hundred and thirty years after the creation of man, see Ge 4:25 Ge 5:3 there might in this time be a large number of men on earth; Adam and Eve procreating children immediately after the fall, and very probably many more besides Cain and Abel, and those very fruitful, bringing many at a birth and often, and few or none dying, the increase must be very great; and we read quickly after this of a city being built, Gen 4:17. Cain seems to be more afraid of a corporeal death than to have any concern about his soul, and the eternal welfare of it, or to be in dread and fear of an eternal death, or wrath to come; though some think the words should be rendered in a prayer {x}, "let it be that anyone that findeth me may kill me"; being weary of life under the horrors of a guilty conscience.
{x} Lightfoot, vol. 1. p. 3,
Genesis 4:15
Ver. 15. And the Lord said unto him,.... In order to satisfy him, and make him easy in this respect, that: he need not fear an immediate or bodily death, which was showing him great clemency and lenity; or in answer to his begging for death, "therefore", or as some render the word, taking them for two, "not so" {y}; it shall not be that whoever finds thee shall slay thee, thou needest not be afraid of that; nor shall thy request be granted, that thou mightest be slain by the first man that meets thee: it was the will of God, that though Cain deserved to die, yet that he should not die immediately, but live a long miserable life, that it might be a terror to others not to commit the like crime; though rather the particle should be rendered "verily, surely, of a truth" {z}; so it will certainly be, it may be depended on:
whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold; seven times more than on Cain; that is, he shall be exceedingly punished; vengeance shall be taken on him in a very visible manner, to a very great degree; the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan are
"unto or through seven generations;''
the meaning of which is, that the slayer of Cain should not only be punished in his own person, but in his posterity, even unto seven generations; and not as Jarchi and Aben Ezra interpret it, that God deferred his vengeance on Cain unto seven generations, and at the end of them took vengeance on him by Lamech, one of his own posterity, by whom he is supposed by that Jewish writer to be slain:
and the Lord set a mark upon Cain; about which there is a variety of sentiments {a}: some say it was a horn in his forehead: others, a leprosy in his face; others, a wild ghastly look; others, a shaking and trembling in all his limbs; and others, that there was an earthquake wherever he stepped: and others will have it, that the dog which guarded Abel's flock was given him to accompany him in his travels, by which sign it might be known that he was not to be attacked, or to direct him from taking any dangerous road: some say it was a letter imprinted on his forehead, either taken out of the great and glorious name of God, as the Targum of Jonathan, or out of his own name, as Jarchi; others the mark or sign of the covenant of circumcision {b}: but as the word is often used for a sign or miracle, perhaps the better rendering and sense of the words may be, "and the Lord put", or "gave a sign" {c}; that is, he wrought a miracle before him to assure him, that "whoever found him should not kill him": so that this was not a mark or sign to others, to direct or point out to them that they should not kill him, or to deter them from it; but was a sign or miracle confirming him in this, that no one should kill him; agreeably to which is the note of Aben Ezra,
"it is right in my eyes that God made a sign (or wrought a miracle) for him, until he believed;''
by which he was assured that his life would be secure, go where he would; even that no one should "strike" {d} him, as the word is, much less kill him.
{y} Nkl "quasi" Nk al ouc outw, Sept. "nequaquam ita fiet", V. L. {z} "In veritate, certe", Vatablus; "profecto, utique", De Dieu. {a} See Bayle's General Diet. art. "Cain". {b} Tikkune Zohar, correct. 69. fol. 115. 1. & 117. 1. 2. {c} twa Nyql hwhy Mvyw, "sed et posuit Kaino miraculum (in confirmationem) quod non caesurus esset ipsum quisque", &c, Schmidt. {d} wta twkh, "ne percuteret eum", Pagninus; "ad non percutiendum eum", Montanus.
Genesis 4:16
Ver. 16. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord,.... Either from the place where the Lord was talking with him; or from the place where his glorious Majesty usually resided, where was some visible token of his presence, some stream of light and glory which showed him to be there, and which was at the east of the garden of Eden; from whence Cain was obliged to go, not being suffered to appear any more before God, or among his worshippers: there was a place near Tripoli in Syria, near where Mount Lebanon ends, called
proswpon tou yeou, "the face of God", made mention of by Polybius {e}, and Strabo {f}: and was near those parts where some place the garden of Eden; and it is possible might have its name from some tradition that this was the place where the face of God was seen, or his presence enjoyed by our first parents after their ejection from Eden, and from whence Cain went forth:
and dwelt in the land of Nod; so called, not before he went there, but from his wandering up and down in it; continuing in no one place in it, as well as his mind was restless and uneasy; Jarchi mentions another reason of its name, that in every place where he went the earth shook under him, and men said, Depart from him, this is he that slew his brother:
on the east of Eden; further east from the place where his father Adam and his other children dwelt; not being allowed to continue any longer with them, or converse with them, after he had been guilty of so horrid a crime.
{e} Hist. l. 5. p. 260. {f} Geograph. l. 16. p. 519.
Genesis 4:17
Ver. 17. And Cain knew his wife,.... Who this woman was is not certain, nor whether it was his first wife or not; whether his sister, or one that descended from Adam by another of his sons, since this was about the one hundred and thirtieth year of the creation. At first indeed Cain could marry no other than his sister; but whether he married Abel's twin sister, or his own twin sister, is disputed; the Jews say {g}, that Cain's twin sister was not a beautiful woman, and therefore he said, I will kill my brother and take his wife: on the other hand, the Arabic writers say {h}, that Adam would have had Cain married Abel's twin sister, whom they call Awin; and Abel have married Cain's twin sister, whom they call Azron; but Cain would not, because his own sister was the handsomest; and this they take to be the occasion of the quarrel, which issued in the murder of Abel.
And she conceived and bare Enoch; which signifies "trained up", not in the true religion, and in the ways of God and godliness, as one of this name descending from Seth was, who is said to walk with God; but in the practices of his father Cain, and in a wicked course of life:
and he builded a city: for a settlement on earth, thinking of nothing but this world, and the things of it; or to secure himself from being slain by men; or it may be for his amusement, to divert his thoughts from the melancholy scene always presented to his mind, by being thus employed; and his posterity growing numerous, he took this method to keep them together, and that they might be able to defend themselves from the assaults of others. Some render the words, "he was building a city" {i}; as if he did not live to finish it; but it looks as if it was finished by him, by what follows:
and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch: not after his own name, which was odious and infamous, but after his son's name, to show his affection to him, and that his name might be continued in ages to come; see Ps 49:11. This was the first city that was built, that we read of. Sir Walter Raleigh conjectures {k} that the Henochii or Heniochi of Pliny, Ptolemy, and other writers, took their name from this city of Henoch, or from the country where it stood, when it was repeopled after the flood, since these people were due east from the garden of Eden.
(For Cain to marry his sister or any other close relation was not harmful as it is today. There would be few if any genetic disorders at this time. However, as time past, the human race accumulated more and more genetic defects, so by the time of Moses, the laws against incest, as given in Le 18:1, were necessary. These laws helped prevent deformed children. Ed.)
{g} Pirke Eliezer, c. 21. {h} Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. p. 4. Patricides apud Selden, de Jure Nat. & Gent. l. 3. c. 2. & l. 5. c. 9. {i} hnb yhyw "et fuit aedificans", Montanus, Drusius; "era aedificans". Fagius; so Ainsworth; "studebat aedificare", Junius & Tremellius. {k} History of the World, par. 1. B. 1. c. 5. sect. 2. p. 43.
Genesis 4:18
Ver. 18. And unto Enoch was born Irad,.... But of neither of them is any other mention made, either in sacred or profane history; nor is it said how old Enoch was when Irad was born, nor how long he lived after; as is recorded of Adam, Seth, and their posterity:
[and] Irad begat Mehujael, [and] Mehujael begat Methusael; of whom also we have no other account;
[and] Methusael begat Lamech; and it seems for the sake of Lamech that the genealogy of Cain's posterity is described and carried down thus far, some things being to be taken notice of concerning him. The names of the immediate posterity of Genos or Cain, according to Sanchoniatho, and, as Philo Byblius {l} has translated them, were light, fire, and flame; who found out fire by rubbing pieces of wood together, and taught the use of it, from whence they seem to have their names. These begat sons that exceeded others in bulk and height, whose names were given to the mountains they first possessed, and from them were called Cassius, Libanus, Antilibanus, and Brathy; and of them were begotten Memrumus and Hypsuranius, so called by their mothers, women, who, without shame, lay with everyone they could meet with; of these came Agreus and Halieus, the inventors of fishing and hunting; and these seem to answer to the generations from Cain to Lamech; and it is no wonder Moses should take no more notice of such a set of men; which, according to their own historian, deserved but little regard.
{l} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 1. p. 34, 35.
Genesis 4:19
Ver. 19. And Lamech took unto him two wives,.... He was the first we read of that introduced polygamy, contrary to the first institution of marriage, whereby only one man and one woman were to be joined together, and become one flesh, Ge 2:24. This evil practice, though it began in the race of wicked Cain, was in later ages followed by some among the people of God, which was connived at because of the hardness of their hearts; otherwise it was not so from the beginning. This was the first instance of it known; Jarchi says it was the way of the generation before the flood to have one wife for procreation of children, and the other for carnal pleasure; the latter drank a cup of sterility, that she might be barren, and was adorned as a bride, and lived deliciously; and the other was used roughly, and mourned like a widow; but by this instance it does not appear, for these both bore children to Lamech.
The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah; whose daughters they were cannot be said, no doubt of the race of Cain; the name of the one signifies an "ornament", or beauty, and might seem to answer to the account Jarchi gives of the wife for pleasure, if there were any foundation for it; and the other signifies a "shadow", being continually under the shadow of her husband.
Genesis 4:20
Ver. 20. And Adah bare Jabal,.... According to Hillerus {m}, this name, and Jubal and Tubal, after mentioned, all signify a river; why Lamech should call all his sons by names signifying the same thing, is not easy to say.
He was the father of such as dwelt in tents, and [of such as have] cattle: not in a proper sense the father of them, though his posterity might succeed him in the same business; but he was the first author and inventor of tents or movable habitations, which could be carried from place to place, for the convenience of pasturage for cattle: he was not the first that had cattle in his possession, or that first fed and kept them, for Abel, the son of Adam, was a keeper of sheep; but he was the first that found out the use of tents, and the pitching of them to abide in at proper places, so long as the pasturage lasted, and then to remove elsewhere; as we find in later times the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did, and as the Scenitae and Nomades among the Arabs, and who retain the same method of keeping cattle to this day; and so the words may be rendered according to Bochart {n} and Noldius {o},
"he was the father of such that dwell in tents "with" cattle.''
Heidegger {p} thinks this Jabal to be the same with Pales, the god of shepherds {q}, to whom the Palilia were sacred with the Heathens; and that from Jabal may be formed "Bal", leaving out the "jod", as is sometimes done, and by adding the termination, it will be "Bales", and by changing the letters of the same organ, "Pales".
{m} Onomastic. Sacr. p. 35, 45, 349. {n} Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 44. col. 466. {o} Ebr. Part. Concord. p. 273. No. 1196. {p} Hist. Patriarch. Exercit. 6. sect. 11. {q} Vid. Servium & Probum in Virgil. Georgic. l. 3. ver. 1.
Genesis 4:21
Ver. 21. And his brother's name was Jubal,.... This was another son of Lamech by Adah, and his name differs only in one letter from his brother's;
he was the father of all such that handle the harp and organ: he was the inventor of instrumental music, both of stringed instruments, such as were touched by the fingers, or struck with a quill, as the "harp"; and of wind instruments, such as were blown, as the "organ", which seems not to be the same we call so, being a late invention; but however a pleasant instrument, as its name signifies. Jubal is thought by some to be the same with Apollo, to whom with the Greeks the invention of the harp is ascribed; and some have been of opinion, that the jubilee trumpet was so called from Jubal, Le 25:9. Sanchoniatho {r} makes Chrysor or Vulcan, the same with Tubalcain, the brother of Jubal, to exercise himself in eloquence, songs and divination, confounding or mistaking the employment of the two brothers. The Arabs have such a notion of the Cainites being the inventors of music, that they commonly call a singing girl "Cainah" {s}; and the Arabic writers {t} make Jubal to be the first inventor of music, and that the beasts and birds gathered together to hear him; the same that is said of Orpheus.
{r} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 1. p. 35. {s} Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. p. 9. {t} Elmacinus, p. 8. apud Hottinger. Smegma, p. 232.
Genesis 4:22
Ver. 22. And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain,.... Thought by many to be the same with Vulcan, his name and business agreeing; for the names are near in sound, Tubalcain may easily pass into Vulcan; and who, with the Heathens, was the god of the smiths, and the maker of Jupiter's thunderbolts, as this was an artificer in iron and brass, as follows: his name is compounded of two words, the latter of which was no doubt put into his name in memory of Cain his great ancestor; the former Josephus {u} reads Thobel, and says of him, that he exceeded all in strength, and had great skill in military affairs:
an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron; he taught men the way of melting metals, and of making armour and weapons of war, and other instruments, for various uses, out of them; and he seems to be the same with the Chrysor of Sanchoniatho; for he says {w} of them (Agreus and Halieus) were begotten two brothers, the inventors of iron, and of working of it: one of these, called Chrysor, is said to be Hephaestus or Vulcan; and Chrysor, as Bochartus {x} seems rightly to conjecture, is rwa-vrx, "Choresh-Ur, a worker in fire"; that, by means of fire, melted metals, and cast them into different forms, and for different uses; and one of these words is used in the text of Tubalcain; and so, according to Diodorus Siculus {y}, Vulcan signifies fire, and was not only the inventor of fire, but he says he was the inventor of all works in iron, brass, gold, and silver, and of all other things wrought by fire, and of all other uses of fire, both by artificers and all other men, and therefore he was called by all
pur, "fire". Clemens of Alexandria {z} ascribes the invention of brass and iron to the Idaeans or priests of Cybele in Cyprus; and so Sophocles in Strabo {a}:
and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah; whose name signifies "pleasant", fair and beautiful; and is thought by some to be the Venus of the Heathens; the Arabic writers {b} say she was a most beautiful woman, and found out colours and painting; and by others Minerva; and Josephus {c} says she excelled in the knowledge of divine things; and Minerva is by the Greeks called Nemanoum {d}. The Jews say {e} she was the wife of Noah; and some of them say {f} she was the wife of one Shimron, and the mother of the evil spirit Asmodeus, mentioned in Tobit, and of whom other demons were begotten: the Targuru of Jonathan adds,
"she was the mistress of lamentation and songs;''
but our Bishop Cumberland {g} conjectures, that she was the wife of Ham, was with him in the ark, and after the flood was the means of leading him into idolatry: what led him to this conjecture was, that he observed in Plutarch, that the wife of Cronus, the same with Ham, is by some called Nemaus, which brought Naamah to his mind. Josephus {h} makes the number of children Lamech had by his two wives to be seventy seven.
{u} Antiqu. l. 1. c. 2. sect. 2. {w} Ut supra. (Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 1. p. 35.) {x} Canaan, l. 2. c. 2. col. 706. {y} Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 11, 13. & l. 5. p. 341. {z} Stromat. l. 1. p. 307. Vid. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 34. c. 1, 2. {a} Geograph. l. 10. p. 326. {b} Elmacinus, p. 8. apud Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. l. 1. C. 8. p. 232. {c} Antiqu. l. 1. c. 2. sect. 2. {d} Plutarch. de Jide. {e} Bereshit Rabba, sect. 23. fol. 20. 3. Jarchi in loc. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 1. 2. {f} R. Elias Levita in Tishbi, fol. 19, 21. {g} History of Sanchoniatho, p. 107. {h} Antiqu. l. 1. c. 2. sect. 2.
Genesis 4:23
Ver. 23. And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah,.... Confessing what he had done, or boasting what he would do should he be attacked; or in order to make his wives easy, who might fear from his fierceness and cruelty; and the murders he had committed, or on account of Abel's murder, Ge 4:15 that either the judgments of God would fall upon him and them, or some man or other would dispatch him and his; wherefore calling them together, he thus bespeaks them,
hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech; this he said in an imperious manner to them, demanding their attention and regard, and as glorying in, instead of being ashamed of his polygamy, and in a blustering way, as neither fearing God nor man; or rather speaking comfortably to them, to remove their fears:
for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt; which, as some say, were his great-grandfather Cain, and his son Tubalcain: according to a tradition of the Jews {i}, it was after this manner; Cain being old, and blind, and weary, sat in a thicket among the trees to rest himself; when Lamech, who was blind also, and led by Tubalcain hunting, who seeing Cain, and taking him for a wild beast, bid Lamech draw his bow, which he did, and killed him; but coming nearer, and finding it was Cain, was wroth and angry, and slew the young man: the Arabic writers {k} tell the story with a little variation, and
"Lamech being in a wood with one of his sons, and hearing a noise in it, supposing it to be a wild beast, cast a stone, which fell upon Cain, and killed him ignorantly; and the lad that led him said, what hast thou done? thou hast killed Cain; at which being very sorrowful after the manner of penitents, he smote his hands together, and the lad standing before him, he struck his head with both his hands, and killed him unawares; and coming to his wives, Adah and Zillah, said to them, hear my word, he that slew Abel shall be avenged sevenfold, but Lamech seventy times seven, who killed a man with a cast of a stone, and a young man by clapping of his hands.''
And our version, and others, imply, that he killed both a man, and a young man, or some one person or more, and that he was sorry for it, made confession of it; it was to the wounding and grief of his soul, which does not so well agree with one of the wicked race of Cain: wherefore the words may be rendered, "though I have slain a man" {l}, that is nothing to you, you are not accountable for it, nor have any thing to fear coming upon you by reason of that; it is to my own wounding, damage, and hurt, if to any, and not to you. Some versions render it, "I would slay a man", &c. {m} any man, young or old, that should attack me; I fear no man: if any man wounds me, or offers to do me any hurt, I would slay him at once; I doubt not but I should be more than a match for him, be he who he will that shall set upon me, and kill him; though I might receive some slight wound, or some little hurt in the engagement, and therefore you need not be afraid of any man's hurting me. The Arabic version reads interrogatively, "have I killed a man &c.?" and so some others {n}, I have not; with which agree the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan,
"I have not killed a man;''
for which he or his posterity should be punished, as they interpreted it; and therefore his wives had no need to fear any ill should befall him or them, or that the murder of Abel should be avenged on them, this being the seventh generation in which it was to be avenged, Ge 4:15 wherefore it follows,
{i} R. Gedaliah, Shalshaleth Hakabala, fol. 74. 2. Jarchi in loc. {k} Elmacinus, p. 7. apud Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. l. 1. c. 8. p. 224, 225. {l} So the particle yk is sometimes used; see Nold. Part. Ebr. Concord. p. 399. {m} ytgrh "interficerem", Vatablus; "certe ausim interficere", Piscator; "sane occiderem, ant occiderim", Muis, Rivet. {n} "An virum inferfeci?" De Dieu.
Genesis 4:24
Ver. 24. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold. Which if understood of him as confessing and lamenting his sin of murder, the sense is, if Cain was so severely punished for killing one man, of how much sorer punishment am I deserving, and shall have, who have killed two persons, and that after I had seen the punishment of Cain, and yet took no warning by it? or if he that killed Cain, who slew his brother, was to be avenged sevenfold, or to seven generations, then how much more, or longer, shall he be avenged, that shall slay me, who have slain none, or however not designedly; and therefore you may be easy and quiet, your fears, either from God or man, are groundless.
Genesis 4:25
Ver. 25. And Adam knew his wife again,.... The Targum of Jonathan adds, at the end of a hundred and thirty years after Abel was killed, see Ge 5:3 but, according to Bishop Usher, Seth was born the same year, which is most probable.
And she bare a son, and called his name Seth, that is, "put, placed, set"; not with any respect to Cain, who had no settled fixed abode, but wandered about; or to Seth as a foundation of the church and true religion, being a type of Christ the only foundation, though he may be considered in such a light; but the reason of his name follows:
for God, [said she], hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew; that is, another son in his room; and by calling him a "seed", she may have respect unto the promised seed, whom she once thought Cain was, or however expected him in his line, as being the firstborn; but he proving a wicked man, and having slain his brother Abel, on whom her future hope was placed, has another son given her, and substituted in his room, in whom, and in whose family, the true religion would be preserved, and from whom the Messiah, the promised seed, would spring see Ga 3:16.
Genesis 4:26
Ver. 26. And to Seth, to him also there was born a son,.... When he was an hundred and five years old, Ge 5:6 and this is mentioned as a further proof and instance of God's goodness to Adam's family in this line, that there was a succession in it, where the true worship of God was kept, and from whence the Messiah was to arise, and as a pledge and confirmation of it:
and he called his name Enos; which is generally interpreted a weak, feeble, frail, mortal, miserable man; which Seth being sensible of, and observing the sorrows of human life, and especially an increase of them among good men through the growing corruptions of the age, gave this name to his son; though it may be observed, that the derivation of this name may be from the Arabic word "anas" {o}, to be sociable and familiar; man being a sociable creature, not only in civil but in religious things, and so a reason of the name may be taken from what follows;
then began men to call upon the name of the Lord; not but that Adam and Abel, and all good men, had called upon the name of the Lord, and prayed to him, or worshipped him before this time personally, and in their families; but now the families of good men being larger, and more numerous, they joined together in social and public worship: or since it may be thought there were public assemblies for religious worship before this time, though it may be they had been neglected, and now were revived with more zeal and vigour; seeing the Cainites incorporating themselves, and joining families together, and building cities, and carrying on their civil and religious affairs among themselves, they also formed themselves into distinct bodies; and not only separated from them, but called themselves by a different name; for so the words may be rendered: "then began men to call themselves", or "to be called by the name of the Lord" {p}; the sons of God, as distinct from the sons of men; which distinction may be observed in Ge 6:2 and has been retained more or less ever since: some choose to translate the words, "then began men to call in the name of the Lord" {q}; that is, to call upon God in the name of the Messiah, the Mediator between God and man; having now, since the birth of Seth, and especially of Enos, clearer notions of the promised seed, and of the use of him, and his name, in their addresses to God; see Joh 14:13. The Jews give a very different sense of these words; the Targum of Onkelos is,
"then in his days the children of men ceased from praying in the name of the Lord;''
and the Targum of Jonathan is,
"this was the age, in the days of which they began to err, and they made themselves idols, and surnamed their idols by the name of the Word of the Lord;''
with which agrees the note of Jarchi,
"then they began to call the names of men, and the names of herbs, by the name of the blessed God, to make idols of them:''
and some of them say, particularly Maimonides {r}, that Enos himself erred, and fell into idolatry, and was the first inventor of images, by the mediation of which men prayed to God: but all this seems to be without foundation, and injurious to the character of this antediluvian patriarch; nor does it appear that idolatry obtained in the posterity of Seth, or among the people of God so early; nor is such an account agreeable to the history which Moses is giving of the family of Seth, in opposition to that of Cain; wherefore one or other of the former senses is best.
{o} "Consuevit, assuevit, et familiaris evasit", Golius, col. 169. {p} hwhy Mvb arql "vocari de nomine Jehovae", Piscator. {q} "Ad invocandum in nomine Domini", Montanus, "vel vocare in nomine Domini", Cartwright. {r} Hilchot Obede Cochabim, c. 1. sect. 1. R, Gedaliah, Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 74. 2. Juchasin, fol. 134. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
When Cain was born, Eve said, | have gotten a man
from the Lord. Perhaps she thought that this was the promised
seed. If so, she was wofully disappointed. Abel signifies vanity:
when she thought she had the promised seed in Cain, whose name
signifies possession, she was so taken up with him that another son
was as vanity to her. Observe, each son had a calling. It is the will
of God for every one to have something to do in this world. Parents
ought to bring up their children to work. Give them a Bible and a
calling, said good Mr. Dod, and God be with them. We may believe
that God commanded Adam, after the fall, to shed the blood of
innocent animals, and after their death to burn part or the whole of
their bodies by fire. Thus that punishment which sinners deserve,
even the death of the body, and the wrath of God, of which fire is a
well-known emblem, and also the sufferings of Christ, were
prefigured. Observe that the religious worship of God is no new
invention. It was from the beginning; it is the good old way,
Jeremiah 6:16. The offerings of Cain and Abel were different. Cain
showed a proud, unbelieving heart. Therefore he and his offering
were rejected. Abel came as a sinner, and according to God's
appointment, by his sacrifice expressing humility, sincerity, and
believing obedience. Thus, seeking the benefit of the new covenant
of mercy, through the promised Seed, his sacrifice had a token that
God accepted it. Abel offered in faith, and Cain did not, Hebrews
11:4. In all ages there have been two sorts of worshippers, such as
Cain and Abel; namely, proud, hardened despisers of the gospel
method of salvation, who attempt to please God in ways of their
own devising; and humble believers, who draw near to him in the
way he has revealed. Cain indulged malignant anger against Abel.
He harboured an evil spirit of discontent and rebellion against God.
God notices all our sinful passions and discontents. There is not an
angry, envious, or fretful look, that escapes his observing eye. The
Lord reasoned with this rebellious man; if he came in the right way,
he should be accepted. Some understand this as an intimation of
mercy. "If thou doest not well, sin, that is, the sin-offering, lies at the
door, and thou mayest take the benefit of it." The same word
signifies sin, and a sacrifice for sin. "Though thou hast not done
well, yet do not despair; the remedy is at hand." Christ, the great
sin-offering, is said to stand at the door, Revelation 3:20. And those
92
well deserve to perish in their sins, that will not go to the door to ask
for the benefit of this sin-offering. God's acceptance of Abel's
offering did not change the birthright, and make it his; why then
should Cain be so angry? Sinful heats and disquiets vanish before
a strict and fair inquiry into the cause. WHBC 5.2
When Cain was born, Eve said, | have gotten a man
from the Lord. Perhaps she thought that this was the promised
seed.
Sinful heats and disquiets vanish before
a strict and fair inquiry into the cause. WHBC 5.2
Sources: Matthew Henry; Gill's Exposition; Matthew Henry Concise
Commentary
Commentary