Genesis 4 commentary

When Cain was born, Eve said, I 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, Jer 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, Heb 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, Re 3:20. And those 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.

Malice in the heart ends in murder by the hands. Cain slew Abel, his own brother, his own mother's son, whom he ought to have loved; his younger brother, whom he ought to have protected; a good brother, who had never done him any wrong. What fatal effects were these of our first parents' sin, and how must their hearts have been filled with anguish! Observe the pride, unbelief, and impenitence of Cain. He denies the crime, as if he could conceal it from God. He tries to cover a deliberate murder with a deliberate lie. Murder is a crying sin. Blood calls for blood, the blood of the murdered for the blood of the murderer. Who knows the extent and weight of a Divine curse, how far it reaches, how deep it pierces? Only in Christ are believers saved from it, and inherit the blessing. Cain was cursed from the earth. He found his punishment there where he chose his portion, and set his heart. Every creature is to us what God makes it, a comfort or a cross, a blessing or a curse. The wickedness of the wicked brings a curse upon all they do, and all they have. Cain complains not of his sin, but of his punishment. It shows great hardness of heart to be more concerned about our sufferings than our sins. God has wise and holy ends in prolonging the lives even of very wicked men. It is in vain to inquire what was the mark set upon Cain. It was doubtless known, both as a brand of infamy on Cain, and a token from God that they should not kill him. Abel, being dead, yet speaketh. He tells the heinous guilt of murder, and warns us to stifle the first risings of wrath, and teaches us that persecution must be expected by the righteous. Also, that there is a future state, and an eternal recompence to be enjoyed, through faith in Christ and his atoning sacrifice. And he tells us the excellency of faith in the atoning sacrifice and blood of the Lamb of God. Cain slew his brother, because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous, 1Jo 3:12. In consequence of the enmity put between the Seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, the war broke out, which has been waged ever since. In this war we are all concerned, none are neuter; our Captain has declared, He that is not with me is against me. Let us decidedly, yet in meekness, support the cause of truth and righteousness against Satan.

Cain cast off all fear of God, and attended no more on God's ordinances. Hypocritical professors, who dissemble and trifle with God, are justly left to themselves to do something grossly scandalous. So they throw off that form of godliness to which they have been a reproach, and of which they deny the power. Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and we never find that he came into it again, to his comfort. The land Cain dwelt in was called the land of Nod, which means, ‘shaking,’ or ‘trembling,’ and so shows the restlessness and uneasiness of his own spirit, or ‘the land of a vagabond:’ they that depart from God cannot find rest any where else. Those on earth who looked for the heavenly city, chose to dwell in tabernacles or tents; but Cain, as not minding that city, built one on earth. Thus all who are cursed of God seek their settlement and satisfaction here below.

One of Cain's wicked race is the first recorded, as having broken the law of marriage. Hitherto, one man had but one wife at a time; but Lamech took two. Wordly things, are the only things that carnal, wicked people set their hearts upon, and are most clever and industrious about. So it was with this race of Cain. Here was a father of shepherds, and a father of musicians, but not a father of the faithful. Here is one to teach about brass and iron, but none to teach the good knowledge of the Lord: here are devices how to be rich, and how to be mighty, and how to be merry; but nothing of God, of his fear and service. Present things fill the heads of most. Lamech had enemies, whom he had provoked. He draws a comparison betwixt himself and his ancestor Cain; and flatters himself that he is much less criminal. He seems to abuse the patience of God in sparing Cain, into an encouragement to expect that he may sin unpunished.

Our first parents were comforted in their affliction by the birth of a son, whom they called Seth, that is, ‘set,’ ‘settled,’ or ‘placed;’ in his seed mankind should continue to the end of time, and from him the Messiah should descend. While Cain, the head of the apostacy, 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. Seth walked in the steps of his martyred brother Abel; he was a partaker of like precious faith in the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ, and so became a fresh witness of the grace and influence of God the Holy Spirit. God gave Adam and Eve to see the revival of religion in their family. The worshippers of God began to do more in religion; some, by an open profession of true religion, protested against the wickedness of the world around. The worse others are, the better we should be, and the more zealous. Then began the distinction between professors and profane, which has been kept up ever since, and will be, while the world stands.

1. And Adam knew his wife Eve . Moses now begins to describe the propagation of mankind; in which history it is important to notice that this benediction of God, “Increase and multiply,” was not abolished by sin; and not only so, but that the heart of Adam was divinely confirmed so that he did not shrink with horror from the production of offspring. And as Adam recognised, in the very commencement of having offspring, the truly paternal moderation of God’s anger, so was he afterwards compelled to taste the bitter fruits of his own sin, when Cain slew Abel. But let us follow the narration of Moses. The following passage here occurs in the original: — “Cognoscendi verbo congressum viri cum uxore, rem per se pudendam, verecunde insinuat: quanquam coitus foeditas inter peccati fructus numeranda est; quia nascitur ex libidinis intemperie: porro licet,” etc. Although Moses does not state that Cain and Abel were twins it yet seems to me probable that they were so; for, after he has said that Eve, by her first conception, brought forth her firstborn, he soon after subjoins that she also bore another; and thus, while commemorating a double birth, he speaks only of one conception. “Ita duplicem partum commemorans, nonnisi de uno concubitu loquitur.” Let those who think differently enjoy their own opinion; to me, however it appears accordant with reason, when the world had to be replenished with inhabitants, that not only Cain and Abel should have been brought forth at one births but many also afterwards, both males and females.

I have gotten a man . The word which Moses uses signifies both to acquire and to possess ; and it is of little consequence to the present context which of the two you adopt. It is more important to inquire why she says that she has received, את יהוה ( eth Yehovah .) Some expound it, ‘with the Lord;’ that is, ‘by the kindness, or by the favor, of the Lord;’ as if Eve would refer the accepted blessing of offspring to the Lord, as it is said in Psalm 127:3, “The fruit of the womb is the gift of the Lord.” A second interpretation comes to the same point, ‘I have possessed a man from the Lord;’ and the version of Jerome is of equal force, ‘Through the Lord.’ “Possedi hominem per Deum.” — Vulgate . “Εκτησάμην ἄνθρωπον διὰ τον Θεοῦ.” — Sept These three readings, I say, tend to this point, that Eve gives thanks to God for having begun to raise up a posterity through her, though she was deserving of perpetual barrenness, as well as of utter destruction. Others, with greater subtlety, expound the words, ‘I have gotten the man of the Lord;’ as if Eve understood that she already possessed that conqueror of the serpent, who had been divinely promised to her. Hence they celebrate the faith of Eve, because she embraced, by faith, the promise concerning the bruising of the head of the devil through her seed; only they think that she was mistaken in the person or the individual, seeing that she would restrict to Cain what had been promised concerning Christ. To me, however, this seems to be the genuine sense, that while Eve congratulates herself on the birth of a son, she offers him to God, as the first-fruits of his race. Therefore, I think it ought to be translated, ‘I have obtained a man from the Lord’, which approaches more nearly the Hebrew phrase. Moreover, she calls a newborn infant a man, because she saw the human race renewed, which both she and her husband had ruined by their own fault. The reader will find a discussion of this remarkable passage worthy of his attention in Dr. J. P. Smith’s Scripture Testimony to the Messiah, vol. 1, p. 228. Third edition. 1837. This learned, indefatigable, and candid writer, argues with considerable force in favor of the translation, ‘I have obtained a man, Jehovah,’ and supposes that Eve really believed her first-born to be the incarnate Jehovah. There is, however, great difficulty in allowing that she could know so much as is here presupposed; and the remark of Dathe seems fatal to this interpretation: — ‘Si scivit, Messiam esse debere Jovam, quomodo existimare potuit, Cainam esse Messiam, quem sciebat esse ab Adamo genitum.’ If Eve knew that Messiah must be Jehovah, how could she think that Cain was the Messiah, when she knew him to be the offspring of Adam? — Ed.

2. And she again bare his brother Abel “Et addidit parere fratrem ejus Ebel;” and she added to bring forth (or she brought forth in addition) his brother Abel. — Ed. It is well known whence the name of Cain is deduced, and for what reason it was given to him. For his mother said, קניתי ( kaniti ,) I have gotten a man; and therefore she called his name Cain. That is, “obtained,” or “gotten.” — Ed. The same explanation is not given with respect to Abel. הנל, ( Hebel ,) signifies vanity. — Ed The opinion of some, that he was so called by his mother out of contempt, as if he would prove superfluous and almost useless, is perfectly absurd; for she remembered the end to which her fruitfulness would lead; nor had she forgotten the benediction, “Increase and multiply.” We should (in my judgment) more correctly infer that whereas Eve had testified, in the name given to her firstborn, the joy which suddenly burst upon her, and celebrated the grace of God; she afterwards, in her other offspring, returned to the recollection of the miseries of the human race. And certainly, though the new blessing of God was an occasion for no common joy; yet, on the other hand, she could not look upon a posterity devoted to so many and great evils, of which she had herself been the cause, without the most bitter grief. Therefore, she wished that a monument of her sorrow should exist in the name she gave her second son; and she would, at the same time, hold up a common mirror, by which she might admonish her whole progeny of the vanity of man. That some censure the judgment of Eve as absurd, because she regarded her just and holy sons as worthy to be rejected in comparison with her other wicked and abandoned son, is what I do not approve. For Eve had reason why she should congratulate herself in her firstborn; and no blame attaches to her for having proposed, in her second son, a memorial to herself and to all others, of their own vanity, to induce them to exercise themselves in diligent reflection on their own evils.

And Abel was a keeper of sheep . Whether both the brothers had married wives, and each had a separate home, Moses does not relate. This therefore, remains to us in uncertainty, although it is probable that Cain was married before he slew his brother; since Moses soon after adds, that he knew his wife, and begot children: and no mention is there made of his marriage. Both followed a kind of life in itself holy and laudable. For the cultivation of the earth was commanded by God; and the labor of feeding sheep was not less honorable than useful; in short, the whole of rustic life was innocent and simple, and most of all accommodated to the true order of nature. This, therefore, is to be maintained in the first place, that both exercised themselves in labors approved by God, and necessary to the common use of human life. Whence it is inferred, that they had been well instructed by their father. The rite of sacrificing more fully confirms this; because it proves that they had been accustomed to the worship of God. The life of Cain, therefore, was, in appearance, very well regulated; inasmuch as he cultivated the duties of piety towards God, and sought a maintenance for himself and his, by honest and just labor, as became a provident and sober father of a family. Moreover, it will be here proper to recall to memory what we have before said, that the first men, though they had been deprived of the sacrament of divine love, when they were prohibited from the tree of life, had yet been only so deprived of it, that a hope of salvation was still left to them, of which they had the signs in sacrifices. For we must remember, that the custom of sacrificing was not rashly devised by them, but was divinely delivered to them. For since the Apostle refers the dignity of Abel’s accepted sacrifice to faith , it follows, first, that he had not offered it without the command of God, (Hebrews 11:4.) Secondly, it has been true from the beginning, of the world, that obedience is better than any sacrifices, (1 Samuel 15:22,) and is the parent of all virtues. Hence it also follows that man had been taught by God what was pleasing to Him. thirdly, since God has been always like himself, we may not say that he was ever delighted with mere carnal and external worship. Yet he deemed those sacrifices of the first age acceptable. It follows, therefore, further, that they had been spiritually offered to him: that is, that the holy fathers did not mock him with empty ceremonies, but comprehended something more sublime and secret; which they could not have done without divine instruction. “Absque verbo.” Literally “without the word.” — Ed. For it is interior truth alone That is, “truth received into the heart.” — Ed. which, in the external signs, distinguishes the genuine and rational worship of God from that which is gross and superstitious. And, certainly, they could not sincerely devote their mind to the worship of God, unless they had been assured of his benevolence; because voluntary reverence springs from a sense of, and confidence in, his goodness; but, on the other hand, whosoever regards Godhostile to himself, is compelled to flee from him with very fear and horror. We see then that God, when he takes away the tree of life, in which he had first given the pledge of his grace, proves and declares himself to be propitious to man by other means. Should anyone object, that all nations have had their own sacrifices, and that in these there was no pure and solid religion, the solution is ready: namely, that mention is here made of such sacrifices as are lawful and approved by God; of which nothing but an adulterated imitation afterwards descended to the Gentiles. For although nothing but the word מנחה( minchah , Mincha usually, though not invariably, signifies an “unbloody oblation,” in opposition to זבע, ( zeba ,) a “bloody sacrifice.” — See Gesenius, Lee, etc. — Ed ) is here placed, which properly signifies a gift , and therefore is extended generally to every kind of oblation; yet we may infer, for two reasons, that the command respecting sacrifice was given to the fathers from the beginning; first, for the purpose of making the exercise of piety common to all, seeing they professed themselves to be the property of God, and esteemed all they possessed as received from him; and, secondly, for the purpose of admonishing them of the necessity of some expiation in order to their reconciliation with God. When each offers something of his property, there is a solemn giving of thanks, as if he would testify by his present act that he owes to God whatever he possesses. But the sacrifice of cattle and the effusion of blood contains something further, namely, that the offerer should have death before his eyes; and should, nevertheless, believe in God as propitious to him. Concerning the sacrifices of Adam no mention is made.

4. And the Lord had respect unto Abel , etc . God is said to have respect unto the man to whom he vouchsafes his favor. We must, however, notice the order here observed by Moses; for he does not simply state that the worship which Abel had paid was pleasing to God, but he begins with the person of the offerer; by which he signifies, that God will regard no works with favor except those the doer of which is already previously accepted and approved by him. And no wonder; for man sees things which are apparent, but God looks into the heart, (1 Samuel 16:7;) therefore, he estimates works no otherwise than as they proceed from the fountain of the heart. Whence also it happens, that he not only rejects but abhors the sacrifices of the wicked, however splendid they may appear in the eyes of men. For if he, who is polluted in his soul, by his mere touch contaminates, with his own impurities, things otherwise pure and clean, how can that but be impure which proceeds from himself? When God repudiates the feigned righteousness in which the Jews were glorying, he objects, through his Prophet, that their hands were “full of blood,” (Isaiah 1:15.) For the same reason Haggai contends against the hypocrites. The external appearance, therefore, of works, which may delude our too carnal eyes, vanishes in the presence of God. Nor were even the heathens ignorant of this; whose poets, when they speak with a sober and well-regulated mind of the worship of God, require both a clean heart and pure hands. Hence, even among all nations, is to be traced the solemn rite of washing before sacrifices. Now seeing that in another place, the Spirit testifies, by the mouth of Peter, that ‘hearts are purified by faith,’ (Acts 15:9;) and seeing that the purity of the holy patriarchs was of the very same kind, the apostle does not in vain infer, that the offering of Abel was, by faith, more excellent than that of Cain. Therefore, in the first place, we must hold, that all works done before faith, whatever splendor of righteousness may appear in them, were nothing but mere sins, being defiled from their roots, and were offensive to the Lord, whom nothing can please without inward purity of heart. I wish they who imagine that men, by their own motion of freewill, are rendered meet to receive the grace of God, would reflect on this. Certainly, no controversy would then remain on the question, whether God justifies men gratuitously, and that by faith? For this must be received as a settled point, that, in the judgment of God, no respect is had to works until man is received into favor. Another point appears equally certain; since the whole human race is hateful to God, there is no other way of reconciliation to divine favor than through faith. Moreover, since faith is a gratuitous gift of God, and a special illumination of the Spirit, then it is easy to infer, that we are prevented The word prevented is here used in the sense now rendered somewhat obsolete, though retained in the Liturgy and Articles of the Church of England. We have, in fact, no other word which so well describes the effect of that prevenient grace, which anticipates and goes before every thing that is good in man. — Ed. by his mere grace, just as if he had raised us from the dead. In which sense also Peter says, that it is God who purifies the hearts by faith. For there would be no agreement of the fact with the statement, unless God had so formed faith in the hearts of men that it might be truly deemed his gift. It may now be seen in what way purity is the effect of faith. It is a vapid and trifling philosophy, to adduce this as the cause of purity, that men are not induced to seek God as their rewarder except by faith. They who speak thus entirely bury the grace of God, which his Spirit chiefly commends. Others also speak coldly, who teach that we are purified by faiths only on account of the gift of regenerations in order that we may be accepted of God. For not only do they omit half the truth, but build without a foundation; since, on account of the curse on the human race, it became necessary that gratuitous reconciliation should precede. Again, since God never so regenerates his people in this world, that they can worship him perfectly; no work of man can possibly be acceptable without expiation. And to this point the ceremony of legal washing belongs, in order that men may learn, that as often as they wish to draw near unto God, purity must be sought elsewhere. Wherefore God will then at length have respect to our obedience, when he looks upon us in Christ.

5. But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect . It is not to be doubted, that Cain conducted himself as hypocrites are accustomed to do; namely, that he wished to appease God, as one discharging a debt, by external sacrifices, without the least intention of dedicating himself to God. But this is true worship, to offer ourselves as spiritual sacrifices to God. When God sees such hypocrisy, combined with gross and manifest mockery of himself; it is not surprising that he hates it, and is unable to bear it; whence also it follows, that he rejects with contempt the works of those who withdraw themselves from him. For it is his will, first to have us devoted to himself; he then seeks our works in testimony of our obedience to him, but only in the second place. It is to be remarked, that all the figments by which men mock both God and themselves are the fruits of unbelief: To this is added pride, because unbelievers, despising the Mediator’s grace, throw themselves fearlessly into the presence of God. The Jews foolishly imagine that the oblations of Cain were unacceptable, because he defrauded God of the full ears of corn, and meanly offered him only barren or half-filled ears. Deeper and more hidden was the evil; namely that impurity of heart of which I have been speaking; just as, on the other hand, the strong scent of burning fat could not conciliate the divine favor to the sacrifices of Abel; but, being pervaded by the good odour of faith, they had a sweet-smelling savor.

And Cain was very wroth . In this place it is asked, whence Cain understood that his brother’s oblations were preferred to his? The Hebrews, according to their manner, report to divinations and imagine that the sacrifice of Abel was consumed by celestial fire; but, since we ought not to allow ourselves so great a license as to invent miracles, for which we have no testimony of Scripture, let Jewish fables be dismissed. It will, perhaps, be admitted that Calvin here deals too hardly with the opinions of the Jews. That God did in some way bear public testimony to his acceptance of Abel’s sacrifice, is recorded by St. Paul; and there is surely nothing unreasonable in the supposition that he did it, as in several other instances, by fire from heaven. The reader may see several authorities adduced in Poole; he may also consult Ainsworth on the Pentateuch, Dr. P. Smith on the Atonement; and especially, Faber’s “Treatise of the Origin of Expiatory Sacrifice.” — Ed. It is, indeed, more probable, that Cain formed the judgement which Moses records, from the events which followed. He saw that it was better with his brother than with himself; thence he inferred, that God was pleased with his brother, and displeased with himself. We know also, that to hypocrites nothing seems of greater value, nothing is more to their heart’s content, then earthly blessing. moreover, in the person of Cain is portrayed to us the likeness of a wicked man, who yet desires to be esteemed just, and even arrogates to himself the first place among saints. Such persons truly, by external works, strenuously labor to deserve well at the hands of God; but, retaining a heart inwrapped in deceit, they present to him nothing but a mask; so that, in their labourious and anxious religious worship, there is nothing sincere, nothing but mere pretense. When they afterwards see that they gain no advantage, they betray the venom of their minds; for they not only complain against God, but break forth in manifest fury, so that, if they were able, they would gladly tear him don from his heavenly throne. Such is the innate pride of all hypocrites, that, by the very appearance of obedience, they would hold God as under obligation to them; because they cannot escape from his authority, they try to sooth him with blandishments, as they would a child; in the meantime, while they count much of their fictitious trifles, they think that God does them great wrong if he does not applaud them; but when he pronounces their offerings frivolous and of no value in his sight, they first begin to murmur, and then to rage. Their impiety alone hinders God from being reconciled unto them; but they wish to bargain with God on their own terms. When this is denied, they burn with furious indignation, which, though conceived against God, they cast forth upon his children. Thus, when Cain was angry with God, his fury was poured forth on his unoffending brother. When Moses says, “his countenance fell,” (the word countenance is in Hebrew put in the plural number for the singular,) he means, that not only was he seized with a sudden vehement anger, but that, from a lingering sadness, he cherished a feeling so malignant that he was wasting with envy.

6. And the Lord said unto Cain . God now proceeds against Cain himself, and cites him to His tribunal, that the wretched man may understand that his rage can profit him nothing. He wishes honor to be given him for his sacrifices; but because he does not obtain it, he is furiously angry. Meanwhile, he does not consider that through his own fault he had failed to gain his wish; for had he but been conscious of his inward evil, he would have ceased to expostulate with God, and to rage against his guiltless brother. Moses does not state in what manner God spoke. Whether a vision was presented to him, or he heard an oracle from heaven, or was admonished by secret inspiration, he certainly felt himself bound by a divine judgment. To apply this to the person of Adam, as being the prophet and interpreter of God in censuring his son, is constrained and even frigid. I understand what it is which good men, not less pious than learned, propose, when they sport with such fancies. Their intention is to honor the external ministry of the word, and to cut off the occasion which Satan takes to insinuate his illusions under the color of revelation. “Et retrancher les occasions que prend Satan, pour faire illusion aux hommes, en s’insinuant sous couleur des revelations.” — French Tr. Truly I confess, nothing is more useful than that pious minds should be retained, under the order of preaching, in obedience to the Scripture, that they may not seek the mind of God in erratic speculations. But we may observe, that the word of God was delivered from the beginning by oracles, in order that afterwards, when administered by the hands of men, it might receive the greater reverence. I also acknowledge that the office of teaching was enjoined upon Adam, and do not doubt that he diligently admonished his children: yet they who think that God only spoke through his ministers, too violently restrict the words of Moses. Let us rather conclude, that, before the heavenly teaching was committed to public records, God often made known his will by extraordinary methods, and that here was the foundation which supported reverence for the word; while the doctrine delivered through the hands of men was like the edifice itself. Certainly, though I should be silent, all men would acknowledge how greatly such an imagination as that to which we refer, abates the force of the divine reprimand. Therefore, as the voice of God had previously so sounded in the ears of Adam, that he certainly perceived God to speak; so is it also now directed to Cain.

7. If thou does well . In these words God reproves Cain for having been unjustly angry, inasmuch as the blame of the whole evil lay with himself. For foolish indeed was his complaint and indignation at the rejection of sacrifices, the defects of which he had taken no care to amend. Thus all wicked men, after they have been long and vehemently enraged against God, are at length so convicted by the Divine judgment, that they vainly desire to transfer to others the cause of the evil. The Greek interpreters recede, in this place, far from the genuine meaning of Moses. Since, in that age, there were none of those marks or points which the Hebrews use instead of vowels, it was more easy, in consequence of the affinity of words to each other, to strike into an extraneous sense. I however, as any one, moderately versed in the Hebrew language, will easily judge of their error, I will not pause to refute it. The version of the Septuagint is, Οὐκ ἐα<n ojrqw~v prosene>γκὟς ορθῶς δὲ μὴ διελης ἤμαρτες; “If thou shouldst rightly offer, but yet not rightly divide, wouldst thou not sin?” See Archbishop Magee’s Discourses, etc, No. lxv., where he ingeniously accounts for the manner in which the translators of the Septuagint version may have misunderstood the original. — Ed Yet even those who are skilled in the Hebrew tongue differ not a little among themselves, although only respecting a single word; for the Greeks change the whole sentence. Among those who agree concerning the context and the substance of the address, there is a difference respecting the word שאת( seait ,) which is truly in the imperative mood, but ought to be resolved into a noun substantive. Yet this is not the real difficulty; but, since the verb נשא ( nasa , See Schindler, sub voce, No. in.; and the Discourses before referred to, No. lxv. ) signifies sometimes to exalt , sometimes to take away or remit, sometimes to offer , and sometimes to accept , interpreters very among themselves, as each adopts this or the other meaning. Some of the Hebrew Doctors refer it to the countenance of Cain, as if God promised that he would lift it up though now cast down with sorrow. Other of the Hebrews apply it to the remission of sins; as if it had been said, ‘Do well, and thou shalt obtain pardon’. But because they imagine a satisfaction, which derogates from free pardon, they dissent widely from the meaning of Moses. A third exposition approaches more nearly to the truth, that exaltation is to be taken for honor, in this way, ‘There is no need to envy thy brother’s honor, because, if thou conductest thyself rightly, God will also raise thee to the same degree of honor; though he now, offended by thy sins, has condemned thee to ignominy.’ But even this does not meet my approbation. Others refine more philosophically, and say, that Cain would find God propitious and would be assisted by his grace, if he should by faith bring purity of heart with his outward sacrifices. These I leave to enjoy their own opinion, but I fear they aim at what has little solidity. Jerome translates the word, ‘Thou shalt receive;’ understanding that God promises a reward to that pure and lawful worship which he requires. Having recited the opinions of others, let me now offer what appears to me more suitable. In the first place, the word שאת means the same thing as acceptance , and stands opposed to rejection . Secondly, since the discourse has respect to the matter in hand, “De re subjecta habitur sermo.” I explain the saying as referring to sacrifices, namely, that God will accept them when rightly offered. They who are skilled in the Hebrew language know that here is nothing forced, or remote from the genuine signification of the word. Now the very order of things leads us to the same point: namely, that God pronounces those sacrifices repudiated and rejected, as being of no value, which are offered improperly; but that the oblation will be accepted, as pleasant and of good odour, if it be pure and legitimate. We now perceive how unjustly Cain was angry that his sacrifices were not honored seeing that God was ready to receive them with outstretched hands, provided they ceased to be faulty. At the same time, however; what I before said must be recalled to memory, that the chief point of well-doing is, for pious persons, relying on Christ the Mediator, and on the gratuitous reconciliation procured by him, to endeavor to worship God sincerely and without dissimulation. Therefore, these two things are joined together by a mutual connection: that the faithful, as often as they enter into the presence of God, are commended by the grace of Christ alone, their sins being blotted out; and yet that they bring thither true purity of heart.

And if thou does not well . On the other hand, God pronounces a dreadful sentence against Cain, if he harden his mill in wickedness and indulge himself in his crime; for the address is very emphatical, because God not only repels his unjust complaint, but shows that Cain could have no greater adversary than that sin of his which he inwardly cherished. He so binds the impious man, by a few concise words, that he can find no refuge, as if he had said, ‘Thy obstinacy shall not profit thee; for, though thou shouldst have nothing to do with me, thy sin shall give thee no rest, but shall drive thee on, pursue thee, and urge thee, and never suffer thee to escape.’ Hence it follows, that he not only raged in vain and to no profit; but was held guilty by his own inward conviction, even though no one should accuse him; for the expression, ‘Sin lieth at the door’, relates to the interior judgement of the conscience, which presses upon the man convinced of his sin, and besieges him on every side. Although the impious may imagine that God slumbers in heaven, and may strive, as far as possible, to repel the fear of his judgment; yet sin will be perpetually drawing them back, though reluctant and fugitives, to that tribunal from which they endeavor to retire. The declarations even of heathens testify that they were not ignorant of this truth; for it is not to be doubted that, when they say, ‘Conscience is like a thousand witnesses,’ they compare it to a most cruel executioner. There is no torment more grievous or severe than that which is hence perceived; moreover, God himself extorts confessions of this kind. Juvenal says: —

“Heaven’s high revenge on human crimes behold; Though earthly verdicts may be bought and sold, His judge the sinner in his bosom bears, And conscience racks him with tormenting cares. “Prima est ultio quod se Judice, nemo nocens absolvitur, improba quamvis Gratia fallacis Praetoris vicerit urnam.”

But the expression of Moses has peculiar energy. Sin is said to lie, but it is at the door; for the sinner is not immediately tormented with the fear of judgment; but, gathering around him whatever delights he is able, in order to deceive himself; he walks as in free space, and even revels as in pleasant meadows; when, however, he comes to the door, there he meets with sin, keeping constant guard; and then conscience, which before thought itself at liberty, is arrested, and receives, double punishment for the delay. The Hebrew word חטאת ( chatath ,) which primarily means sin, is also frequently used for sin-offering, and is so translated in various passages of our version. The learned Dr. Lightfoot was the first who proposed that it should be so rendered in the present instance. His interpretation has been controverted, especially by the Socinians; but not be them only; the justly celebrated Dr. Davison has also attempted to set it aside, in his Inquiry into the Origin and Intent of Primitive Sacrifice. But the more profound learning of Dr. Magee and of Mr. Faber has placed the interpretation of Lightfoot on a basis not easily to be shaken. The translation of the passage will, on this supposition, be, ‘If thou doest not well, a sin-offering lieth or coucheth at the door’; and the import of the address will be to this effect, ‘Thou hast only to offer up a sacrifice of atonement, and then the defect of thy offering will be supplied, and the pardon of thy sin granted.’ — See Magee’s Second Discourse, and the Dissertations connected with it; also Faber’s Treatise on the Origin of Expiatory Sacrifice. — Ed

And unto thee shall be his desire . Nearly all commentators refer this to sin, and think that, by this admonition, those depraved hosts are restrained which solicit and impel the mind of man. Therefore, according to their view, the meaning will be of this kind, ‘If sin rises against thee to subdue thee, why dost thou indulge it, and not rather labor to restrain and control it? For it is thy part to subdue and bring into obedience those affections in thy flesh which thou perceivest to be opposed to the will of God, and rebellious against him.’ But I suppose that Moses means something entirely different. I omit to notice that to the Hebrew word for sin is affixed the mark of the feminine gender, but that here two masculine relative pronouns are used. Certainly Moses does not treat particularly of the sin itself which was committed, but of the guilt which is contracted from it, and of the consequent condemnation. How, then, do these words suit, ‘Unto thee shall be his desire?’ Faber contends the expression, “Unto thee shall be his (or its) desire,” refers to the victim which was to be offered as a sin-offering. — See his Treatise, p.129. He also gives the following poetical arrangement of God’s address to Cain: —

“Why is there hot anger unto thee; And why hath fallen thy countenance? If thou doest well, shall there not be exaltation? And if thou doest not well, at the door a sin-offering is couching. And unto thee is its desire, And thou shalt rule over it.”

— Ed. There will, however be no need for long refutation when I shall produce the genuine meaning of the expression. It rather seems to be a reproof, by which God charges the impious man with ingratitude, because he held in contempt the honor of primogeniture. The greater are the divine benefits with which any one of us is adorned, the more does he betray his impiety unless he endeavors earnestly to serve the Author of grace to whom he is under obligation. When Abel was regarded as his brother’s inferior, he was, nevertheless, a diligent worshipper of God. But the firstborn worshipped God negligently and perfunctorily, though he had, by the Divine kindness, arrived at so high a dignity; and, therefore, God enlarges upon his sin, because he had not at least imitated his brother, whom he ought to have surpassed as far in piety as he did in the degree of honor. Moreover, this form of speech is common among the Hebrews, that the desire of the inferior should be towards him to whose will he is subject; thus Moses speaks of the woman, (Genesis 3:16,) that her desire should be to her husband. They, however, childishly trifle, who distort this passage to prove the freedom of the will; for if we grant that Cain was admonished of his duty in order that he might apply himself to the subjugation of sin, yet no inherent power of man is to be hence inferred; because it is certain that only by the grace of the Holy Spirit can the affections of the flesh be so mortified that they shall not prevail. Nor, truly, must we conclude, that as often as God commands anything we shall have strength to perform it, but rather we must hold fast the saying of Augustine, ‘Give what thou commandest, and command what thou wilt.’

8. And Cain talked with Abel his brother . Some understand this conversation to have been general; as if Cain, perfidiously dissembling his anger, spoke in a fraternal manner. Jerome relates the language used, ‘Come, let us go without.’ “Egrediamur foras.” — Vulgate. In my opinion the speech is elliptical, and something is to be understood, yet what it is remains uncertain. Nevertheless, I am not dissatisfied with the explanation, that Moses concisely reprehends the wicked perfidy of the hypocrite, who, by speaking familiarly, presented the appearance of fraternal concord, until the opportunity of perpetrating the horrid murder should be afforded. And by this example we are taught that hypocrites are never to be more dreaded than when they stoop to converse under the pretext of friendship; because when they are not permitted to injure by open violence as much as they please, suddenly they assume a feigned appearance of peace. But it is by no means to be expected that they who are as savage beasts towards God, should sincerely cultivate the confidence of friendship with men. Yet let the reader consider whether Moses did not rather mean, that although Cain was rebuked by God, he, nevertheless, contended with his brother, and thus this saying of his would depend on what had preceded. I certainly rather incline to the opinion that he did not keep his malignant feelings within his own breast, but that he broke forth in accusation against his brother, and angrily declared to him the cause of his dejection.

When they were in the field . Hence we gather that although Cain had complained of his brother at home, he had yet so covered the diabolical fury with which he burned, that Abel suspected nothing worse; for he deferred vengeance to a suitable time. Moreover, this single deed of guilt clearly shows whither Satan will hurry men, when they harden their mind in wickedness, so that in the end, their obstinacy is worthy of the utmost extremes of punishment.

9. Where is Abel ? They who suppose that the father made this inquiry of Cain respecting his son Abel, enervate the whole force of the instruction which Moses here intended to deliver; namely, that God, both by secret inspiration, and by some extraordinary method, cited the parricide “Parricidam citaverit.” The word parricide is contrary to its original import, applied to the murderer of any near relative. — Ed. to his tribunal, as if he had thundered from heaven. For, what I have before said must be firmly maintained that, as God now speaks until us through the Scriptures, so he formerly manifested himself to the Fathers through oracles; and also in the same meaner, revealed his judgements to the reprobate sons of the saints. So the angel spoke to Agar in the wood, after she had fallen away from the Church, By leaving the family of Abraham, in which alone the true service of God was maintained. — Ed. as we shall see in the eighth verse of the sixteenth chapter: Genesis 16:8. It is indeed possible that God may have interrogated Cain by the silent examinations of his conscience; and that he, in return, may have answered, inwardly fretting, and murmuring. We must, however, conclude, that he was examined, not barely by the external voice of man, but by a Divine voice, so as to make him feel that he had to deal directly with God. As often, then as the secret compunctions of conscience invite us to reflect upon our sins, let us remember that God himself is speaking, with us. For that interior sense by which we are convicted of sin is the peculiar judgement-seat of God, where he exercises his jurisdiction. Let those, therefore, whose consciences accuse them, beware lest, after the example of Cain, they confirm themselves in obstinacy. For this is truly to kick against God, and to resist his Spirit; when we repel those thoughts, which are nothing else than incentives to repentance. But it is a fault too common, to add at length to former sins such perverseness, that he who is compelled, whether he will or not, to feel sin in his mind, shall yet refuse to yield to God. Hence it appears how great is the depravity of the human mind; since, when convicted and condemned by our own conscience, we still do not cease either to mock, or to rage against our Judge. Prodigious was the stupor of Cain, who, having committed a crime so great, ferociously rejected the reproof of God, from whose hand he was nevertheless unable to escape. But the same thing daily happens to all the wicked; every one of whom desires to be deemed ingenious in catching at excuses. For the human heart is so entangled in winding labyrinths, that it is easy for the wicked to add obstinate contempt of God to their crimes; not because their contumacy is sufficiently firm to withstand the judgment of God, (for, although they hide themselves in the deep recesses of which I have spoken, they are, nevertheless, always secretly burned, as with a hot iron,) but because, by a blind obstinacy they render themselves callous. Hence, the force of the Divine judgment is clearly perceived; for it so pierces into the iron hearts of the wicked, that they are inwardly compelled to be their own judges; nor does it suffer them so to obliterate the sense of guilt which it has extorted, as not to leave the trace or scar of the searing. Cain, in denying that he was the keeper of his brother’s life, although, with ferocious rebellion, he attempts violently to repel the judgment of God, yet thinks to escape by this cavil, that he was not required to give an account of his murdered brother, because he had received no express command to take care of him.

10. What hast thou done ? The voice of thy brother’s blood Moses shows that Cain gained nothing by his tergiversation. God first inquired where his brother was; he now more closely urges him, in order to extort an unwilling confession of his guilt; for in no racks or tortures of any kind is there so much force to constrain evildoers, as there was efficacy in the thunder of the Divine voice to cast down Cain in confusion to the ground. For God no longer asks whether he had done it; but, pronouncing in a single word that he was the doer of it, he aggravates the atrocity of the crime. We learn, then, in the person of one man, what an unhappy issue of their cause awaits those, who desire to extricate themselves by contending against God. For He, the Searcher of hearts, has no need of a long, circuitous course of investigation; but, with one word, so fulminates against those whom he accuses, as to be sufficient, and more than sufficient, for their condemnation. Advocates place the first kind of defense in the denial of the fact; where the fact cannot be denied, they have recourse to the qualifying circumstances of the case. “Ubi negari factum non potest, ad statum qualitatis confugiunt.” — “Ils ont recours aux qualitez et circonstances.” — French Trans. Cain is driven from both these defenses; for God both pronounces him guilty of the slaughter, and, at the same time, declares the heinousness of the crime. And we are warned by his example, that pretexts and subterfuges are heaped together in vain, when sinners are cited to the tribunal of God.

The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth . God first shows that he is cognizant of the deeds of men, though no one should complain of or accuse them; secondly that he holds the life of man too dear, to allow innocent blood to be shed with impunity; thirdly, that he cares for the pious not only while they live, but even after death. However earthly judges may sleep, unless an accuser appeals to them; yet even when he who is injured is silent the injuries themselves are alone sufficient to arouse God to inflict punishment. This is a wonderfully sweet consolation to good men, who are unjustly harassed, when they hear that their own sufferings, which they silently endure, go into the presence of God of their own accord, to demand vengeance. Abel was speechless when his throat was being cut, or in whatever other manner he was losing his life; but after death the voice of his blood was more vehement than any eloquence of the orator. Thus oppression and silence do not hinder God from judging, or the cause which the world supposes to be buried. This consolation affords us most abundant reason for patience when we learn that we shall lose nothing of our right, if we bear injuries with moderation and equanimity; and that God will be so much the more ready to vindicate us, the more modestly we submit ourselves to endure all things; because the placid silence of the soul raises effectual cries, which fill heaven and earth. Nor does this doctrine apply merely to the state of the present life, to teach us that among the innumerable dangers by which we are surrounded, we shall be safe under the guardianship of God; but it elevates us by the hope of a better life; because we must conclude that those for whom God cares shall survive after death. And, on the other hand, this consideration should strike terror into the wicked and violent, that God declares, that he undertakes the causes deserted by human patronage, not in consequence of any foreign impulse, but from his own nature; and that he will be the sure avenger of crimes, although the injured make no complaint. Murderers indeed often exult, as if they had evaded punishment; but at length God will show that innocent blood has not been mute, and that he has not said in vain, ‘the death of the saints is precious in his eyes,’ (Psalm 115:17.) Therefore, as this doctrine brings relief to the faithful, lest they should be too anxious concerning their life, over which they learn that God continually watches; so does it vehemently thunder against the ungodly who do not scruple wickedly to injure and to destroy those whom God has undertaken to preserve.

11. And now art thou cursed from the earth . Cain, having been convicted of the crime, judgment is now pronounced against him. And first, God constitutes the earth the minister of his vengeance, as having been polluted by the impious and horrible parricide: as if he had said, ‘Thou didst just now deny to me the murder which thou hast committed, but the senseless earth itself will demand thy punishment.’ He does this, however, to aggravate the enormity of the crime, as if a kind of contagion flowed from it even to the earth, for which the execution of punishment was required. The imagination of some, that cruelty is here ascribed to the earth, as if God compared it to a wild beast, which had drunk up the blood of Abel, is far from the true meaning. Clemency is rather, in my judgment, by personification, “Κατὰ προσωποποιΐαν” imputed to it; because, in abhorrence of the pollution, it had opened its mouth to cover the blood which had been shed by a brother’s hand. Most detestable is the cruelty of this man, who does not shrink from pouring forth his neighbor’s blood, of which the bosom of the earth becomes the receptacle. Yet we must not here imagine any miracle, as if the blood had been absorbed by any unusual opening of the earth; but the speech is figurative, signifying that there was more humanity in the earth than in man himself. Moreover, they who think that, because Cain is now cursed in stronger words than Adam had previously been, God had dealt more gently with the first man, from a design to spare the human race; have some color for their opinion. Adam heard the words, “Cursed is the ground for thy sake:” but now the shaft of divine vengeance vibrates against, and transfixes the person of Cain. The opinion of others, that temporal punishment is intended, because it is said, Thou art cursed from the “earth,” rather than from “heaven,” lest the posterity of Cain, being cut off from the hope of salvation, should rush the more boldly on their own damnation, seems to me not sufficiently confirmed. I rather interpret the passage thus: Judgment was committed to the earth, in order that Cain might understand that his judge had not to be summoned from a distance; that there was no need for an angel to descend from heaven, since the earth voluntarily offered itself as the avenger.

12. When thou tillest the ground . This verse is the exposition of the former; for it expresses more clearly what is meant by being cursed from the earth, namely, that the earth defrauds its cultivators of the fruit of their toil. Should any one object that this punishment had before been alike inflicted on all mortals, in the person of Adam; my answer is, I have no doubt that something of the benediction which had hitherto remained, was now further withdrawn with respect to the murderer, in order that he might privately feel the very earth to be hostile to him. For although, generally, God causes his sun daily to rise upon the good and the evil, (Matthew 5:45,) yet, in the meantime, (as often as he sees good,) he punished the sins, sometimes of a whole nation, and sometimes of certain men, with rain and hail, and clouds, so far, at least, as is useful to give determinate proof of future judgment; and also for the purpose of admonishing the world, by such examples, that nothing can succeed when God is angry with and opposed to them. Moreover in the first murder, God designed to exhibit a singular example of malediction, the memory of which should remain in all ages.

A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be “στένων κάι τρέμων.” “Groaning and trembling.” — Sept Another punishment is now also inflicted; namely, that he never could be safe, to whatever place he might come. Moses uses two words, little differing from each other, except that the former is derived from נועnoa , which is to wander , the other from נדדnadad , which signifies to flee . The distinction which some make, that נעna is he who never has a settled habitations but נדnad , he who knows not which way he ought to turn; as it is defective in proof, is with me of no weight. The genuine sense then of the words is, that wherever Cain might come, he should be unsettled and a fugitive ; as robbers are wont to be, who have no quiet and secure resting-place; for the face of every man strikes terror into them; and, on the other hand, they have a horror of solitude. But this seems to some by no means a suitable punishment for a murderer, since it is rather the destined condition of the sons of God; for they, more than all others, feel themselves to be strangers in the world. And Paul complains that both he and his companions are without a certain dwelling-place, (1 Corinthians 4:11 “Instabiles esse conqueritur.” ) To which I answer, that Cain was not only condemned to personal exile, but was also subjected to still more severe punishment; namely, that he should find no region of the earth where he would not be of a restless and fearful mind; for as a good conscience is properly called ‘a brazen walls’ so neither a hundred walls, nor as many fortresses, can free the wicked from disquietude. The faithful are strangers upon the earth, yet, nevertheless, they enjoy a tranquil temporary abode. Often, constrained by necessity, they wander from place to place, but wheresoever the tempest bears them, they carry with them a sedate mind; till finally by perpetual change of place, they so run their course, and pass through the world, that they are everywhere sustained by the supporting hand of God. Such security is denied to the wicked, whom all creatures threaten; and should even all creatures favor them, still the mind itself is so turbulent that it does not suffer them to rest. In this manner, Cain, even if he bad not changed his place, could not have shaken off the trepidation which God had fixed in his mind; nor did the fact, that he was the first man who built a city, prevent him from being always restless even in his own nest.

13. My punishment is greater , etc . Nearly all commentators agree that this is the language of desperation; because Cain, confounded by the judgment of God, had no remaining hope of pardon. And this, indeed, is true, that the reprobate are never conscious of their evils, till a ruin, from which they cannot escape, overtakes them; yea, truly, when the sinner, obstinate to the last, mocks the patience of God, this is the due reward of his late repentance that he feels a horrible torment for which there is no remedy, — if, truly, that blind and astonished dread of punishments which is without any hatred of sin, or any desire to return to God, can be called repentance; — so even Judas confesses his sin, but, overwhelmed with fear, flies as far as possible from the presence of God. And it is certainly true, that the reprobates have no medium; as long as any relaxation is allowed them, they slumber securely; but when the anger of God presses upon them, they are broken rather than corrected. Therefore their fear stuns them, so that they can think of nothing but of hell and eternal destruction. However, I doubt not, that the words have another meaning. For I rather take the term עון aoon in its proper signification; and the word נשא nasa , I interpret by the word to bear . ‘A greater punishment (he says) is imposed upon me than I can bear.’ In this manner, Cain, although he does not excuse his sin, having been driven from every shift; yet complains of the intolerable severity of his judgement. So also the devils, although they feel that they are justly tormented, yet do not cease to rage against God their judge, and to charge him with cruelty. And immediately follows the explanation of these words: ‘Behold, thou hast driven me from the face of the earth, and I am hidden from thy face.’ “Ecce repulisti me a facie terrae, et a facie tua abscondar.” In which expression he openly expostulates with God, that he is treated more hardly than is just, no clemency or moderation being shown him. For it is precisely as if he had said, ‘If a safe habitation is denied me in the world, and thou dost not deign to care for me, what dost thou leave me? Would it not be better to die at once than to be constantly exposed to a thousand deaths?’ Whence we infer, that the reprobate, however clearly they may be convicted, make no end of storming; insomuch that through their impatience and fury, they seize on occasions of contest; as if they were able to excite enmity against God on account of the severity of their own sufferings. This passage also clearly teaches what was the nature of that wandering condition, or exile, which Moses had just mentioned; namely, that no corner of the earth should be left him by God, in which he might quietly repose. For, being excluded from the common rights of mankind, so as to be no more reckoned among the legitimate inhabitants of the earth, he declares that he is cast out from the face of the earth, and therefore shall become a fugitive, because the earth will deny him a habitation; hence it would be necessary, that he should occupy as a robber, what he did not possess by right. To be ‘hidden from the face of God,’ is to be not regarded by God, or not protected by his guardian care. This confession also, which God extorted from the impious murderer, is a proof that there is no peace for men, unless they acquiesce in the providence of God, and are persuaded that their lives are the object of his care; it is also a proof, that they can only quietly enjoy any of God’s benefits so long as they regard themselves as placed in the world, on this condition, that they pass their lives under his government. How wretched then is the instability of the wicked, who know that not a foot of earth is granted to them by God!

14. Every one that findeth me . Since he is no longer covered by the protection of God, he concludes that he shall be exposed to injury and violence from all men. And he reasons justly; for the hand of God alone marvelously preserves us amid so many dangers. And they have spoken prudently who have said, not only that our life hangs on a thread, but also that we have been received into this fleeting life, out of the womb, from a hundred deaths. Cain, however, in this place, not only considers himself as deprived of God’s protection, but also supposes all creatures to be divinely armed to take vengeance of his impious murder. This is the reason why he so greatly fears for his life from any one who may meet him; for as man is a social animal, and all naturally desire mutual intercourse, this is certainly to be regarded as a portentous fact, that the meeting with any man was formidable to the murderer.

15. Therefore , whosoever slayeth Cain . They who think that it was Cain’s wish to perish immediately by one death, in order that he might not be agitated by continual dangers, and that the prolongation of his life was granted him only as a punishment, have no reason, that I can see, for thus speaking. But far more absurd is the manner in which many of the Jews mutilate this sentence. First, they imagine, in this clause, the use of the figure ἀποσιώπησις, according to which something not expressed is understood; then they begin a new sentence, ‘He shall be punished sevenfold,’ which they refer to Cain. Still, however, they do not agree together about the sense. Some trifle respecting Lamech, as we shall soon declare. Others expound the passage of the deluge, which happened in the seventh generation. But that is frivolous, since the latter was not a private punishment of one family only, but a common punishment of the human race. But this sentence ought to be read continuously, thus, ‘Whosoever killeth Cain, shall on this account, be punished sevenfold.’ And the causal particle לכן ( lekon, ) indicates that God would take care to prevent any one from easily breaking in upon him to destroy him; not because God would institute a privilege in favor of the murderer, or would hearken to his prayers but because he would consult for posterity, in order to the preservation of human life. The order of nature had been awfully violated; what might be expected to happen in future, when the wickedness and audacity of man should increase, unless the fury of others had been restrained by a violent hand? For we know what pestilent and deadly poison Satan presents to us in evil examples, if a remedy be not speedily applied. Therefore, the Lord declares, if any will imitate Cain, not only shall they have no excuse in his example, but shall be more grievously tormented; because they ought, in his person, to perceive how detestable is their wickedness in the sight of God. Wherefore, they are greatly deceived who suppose that the anger of God is mitigated when men can plead custom as an excuse for sinning; whereas it is from that cause the more inflamed.

And the Lord set a mark . I have lately said, that nothing was granted to Cain for the sake of favoring him; but for the sake of opposing, in future, cruelty and unjust violence. And therefore, Moses now says, that a mark was set upon Cain, which should strike terror into all; because they might see, as in a mirrors the tremendous judgment of God against bloody men. As Scripture does not describe what kind of mark it was, commentators have conjectured, that his body became tremulous. It may suffice for us, that there was some visible token which should repress in the spectators the desire and the audacity to inflict injury.

16. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord . Cain is said to have departed from the presence of God, because, whereas he had hitherto lived in the earth as in an abode belonging to God, now, like an exile removed far from God’s sight, he wanders beyond the limits of His protection. Or certainly, (which is not less probable,) Moses represents him as having stood at the bar of judgment till he was condemned: but now, when God ceased to speak with him, being freed from the sense of His presence, he hastens elsewhere and seeks a new habitation, where he may escape the eyes of God. The land of Nod “נוד signifies motion, flight, wandering, exile, and is the name of the region into which Cain was exiled.” — Schindler without doubt obtained its name from its inhabitant. From its being situated on the eastern side of Paradise, we may infer the truth of what was before stated, that a certain place, distinguished by its pleasantness and rich abundance of fruits, had been given to Adam for a habitation; for, of necessity, that place must be limited, which has opposite aspects towards the various regions of the world.

17. And Cain knew his wife . From the context we may gather that Cain, before he slew his brother, had married a wife; otherwise Moses would now have related something respecting his marriage; because it would be a fact worthy to be recorded, that any one of his sisters could be found, who would not shrink with horror from committing herself into the hand of one whom she knew to be defiled with a brother’s blood; and while a free choice was still given her, should rather choose spontaneously to follow an exile and a fugitive, than to remain in her father’s family. Moreover, he relates it as a prodigy that Cain, having shaken off the terror he had mentioned, should have thought of having children: “Ad sobolem gignendam animum applicuisse.” for it is remarkable, that he who imagined himself to have as many enemies as there were men in the world, did not rather hide himself in some remote solitude. It is also contrary to nature, that he being astounded with fear; and feeling that God was opposed to him, could enjoy any pleasure. Indeed, it seems to me doubtful, whether he had previously had any children; for there would be nothing absurd in saying, that reference is here made especially to those who were born after the crime was committed, as to a detestable seed who would fully participate in the sanguinary disposition, and the savage manners of their father. This, however, is without controversy, that many persons, as well males as females, are omitted in this narrative; it being the design of Moses only to follow one line of his progeny, until he should come to Lamech. The house of Cain, therefore, was more populous than Moses states; but because of the memorable history of Lamech, which he is about to subjoin, he only adverts to one line of descendents, and passes over the rest in silence.

He built a city . This, at first sight, seems very contrary, both to the judgment of God, and to the preceding sentence. For Adam and the rest of his family, to whom God had assigned a fixed station, are passing their lives in hovels, or even under the open heaven, and seek their precarious lodging under trees; but the exile Cain, whom God had commanded to rove as a fugitive, not content with a private house, builds himself a city. It is, however, probable, that the man, oppressed by an accusing conscience, and not thinking himself safe within the walls of his own house, had contrived a new kind of defense: for Adam and the rest live dispersed through the fields for no other reason, than that they are less afraid. Wherefore, it is a sign of an agitated and guilty mind, that Cain thought of building a city for the purpose of separating himself from the rest of men; yet that pride was mixed with his diffidence and anxiety, appears, from his having called the city after his son. Thus different affections often contend with each other in the hearts of the wicked. Fear, the fruit of his iniquity, drives him within the walls of a city, that he may fortify himself in a manner before unknown; and, on the other hand, supercilious vanity breaks forth. Certainly he ought rather to have chosen that his name should be buried for ever; for how could his memory be transmitted, except to beheld in execration? Yet, ambition impels him to erect a monument to his race in the name of his city. What shall we here say, but that he had hardened himself against punishment, for the purpose of holding out,in inflated obstinacy, against God? Moreover although it is lawful to defend our lives by the fortifications of cities and of fortresses, yet the first origin of them is to be noted, because it is always profitable for us to behold our faults in their very remedies. When captious men sneeringly inquire, whence Cain had brought his architects and workmen to build his city, and whence he sent for citizens to inhabit it? I, in return, ask of them, what authority they have for believing that the city was constructed of squared stones, and with great skill, and at much expense, and that the building of it was a work of long continuance? For nothing further can be gathered from the words of Moses, than that Cain surrounded himself and his posterity with walls formed of the rudest materials: and as it respects the inhabitants; that in that commencement of the fecundity of mankind, his offspring would have grown to so great a number when it had reached his children of the fourth generation, that it might easily form the body of one city.

19. And Lamech took unto him two wives . We have here the origin of polygamy in a perverse and degenerate race; and the first author of it, a cruel man, destitute of all humanity. Whether he had been impelled by an immoderate desire of augmenting his own family, as proud and ambitious men are wont to be, or by mere lust, it is of little consequence to determine; because, in either way he violated the sacred law of marriage, which had been delivered by God. For God had determined, that “the two should be one flesh,” and that is the perpetual order of nature. Lamech, with brutal contempt of God, corrupts nature’s laws. The Lord, therefore, willed that the corruption of lawful marriage should proceed from the house of Cain, and from the person of Lamech, in order that polygamists might be ashamed of the example.

20. Jabal ; he was the father of such as dwell in tents . Moses now relates that, with the evils which proceeded from the family of Cain, some good had been blended. For the invention of arts, and of other things which serve to the common use and convenience of life, is a gift of God by no means to be despised, and a faculty worthy of commendation. It is truly wonderful, that this race, which had most deeply fallen from integrity, should have excelled the rest of the posterity of Adam in rare endowments. “Non poenitendis dotibus, prae allis Adae posteris excelluisse.” I, however, understand Moses to have spoken expressly concerning these arts, as having been invented in the family of Cain, for the purpose of showing that he was not so accursed by the Lord but that he would still scatter some excellent gifts among his posterity; for it is probable, that the genius of others was in the meantime not inactive; but that there were, among the sons of Adam, industrious and skillful men, who exercised their diligence in the invention and cultivation of arts. Moses, however, expressly celebrates the remaining benediction of God on that race, which otherwise would have been deemed void and barren of all good. Let us then know, that the sons of Cain, though deprived of the Spirit of regeneration, were yet endued with gifts of no despicable kind; just as the experience of all ages teaches us how widely the rays of divine light have shone on unbelieving nations, for the benefit of the present life; and we see, at the present time, that the excellent gifts of the Spirit are diffused through the whole human race. Moreover, the liberal arts and sciences have descended to us from the heathen. We are, indeed, compelled to acknowledge that we have received astronomy, and the other parts of philosophy, medicines and the order of civil government, from them. Nor is it to be doubted, that God has thus liberally enriched them with excellent favors that their impiety might have the less excuse. But, while we admire the riches of his favor which he has bestowed on them, let us still value far more highly that grace of regeneration with which he peculiarly sanctifies his elect unto himself.

Now, although the invention of the harp, and of similar instruments of music, may minister to our pleasure, rather than to our necessity, still it is not to be thought altogether superfluous; much less does it deserve, in itself, to be condemned. Pleasure is indeed to be condemned, unless it be combined with the fear of God, and with the common benefit of human society. But such is the nature of music, that it can be adapted to the offices of religion, and made profitable to men; if only it be free from vicious attractions, and from that foolish delight, by which it seduces men from better employments, and occupies them in vanity. If, however, we allow the invention of the harp no praise, it is well known how far and how widely extends the usefulness of the art of the carpenter. Finally, Moses, in my opinion, intends to teach that that race flourished in various and preeminent endowments, which would both render it inexcusable, and would prove most evident testimonies of the divine goodness. The name of “the father of them that dwell in tents,” is given to him who was the first inventor of that convenience, which others afterwards imitated.

23. Hear my voice , ye wives of Lamech . The intention of Moses is to describe the ferocity of this man, who was, however, the fifth in descent from the fratricide Cain, in order to teach us, that, so far from being terrified by the example of divine judgment which he had seen in his ancestor, he was only the more hardened. Such is the obduracy of the impious, that they rage against those chastisements of God, which ought at least to render them gentle. The obscurity of this passage, which has procured for us a variety of interpretations, mainly arises hence; that whereas Moses speaks abruptly, interpreters have not considered what is the tendency of his speech. The Jews have, according to their manner, invented a foolish fable; namely, that Lamech was a hunter and blind, and had a boy to direct his hand; that Cain, while he was concealed in the woods, was shot through by his arrow, because the boy, talking him for a wild beast, had directed his master’s hand towards him; that Lamech then took revenge on the boy, who, by his imprudence, had been the cause of the murder. And ignorance of the true state of the case has caused everyone to allow himself to conjecture what he pleased. But to me the opinion of those seems to be true and simple, who resolve the past tense into the future, and understand its application to be indefinite; as if he had boasted that he had strength and violence enough to slay any, even the strongest enemy. I therefore lead thus, ‘I will slay a man for my wound, and a young man for my bruise,’ or ‘in my bruise and wound.’ But, as I have said, the occasion of his holding this conversation with his wives is to be noticed. We know that sanguinary men, as they are a terror to others, so are they everywhere hated by all. The wives, therefore, of Lamech were justly alarmed on account of their husband, whose violence was intolerable to the whole human race, lest, a conspiracy being formed, all should unite to crush him, as one deserving of public odium and execration. Now Moses, to exhibit his desperate barbarity, seeing that the soothing arts of wives are often wont to mitigate cruel and ferocious men, declares that Lamech cast forth the venom of his cruelty into the bosom of his wives. The sum of the whole is this: He boasts that he has sufficient courage and strength to strike down any who should dare to attack him. The repetition occurring in the use of the words ‘man’ and ‘young man’ is according to Hebrew phraseology, so that none should think different persons to be denoted by them; he only amplifies, in the second member of the sentence, his furious audacity, when he glories that young men in the flower of their age would not be equal to contend with him: as if he would say, Let each mightiest man come forward, there is none whom I will not dispatch.’ So far was he from calming his wives with the hope of his leading a more humane life, that he breaks forth in threats of sheer indiscriminate slaughter against every one, like a furious wild beast. Whence it easily appears, that he was so imbued with ferocity as to have retained nothing human. The nouns wound and bruise may be variously read. If they be rendered ‘for my wound and bruise,’ then the sense will be, ‘I confidently take upon my own head whatever danger there may be, let what will happen it shall be at my expense; for I have a means of escape at hand.’ Then what follows must be read in connection with it, If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and seven fold. If the ablative case be preferred, ‘In my wound and bruise,’ there will still be a double exposition. The first is, ‘Although I should be wounded, I would still kill the man; what then will I not do when I am whole?’ The other, and, in my judgment, the sounder and more consistent exposition, is, ‘If any one provoke me by injury, or attempt any act of violence, he shall feel that he has to deal with a strong and valiant man; nor shall he who injures me escape with impunity.’ It is clear that Calvin had no perception of the poetical character of this speech, or he would more correctly have interpreted its meaning. There is, however, and will be, much difference of opinion respecting the real nature of the act spoken of in this obscure poem. Some have thought Lamech guilty of savage cruelty in murdering an innocent person; others have deemed the act to be one of justifiable homicide, done in self-defense. Others, again, have supposed the expression of Lamech to be a mere question, which admitted only of a negative answer, ‘Have I slain a man for my wound?’ And, lastly, there are those who, with Calvin, take it as the language of bravado, ‘I would slay a man for wounding me, if he should attempt to do it.’ In Bishop Lowth’s fourth Prelection the whole is given in three distiches of Hebrew poetry, of which the following is a translation: —

“Ada and Zillah, hear my voice: Ye wives of Lamech, hearken to my speech; Because I have slain a man for my wound, And a boy for my bruise: If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, Lamech even seventy times seven.”

De Sacra Poesi Hebraeorum. See also Dr. A. Clarke’s Commentary in loco.

The following translation from Herder is also worthy of notice: —

“Ye wives of Lamech, hear my voice, And hearken to my speech; I slew a man who wounded me, A youth who smote me with a blow, If Cain shall be seven times avenged, Then Lamech seventy times seven.” Caunter’s Poetry of the Pentateuch, vol. 1, p. 81.

Caunter commends the translation of Bishop Lowth for having got rid of the copulative conjunction in the fourth line. This, however, is a mistake into which he has been led by reading Lowth not in the original, but in Dr. Gregory’s translation. A remark of Michaelis appears worthy of attention. Speaking of Lamech and his wives, he says, ‘It is not to be supposed that he addressed them in verse; the substance of what he said has been reduced to numbers, for the sake of preserving it easily in the memory.’ — Ed. This example shows that men ever glide from bad to worse. The wickedness of Cain was indeed awful; but the cruelty of Lamech advanced so far that he was unsparing of human blood. Besides, when he saw his wives struck with terror, instead of becoming mild, he only sharpened and confirmed himself the more in cruelty. Thus the brutality of cruel men increases in proportion as they find themselves hated; so that instead of being, touched with penitence, they are ready to bury one murder under ten others. Whence it follows that they having once become imbued with blood, shed it, and drink its without restraint.

24. Cain shall be avenged sevenfold . It is not my intention to relate the ravings or the dreams of every writer, nor would I have the reader to expect this from me; here and there I allude to them, though sparingly, especially if there be any color of deception; that readers, being often admonished, may learn to take heed unto themselves. Therefore, with respect to this passages which has been variously tortured, I will not record what one or another may have delivered, but will content myself with a true exposition of it. God had intended that Cain should be a horrible example to warn others against the commission of murder; and for this end had marked him with a shameful stigma. Yet lest any one should imitate his crime, He declared whosoever killed him should be punished with sevenfold severity. Lamech, impiously perverting this divine declaration, mocks its severity; for he hence takes greater license to sin, as if God had granted some singular privilege to murderers; not that he seriously thinks so, but being destitute of all sense of piety, he promises himself impunity, and in the meantime jestingly uses the name of God as an excuse: just as Dionysus did, who boasted that the gods favor sacrilegious persons, for the sake of obliterating the infamy which he had contracted. Moreover, as the number seven in Scripture designates a multitudes so sevenfold is taken for a very great increase. Such is the meaning of the declaration of Christ,

‘I do not say that thou shalt remit the offense seven times, but seventy times seven,’ (Matthew 18:22.)

25. Adam knew his wife again . Some hence infer that our first parents were entirely deprived of their offspring when one of their sons had been slain, and the other was cast far away into banishment. But it is utterly incredible that, when the benediction of God in the propagation of mankind was in its greatest force, Adam and Eve should have been through so many years unfruitful. But rather before Abel was slain, the continual succession of progeny had already rendered the house of Adam populous; for in him and his wife especially the effect of that declaration ought to be conspicuous, “Increase and multiply, and replenish the earth.” What, therefore, does Moses mean? Truly, that our first parents, horror-struck at the impious slaughter, abstained for a while from the conjugal bed. Nor could it certainly be otherwise, than that they, in reaping this exceedingly sad and bitter fruit of their apostasy from God, should sink down almost lifeless. The reason why he now passes by others is that he designed to trace the generation of pious descendants through the line of Seth. In the following chapter, however, where he will say, that “Adam begat sons and daughters,” he undoubtedly includes a great number who had been born before Seth; to whom, however, but little regard is paid since they were separated from that family which worshipped God in purity, and which might truly be deemed the Church of God.

God , saith she , has appointed me another seed instead of Abel . Eve means some peculiar seed; for we have said that others had been born who had also grown up before the death of Abel; but, since the human race is prone to evil, nearly her whole family had, in various ways, corrupted itself; therefore, she entertained slight hope of the remaining multitude, until God should raise up to her a new seed, of which she might expect better things. Wherefore, she regarded herself as bereaved not of one son only, but of her whole offspring, in the person of Abel.

26. Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord . In the verb ‘to call upon,’ there is a synecdochee , for it embraces generally the whole worship of God. But religion is here properly designated by that which forms its principal part. For God prefers this service of piety and faith to all sacrifices, (Psalm 50:14.) Yea, this is the spiritual worship of God which faith produces. This is particularly worthy of notice, because Satan contrives nothing with greater care than to adulterate, with every possible corruption, the pure invocation of God, or to draw us away from the only God to the invocation of creatures. Even from the beginning of the world he has not ceased to move this stone, that miserable men might weary themselves in vain in a preposterous worship of God. But let us know, that the entire pomp of adoration is nothing worth, unless this chief point of worshipping God aright be maintained. Although the passage may be more simply explained to mean, that then the name of God was again celebrated; yet I approve the former sense, because it is more full, contains a useful doctrine, and also agrees with the accustomed phraseology of Scripture. It is a foolish figment, that God then began to be called by other names; since Moses does not here censure depraved superstitions, but commends the piety of one family which worshipped God in purity and holiness, when religions among other people, was polluted or extinct. And there is no doubt, that Adam and Eve, with a few other of their children were themselves true worshippers of God; but closes means, that so great was then the deluge of impiety in the world that religion was rapidly hastening to destruction; because it remained only with a few men, and did not flourish in any one race. We may readily conclude that Seth was an upright and faithful servant of God. And after he begat a son, like himself, and had a rightly constituted family, the face of the Church began distinctly to appear, and that worship of God was set up which might continue to posterity. Such a restoration of religion has been effected also in our time; not that it had been altogether extinct; but there was no certainly defined people who called upon God; and, no sincere profession of faith, no uncorrupted religion could anywhere be discovered. Whence it too evidently appears how great is the propensity of men, either to gross contempt of God, or to superstition; since both evils must then have everywhere prevailed, when Moses relates it as a miracles that there was at that time a single family in which the worship of God arose.

CHAPTER 5.

Genesis 5:1-32

1. This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;

1. Iste est liber generationum Adam: in die qua creavit Deus hominem, ad similitudinem Dei fecit illum.

2. Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

2. Masculum et foeminam creeavit eos, et benedixit eis: et vocavit nomen eorum Hominem, in die qua creati sunt.

3. And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

3. Et vixit Adam triginta et centum annos: et genuit ad similitudinem suam, ad imaginem suam filium , et vocavit nomen ejus Seth.

4. And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:

4. Et fuerunt dies Adam postquam genuit Seth, octingenti anni: et genuit filios et filias.

5. And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.

5. Fuerunt itaque omnes dies Adam quibus vixit, nongenti anni et triginta anni: et mortuus est.

6. And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos:

6. Et vixit Seth quinque annos et centum annos, et genuit Enos.

7. And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters:

7. Et vixit Seth postquam genuit Enos, septem annos et octingentos annos: et genuit filios et filias.

8. And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.

8. Fuerunt itaque omnes dies Seth, duodecim anni et nongenti anni: et mortuus est.

9. And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan:

9. Et vixit Enos nonaginta annos, et genuit Kenan.

10. And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters:

10. Et vixit Enos postquam genuit Kenan, quindecim annos et octingentos annos, et genuit filios et filias.

11. And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died.

11. Fuerunt igitur omnes dies Enos, quinque anni et nongenti anni: et mortuus est.

12. And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel:

12. Et vixit Kenan septuaginta annos, et genuit Mahalaleel.

13. And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters:

13. Et vixit Kenan postquam genuit Mahalaleel, quadraginta annos et octingentos annos: et genuit filios et filias.

14. And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died.

14. Fuerunt itaque omnes dies Kenan, decem anni et nongenti anni: et mortuus est.

15. And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared:

15. Et vixit Mahalaleel quinque annos et sexaginta annos, et genuit Jered.

16. And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters:

16. Et vixit Mahalaleel postquam genuit Jered, triginta annos et octingentos annos: et genuit filios et filias.

17. And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died.

17. Fuerunt igitur omnes dies Mahalaleel, quinque anni et octingenti anni: et mortuus est.

18. And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch:

18. Et vixit Jered duos et sexaginta annos et centum annos, et genuit Hanoch.

19. And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:

19. Et vixit Jered postquam genuit Hnoch octingentos annos: et genuit filios et filias.

20. And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.

20. Fuerunt ergo omnes dies Jered duo et sexaginta anni et nongenti anni: et mortuus est.

21. And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:

21. Et vixit Hanoch quinque et sexaginta annos, et genuit Methuselah.

22. And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:

22. Et ambulavit Hanoch cum Deo, postquam genuit Methuselah, trecentos annos: et genuit filios et filias.

23. And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:

23. Fuerunt itaque omnes dies Hanoch, quinque et sexaginta anni et trecenti anni.

24. And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

24. Et ambulavit Hanoch cum Deo: et non fuit, quia tulit eum Deus.

25. And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech:

25. Et vixit Methuselah septem et octoginta annos et centum annos, et genuit Lemech.

26. And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters:

26. Et vixit Methuselah postquam genuit Lemech, duos et octoginta annos et septingentos annos: et genuit filios et filias.

27. And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.

27. Fuerunt igitur omnes dies Methuselah novem et sexaginta anni et nongenti anni: et mortuus est.

28. And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:

28. Et vixit Lemech duos et octoginta annos et centum annos: et genuit filium.

29. And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.

29. Et bocavit nomen ejus Noah, dicendo, Iste consolabitur nos ab opere nostro, et a dolore manuum nostrarum de terra cui maledixit Jehova.

30. And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:

30. Et vixit Lemech postquam genuit ipsum Noah, quinque et nonaginta annos et quingentos annos et quingentos annos: et genuit filios et filias.

31. And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.

31. Fuerunt itaque omnes dies Lemech septem et septuaginta anni et septingenti anni: et mortuus est.

32. And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

32. Et erat Noah quingentorum annorum, et genuit ipse Noah, Sem, Cham, et Jepheth.

CHAPTER 4

Ge 4:1-26. Birth of Cain and Abel.

1. Eve said, I have gotten a man from the Lord--that is, "by the help of the Lord"--an expression of pious gratitude--and she called him Cain, that is, "a possession," as if valued above everything else; while the arrival of another son reminding Eve of the misery she had entailed on her offspring, led to the name Abel, that is, either weakness, vanity (Psa 39:5), or grief, lamentation. Cain and Abel were probably twins; and it is thought that, at this early period, children were born in pairs (Ge 5:4) [Calvin].

2. Abel was a keeper of sheep--literally, "a feeder of a flock," which, in Oriental countries, always includes goats as well as sheep. Abel, though the younger, is mentioned first, probably on account of the pre-eminence of his religious character.

3. in process of time--Hebrew, "at the end of days," probably on the Sabbath.

brought ... an offering unto the Lord--Both manifested, by the very act of offering, their faith in the being of God and in His claims to their reverence and worship; and had the kind of offering been left to themselves, what more natural than that the one should bring "of the fruits of the ground," and that the other should bring "of the firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof" [Ge 4:4].

4. the Lord had respect unto Abel, not unto Cain, &c.--The words, "had respect to," signify in Hebrew,--"to look at any thing with a keen earnest glance," which has been translated, "kindle into a fire," so that the divine approval of Abel's offering was shown in its being consumed by fire (see Ge 15:17; Jud 13:20).

7. If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?--A better rendering is, "Shalt thou not have the excellency"? which is the true sense of the words referring to the high privileges and authority belonging to the first-born in patriarchal times.

sin lieth at the door--sin, that is, a sin offering--a common meaning of the word in Scripture (as in Ho 4:8; 2Co 5:21; He 9:28). The purport of the divine rebuke to Cain was this, "Why art thou angry, as if unjustly treated? If thou doest well (that is, wert innocent and sinless) a thank offering would have been accepted as a token of thy dependence as a creature. But as thou doest not well (that is, art a sinner), a sin offering is necessary, by bringing which thou wouldest have met with acceptance and retained the honors of thy birthright." This language implies that previous instructions had been given as to the mode of worship; Abel offered through faith (He 11:4).

unto thee shall be his desire--The high distinction conferred by priority of birth is described (Ge 27:29); and it was Cain's conviction, that this honor had been withdrawn from him, by the rejection of his sacrifice, and conferred on his younger brother--hence the secret flame of jealousy, which kindled into a settled hatred and fell revenge.

8. And Cain talked with Abel his brother--Under the guise of brotherly familiarity, he concealed his premeditated purpose till a convenient time and place occurred for the murder (1Jo 3:12; Jude 11).

9. I know not--a falsehood. One sin leads to another.

10. the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me--Cain, to lull suspicion, had probably been engaging in the solemnities of religion when he was challenged directly from the Shekinah itself.

11-12. now art thou cursed from the earth--a curse superadded to the general one denounced on the ground for Adam's sin.

13-14. And Cain said ... My punishment is greater than I can bear--What an overwhelming sense of misery; but no sign of penitence, nor cry for pardon.

15. whosoever slayeth Cain--By a special act of divine forbearance, the life of Cain was to be spared in the then small state of the human race.

set a mark--not any visible mark or brand on his forehead, but some sign or token of assurance that his life would be preserved. This sign is thought by the best writers to have been a wild ferocity of aspect that rendered him an object of universal horror and avoidance.

16. presence of the Lord--the appointed place of worship at Eden. Leaving it, he not only severed himself from his relatives but forsook the ordinances of religion, probably casting off all fear of God from his eyes so that the last end of this man is worse than the first (Mt 12:45).

land of Nod--of flight or exile--thought by many to have been Arabia-Petræa--which was cursed to sterility on his account.

17-22. builded a city--It has been in cities that the human race has ever made the greatest social progress; and several of Cain's descendants distinguished themselves by their inventive genius in the arts.

23-24. Lamech said unto his wives--This speech is in a poetical form, probably the fragment of an old poem, transmitted to the time of Moses. It seems to indicate that Lamech had slain a man in self-defense, and its drift is to assure his wives, by the preservation of Cain, that an unintentional homicide, as he was, could be in no danger.

26. men began to call upon the name of the Lord--rather, by the name of the Lord. God's people, a name probably applied to them in contempt by the world.

I have gotten a man from the Lord - Cain, קין, signifies acquisition; hence Eve says קנתי kanithi, I have gotten or acquired a man, את יהוה eth Yehovah, the Lord. It is extremely difficult to ascertain the sense in which Eve used these words, which have been as variously translated as understood. Most expositors think that Eve imagined Cain to be the promised seed that should bruise the head of the serpent. This exposition really seems too refined for that period. It is very likely that she meant no more than to acknowledge that it was through God's peculiar blessing that she was enabled to conceive and bring forth a son, and that she had now a well-grounded hope that the race of man should be continued on the earth. Unless she had been under Divine inspiration she could not have called her son (even supposing him to be the promised seed) Jehovah; and that she was not under such an influence her mistake sufficiently proves, for Cain, so far from being the Messiah, was of the wicked one; 1Jn 3:12. We may therefore suppose that את היוה eth Yehovah, The Lord, is an elliptical form of expression for מאת יהוה meeth Yehovah, From The Lord, or through the Divine blessing.

And she again bare his brother Abel - Literally, She added to bear (ותסף ללדת vattoseph laledeth) his brother. From the very face of this account it appears evident that Cain and Abel were twins. In most cases where a subject of this kind is introduced in the Holy Scriptures, and the successive births of children of the same parents are noted, the acts of conceiving and bringing forth are mentioned in reference to each child; here it is not said that she conceived and brought forth Abel, but simply she added to bring forth Abel his brother; that is, as I understand it, Cain was the first-born, Abel, his twin brother, came next.

Abel was a keeper of sheep - Adam was originally a gardener, Abel a shepherd, and Cain an agriculturist or farmer. These were the three primitive employments, and, I may add, the most rational, and consequently the best calculated to prevent strife and an immoderate love of the world.

In process of time - מקץ ימים mikkets yamim, at the end of days. Some think the anniversary of the creation to be here intended; it is more probable that it means the Sabbath, on which Adam and his family undoubtedly offered oblations to God, as the Divine worship was certainly instituted, and no doubt the Sabbath properly observed in that family. This worship was, in its original institution, very simple. It appears to have consisted of two parts:

1. Thanksgiving to God as the author and dispenser of all the bounties of nature, and oblations indicative of that gratitude.

2. Piacular sacrifices to his justice and holiness, implying a conviction of their own sinfulness, confession of transgression, and faith in the promised Deliverer. If we collate the passage here with the apostle's allusion to it, Heb 11:4, we shall see cause to form this conclusion.

Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering - מנחה minchah, unto the Lord. The word minchah is explained, Lev 2:1, etc., to be an offering of fine flour, with oil and frankincense. It was in general a eucharistic or gratitude offering, and is simply what is implied in the fruits of the ground brought by Cain to the Lord, by which he testified his belief in him as the Lord of the universe, and the dispenser of secular blessings.

Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock - Dr. Kennicott contends that the words he also brought, הביא גם הוא hebi gam hu, should be translated, Abel brought it also, i.e. a minchah or gratitude offering; and beside this he brought of the first-born (מבכרות mibbechoroth) of his flock, and it was by this alone that he acknowledged himself a sinner, and professed faith in the promised Messiah. To this circumstance the apostle seems evidently to allude, Heb 11:4 : By Faith Abel offered πλειονα θυσιαν, a More or Greater sacrifice; not a more excellent, (for this is no meaning of the word πλειων), which leads us to infer, according to Dr. Kennicott, that Abel, besides his minchah or gratitude offering, brought also θυσια, a victim, to be slain for his sins; and this he chose out of the first-born of his flock, which, in the order of God, was a representation of the Lamb of God that was to take away the sin of the world; and what confirms this exposition more is the observation of the apostle: God testifying τοις δωροις, of his Gifts, which certainly shows he brought more than one. According to this interpretation, Cain, the father of Deism, not acknowledging the necessity of a vicarious sacrifice, nor feeling his need of an atonement, according to the dictates of his natural religion, brought a minchah or eucharistic offering to the God of the universe. Abel, not less grateful for the produce of his fields and the increase of his flocks, brought a similar offering, and by adding a sacrifice to it paid a proper regard to the will of God as far as it had then been revealed, acknowledged himself a sinner, and thus, deprecating the Divine displeasure, showed forth the death of Christ till he came. Thus his offerings were accepted, while those of Cain were rejected; for this, as the apostle says, was done by Faith, and therefore he obtained witness that he was righteous, or a justified person, God testifying with his gifts, the thank-offering and the sin-offering, by accepting them, that faith in the promised seed was the only way in which he could accept the services and offerings of mankind. Dr. Magee, in his Discourses on the Atonement, criticises the opinion of Dr. Kennicott, and contends that there is no ground for the distinction made by the latter on the words he also brought; and shows that though the minchah in general signifies an unbloody offering, yet it is also used to express both kinds, and that the minchah in question is to be understood of the sacrifice then offered by Abel. I do not see that we gain much by this counter-criticism. See Gen 4:7.

Unto Cain - As being unconscious of his sinfulness, and consequently unhumbled, and to his offering, as not being accompanied, as Abel's was, with faith and a sacrifice for sin, he had not respect - He could not, consistently with his holiness and justice, approve of the one or receive the other. Of the manner in which God testified his approbation we are not informed; it was probably, as in the case of Elijah, by sending down fire from heaven, and consuming the sacrifice.

Cain was very wroth - That displeasure which should have been turned against his own unhumbled heart was turned against his innocent brother, who, though not more highly privileged than he, made a much better use of the advantages which he shared in common with his ungodly and unnatural brother.

Why art thou wroth? - This was designed as a gracious warning, and a preventive of the meditated crime.

If thou doest well - That which is right in the sight of God, shalt thou not be accepted? Does God reject any man who serves him in simplicity and godly sincerity? But if thou doest not well, can wrath and indignation against thy righteous brother save thee from the displeasure under which thou art fallen? On the contrary, have recourse to thy Maker for mercy; לפתח חטאת רבץ lappethach chattath robets, a sin-offering lieth at thy door; an animal proper to be offered as an atonement for sin is now couching at the door of thy fold.

The words חטאת chattath, and חטאת chattaah, frequently signify sin; but I have observed more than a hundred places in the Old Testament where they are used for sin-offering, and translated ἁμαρτια by the Septuagint, which is the term the apostle uses, 2Cor 5:21 : He hath made him to be sin (ἁμαρτιαν, A Sin-Offering) for us, who knew no sin. Cain's fault now was his not bringing a sin-offering when his brother brought one, and his neglect and contempt caused his other offering to be rejected. However, God now graciously informs him that, though he had miscarried, his case was not yet desperate, as the means of faith, from the promise, etc., were in his power, and a victim proper for a sin-offering was lying (רבץ robets, a word used to express the lying down of a quadruped) at the door of his fold. How many sinners perish, not because there is not a Savior able and willing to save them, but because they will not use that which is within their power! Of such how true is that word of our Lord, Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life!

Unto thee shall be his desire, etc. - That is, Thou shalt ever have the right of primogeniture, and in all things shall thy brother be subject unto thee. These words are not spoken of sin, as many have understood them, but of Abel's submission to Cain as his superior, and the words are spoken to remove Cain's envy.

Cain talked with Abel his brother - ויאמר קין vaiyomer Kayin, and Cain said, etc.; not talked, for this construction the word cannot bear without great violence to analogy and grammatical accuracy. But why should it be thus translated? Because our translators could not find that any thing was spoken on the occasion; and therefore they ventured to intimate that there was a conversation, indefinitely. In the most correct editions of the Hebrew Bible there is a small space left here in the text, and a circular mark which refers to a note in the margin, intimating that there is a hiatus or deficiency in the verse. Now this deficiency is supplied in the principal ancient versions, and in the Samaritan text. In this the supplied words are, Let Us Walk Out Into The Field. The Syriac has, Let us go to the desert. The Vulgate Egrediamur foras, Let us walk out. The Septuagint, Διελθωμεν εις το πεδον, Let us go out into the field. The two Chaldee Targums have the same reading; so has the Coptic version. This addition is completely lost from every MS. of the Pentateuch now known; and yet it is sufficiently evident from the Samaritan text, the Samaritan version, the Syriac, Septuagint, and Vulgate, that it was in the most authentic copies of the Hebrew before and some time since the Christian era. The words may therefore be safely considered as a part of the sacred text, and with them the whole passage reads clear and consistently: "And Cain said unto Abel his brother, Let us go out into the field: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up," etc. The Jerusalem Targum, and the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, pretend to give us the subject of their conversation: as the piece is curious, I shall insert the substance of it, for the sake of those who may not have access to the originals. "And Cain said unto Hebel his brother, Let us go out into the field; and it came to pass that, when they were in the field, Cain answered and said to Hebel his brother, I thought that the world was created in mercy, but it is not governed according to the merit of good works nor is there any judgment, nor a Judge, nor shall there be any future state in which good rewards shall be given to the righteous, or punishment executed on the wicked; and now there is respect of persons in judgment. On what account is it that thy sacrifice has been accepted, and mine not received with complacency? And Hebel answered and said, The world was created in mercy, and it is governed according to the fruit of good works; there is a Judge, a future world, and a coming judgment, where good rewards shall be given to the righteous, and the impious punished; and there is no respect of persons in judgment; but because my works were better and more precious than thine, my oblation was received with complacency. And because of these things they contended on the face of the field, and Cain rose up against Hebel his brother, and struck a stone into his forehead, and killed him."

It is here supposed that the first murder committed in the world was the consequence of a religious dispute; however this may have been, millions since have been sacrificed to prejudice, bigotry, and intolerance. Here, certainly, originated the many-headed monster, religious persecution; the spirit of the wicked one in his followers impels them to afflict and destroy all those who are partakers of the Spirit of God. Every persecutor is a legitimate son of the old murderer. This is the first triumph of Satan; it is not merely a death that he has introduced, but a violent one, as the first-fruits of sin. It is not the death of an ordinary person, but of the most holy man then in being; it is not brought about by the providence of God, or by a gradual failure and destruction of the earthly fabric, but by a violent separation of body and soul; it is not done by a common enemy, from whom nothing better could be expected, but by the hand of a brother, and for no other reason but because the object of his envy was more righteous than himself. Alas! how exceeding sinful does sin appear in its first manifestation!

The voice of thy brother's blood - It is probable that Cain, having killed his brother, dug a hole and buried him in the earth, hoping thereby to prevent the murder from being known; and that this is what is designed in the words, Thy brother's blood crieth unto me From The Ground - which hath opened her mouth to receive it from thy hand. Some think that by the voice of thy brother's blood the cries of Abel's widow and children are to be understood, as it is very probable that he was father of a family; indeed his occupation and sacrifices seem to render this probable, and probability is all we can expect on such a subject. God represents these as calling aloud for the punishment of the murderer; and it is evident that Cain expected to fall by the hands of some person who, from his consanguinity, had the right of the avenger of blood; for now that the murder is found out, he expects to suffer death for it. See Gen 4:14.

A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be - Thou shalt be expelled from the presence of God, and from thy family connections, and shalt have no fixed secure residence in any place. The Septuagint render this στενων και τρεμων εση, thou shalt be groaning and trembling upon the earth - the horror of thy crime shall ever haunt thee, and thou shalt never have any well-grounded hope that God will remit the punishment thou deservest. No state out of endless perdition can be considered more awful than this.

My punishment is greater than I can bear - The margin reads, Mine iniquity is greater than that it may be forgiven. The original words, גדול עוני מנשוא gadol avoni minneso, may be translated, Is my crime too great to be forgiven? words which we may presume he uttered on the verge of black despair. It is most probable that עון avon signifies rather the crime than the punishment; in this sense it is used Lev 26:41, Lev 26:43 1Sam 28:10; 2Kgs 7:9; and נשא nasa signifies to remit or forgive. The marginal reading is, therefore, to be preferred to that in the text.

Behold, thou hast driven me out - In Gen 4:11, Gen 4:12, God states two parts of Cain's punishment:

1. The ground was cursed, so that it was not to yield any adequate recompense for his most careful tillage.

2. He was to be a fugitive and a vagabond having no place in which he could dwell with comfort or security.

To these Cain himself adds others.

1. His being hidden from the face of God; which appears to signify his being expelled from that particular place where God had manifested his presence in or contiguous to Paradise, whither our first parents resorted as to an oracle, and where they offered their daily adorations. So in Gen 4:16, it is said, Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and was not permitted any more to associate with the family in acts of religious worship.

2. The continual apprehension of being slain, as all the inhabitants of the earth were at that time of the same family, the parents themselves still alive, and each having a right to kill this murderer of his relative. Add to all this,

3. The terrors of a guilty conscience; his awful apprehension of God's judgments, and of being everlastingly banished from the beatific vision. To this part of the punishment of Cain St. Paul probably alludes, 2Thes 1:9 : Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. The words are so similar that we can scarcely doubt of the allusion.

The Lord set a mark upon Cain - What this mark was, has given rise to a number of frivolously curious conjectures. Dr. Shuckford collects the most remarkable. Some say he was paralytic; this seems to have arisen from the version of the Septuagint, Στενων και τρεμων εση, Groaning and trembling shalt thou be. The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel says the sign was from the great and precious name, probably one of the letters of the word Yehovah. The author of an Arabic Catena in the Bodleian Library says, "A sword could not pierce him; fire could not burn him; water could not drown him; the air could not blast him; nor could thunder or lightning strike him." The author of Bereshith Rabba, a comment on Genesis, says the mark was a circle of the sun rising upon him. Abravanel says the sign was Abel's dog, which constantly accompanied him. Some of the doctors in the Talmud say that it was the letter ת tau marked on his forehead, which signified his contrition, as it is the first letter in the word תשובה teshubah, repentance. Rabbi Joseph, wiser than all the rest, says it was a long horn growing out of his forehead!

Dr. Shuckford farther observes that the Hebrew word אית oth, which we translate a mark, signifies a sign or token. Thus, Gen 9:13, the bow was to be לאית leoth, for a sign or token that the world should not be destroyed; therefore the words, And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, should be translated, And the Lord appointed to Cain a token or sign, to convince him that no person should be permitted to slay him. To have marked him would have been the most likely way to have brought all the evils he dreaded upon him; therefore the Lord gave him some miraculous sign or token that he should not be slain, to the end that he should not despair, but, having time to repent, might return to a gracious God and find mercy. Notwithstanding the allusion which I suppose St. Paul to have made to the punishment of Cain, some think that he did repent and find mercy. I can only say this was possible. Most people who read this account wonder why Cain should dread being killed, when it does not appear to them that there were any inhabitants on the earth at that time besides himself and his parents. To correct this mistake, let it be observed that the death of Abel took place in the one hundred and twenty-eighth or one hundred and twenty-ninth year of the world. Now, "supposing Adam and Eve to have had no other sons than Cain and Abel in the year of the world one hundred and twenty-eight, yet as they had daughters married to these sons, their descendants would make a considerable figure on the earth. Supposing them to have been married in the nineteenth year of the world, they might easily have had each eight children, some males and some females, in the twenty-fifth year. In the fiftieth year there might proceed from them in a direct line sixty-four persons; in the seventy-fourth year there would be five hundred and twelve; in the ninety-eighth year, four thousand and ninety-six; in the one hundred and twenty-second they would amount to thirty-two thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight: if to these we add the other children descended from Cain and Abel, their children, and their children's children, we shall have, in the aforesaid one hundred and twenty-eight years four hundred and twenty-one thousand one hundred and sixty-four men capable of generation, without reckoning the women either old or young, or such as are under the age of seventeen." See Dodd.

But this calculation may be disputed, because there is no evidence that the antediluvian patriarchs began to have children before they were sixty-five years of age. Now, supposing that Adam at one hundred and thirty years of age had one hundred and thirty children, which is quite possible, and each of these a child at sixty-five years of age, and one in each successive year, the whole, in the one hundred and thirtieth year of the world, would amount to one thousand two hundred and nineteen persons; a number sufficient to found several villages, and to excite the apprehensions under which Cain appeared at this time to labor.

The land of Nod - As נוד nod signifies the same as נד sa , a vagabond, some think this verse should be rendered, And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, from the east of Eden, and dwelt a vagabond on the earth; thus the curse pronounced on him, Gen 4:12, was accomplished.

She - bare Enoch - As חנוך Chanoch signifies instructed, dedicated, or initiated, and especially in sacred things, it may be considered some proof of Cain's repentance, that he appears to have dedicated this son to God, who, in his father's stead, might minister in the sacerdotal office, from which Cain, by his crime, was for ever excluded.

Lamech took - two wives - He was the first who dared to reverse the order of God by introducing polygamy; and from him it has been retained, practiced, and defended to the present day.

Jabal - was the father - The inventor or teacher, for so the word is understood, 1Sam 10:12. He was the first who invented tent-making, and the breeding and managing of cattle; or he was, in these respects, the most eminent in that time. Though Abel was a shepherd, it is not likely he was such on an extensive scale.

Jubal - the father - i.e. The inventor of musical instruments, such as the כנור kinnor, which we translate harp, and the עוגב ugab, which we render organ; it is very likely that both words are generic, the former including under it all stringed instruments, and the latter, all wind instruments.

Tubal-cain - The first smith on record, who taught how to make warlike instruments and domestic utensils out of brass and iron.

Agricultural instruments must have been in use long before, for Cain was a tiller of the ground, and so was Adam, and they could not have cultivated the ground without spades, hooks, etc. Some of these arts were useless to man while innocent and upright, but after his fall they became necessary. Thus is the saying verified: God made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions. As the power to get wealth is from God, so also is the invention of useful arts.

M. De Lavaur, in his Conference de la Fable avec l'Histoire Sainte, supposes that the Greeks and Romans took their smith-god Vulcan from Tubal-cain, the son of Lamech. The probability of this will appear,

1. From the name, which, by the omission of the Tu and turning the b into v, a change frequently made among the Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, makes Vulcain or Vulcan.

2. From his occupation he was an artificer, a master smith in brass and iron.

3. He thinks this farther probable from the names and sounds in this verse. The melting metals in the fire, and hammering them, bears a near resemblance to the hissing sound of צלה tsillah, the mother of Tubal-cain; and צלל tsalal signifies to tinkle or make a sound like a bell, 1Sam 3:11 2Kgs 21:12.

4. Vulcan is said to have been lame; M. De Lavaur thinks that this notion was taken from the noun צלא tsela, which signifies a halting or lameness.

5. Vulcan had to wife Venus, the goddess of beauty; Naamah, the sister of Tubal-cain, he thinks, may have given rise to this part of the fable, as her name in Hebrew signifies beautiful or gracious.

6. Vulcan is reported to have been jealous of his wife, and to have forged nets in which he took Mars and her, and exposed them to the view of the whole celestial court: this idea he thinks was derived from the literal import of the name Tubal-cain; תבל tebel signifies an incestuous mixture of relatives, Lev 20:12; and קנא kana, to burn with jealousy; from these and concomitant circumstances the case of the detected adultery of Mars and Venus might be easily deduced. He is of opinion that a tradition of this kind might have readily found its way from the Egyptians to the Greeks, as the former had frequent intercourse with the Hebrews.

Of Naamah nothing more is spoken in the Scriptures; but the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel makes her the inventress of funeral songs and lamentations. R. S. Jarchi says she was the wife of Noah, and quotes Bereshith Rabba in support of the opinion. Some of the Jewish doctors say her name is recorded in Scripture because she was an upright and chaste woman; but others affirm that the whole world wandered after her, and that of her evil spirits were born into the world. This latter opinion gives some countenance to that of M. De Lavaur.

And Lamech said unto his wives - The speech of Lamech to his wives is in hemistichs in the original, and consequently, as nothing of this kind occurs before this time, it is very probably the oldest piece of poetry in the world. The following is, as nearly as possible, a literal translation: "And Lamech said unto his wives,

Adah and Tsillah, hear ye my voice;

Wives of Lamech, hearken to my speech;

For I have slain a man for wounding me,

And a young man for having bruised me.

If Cain shall be avenged seven-fold,

Also Lamech seventy and seven."

It is supposed that Lamech had slain a man in his own defense, and that his wives being alarmed lest the kindred of the deceased should seek his life in return, to quiet their fears he makes this speech, in which he endeavors to prove that there was no room for fear on this account; for if the slayer of the wilful murderer, Cain, should suffer a seven-fold punishment, surely he, who should kill Lamech for having slain a man in self-defense, might expect a seventy-seven-fold punishment.

This speech is very dark, and has given rise to a great variety of very strange conjectures. Dr. Shuckford supposes there is an ellipsis of some preceding speech or circumstance which, if known, would cast a light on the subject. In the antediluvian times, the nearest of kin to a murdered person had a right to revenge his death by taking away the life of the murderer. This, as we have already seen, appears to have contributed not a little to Cain's horror, Gen 4:14. Now we may suppose that the descendants of Cain were in continual alarms, lest some of the other family should attempt to avenge the death of Abel on them, as they were not permitted to do it on Cain; and that in order to dismiss those fears, Lamech, the seventh descendant from Adam, spoke to this effect to his wives: "Why should you render yourselves miserable by such ill-founded fears? We have slain no person; we have not done the least wrong to our brethren of the other family; surely then reason should dictate to you that they have no right to injure us. It is true that Cain, one of our ancestors, killed his brother Abel; but God, willing to pardon his sin, and give him space to repent, threatened to punish those with a seven-fold punishment who should dare to kill him. If this be so, then those who should have the boldness to kill any of us who are innocent, may expect a punishment still more rigorous. For if Cain should be avenged seven-fold on the person who should slay him, surely Lamech or any of his innocent family should be avenged seventy-seven-fold on those who should injure them." The Targums give nearly the same meaning, and it makes a good sense; but who can say it is the true sense? If the words be read interrogatively, as they certainly may, the sense will be much clearer, and some of the difficulties will be removed: "Have I slain a man, that I should be wounded?

Or a young man, that I should be bruised?"

But even this still supposes some previous reason or conversation. I shall not trouble my readers with a ridiculous Jewish fable, followed by St. Jerome, of Lamech having killed Cain by accident, etc.; and after what I have already said, I must leave the passage, I fear, among those which are inscrutable.

God - hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel - Eve must have received on this occasion some Divine communication, else how could she have known that this son was appointed in the place of Abel, to continue that holy line by which the Messiah was to come? From this we see that the line of the Messiah was determined from the beginning, and that it was not first fixed in the days of Abraham; for the promise was then only renewed, and that branch of his family designated by which the sacred line was to be continued. And it is worthy of remark, that Seth's posterity alone continued after the flood, when all the other families of the earth were destroyed, Noah being the tenth descendant from Adam through Seth.

Though all these persons are mentioned in the following chapter, I shall produce them here in the order of their succession:

1. Adam;

2. Seth;

3. Enos;

4. Cainan;

5. Mahalaleel;

6. Jared;

7. Enoch;

8. Methuselah;

9. Lamech, (the second);

10. Noah.

In order to keep this line distinct, we find particular care was taken that, where there were two or more sons in a family, the one through whom God particularly designed to bring his Son into the world was, by some especial providence, pointed out. Thus in the family of Adam, Seth was chosen; in the family of Noah, Shem; in the family of Abraham, Isaac; and in that of David, Solomon and Nathan. All these things God watched over by an especial providence from the beginning, that when Jesus Christ should come it might be clearly seen that he came by the promise, through grace, and not by nature.

Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord - The marginal reading is, Then began men to call themselves by the name of the Lord; which words are supposed to signify that in the time of Enos the true followers of God began to distinguish themselves, and to be distinguished by others, by the appellation of sons of God; those of the other branch of Adam's family, among whom the Divine worship was not observed, being distinguished by the name, children of men. It must not be dissembled that many eminent men have contended that הוחל huchal, which we translate began, should be rendered began profanely, or then profanation began, and from this time they date the origin of idolatry. Most of the Jewish doctors were of this opinion, and Maimonides has discussed it at some length in his Treatise on Idolatry; as this piece is curious, and gives the most probable account of the origin and progress of idolatry, I shall insert it here. "In the days of Enos the sons of Adam erred with great error, and the counsel of the wise men of that age became brutish, and Enos himself was (one) of them that erred; and their error was this: they said, Forasmuch as God hath created these stars and spheres to govern the world, and set them on high, and imparted honor unto them, and they are ministers that minister before him; it is meet that men should laud, and glorify, and give them honor. For this is the will of God, that we magnify and honor whomsoever he magnifieth and honoureth; even as a king would have them honored that stand before him, and this is the honor of the king himself. When this thing was come up into their hearts they began to build temples unto the stars, and to offer sacrifice unto them, and to laud and glorify them with words, and to worship before them, that they might in their evil opinion obtain favor of the Creator; and this was the root of idolatry, etc. And in process of time there stood up false prophets among the sons of Adam, which said that God had commanded and said unto them, Worship such a star, or all the stars, and do sacrifice unto them thus and thus; and build a temple for it, and make an image of it, that all the people, women, and children may worship it. And the false prophet showed them the image which he had feigned out of his own heart, and said it was the image of such a star, which was made known unto him by prophecy. And they began after this manner to make images in temples, and under trees, and on tops of mountains and hills, and assembled together and worshipped them, etc. And this thing was spread through all the world, to serve images with services different one from another, and to sacrifice unto and worship them. So, in process of time, the glorious and fearful name (of God) was forgotten out of the mouth of all living, and out of their knowledge, and they acknowledged him not.

And there was found no people on the earth that knew aught, save images of wood and stone, and temples of stone, which they had been trained up from their childhood to worship and serve, and to swear by their names. And the wise men that were among them, as the priests and such like, thought there was no God save the stars and spheres, for whose sake and in whose likeness they had made these images; but as for the Rock everlasting, there was no man that acknowledged him or knew him save a few persons in the world, as Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Sham, and Heber. And in this way did the world walk and converse till that pillar of the world, Abraham our father, was born." Maim. in Mishn, and Ainsworth in loco.

1. We see here the vast importance of worshipping God according to his own mind; no sincerity, no uprightness of intention, can atone for the neglect of positive commands delivered in Divine revelation, when this revelation is known. He who will bring a eucharistic offering instead of a sacrifice, while a sin-offering lieth at the door, as he copies Cain's conduct, may expect to be treated in the same manner. Reader, remember that thou hast an entrance unto the holiest through the veil, that is to say his flesh; and those who come in this way, God will in nowise cast out.

2. We see the horrible nature of envy: its eye is evil merely because God is good; it easily begets hatred; hatred, deep-settled malice; and malice, murder! Watch against the first appearance of this most destructive passion, the prime characteristic of which is to seek the destruction of the object of its malevolence, and finally to ruin its possessor.

3. Be thankful to God that, as weakness increased and wants became multiplied, God enabled man to find out useful inventions, so as to lessen excessive labor, and provide every thing indispensably necessary for the support of life. He who carefully attends to the dictates of honest, sober industry, is never likely to perish for lack of the necessaries of life.

4. As the followers of God at this early period found it indispensably necessary to separate themselves from all those who were irreligious and profane, and to make a public profession of their attachment to the truth, so it should be now. There are still men of profane minds whose spirit and conduct are destructive to godliness; and in reference to such the permanent order of God is, Come out from among them, touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. He who is not determined to be a Christian at all events, is not far from being an infidel. Those only who confess Christ among men shall be acknowledged before his Father and the angels of God.

Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters, Ge 5:4. But Cain and Abel seem to have been the two eldest. Cain signifies possession; for Eve when she bare him said with joy and thankfulness, and great expectation, I have gotten a man from the Lord.

Abel signifies vanity. The name given to this son is put upon the whole race, Psa 39:5. Every man is at his best estate vanity; Abel, vanity. He chose that employment which did most befriend contemplation and devotion, for that hath been looked upon as the advantage of a pastoral life. Moses and David kept sheep, and in their solitudes conversed with God.

In process of time - At the end of days, either at the end of the year when they kept their feast of in - gathering, or at the end of the days of the week, the seventh day; 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 which we have reason to think there was a divine appointment given to Adam, as a token of God's favour notwithstanding their apostacy.

And the Lord God had respect to Abel and to his offering, and shewed his acceptance of it, probably by fire from heaven but to Cain and to his offering he had not respect. We are sure there was a good reason for this difference: that Governor of the world, though an absolute sovereign, doth not act arbitrarily in dispensing his smiles and frowns. There was a difference in the characters of the persons offering: Cain was a wicked man, but Abel was a righteous man, Mt 23:35. There was a difference in the offerings they brought. Abel's was a more excellent sacrifice than Cain's; Cain's was only a sacrifice of acknowledgment offered to the Creator; the meat - offerings of the fruit of the ground were no more: 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. But the great difference was, Abel offered in faith, and Cain did not. Abel offered with an eye to God's will as his rule, and in dependence upon the promise of a Redeemer. But Cain did not offer in faith, and so it turned into sin to him.

And Cain was wroth, and his countenance fell - Not so much out of grief as malice and rage. His sullen churlish countenance, and down - look, betrayed his passionate resentment.

If thou dost well, shalt thou not be accepted? - Either, 1. If thou hadst done well, as thy brother did, thou shouldest have been accepted as he was. God is no respecter of persons; so that if we come short of acceptance with him, the fault is wholly our own. 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 glorified saint in heaven. Every mouth will shortly be stopt 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; thou shalt yet be accepted. See how early the gospel was preached, and the benefit of it here offered even to one of the chief of sinners. He sets before him death and a curse; but, if not well - Seeing thou didst not do well, not offer in faith, and in a right manner, sin lieth at the door - That is, sin only hinders thy acceptance. All this considered, Cain had no reason to he angry with his brother, but at himself only. Unto thee shall be his desire - He shall continue in respect to thee as an elder brother, and thou, as the first - born, shall 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 dignity, and power, which is said to belong to it, Gen 49:3.

And Cain talked with Abel his brother - The Chaldee paraphrast adds, that Cain, when they were in discourse, maintained there was no judgment to come, and that when Abel spoke in defence of the truth, Cain took that occasion to fall upon him. The scripture tells us the reason wherefore he slew him, because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous; so that herein he shewed himself to be a child of the devil, as being an enemy to all righteousness. Observe, the first that dies is a saint, 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.

And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? - God knew him to be guilty; yet he asks him, that he might draw from him a confession of his crime; for those who would be justified before God, must accuse themselves. And he said, I know not - Thus in Cain the devil was both a murderer, and a liar from the beginning. Am I my Brother's keeper? - Sure he is old enough to take care of himself, nor did I ever take charge of him. Art not thou his keeper? If he be missing, on thee be the blame, and not on me, who never undertook to keep him.

And he said, What hast thou done? - Thou thinkest to conceal it, but the evidence against thee is clear and uncontestable, the voice of thy brother's blood crieth - 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. The blood is said to cry from the ground, the earth, which is said, Ge 4:11, to open her mouth to receive his brother's blood from his hand. 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.

And now art thou cursed from the earth - 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. 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: but he chose to make the earth the avenger of blood; to continue him upon the earth, and not presently to cut him off; and yet to make even that his curse. That part of it which fell to his share, and which he had the occupation of, was made unfruitful, by the blood of Abel. Besides, A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. By this he was here condemned, to perpetual disgrace and reproach, and to perpetual disquietment and horror in his own mind. His own guilty conscience should haunt him where ever he went. Now to justify his complaint, Observe his descants upon the sentence. He sees himself excluded by it from the favour of his God; and concludes, that being cursed, he was hid from God's face, and that is indeed the true nature of God's curse; damned sinners find it so, to whom it is said, Depart from me ye cursed. Those are cursed indeed that are for ever shut out from God's love and care, and from all hopes of his grace. He sees himself expelled from all the comforts of this life; and concludes, Ge 4:14. Thou hast driven me 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. And from thy face shall I be hid - Shut out of the church, not admitted to come with the sons of God to present himself before the Lord. And it shall come to pass that every one that finds me shall slay me - Wherever he wanders he goes in peril of his life. There were none alive but his near relations, yet even of them he is justly afraid, who had himself been so barbarous to his own brother.

Whosoever slayeth Cain vengeance shall be taken on him seven - fold - God having said in Cain's case Vengeance is mine, I will repay; it had been a daring usurpation for any man to take the sword out of God's hand. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain - To distinguish him from the rest of mankind. What the mark was, God has not told us: therefore the conjectures of men are vain.

And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt on the east of Eden - Somewhere distant from the place were Adam and his religious family resided: distinguishing himself and his accursed generation from the holy seed; in the land of Nod - That is, of shaking or trembling, because of the continual restlessness of his spirit. Those that depart from God cannot find rest any where else. When Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, he never rested after.

And he builded a city - In token of a settled separation from the church of God. And 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. The names of more of his posterity are mentioned, and but just mentioned, as those of the holy seed, Ge 5:1 - 32. They are numbered in haste, as not valued or delighted in, in comparison with God's children.

And Lamech took 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. Jabal was a famous shepherd; he delighted much in keeping cattle, 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. Jubal was a famous musician, and particularly an organist, and the first that gave rules for that 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. From Jubal probably the Jubilee trumpet was so called; for the best music was that which proclaimed liberty and redemption.

From Tubal - Cain, probably the Heathen Vulcan came. Why Naamah is particularly named, we know not: probably they did, who lived when Moses wrote.

This passage is extremely obscure. We know not whom he slew, or on what occasion: neither what ground he had to be so confident of the Divine protection.

This is the first mention of Adam in the story of this chapter. No question the murder of Abel, and the impenitency and apostacy of Cain, were a very great grief to him and Eve, and the more because their own wickedness did now correct them, and their backsliding 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, Gen 27:45. When parents are grieved by their children's wickedness, they should take occasion from 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, namely, God gave them to see the rebuilding of their family which was sorely shaken and weakened by that sad event. For, they saw their seed, another instead of Abel. And Adam called his name Seth - That is, Set, settled or placed, because in his seed mankind should continue to the end of time.

And to Seth was born a son called Enos, which is the general name for all men, and speaks the weakness, frailty, and misery of man's state. Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord - 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 since the defection of Cain. Now men began to worship God, not only in their closets and families, but in public and solemn assemblies. 2. The worshippers of God began to distinguish themselves: so the margin reads it. Then began men to be called by the name of the Lord, or, to call themselves by it. Now Cain and those that had deserted religion had built a city, and begun to declare for 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.

1. AND Adam knew Eve his Wife, and she Conceived and bare Cain , and said, I have gotten a Man from the LORD .

This modest expression is used both in Scripture and other Authours to signifie the Conjugal act or Carnal knowledge. So Gen. 19. 8. and 24. 16. Numb. 31. 17. Matth. 1. 25. Luk. 1. 34.

Whose name signifies a possession.

A Male Child, as Gen. 7. 2. which was most welcome.

Or, By or with the Lord, (i. e.) By vertue of his first blessing, Gen. 1. 28. and special favour. Or, a man the Lord, as the words properly signifie, q. d. God-man, or the Messias, hoping that this was the promised Seed.

2. And she again bare his Brother Abel : and Abel was a Keeper of Sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground .

Signifying vanity, a vain, mortal, miserable man, whereas she thought Cain to be more than an ordinary man: or this name might prophetically design his miserable life, and untimely and unnatural death.

Which was esteemed a more honourable calling than that of a Shepherd, and therefore either chosen by the Elder Brother, or allotted to him by his Father.

Marginal references: Heb. Hebel.; Heb. a feeder.

3. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, an offering unto the LORD.

Either 1. In general at the return of the set time then appointed and used for the solemn service of God. Or, 2. At the end of the year, when there might be now, as there was afterward among the Jews, more solemn Worship and Sacrifices: The word Days, being often put for a year, as Levit. 25. 29, 1 Sam. 1. 3. and 27. 7. Or, 3. More probably, at the end of the days of the week, or, upon the seventh and last day of the week, Saturday, which then was the Sabbath day, which before this time was blessed and sanctified, Gen. 2. 3.

Either to the place appointed for the solemn Worship of God: Or, to his Father, who at that time was both King, and Prophet, and Priest. Or brought i. e. offered.

Marginal references: Heb▪ at the end of days. Exod▪ 2. 23. Or, of the year. 2 Sam. 15. 26. Neh. 13. 6. Isai. 24. 22.; Exod. 2. 23.

4. And Abel, he also brought of the Firstlings of his Flock, and of the fat thereof . And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering.

Either. 1. The First-born, which God reserved to himself both at this time, and afterwards by an express Law, Exod. 13. 2. Numb. 3. 13. Or, 2. The choicest and most eminent of the Flock: For the best of any kind are oft called First-born, as Ioh 18. 13. Ier. 31. 19. Heb. 12. 23.

Either 1. Properly, the fat being properly now required by God, as afterwards was expressed, Ex. 29. 13, 22. Levit. 3. 3. Or, 2. The best of them, as the word fat is often used, as Gen. 45. 18. and 49. 20. Numb. 18. 12. Nehem. 8. 10. Psal. 147. 14.

Or, looked to him with a gracious eye, kindly accepted and owned him and his Sacrifice, and testified this Heb. 11. 4. to Cain and all there present, either by express word, or by some visible sign, probably by consuming his Sacrifice by Fire from Heaven, as the Fathers generally think, whereby also God did afterwards frequently signifie his acceptance of Sacrifices, as Levit. 9. 24. Iud. 6. 21. 1 King. 18. 38. 1 Chron. 21. 26. 2 Chron. 7. 1.

Unto Abels person, who was a truly good Man; and then to his Sacrifice, which was offered with Faith in Gods Mercy, and in the promised Mediatour, Heb. 11. 4.

Marginal references: Heb. Sheep or Goats.; Heb. 11. 4.

5. But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect: And Cain was very wroth , and his countenance fell .

Partly with God, who had cast so publick a disgrace upon him, and given the preference to his younger Brother: And partly with Abel, because he had received more Honour from God, and therefore was likely to have more respect, and priviledge from his Parents than himself.

Whereas before it was lifted up and chearful, now it fell down through sense of guilt, disappointment of his hope, shame, and grief, and envy at his Brother.

6. And the LORD said unto Cain , why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen ?

That he might bring him to Repentance and the knowledge of his sin.

The cause of this dejectedness is not from me, but from thy self,

Marginal references: Job 29. 24.

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 .

Or, for the future shalt do well, (i. e.) repent of thy sin, amend thy Life, offer thy Offerings with a willing and chearful mind and honest heart in Faith and Love, as Abel did.

Or, pardoned, received into favour? Or, exalted, and either preserved in or restoredunto those rights of the First-born, which thou art conscious to thy self, that thou hast forfeited? Or, elevated, in thy looks, i. e. would not, or should not, thy countenance have been upright and pleasant, which now is sad and dejected?

Sin is here taken, either 1. Properly, so the sense is, sin will be growing upon thee, one sin will bring in another, and that mali[illegible: 1+ letters] and purpose of revenge against thy Brother, which now lies hid in the secret chamber of thy Mind and Heart, lies at the door ready to break forth into the view of the World in open Murder. Or, 2, For the punishment of sin, as it is taken Gen. 19. 15. Levit. 5. 1. and 2[illegible: 1+ letters]. 20. Numb. 18. 1. 2 King. 7. 9. Zach. 14. 19. So the sense is, if thou wilt go on in sin, and execute thy wicked purpose which I perceive lies working in thy Heart, be sure thy sin will find thee o[illegible: 1+ letters]t, as is said Numb. 32. 23. Thou shalt not long enjoy the Fruits of thy wickedness, but a dreadful judgment shall tread upon the heels of thy sin, and lie like a furious Mastive-dog at the very door of thy house, to seize upon thee, at thy first coming in or going out. For that person or thing which is very near to us▪ or at hand, is said to be at the doors, Matth. 24. 33. Iam. 5. 9.

Those two clauses may relate either 1. To sin, which may be here spoken of as a person; as it is Rom. 7▪ 8, 9▪ 11▪ &c. So the place may be rendred and expounded thus, The desire of sin is to thee, (i. e.) to assault, seduce, conquer and destroy thee: As it is said, Luke 22. 31. Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you, &c. Or thus, its desire, objectively, not subjectively taken, (i. e.) Thy desire, intention, or resolution of smning; that evil motion of thy heart against thy Brother, shall be against (as the Hebrew particle el oft signifies) thee, (i. e.) howsoever at present it pleaseth thee, yet it is really not only against him, but against thy self, and will certainly turn to thy own ruine: But (for so the particle and is commonly taken:) If thou be wise, give no place to it▪ but resist it, do thou rule (for the future tense is oft put imperatively, as in the Ten Commandements, and it frequently signifies not what a man can or shall do, but his duty or what he ought to do as is evident from Gen. 20. 9. Mal. 1. 6. Luke 3. 14.) over it, i. e. conquer and subdue it, which is thy duty: or, thou shalt rule over it, (i. e.) by my grace assisting thy endeavours thou shalt be enabled to subdue thy evil concupiscences and passions, and so over-rule, prevent or remove those punishments, which otherwise sin will infallibly bring upon thee. Or, 2. To Abel, and so the sense is, And (as for thy Brother Abel, to whose Faith and Piety I have given this publick and honourable testimony, which thy naughty heart makes an occasion of envy, and malice, and intention of Murther, that thou mayst not by a mistake be led to the perpetration of so horrid a crime, know▪ that this favour of mine concerns only his spiritual priviledge, and the happiness of the Life to come, which thou despisest, but it makes no change in civil rights, nor doth it transfer the domimon from thee, whose it is by Birth, unto him; nor doth he so understand it, for notwithstanding this) unto thee shall be his desire subject, (i. e.) he shall and will nevertheless yield to thee as his Superiour, and thou according to thy own hearts desire, shalt rule over him. If it be said, the name of Abel is not here mentioned, it may be answered, that this is sufficiently included in the pronouns his and him, and it is not unusual to put those relative pronouns alone, the antecedent being not expressed, but to be gathered either from the foregoing or following words, of which see my notes on Gen. 3. 1.

Marginal references: Or, have the excellency.; Or, subject unto thee.

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 .

Either 1. Familiarly and friendly, as he used to do, thereby to make him secure and careless: Or by way of expostulation and contention.

Into which Abel was led either by his own employment, or by Cains perswasion, this being a fit place for the execution of his wicked purpose.

Possibly with stone or club or with some Iron tool belonging to Husbandry.

Marginal references: Heb spake to, &c.; Matth. 23. 35. 1 John 3. 12. Jude 11.

9. And the LORD said unto Cain, where is Abel thy Brother ? And he said, I know not: Am I my Brothers Keeper ?

Not that God was ignorant where he was, but partly to convince him of his sin and to lead him to Repentance, and partly to instruct Judges to enquire into causes, and hear the accused speak for themselves, before they pass sentence.

Whom nature and near relation obliged thee to love and preserve.

Why dost thou enquire of me concerning him who is of age to look to himself? Is he such a stripling that he needs a Guardian? Or didst thou ever make me his Guardian?

10. And he said, what hast thou done ? The voice of thy brothers Blood crieth unto me from the ground .

I hear thy words, but what say thy actions? What an hideous crime hast thou committed? In vain dost thou endeavour to hide it or deny it.

In the Hebrew it is Bloods, either to aggravate the crime: Or, to shew the plenty of the blood spilt: Or, to charge him with the Murder of all those that might naturally have come out of Abels loyns, which was a far greater crime in the nonage of the World, when the World greatly wanted people.

Upon which it was spilt by thy bloody hands.

Marginal references: Heb. bloods.; Rev. 6. 10.

11. And now art thou cursed from the Earth , which hath opened her mouth to receive thy Brothers blood from thy hand .

As the earth was cursed for thy Fathers sake, so now art thou cursed in thy own person.

Or, In regard of the Earth, which shall grudge thee both its Fruits, and a certain dwelling place.

Which had more humanity to thy Brother than thou hadst; for it kindly received and covered that blood which thou didst cruelly and unnaturally shed upon it.

12. When thou tillest the ground it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength . A fugitive and vagabond shalt thou be in the Earth.

Or, That ground, which doth or shall fall to thy share, which besides the first and general curse inflicted upon the whole Earth, shall have this peculiar curse added to it.

(i. e.) Its vertue, and fruit, in such proportion as it hath hitherto done.

Banished from thy own Land and Kindred, and fathers house, and from the whole society of the faithful, and wandring hither and thither. Others render the words mourning and trembling: or, trembling and wandring. These two words note both the unquietness and horrour of his Mind and Conscience, and the unsettledness of his habitation and condition, and as some add, the trembling of his Body.

13, And Cain said unto the LORD, my punishment is greater than I can bear.

Heb. My Sin: But Sin seems here to be put for punishment, as before ver. 7. and Gen. 19. 15. Levit. 5. 1. Psal. 69. 27. Prov. 12. 21. For Cain was not so sensible of his sin, as of the ill effects of it, as himself shews ver. 14.

Marginal references: Or, mine iniquity is greater than that it may be forgiven.

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 .

Consider how severely thou usest me.

With publick infamy, as the word signifies.

Or, This Earth, my native Land.

(i. e.) Favour and Protection.

As the publick Enemy of mankind, and as one devoted by thee to destruction. Quest. Whom did Cain fear, when it appears not that there were any but his Father and Mother? Answ. So ignorant people conceive; but it is a fond conceit to think; that there were no more men than are expressed in this Book, where God never intended to give a catalogue of all men▪ but only of the Church, or those who had some relation to or concern with it. Nay, that there were very many thousands of men now in being, is very credible upon these rational grounds and suppositions. 1. That Adam and Eve did according to Gods precept and blessing, Gen. 1. 26. procreate Children presently after the fall, and Gods gracious reconcilement to them; and consequently their Children did so, when they came to competent age. 2. That those first Men and Women were endowed by God with extraordinary fruitfulness, and might have two, three, four or more at a time, (as divers persons long after had) which was then expedient for the replenishing of the World; and the like may be judged of their Children, during the Worlds infancy. 3. That this Murder was committed but a little before the hundred and thirtieth year of Adams Age, which appears by comparing Gen. 4. 25. and 5. 3. Before which time how vast and numerous an off-spring might have come from Adam, none can be ignorant that can and shall make a rational computation.

15. And the LORD said unto him, therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold . And the LORD set a mark upon Cain , lest any finding him should kill him.

Or, Assuredly, as the word signifies Ier. 2. 32. and 5. 2. Zach. 11. 17. That thou mayst see how I hate murther, and how impartially I shall punish all Murtherers, and that thou mayst be unhappily free from this fear, that thou mayst live for an example to mankind, for a terrour to thy self and others.

(i. e.) Abundantly he shall be plagued with many and grievous punishments, as the phrase is used, Levit. 26. 28. Psal. 12. 7. and 79. 12. and in many other places.

What this was, whether a trembling of his Body, or a ghastliness of his countenance, or what other visible token of the divine displeasure, God hath not revealed, nor doth it concern us to know.

16. And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD , and dwelt in the Land of Nod , on the East of Eden.

(i. e.) Was banished from the place of Gods special presence and habitation, from the society of his Father, and of the only Church which God had upon Earth.

In the Land which was afterwards called Nod, from Cains unsetled condition, because he continued wandring hither and thither in it.

17. And Cain knew his Wife , and she conceived and bare Enoch, and he built a City , and called the Name of the City after the name of his Son Enoch .

Of which phrase see on Chap. 4. 1.

Partly to divert his troubled mind with business and pleasure, and partly for his own security against the Enemies and evils which his guilty Conscience made him fear, notwithstanding the assurance which God had given him. And this he did as soon as he was in capacity for it, either by the increase of his own posterity, or by the accession of other degenerate Sons of Adam to him, who either being banished or having departed from the Church, willingly associated themselves with their brethren in iniquity.

Not after his own name, which he knew to be infamous and hateful.

Marginal references: Heb. Cha[illegible: 1+ letters]och.

19. And Lamech took unto him two Wives , the Name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

The wicked branch of that cursed root of Cain.

Against Gods first institution, Gen. 2. 24. Mal. 2. 15. and without Gods leave.

20. And Adah bare Iubal: He was the Father of such as dwell in Tents , and of such as have Cattle .

He taught Shepherds to dwell in Tents, and to remove them from place to place, for conveniency of Pasture. The first Authors or Inventers of any thing are commonly called its Fathers.

Heb. And of Cattle, i. e. The Inventor of the art of keeping and managing Cattle.

21. And his Brothers name was Iubal: He was the Father of all such as handle the Harp and Organ .

Or, the lovely instrument. But what kind of instrument this was even the Jews do not understand. The meaning is he was the Inventer of Musick and musical instruments.

22. And Zillah she also bare Tubal-Cain , an Instructer of every Artificer in Brass, and Iron : And the Sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah .

Whom (as the learned conceive, and the agreement of the name and function makes probable) the Heathens Worshipped by the name of Vulcan the God of Smiths, and his Sister Naamah, by the name of Venus.

Who first taught men how to make arms and other instruments of Iron.

So called from her beauty, which her Name signifies.

Marginal references: Heb. Wh[illegible: 1+ letters]tter.

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 .

Who, observing his fierceness and cruelty, feared that the vengeance of God or men would fall upon him, and upon them for his sake.

(i. e.) Be it so that I have slain a man, and that a young man, why do you concern your selves in it? It is to my own wounding and hurt, not to yours, I must suffer for it, not you. Some take this to be a sorrowful confession of his bloody crime, q. d. I have murdered a man, to my wounding, &c. (i. e.) to my utter ruine or to the wounding and grief of my Heart and Conscience. But this seems not to agree either with the quality of Cains Family, or with the temper of Lamechs Person, or with the scope of the Holy Ghost in this place, which is to describe not the vertues, but the crimes, of that wicked race. According to the Marginal Translation, the sense may be this, fear not for me, for if any man, though in his youth and strength, should assault me and give me the first wound, he should pay dearly for it, and though I were wounded and weakned, the remainders of my strength would be sufficient to give him his deaths wound. The words also may be otherwise rendred, the particle chi being taken interrogatively, as it is, Isa. 29. 6. and 36. 19. and elsewhere, Have I slain a man to my wounding, and [or, or] a young man to my hurt? (i. e.) that thereby I should deserve such a mortal wound or hurt to be inflicted upon me by way of retaliation? You have therefore no cause of fear either for my sake, or for your own.

Marginal references: Or, I would slay a man in my wound, &c.; Heb. a Child.; Or, in my hurt.

24. If Cain shall be avenged seven-fold, truly Lamech seventy and seven-fold .

If the slaughter of Cain shall be punished in him that shall kill him, whosoever he be.

(i. e.) My death shall be much more certainly and severely revenged by God upon any man that shall murder me. These words may be, either 1. A profane scoffe. q. d. Since Cain my Father and pattern in murther was so far from being punished by the hand of God, that he had a special protection from him, that no man should dare to touch him, I (whose murther is not so hainous as his was) shall not fare worse than he, and therefore have no reason to fear either God or Men. Or 2. An argument or ground of his security, q. d. I am not onely secured by my own puissance, but by God's Providence, which certainly will be more watchful over me, who have not committed any such horrid crime, than over him that killed his own innocent Brother.

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 in stead of Abel , whom Cain slew.

She gave the name, but not without Adams consent, Gen. 5. 3.

By divine inspiration.

Note, that the word Seed is used of one single person, here and Gen. 21. 13. and 38. 8. Which confirms the Apostles argument Gal. 3. 16.

To succeed his Father Adam, as Abel should have done in the Priesthood, and Administration and care of Holy things in the Church of God.

Marginal references: Heb. Sheth.

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 LORD .

Which properly signifies a miserable man, to note the great wickedness and wretchedness of that Generation, which the Hebrew Writers generally observe.

To pray unto God, to Worship God in a more publick and solemn manner: Praying being here put for the whole Worship of God, as Gen. 12. 8. and 26. 25. and in many other places. According to the marginal version the sense is this. Then, when the World was universally corrupt, and had forsaken God and his service, good men grew more valiant and zealous for God, and did more publickly and avowedly own God, and began to distinguish and separate themselves from the ungodly World, and to call themselves and one another by the Name of God, (i. e.) the Sons, Servants, or Worshippers of God, as they are expresly called, and that, as it seems, upon this occasion, Gen. 6. 2. And in this sense this phrase is elsewhere taken, as Isa. 43. 7. and 44. 5. and 65. 1. Some render the place thus, Then began Men to profane the name, (i. e.) the Worship, of the Lord, by Idolatry or Superstition. But this seems neither to agree with the Hebrew phrase, nor to suit with this place, where he speaks of the posterity of Seth, who were the Holy Seed and only Church of God then in the World.

Marginal references: Heb. Enosh.; Or, to call themselves by the name of the Lord.

Gen 4:1-8

The propagation of the human race did not commence till after the expulsion from paradise. Generation in man is an act of personal free-will, not a blind impulse of nature, and rests upon a moral self-determination. It flows from the divine institution of marriage, and is therefore knowing (ידע) the wife. - At the birth of the first son Eve exclaimed with joy, “I have gotten (קניתי) a man with Jehovah;” wherefore the child received the name Cain (קין from קוּן = קנה, κτᾶσθαι). So far as the grammar is concerned, the expression את־יהוה might be rendered, as in apposition to אישׁ, “a man, the Lord” (Luther), but the sense would not allow it. For even if we could suppose the faith of Eve in the promised conqueror of the serpent to have been sufficiently alive for this, the promise of God had not given her the slightest reason to expect that the promised seed would be of divine nature, and might be Jehovah, so as to lead her to believe that she had given birth to Jehovah now. את is a preposition in the sense of helpful association, as in Gen 21:20; Gen 39:2, Gen 39:21, etc. That she sees in the birth of this son the commencement of the fulfilment of the promise, and thankfully acknowledges the divine help in this display of mercy, is evident from the name Jehovah, the God of salvation. The use of this name is significant. Although it cannot be supposed that Eve herself knew and uttered this name, since it was not till a later period that it was made known to man, and it really belongs to the Hebrew, which was not formed till after the division of tongues, yet it expresses the feeling of Eve on receiving this proof of the gracious help of God.

Gen 4:9-10

Defiance grows with sin, and punishment keeps pace with guilt. Adam and Eve fear before God, and acknowledge their sin; Cain boldly denies it, and in reply to the question, “Where is Abel thy brother?” declares, “I know not, am I my brother’s keeper?” God therefore charges him with his crime: “What hast thou done! voice of thy brother’s blood crying to Me from the earth.” The verb “crying” refers to the “blood,” since this is the principal word, and the voice merely expresses the adverbial idea of “aloud,” or “listen” (Ewald, §317 d). דּמים (drops of blood) is sometimes used to denote natural hemorrhage (Lev 12:4-5; Lev 20:18); but is chiefly applied to blood shed unnaturally, i.e., to murder. “Innocent blood has no voice, it may be, that is discernible by human ears, but it has one that reaches God, as the cry of a wicked deed demanding vengeance” (Delitzsch). Murder is one of the sins that cry to heaven. “Primum ostendit Deus se de factis hominum cognoscere utcunque nullus queratur vel accuset; deinde sibi magis charam esse homonum vitam quam ut sanguinem innoxium impune effundi sinat; tertio curam sibi piorum esse non solum quamdiu vivunt sed etiam post mortem” (Calvin). Abel was the first of the saints, whose blood is precious in the sight of God (Psa 116:15); and by virtue of his faith, he being dead yet speaketh through his blood which cried unto God (Heb 11:4).

Gen 4:11-14

“And now (sc., because thou hast done this) be cursed from the earth.” From: i.e., either away from the earth, driven forth so that it shall no longer afford a quiet resting-place (Gerlach, Delitzsch, etc.), or out of the earth, through its withdrawing its strength, and thus securing the fulfilment of perpetual wandering (Baumgarten, etc.). It is difficult to choose between the two; but the clause, “which hath opened her mouth,” etc. seems rather to favour the latter. Because the earth has been compelled to drink innocent blood, it rebels against the murderer, and when he tills it, withdraws its strength, so that the soil yields no produce; just as the land of Canaan is said to have spued out the Canaanites, on account of their abominations (Lev 18:28). In any case, the idea that “the soil, through drinking innocent blood, became an accomplice in the sin of murder,” has no biblical support, and is not confirmed by Isa 26:21 or Num 35:33. The suffering of irrational creatures through the sin of man is very different from their participating in his sin. “A fugitive and vagabond (ונד נע, i.e., banished and homeless) shalt thou be in the earth.” Cain is so affected by this curse, that his obduracy is turned into despair, “My sin,” he says in Gen 4:13, “is greater than can be borne.” עון נשׁא signifies to take away and bear sin or guilt, and is used with reference both to God and man. God takes guilt away by forgiving it (Exo 34:7); man carries it away and bears it, by enduring its punishment (cf. Num 5:31). Luther, following the ancient versions, has adopted the first meaning; but the context sustains the second: for Cain afterwards complains, not of the greatness of the sin, but only of the severity of the punishment. “Behold, Thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from Thy face shall I be hid;...and it shall come to pass that every one that findeth me shall slay me.” The adamah, from the face of which the curse of Jehovah had driven Cain, was Eden (cf. Gen 4:16), where he had carried on his agricultural pursuits, and where God had revealed His face, i.e., His presence, to the men after their expulsion from the garden; so that henceforth Cain had to wander about upon the wide world, homeless and far from the presence of God, and was afraid lest any one who found him might slay him. By “every one that findeth me” we are not to understand omnis creatura, as though Cain had excited the hostility of all creatures, but every man; not in the sense, however, of such as existed apart from the family of Adam, but such as were aware of his crime, and knew him to be a murderer. For Cain is evidently afraid of revenge on the part of relatives of the slain, that is to say, of descendants of Adam, who were either already in existence, or yet to be born. Though Adam might not at this time have had “many grandsons and great-grandson,” yet according to Gen 4:17 and Gen 5:4, he had undoubtedly other children, who might increase in number, and sooner or later might avenge Abel’s death. For, that blood shed demands blood in return, “is a principle of equity written in the heart of every man; and that Cain should see that earth full of avengers is just like a murderer, who sees avenging spirits (Ἐρινύες) ready to torture him on every hand.”

Gen 4:15

Although Cain expressed not penitence, but fear of punishment, God displayed His long-suffering and gave him the promise, “Therefore (לכן not in the sense of כן לא, but because it was the case, and there was reason for his complaint) whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” קין כּל־הרג, is cas. absolut. as in Gen 9:6; and הקּם avenged, i.e., resented, punished, as Exo 21:20-21. The mark which God put upon Cain is not to be regarded as a mark upon his body, as the Rabbins and others supposed, but as a certain sign which protected him from vengeance, though of what kind it is impossible to determine. God granted him continuance of life, not because banishment from the place of God’s presence was the greatest possible punishment, or because the preservation of the human race required at that time that the lives of individuals should be spared, - for God afterwards destroyed the whole human race, with the exception of one family, - but partly because the tares were to grow with the wheat, and sin develop itself to its utmost extent, partly also because from the very first God determined to take punishment into His own hands, and protect human life from the passion and wilfulness of human vengeance.

Gen 4:16-24 The family of the Cainites. - Gen 4:16. The geographical situation of the land of Nod, in the front of Eden (קדמת, see Gen 2:14), where Cain settled after his departure from the place or the land of the revealed presence of God (cf. Jon 1:3), cannot be determined. The name Nod denotes a land of flight and banishment, in contrast with Eden, the land of delight, where Jehovah walked with men. There Cain knew his wife. The text assumes it as self-evident that she accompanied him in his exile; also, that she was a daughter of Adam, and consequently a sister of Cain. The marriage of brothers and sisters was inevitable in the case of the children of the first men, if the human race was actually to descend from a single pair, and may therefore be justified in the face of the Mosaic prohibition of such marriages, on the ground that the sons and daughters of Adam represented not merely the family but the genus, and that it was not till after the rise of several families that the bands of fraternal and conjugal love became distinct from one another, and assumed fixed and mutually exclusive forms, the violation of which is sin. (Comp. Lev 18.) His son he named Hanoch (consecration), because he regarded his birth as a pledge of the renovation of his life. For this reason he also gave the same name to the city which he built, inasmuch as its erection was another phase in the development of his family. The construction of a city by Cain will cease to surprise us, if we consider that at the commencement of its erection, centuries had already passed since the creation of man, and Cain’s descendants may by this time have increased considerably in numbers; also, that עיר does not necessarily presuppose a large town, but simply an enclosed space with fortified dwellings, in contradistinction to the isolated tents of shepherds; and lastly, that the words בנה ויהי, “he was building,” merely indicate the commencement and progress of the building, but not its termination. It appears more surprising that Cain, who was to be a fugitive and a vagabond upon the earth, should have established himself in the land of Nod. This cannot be fully explained, either on the ground that he carried on the pursuits of agriculture, which lead to settled abodes, or that he strove against the curse. In addition to both the facts referred to, there is also the circumstance, that the curse, “the ground shall not yield to thee her strength,” was so mollified by the grace of God, that Cain and his descendants were enabled to obtain sufficient food in the land of his settlement, though it was by dint of hard work and strenuous effort; unless, indeed, we follow Luther and understand the curse, that he should be a fugitive upon the earth, as relating to his expulsion from Eden, and his removal ad incertum locum et opus, non addita ulla vel promissione vel mandato, sicut avis quae in libero caelo incerta vagatur. The fact that Cain undertook the erection of a city, is also significant. Even if we do not regard this city as “the first foundation-stone of the kingdom of the world, in which the spirit of the beast bears sway,” we cannot fail to detect the desire to neutralize the curse of banishment, and create for his family a point of unity, as a compensation for the loss of unity in fellowship with God, as well as the inclination of the family of Cain for that which was earthly.

The powerful development of the worldly mind and of ungodliness among the Cainites was openly displayed in Lamech, in the sixth generation. Of the intermediate links, the names only are given. (On the use of the passive with the accusative of the object in the clause “to Hanoch was born (they bore) Irad,” see Ges. §143, 1.) Some of these names resemble those of the Sethite genealogy, viz., Irad and Jared, Mehujael and Mahalaleel, Methusael and Methuselah, also Cain and Cainan; and the names Enoch and Lamech occur in both families. But neither the recurrence of similar names, nor even of the same names, warrants the conclusion that the two genealogical tables are simply different forms of one primary legend. For the names, though similar in sound, are very different in meaning. Irad probably signifies the townsman, Jared, descent, or that which has descended; Mehujael, smitten of God, and Mahalaleel, praise of God; Methusael, man of prayer, and Methuselah, man of the sword or of increase. The repetition of the two names Enoch and Lamech even loses all significance, when we consider the different places which they occupy in the respective lines, and observe also that in the case of these very names, the more precise descriptions which are given so thoroughly establish the difference of character in the two individuals, as to preclude the possibility of their being the same, not to mention the fact, that in the later history the same names frequently occur in totally different families; e.g., Korah in the families of Levi (Exo 6:21) and Esau (Gen 36:5); Hanoch in those of Reuben (Gen 46:9) and Midian (Gen 25:4); Kenaz in those of Judah (Num 32:12) and Esau (Gen 36:11). The identity and similarity of names can prove nothing more than that the two branches of the human race did not keep entirely apart from each other; a fact established by their subsequently intermarrying. - Lamech took two wives, and thus was the first to prepare the way for polygamy, by which the ethical aspect of marriage, as ordained by God, was turned into the lust of the eye and lust of the flesh. The names of the women are indicative of sensual attractions: Adah, the adorned; and Zillah, either the shady or the tinkling. His three sons are the authors of inventions which show how the mind and efforts of the Cainites were directed towards the beautifying and perfecting of the earthly life. Jabal (probably = jebul, produce) became the father of such as dwelt in tents, i.e., of nomads who lived in tents and with their flocks, getting their living by a pastoral occupation, and possibly also introducing the use of animal food, in disregard of the divine command (Gen 1:29). Jubal (sound), the father of all such as handle the harp and pipe, i.e., the inventors of stringed and wind instruments. כּנּור a guitar or harp; עוּגב the shepherd’s reed or bagpipe. Tubal-Cain, “hammering all kinds of cutting things (the verb is to be construed as neuter) in brass and iron;” the inventor therefore of all kinds of edge-tools for working in metals: so that Cain, from קין to forge, is probably to be regarded as the surname which Tubal received on account of his inventions. The meaning of Tubal is obscure; for the Persian Tupal, iron-scoria, can throw no light upon it, as it must be a much later word. The allusion to the sister of Tubal-Cain is evidently to be attributed to her name, Naamah, the lovely, or graceful, since it reflects the worldly mind of the Cainites. In the arts, which owed their origin to Lamech’s sons, this disposition reached its culminating point; and it appears in the form of pride and defiant arrogance in the song in which Lamech celebrates the inventions of Tubal-Cain (Gen 4:23, Gen 4:24): “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: Men I slay for my wound, and young men for my stripes. For sevenfold is Cain avenged, and Lamech seven and seventy-fold.” The perfect הרגתּי is expressive not of a deed accomplished, but of confident assurance (Ges. §126, 4; Ewald, §135 c); and the suffixes in חבּרתי and פּצעי are to be taken in a passive sense. The idea is this: whoever inflicts a wound or stripe on me, whether man or youth, I will put to death; and for every injury done to my person, I will take ten times more vengeance than that with which God promised to avenge the murder of my ancestor Cain. In this song, which contains in its rhythm, its strophic arrangement of the thoughts, and its poetic diction, the germ of the later poetry, we may detect “that Titanic arrogance, of which the Bible says that its power is its god (Hab 1:11), and that it carries its god, viz., its sword, in its hand (Job 12:6)” (Delitzsch). - According to these accounts, the principal arts and manufactures were invented by the Cainites, and carried out in an ungodly spirit; but they are not therefore to be attributed to the curse which rested upon the family. They have their roots rather in the mental powers with which man was endowed for the sovereignty and subjugation of the earth, but which, like all the other powers and tendencies of his nature, were pervaded by sin, and desecrated in its service. Hence these inventions have become the common property of humanity, because they not only may promote its intended development, but are to be applied and consecrated to this purpose for the glory of God.

Gen 4:25-26

The character of the ungodly family of Cainites was now fully developed in Lamech and his children. The history, therefore, turns from them, to indicate briefly the origin of the godly race. After Abel’s death a third son was born to Adam, to whom his mother gave the name of Seth (שׁת, from שׁית, a present participle, the appointed one, the compensation); “for,” she said, “God hath appointed me another seed (descendant) for Abel, because Cain slew him.” The words “because Cain slew him” are not to be regarded as an explanatory supplement, but as the words of Eve; and כּי by virtue of the previous תּחת is to be understood in the sense of כּי תּחת. What Cain (human wickedness) took from her, that has Elohim (divine omnipotence) restored. Because of this antithesis she calls the giver Elohim instead of Jehovah, and not because her hopes had been sadly depressed by her painful experience in connection with the first-born.

Cain and Abel. (b. c. 3875.)

1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord . 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 Lord . 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 Lord , God-man. If so, she was wretchedly mistaken, as Samuel, when he said, Surely the Lord '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 Lord , or at least a man from the Lord , and for his service as priest of the family, became an enemy to the Lord . The less we expect from creatures, 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 Lord . 4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord 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 Lord 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 real 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 stands 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.

Cain's Punishment. (b. c. 3875.)

9 And the Lord 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.

Cain's Complaint. (b. c. 3875.)

13 And Cain said unto the Lord , 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 Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord 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 everybody 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.

The Family of Cain. (b. c. 3875.)

16 And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord , 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.

The Family of Lamech. (b. c. 3875.)

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.

The Birth of Seth. (b. c. 3874.)

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 Lord .

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 /f 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.

CHAPT. IIII.

ANd Adam, knew Eve his wife: and shee conceiued, and bare Kain; and said, I have gotten a man, of Iehovah, And she againe bare, his brother Abel: and Abel was a feeder of sheepe, and Kain was a tiller of the ground. And it was, at the end of dayes; that Kain brought of the fruit of the ground, in offring unto Iehovah. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flocke, and of the fat of them: and Iehovah had respect unto Abel, and unto his offring. But unto Kain and unto his offring, hee had not respect: and Kain was vehemently grieved, and his countenance fell. And Iehovah said unto Kain: why art thou grieved, and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doe well, is there not forgivenesse? and if thou dost not well, sinne lyeth at the doore: and unto thee shall be his desire; and thou shalt rule over him. And Kain spake unto Abel his brother: [illegible: 1 word] and it was when they were in the field, that Kain rose-up against Abel his brother, and killed him. And Iehovah said unto Kain: Where is Abel thy brother? and he said, I know not; am I my brothers keeper? And he said, what hast thou done? the voyce of thy brothers bloods cry unto mee from the earth. And now, Cursed art thou: from the earth, which hath opened her mouth, to receive thy brothers bloods, from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yeeld her strength unto thee: a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Kain said unto Iehovah: my iniquity is greater then may bee forgiven. 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 bee a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall be, that whosoever findeth me, will kill me. And Iehovah said unto him; Therefore, whosoever killeth Kain; vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold: and Iehovah set a signe upon Kain; lest any finding him, should [illegible: 1 letter]lay him. And Kain went out from the presence of Iehovah: and dwelt in the land of Nod, [illegible: 1 word] the east of Eden. And Kain-knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he was building a citie, and hee called the name of the citie, as the name of his sonne Enoch. And unto Enoch, was borne Irad; and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael, begate Methusael; and Methusael, begate Lamech. And Lamech tooke unto him, two wives: the name of the one, was Adah; and the name of the second, Zillah. And Adah bare Iabel: hee was the father of them that dwell in Tents, and that have Cattell. And his brothers name was Iubal[illegible: 1 letter] hee was the father of all that handle the harp and organ. And Zillah she also bare Tubal-kain; an instructer of every artificer in brasse and yron: and the sister of Tubal-kain, was Naamah. And Lamech sayd un to his wives; Adah and Zillah, heare ye my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken to my speech: for I have killed a man, to my wounding, and a yong man to my hurt. If Kain shall be avenged sevenfold: then Lamech, seventie and seven fold.

And Adam knew his wife againe, and she bare a son: and she called his name Seth: for God hath set unto mee, another seede in stead of Abel; because Kain killed him. And to Seth also himselfe, there was borne a son; and he called his name, Enos: then began men prophanely, to call on the name of Iehovah.

Annotations. KNew:] by lying with her; as this phrase is explayned in Numb. 31. 17. A modest manner of speech, used againe in verse 17. and 25. and throughout the Scriptures, Mat. 1. 25. Luk. 1. 34. Kain:] by interpretation, Gotten, or, a Possession; the reason followeth, I have gotten (Kanithi) a man of Iehovah: or, with Iehovah, that is, with his favour, and of his good will. The Greeke translateth it, by God. Thus shewed she her thankfulnesse to the Lord, whose heritage children are, Psal. 127. 3. and her hope of good in that first born sonne: howbeit her expectation fayled her; for Kain was of the wicked o[illegible: 1 letter]e Satan; 1 Ioh. 3. 12. The Hebrew Doctors also lay, Kain was borne of the filth and seed that the serpent had conveyed into Eve: R. Menachem on Gen. 4. herein Kain was a figure of all reprobates, the children of the Divell: Ioh. 8, 44. 1 Ioh. 3. 10. Vers. 2. againe bare:] in Hebrew, she added, to beare. From this phrase of her adding to beare, without mention of any other conception, some of the Iew Doctors gather, that Kain and Abel were twins: Pirkei R. Eliezer, chap. 21. Abel:] so the Greeke, and the Evangelists write him, Math. 23. 35. The Hebrew name is Hebel, which signifieth Uanitie, or a soone-vanishing vapour: such is every mans life, Iam. 4. 14. and so was Abe[illegible: 2 letters] in speciall, being soone killed by his brother. And David saith that every man is Uanitie [Abel] though setled, as men may thinke, Psal. 39. 6. feeder:] or shepheard, Pastor and Governor of a flocke: which flocke (in the originall) comprehendeth both sheepe and goates, as is explayned in Lev. 1. 10. The new Testament translateth it into Greeke, sometime sheepe, as Rom. 8. 36. from Psal. 44. 23. sometime flocke, as 1 Cor. 9. 7. and sometime both together, as, the sheepe of the flocke, Mat. 26. 31. from Zach. 13. 7. for which in Mar. 14. 27. is written onely, the sheepe. Abel in sheeperdy, as in sacrificing and martyrdome, was a figure of Christ; Ioh. 10. 11. Of this trade also were the Patriarches of Israel, Gen. 46. 32. 34. and Moses, David, and many other men of note: Exod. 3. 1. Psal. 78. 70. 71. Vers. 3. at the end of dayes:] that is, at the end of the yeare. Some understand it to meane, after many dayes, that is, in processe of time. But a full yeare, is called a yeare of dayes, Gen. 41. 1. 2 Sam. 14. 28. because of certaine daies that are in the yeare, besides the moneths. And for shortnesse of speech (which the Hebrew tongue affecteth), dayes, are used for a yeare of dayes, that is, a whole yeare: as in Lev. 25. 29. dayes, is in vers. 30. expounded to be a perfect (or full) yeare: and the revolution of dayes, 1 Sam. 1. 20. is that which Moses calleth the revolution of the yeare, Exod. 34. 22. And in Numb. 9. 22. or two dayes, or a moneth, or dayes, that is, a yeare. And in Amos 4. 4. after three dayes, meaneth three yeares, Deut 14. 28. and in Exod. 13. 10. 1 Sam. 1. 3. from dayes to dayes; is, from yeare to yeare: and the sacrifice of dayes, 1 Sam. 2. 19. was the yearely sacrifice. Whereupon in prophesies, often times, dayes are used for yeares, Rev. 11. 2. 11. At the yeares end, men were wont in most solemne manner to sacrifice unto God, with thankes for his blessings, having gathered in their fruits: so the law of Moses did command. Exod. 23. 16. which order (as by this appeareth) the Fathers observed from the beginning: and it was so accustomed among the Gentiles; for the ancient sacrifices, and assemblies unto that end, were after the gathering in of the fruits, for (an oblation of) the first fruits; sayth Aristotle, in Ethicks, booke 8. brought:] in Greeke, offred. It is likely, that the sonnes brought their offrings unto God, by Adam their Father, who was high Priest, (as after, all the first borne in families were Priests, Exod. 19. 22.) and upon an Altar he offred their gifts. The Hebrew Doctors say; It is a tradition by the hand of all, that the place wherein David and Solomon built an Altar, in the floore of Araunah, (1 Chron. 21. 22. 26. and 22. 1. 2 Chron. 3. 1.) was the place where Abraham builded an Altar, and bound Isaak upon it, (Gen. 22. 9) and that was the place where Noe builded, after he came out of the Arke, (Gen. 8. 20.) and that was the Altar upon which Kain and Abel offred: and on it, Adam the first man offred an offring after he was created, and out of that place hee was created. Our wise men have sayd, Adam was created out of the place of his Atonement. Maimony, in Misn. book 8. treat. of the Temple, chap. 2. S. 2. an offring.] or, oblation, called in Hebrew, a Minchah, by which name the Meat offring is called in the Law, Lev. 2. which commonly was of wheat flower. Although the word is sometime used generally for any gift or present, Gen. 32. 13. But Kain brought of the fruit of the ground, which custome continued; so that in Israel men might eate neither bread nor corne, till they had brought an offring unto God, Lev. 23. 14. Among the Greekes also they used to sacrifice the fruits of the earth, Homer Iliad. 1. and Numa ordeyned the like among the Romans, who tasted not new corne or wine, before the Priests had sacrificed the first fruits, saith Plinie in book 18. chap. 2. and in the Roman lawes of the twelve Tables, the same oblation of corne is▪ commanded: Derelig. tit. 1. lex. 4. The like was for sacrificing of beasts, as Abel did: which was used of Israel, and of all Nations till the comming of Christ: see Lev. 1. Vers. 4. the fat of them:] As the first fruits of the earth, of beasts, of men, were given in thankefulnesse to the Lord, that all the rest might be sanctified and blessed, Exod. 22. 29. 30. and 23. 19. so God challenged the fat of all sacrifices peculiarly to himselfe, Lev. 3. 16. 17. and 7. 25. which fat, sometime figured mans unbeleefe, hardnesse of hear[illegible: 1 letter], and want of sense, Psal. 119. 70. Acts 28. 27. which was to be consumed by the fire of Gods spirit: sometime it signified the best of all things, Numb. 18. 12. in which sense it seemeth to bee spoken here of Abel. From whose example, the Hebrew Doctors teach, that a man should inlarge his hand, and bring his offring of the fairest and most laudable amongst those kinde of things whereof he bringeth. Behold it is written in the law, And Abel hee also brought of the firstlings of his flocke, and of the fat of them. And this is a common law, in every thing which is for the name of the good God, that it be of the goodliest and best. If one build a house of prayer, let it bee fayrer then his owne dwelling house: if he feed the hungry, let him feed him with the best and sweetest that is on his Table: If he cloathe the naked, let it be with the fayrest of his cloathes; if he sanctifie any thing, let him sanctifie of the fayrest of his goods; and so hee sayth, (Lev. 3. 16.) All the fat is the Lords. Maimony in Misn. rom. 3. in Asurei mizbeach, chap. 7. S. 11. By the sacrifices of old, there was (besides a thankefulnesse to God,) a yearely remembrance also of their sinnes, Heb. 10. 3. and hope of the forgivenesse of them by Christ to come, Heb. 10. 1. 10. 14. And seeing the godly offred in faith, Heb. 11. 14. and faith is by hearing the word of God, Rom. 10. 17. Abel and the rest were taught of God thus for to worship him: for all wil-worship devised by men, is vaine: Mat. 15. 9. Col. 2. 22. 23. had respect:] to weet, with delight, as the Hebrew word implyeth; (and so one Greeke version translateth it, was delighted:) and with favourable acceptation, as the Chaldee paraphrase explaineth it. So GOD commanded every man to offer sacrifice for his favourable acceptation, Lev. 1. 3. that hee and it, might bee accepted of the Lord. This gracious respect unto Abel, was seene of Kain, for which hee was gtieved; and the Apostle noteth it to be a testification of Abels justice by faith, Heb. 11. 4. It is likely therfore, that God shewed it by some visible signe, as by fire from heaven consuming the sacrifice, for so he, used to doe in such cases after, as Lev. 9. 24. 1 Chron. 21. 26. 2 Chron. 7. 1. 1 King. 18. 38. and the burning of the sacrifices to ashes, was a signe of his favourable acceptance, Psal. 20. 4. and Theodotio (a Greeke interpreter,) translateth it here, he set onfire. By this Gods acceptance, Abels faith was confirmed touching life & salvation in Christ: otherwise God would not have received an offring at his hands; as Iudg. 13. 23, unto Abel:] for his faith in Christ, whereby he was just, and by which he offred a greater sacrifice then Kain, Heb. 11. 4. And so the sacrifice was respected for the man, not the man for the sacrifice, Prov. 12. 2. and 15. 8. Vers. 5. grieved:] or, displeased: very wroth. The Hebrew word signifieth to burne or be inflamed, either with anger, or griefe: the Greek here translateth, he was grieved; and in sundry other places, as Ion. 4. 1. 9. where both the Greeke version, and all the circumstances shew it to meane griefe. So in 1 Sam. 15. 11. Samuel was grieved, and Dauid, 1 Chron. 13. 11. and Nehemiah, Neh. 5. 6. and many the like. countenance:] or, his face fell; that is, he shewed himselfe ashamed, grieved, and discontented. This is else-where expressed by the falling of the light of the countenance, Iob 29. 24. contrary to which, is the lifting vp of the face, for a signe of comfort and joy, Iob 11. 15. See also Gen. 19. 21. Vers. 7. doe well:] or, doe good. Hereby God teacheth, that wel-doing consisted not in the outward offrings which Kain brought: but in faith, which hee wanted, Heb. 11. 4. Ioh. 6. 29. And the Apostle hence concludeth, that Kains workes were evill, 1 Ioh. 3. 12. forgivenesse:] or, acceptation. The Hebrew word, which properly signifieth elevation or lifting up, when it is spoken of sinne, (as the words following shew here it is,) meaneth forgivenesse at Gods hand, who lifteth up, and so easeth us of the burden of it; as Rom. 4. 7. from Psal. 32. 1. And one end of sacrificing, was the forgivenesse of sinne, Lev. 6. 2. 6. 7. So the Chaldee here explaineth it, If thou doe thy works well, shalt thou not haue forgivenesse? Otherwise it may be expounded, is there not a lifting up, to weet, of thy countenance which now is fallen, that is, an acceptation of thy face and petition, and consequently of thy offring, in Gen. 19. 21. lifting up (or, accepting) the face, signifieth favourable acceptation with God; and in Iob 11. 15. it signifieth comfortable bold cariage. Or, is there not a bearing (or carying away) of blessing and reward, as Psal. 24. 5. A question thus asked, is an earnest affirmation that so it shall be: as, are they not written? 2 King. 20. 20. is expounded, Loe they are written, 2 Chro. 32. 32. and is not the life more then meate? Mat. 6. 25. that is, the life is more, Luke 12. 23. Also the holy Ghost turneth into a question, hath not my hand made all these? Act. 7. 49. that which the Prophet affirmeth plainely, all these my hand hath made, Esay 66. 1. So Gen. 13. 9. and many the like. sin:] or, the misdeed, errour. By sinne and iniquity the punishment for it is often meant, as in Gen. 19. 15. Lev. 20. 20. 2 King. 7. 9. Zach. 14. 19. And sinne is the erring or missing as of the marke aimed at, Iudg. 20. 16. Gods law is our marke, and way to walke in: therefore sinne is defined to be swerving from, or transgression of the Law, (anomie or enormitie,) 1 Ioh. 3. 4. In Hebrew it is called Chattaah, whereupon the Greekes framed the name, Atee, that is, Hurt or Dammage; and their Poets faigned that it was a woman cast out of heaven, pernicious Atee, that (aatai) hurteth all men, Homer Iliad. 19. lyeth:] or, coucheth, is couching: a word usually spoken of beasts, applyed here to Sinne, as a hurtfull beast ready to devoure. For to lye at the doore, is to be neere at hand, Mark. 13. [illegible: 1 letter]9. and in Deut. 29. 20. the curses are said to couch (or lye) upon the sinner, whom the Lord will not be mercifull unto. The Chaldee referreth it to the last judgement, saying, thy sinne is kept to the day of judgment, in which vengeance shall be taken on thee, if thou convert not. And other Rabbines thus; Sin couching at the doore, meaneth at the gates of justice; for from thence judgement commeth for ever, upon them that are in transgression, for from thence the Angell of death hath his power, R. Menachem on Gen. 4. his desire:] that is, Abels; who being the younger brother is subiect unto thee. For Kain being the first-borne, had great priviledges by nature over his brethren, as is shewed on Gen. 25. 31. and 27. 19. Or, the desire of it, (that is, of Sinne) is unto thee, but thou shalt rule over it; that is, (as Paul speaketh) let not sin raigne in thy mortall body, that thou shouldest obey it in the lusts thereof, Rom. 6. 12. The Thargum Ierusalemy thus referreth it, to the subduing of sinne: although the Hebrew differeth in gender from Sinne, as the word lyeth doth likewise. But such differences may often bee observed, and sometime in the very Hebrew text, as jabo, and jehi, 1 Chron. 18. 2. 5. 6. and 21. 5. for which else-where is tabo, and tehi, 2 Sam. 8. 2. 5. 6. and 24. 9. lahem, and bahem, 1 King. 22. 17. and 1 Chro. 10. 7▪ which also is written lahen, and bahen, 2 Chro. 18. 16. 1 Sam. 31. 7. See also Exod. 1. 21. Vers. 8. spake:] or, sayd unto Abel his brother, but what he said, is not set downe. The Hebrew text hath here a pawse extraordinary, implying further matter. The Greeke version addeth, let us goe out into the field: and Thargum Ierusalemy addeth the same and much more, how Kain (when they were in the field) should say, there was no judgement, nor judge, nor other world to come, nor good reward for justice, nor vengeance for wickednesse, &c. all which Abel gayne-sayed, and then his brother slew him. It seemeth to imply a dissimulation of Kains hatred, in that he conversed friendly with his brother, till he found opportunity to kill him: as others in their hatred, are observed to speake (of the matter of their griefe,) neither good nor bad: 2 Sam. 13, 22. killed him.] And wherefore killed he him? Because his owne workes were evill, and his brothers good. 1 Ioh. 3. 12. Hereupon the Scripture giueth them these titles, Abel the just, Mat. 23. 35. and Kain of that wicked done, 1 Ioh. 3. 12. that is, of the Devill: for he was a murtherer from the beginning, Ioh. 8. 44. Verse 9. Where is Abel?] Here God sheweth himselfe to bee the seeker-out of bloods, Psal. 9. 13. So Zacharie when hee was murthered, said, The Lord looke upon it and require it, 2 Chron. 24. 22. Hereupon these two martyrs are mentioned by our Saviour, (whose bloods with all the rest,) should come upon the Iewes, Mat. 23. 35. 36. Vers. 10. bloods:] This word in the plurall number, usually signifieth murther, and the guilt following it: and such as gave themselves to this sinne, are called men of bloods, Psal. 5. 7. Sometime bloods meaneth mans naturall generation, Ioh. 1. 13. To this latter, the Chaldee Paraphrases have reference, translating it, The voice of the bloods of the generations, (the multitudes of just men,) which should have proceeded from thy brother. cry] or, are crying. This word hath reference in number, to the bloods fore-mentioned; as if many were spilt and cryed. From hence the Apostle noteth the effect of Abels faith, how by it, being dead he yet speaketh, Heb. 11. 4. This crying, was unto God for vengeance: wherefore Christs blood is preferred before this, as speaking better things then Abel, Heb. 12. 24. Compare also Rev. 6. 10. In this first death which fell out in the world, God manifested the immortality of mans soule, the forgivenesse of sins to the faithfull, with the contrary concerning hypocrites; and the resurrection of the body: as Christ gathereth from another like Scripture, Math. 22. 31. 32. Vers. 11. Cursed] As Gods blessing implyeth among other good things, the light of his face, and favour towards men, Psal. 67. 2. so his curse bringeth with other evils, the hiding of his face, and withdrawing of his favour; as Kain after complaineth, v. 14. By this sentence Kain is cast out from Gods presence and Church, and is the first cursed man in the world. Vers. 12. not henceforth] Hebr. not adde to yeeld: that is, not yeeld any more her strength, meaning the naturall fruit, which otherwise, through Gods blessing it could, Ioel 2. 22. For as the cursed fig-tree, lost the vigour, and withered: Mark. 11. 21. so the fruitfull land is made barren, when it is cursed for the sinne of the inhabitants, Lev. 26, 20. Psal. 107. 34. Here the former curse laid upon the earth, Gen. 3. 17. is increased for Kains sake; and the destruction of the world hastened: see Gen. 5. 29. A contrary blessing is promised to them that feare the Lord, Lev. 26. 4. Ezek. 34. 26. 27. fugitive] or, wanderer: a curse which David wished to his enemies, Psal. 59. 12. and 109. 10. contrary to the safe and setled estate of Gods people; Psal. 112. 6. 7. Mich. 4. 4. The word is sometime used for the fearfull moving of the heart, as in Esay 7. 2. so the Greeke here translateth, Sighing and trembling shalt thou be on the earth. Vers. 13. my iniquity] or, my punishment for iniquity: see the annotations on vers. 7. and Gen. 19. 15. then may be forgiven] or, then thou mayest forgive. Or, referring it to the punishment, greater then I can beare. In this sense, Kain murmureth against Gods justice: in the former, hee despaireth of his mercie. So the Greeke translateth, my fault is greater then may be forgiven me: and the Chaldee paraphrase maketh the same exposition. Here in Kain is fulfilled that saying, hee beleeveth not to returne out of darkenesse, and hee is waited for of the sword: Iob 15. 22. And in him may bee seene seven abhominations, (so many as are in the heart of him that hateth his brother, Prov. 26. 25.) for, first, he sacrificed without faith; secondly, was displeased that God respected him not; thirdly, hearkened not to Gods admonition; fourthly, spake dissemblingly to his brother; fiftly, killed him in the field; sixtly, denyed that hee knew where hee was; seventhly, asketh not, nor hopeth for mercy of God, but despaireth, and so falleth into the condemnation of the Devill. Vers. 14. shall I be hid] or, be absent: as Gen. 31. 49. This meaneth a fearefull banishment from the face or presence of God in his Church; as after followeth in vers. 16. Contrary to which, is the appearing before Gods face, in the place of his publique worship, Exod. 23. 17. Psal. 42. 3. Iob professeth his faith in this respect, opposite to Kains despaire, Iob 13. 20. &c. whosoever:] or, every one that findeth (or meeteth) me. This sheweth his terrour in conscience, fearing just recompence, and fleeing where none doth pursue: as Lev. 26. 17. 36. Iob 15. 20. 21. Prov, 28. 1. Amongst the ancient Romans, when a man was cursed for any wicked fact, whosoever would, might freely kill him: Dionys. Halicarnass. l. 2. And of old, among the Galles (or French-men) such as obeyed not their Priests the Druydes, were forbidden the sacrifices, (their divine worship:) and those so forbidden, were reputed amongst the most wicked; all men shunned them, and would not converse or talke with them, fearing to bee defiled even by light communication with them, no benefit of law was allowed them, nor any honour done unto them: Caesar Comment. de bello Gall. l. 6. A like severe censure was also among the Greekes, as K. Oedipus his words shew, in Sophocles, in Oedip. Tyr. Vers. 15. sevenfold:] that is, he shall have much greater punishment: for seven, meaneth much or many: Prov. 26. 25. Iob 5. 19. Psal. 12. 7. The Chaldee here understands it of punishment to the seventh generation. Hereby God repressed further bloodshed, which men else might rush into; for soone after, the earth was filled with violence, Gen. 6. 11. He let Kain live miserably, for a warning to others, as David (having reference hereto) saith, Slay them not; lest my people forget: make them wander abroad (as fugitives) by thy power: Psal. 59. 12. Thus also he provided for the encrease of the world at the beginning: wherefore Kains posterity is after reckoned, to the seventh generation. upon Kain:] or, unto Kain, to secure him from his feare. Vpon him, to keepe others from killing him: as in another case, in Ezek. 9. 4. 5. 6. they that had Gods marke set upon them, were not slaine. lest any:] or, that not any. slay:] or smite, that is, kill him The full speech is to smite him in soule, as Gen. 37. 21. and where one Prophet saith, he smote, 2 King. 14. 5. another expounds it, hee killed: 2 Chron. 25. 3. Verse 16. from the presence:] or, from before the face of Iehovah: that is, from the place of Gods word and publique worship, which in likelihood was held by Adam the father, who being a Prophet, had taught his children how to sacrifice, and serve the Lord. So on the contrary, to come into Gods presence (or before him) 1 Chron. 16. 29. is explayned in Psal. 96. 8. to be the comming into his courts. Gods face, or presence is mans greatest joy in this life, and in that which is to come, Exod. 33. 14, 15. 16. Psal. 17. 15. Of which Kain was now deprived: for, the evill shall not sojourne with God, nor fooles shall stand before his eyes, Psal. 5. 5. 6. Otherwise, as Gods face signifieth his al-seeing providence and government, none can flee from it, Psal. 139. 7. 12. Ier. 23. 24. Of Ionas, it is likewise said, he rose up to flee from the presence of the Lord; Ion. 1. 3. dwelt:] or, sate: that is, seated himselfe. Sitting, is used for dwelling, as after in vers. 10. and often in the Scriptures. Nod:] in Greek, Naid; so named, because Kaine was there. Nad, that is, a vagabond, as God threatneth before, in vers. 12. Vers. 17. knew his wife:] that is, lay with her, as v. 1. This was one of Adams daughters, spoken of in Gen. 5. 4. to whom it seemeth hee was maried before. And here follow seven generations of Kain reckoned: for God letteth the wicked prosper in this world, Psal. 17, 14. he increaseth nations, and (afterward) destroyeth them, Iob. 12. 23. Enoch:] in Hebrew Chanoch: by interpretation, Catechised, Instructed, or Dedicated. It was the name also of that godly man mentioned in Gen. 5. 18. 22. was building:] this manner of speech (which the Greeke translation also keepeth,) may imply a beginning of the worke, though perhaps not finished, as after in the building of Babel, Gen. 11. And Kains building of a citie, seemeth to be for his better security from his feares, and to denote his worldly affection, otherwise then Abraham had, who looked for a citie that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God: Heb. 12. 10. the name of his sonne: so proclaiming his name on the citie, as David sheweth vaine worldly men doe on lands, Psal. 49. 12. As Kains name signified Possession, so had he possessions of children, citie, riches, arts, &c. in this world: all which Abel wanted, whose inheritance was in heaven. Vers. 18. Irad:] or Gh[illegible: 1 letter]irad, in Greeke, Gaidad: for the Hebrew letters [non-Latin text not transcribed] R. and [non-Latin text not transcribed] D. are one much like another, and often put one for another by the Greeke translators; and in the Hebrew text it selfe: as Riphath, Gen. 10. 3. is Diphath, 1 Chron. 1. 6. Ch[illegible: 1 span]dan, Gen. 36. 26. is Chamran, 1 Chron. 1. 41. Hadar, Gen. 36. 30. is Hadad, 1 Chron. 1. 50. Hadarezer, 1 Chron. 18. 3. is Hadadezer, 2 Sam. 8. 3. and sundry the like: which shew that the Hebrew letters had the same forme and figure of old, which they have at this day. Mehujael:] or, Mechujael; written immediately after, Mechijael; in Greek, M[illegible: 1 letter]delaal, according to the name of Kainans sonne, in Gen. 5. 12. Methusael:] in Greeke Mathousala; as also they write Ehochs sonne, Gen: 5. 21. L[illegible: 1 span]] or, Lem[illegible: 3 letters], so Gen. 5. 21. Kains posteritie, accord in name with Seths. Vers. 19. two wives:] so violating the law of mariage, which by Gods ordinance was to be but with one wife, Gen. 2. 18. 24. Adah:] by interpretation an Ornament: as Zillah (or Sella) signified her Shadow. Vers. 20. Iabal:] in Greeke, Iobel. father:] that is, master, as the Chaldee expoundeth it. Every crafts-master that either first inventeth, or perfecteth and teachech any art, is called a Father. So in the verse following. dwell in tents:] that is, used Shepherdy: for shepheards used tents, to remove from place to place, where best pasture was to be found: Esa. 38. 12. Song. 1. 8. Ier. 6. 3. and 49. 29. The Hebrew phrase, him that dwelleth, is meant of many, as the Greeke also translateth it, them that dwell. So dweller, 2 Sam. 5. 6. is expounded dwellers, 1 Chron. 1. 4. enemie, 1 King. 8. 37. 44. is enemies, 2 Chron. 6. 28. 34. and many the like. See also Gen. 3. 2. cattell:] Hebr. possession: understanding the word cattell, as it explained in Gen. 26. 14. hee had possession of flockes, and possession of herds. So the Greeke here translateth, feeders of cattell. The supply of such words is often made in the text it selfe: as a thousand, 2 Sam. 8. 4. that is, a thousand charrets, 1 Chron. 18. 4. Vzzah put forth to the arke, 2 Sam. 6. 6. that is, hee put forth his hand to the arke, 1 Chro. 13. 9. See also Gen. 5. 3. Vers. 21. handle:] that is, play upon: as the Chaldee paraphraseth, he was master of all that play on the Psaltery, and knew musicke, which the Greeke translateth, this was he that shewed the Psaltery, and the Harpe, organ:] it hath the name in Hebrew, of lovelinesse and delight; and it was an instrument of joy, Iob 21. 12. so was the Harpe, called therefore the pleasant Harpe, Psal. 81. 3. Thus God gave the Kainites skill to invent things profitable and delightfull to the flesh: yet were they irreligious, as is written; they said vnto God depart from us: and what should the Almighty doe for them? For he filled their houses with good things: Iob. 22. 17. 18. Vers. 22. instructer:] Hebr. a whetter (or, sharpner:) which the Chaldee expoundeth also a master. He sharpely and wittily taught Smiths craft, and instruments of warre. The Heathens after faigned Vulcan, (which name seemeth to bee borrowed from this Tubal-cain,) to bee the god of Smiths. Naamah:] she hath her name of Pleasance. Thus with profits and pleasures, they of the olde world passed their time, eating and drinking, marying and giving in mariage, untill the day that the flood came, and tooke them all away: Math. 24. 38. 39. The Hebrew Doctors (in Midras Ruth, and Zohar) say of this Naamah, that all the world wandred (in love) after her; yea even the sons of God, (as in Gen. 6. 2. & that of her, there were born evil spirits into the world Vers. 23. I have killed &c.] or, I would kill a man in my wound, yea a yong man in my hurt. The Hebrew is of the time past, as speaking of murther committed; (and so the Greeke translateth, I have killed a man:) but it may also be interpreted, as a boastfull threat for time to come; that if any did wound or hurt him, he should surely dye for it. And it may bee, that for violating the law of mariage by taking two wives, God vexed him with a disquiet life betweene them, that they lived in discontent and emulation one with another, (as there is an example in 1 Sam. 1. 6. 7.) and both of them with their husband: so in his wrath hee uttered these words unto them, to represse their strife. Or he thus boasteth of his valour, for some other cause. The Chaldee Paraphrast understood this in a contrary sense; as if it were a question, for have I killed, &c. that is, I have not: and expoundeth it thus, For I have not killed a man, that I should beare sinne for him; nor destroyed a young man, that my seed should be consumed for him. to my hurt] or, for my stripe: the originall word signifieth a wayl, or mark of a stripe, or wound in the flesh. Vers. 24. seventy and seven fold:] that is, if he that killeth Kain, shall be punished seven fold; then hee that killeth me, shall be seventy seven fold. It seemeth to be an insolent contempt of Gods judgement, and abusing of his patience towards Kain, v. 15. Because sentence against an evill worke is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of the sonnes of men, is full in them to doe evill, Eccles. 8. 11. Vers. 25. Seth] Heb. Sheth: that is, Set or Appointed, to weet, in Abelsroome. He was not borne till 130 yeeres after the creation, Gen. 5. 3. It might be, Adam had other sonnes and daughters before, Gen. 5. 4. but none, in whom such expectation of good was: for Seths posterity onely remained at the Flood, when all the world perished, Gen. 7. seed] that is, another sonne: that as Abrahams seed was called in Isaak, (Ismael being excluded,) Gen. 21. 12. so Eves seed should bee in Seth; and not in any other of her children. Seed, is usually put for children: as, they left no seed, Mar. 12. 22. is expounded, they left no children, Luke 20. 31. stead of Abel] Eve sheweth a reason of her sonnes name, also her faith grounded on Gods appointment & setling of his mercy concerning this seed, who should be faithfull as Abel; and a father of the world, who are all called the sonnes of Seth, Num. 24. 17. and the father of our Lord Iesus after the flesh, Luke 3. So in Ezek. 37, dead bones revive againe; and in Revel. 11. 11. the witnesses killed, have the spirit of life from God, entring into them. Vers. 26. also himselfe] or, to him also: when hee was 105, yeeres old, Gen. 5 6. and the world 235. Enos] so he is written in Greeke, Luke 3. 38. in Hebrew Aenosh; that is by interpretation, sorrowfull, grievously-sicke, miserable. So named, (as seemeth) for the sorrowfull state of those dayes, wherein great corruption grew in the Church, Gen. 6. 2. 3. 5. Therefore this name is in Scripture usually given to all men, as being Enos, or sonnes of Enos, full of sorrow and misery, Psal. 8. 5. and 144. 3. And to abate mens pride, David saith, let the nations know, that they be Enos, (or wofull men:) Psal. 9. 21. began men profanely to call] or, profanenesse began in calling, (or, for calling) on the name of Iehovah. The Hebrew word may be translated, men began, or men profened: but is commonly understood [illegible: 1 span]ere, of the learned Hebrewes, to meane profanenesse; and some translating it began, yet take it thus, men began to call (their idols) by the name of the Lord: as images and representations of God, were called Gods, Exod. 32. 4. The sorrowes of this age were great, as the very name of Enos testifieth, and the history following in Gen. 6. confirmeth: for impiety crept into the Church, by unlawfull mariages with Kains seed; and religion and manners were much corrupted, Gen. 6. 2. 11. The Hebrew Doctors describe it thus: In the dayes of Enos, the sons of Adam erred with great error, and the counsell of the wisemen of that age became brutish; and Enos him-selfe was (one) of them that erred: and their error was this; They said, for as much as God hath created these stars and sphaeres to governe the world, and set them on high, and imparted honor unto them, and they are ministers that minister before him: it is meet that men should land and glorifie and give them honor. For this is the wil of God, that we magnifie and honor, whomsoever he magnifieth and honoreth: even as a King would have them honored that stand before him, and this is the honour of the King himselfe. When this thing was come up into their heart, they began to build Temples unto stars, and to offer sacrifice unto them, and to laud and glorifie them with words, and to worship before them, that they might in their evill opinion, obtaine favour of the Creator. And this was the root of Idolatry, &c. And in process of time, there stood up false Prophets among the sons of Adam, which said that God had commanded & said unto them, worship such a star, or all the stars, and doe sacrifice unto them thus and thus; and build a Temple for it, and make an image of it, that all the people, women, and children may worship it; & he shewed them the image which he had feyned out of his owne heart, and said, it was the image of such a starre, which was made knowne unto him by prophesie: and they began after this manner, to make images in Temples, and under trees, and on tops of mountaines, and hils, and assembled together, and worshipped them, &c. And this thing was spred through all the world, to serve images with services different one from another, and to sacrifice unto, and worship them. So in tract of time, the glorious and fearfull name (of God) was forgotten out of the mouth of all living, and out of their knowledge, and they acknowledged him not. And there was found no people of the earth, that knew ought, save images of wood and stone, and Temples of stone, which they had beene trained up from their childhood, to worship and to serve, and to sweare by their names. And the wise men that were among them, as the Priests, and such like, thought there was no God, save the stars, and sphares, for whose sake, and in whose likenesse they had made these images: but as for the Rocke everlasting, there was no man that acknowledged him, or knew him, save a few persons in the world, is Enoch, Mathusala, Noe, Sem, and Eber. And in this way did the world walk and converse, till the pillar of the world, to weet, Abraham our father was born: Maim. in Misn. tom. 1. treat. of Idolatry c. 1. S. 1. 2. 3. That the heavens and stars were of old worshipped, both Moses and the Prophets after him shew, Deut. 4. 19. Am. 5. 26. 2. Kin. 21. 3. 5. And as the heathen Philosophers counted the heaven a living body (Arist. de c[illegible: 1 letter]l. l. 2 c. 2) so did the wisest of the Hebrew Rabbins: All the stars and al the sphaers have soules, & knowledg, & understanding & are living things, and stand & acknowledge him who said, and the world was, every one according to his greatnesse, and according to his dignity, lauding and glorifying him that formed them, even as the Angels. And as they know the holy God▪ so they know themselves, and know the Angels which are above them: and the knowledge that the Starres and Sphaeres have, is lesse then the knowledge of the Angels, and greater then the knowledge of the sonnes of men, saith Maimony in Iesudei hatorah. chap. 3. S. 9. Vpon this perswasion men might the easier be drawne to the worship of them. If we understand Moses here otherwise; Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord; then it may be meant of more publick worship now erected then before: or, of publick preaching in the name of the Lord, to call the wicked to repentance: or of calling themselves by the name of the Lord, as in Gen. 6. 2. the faithfull are called the sonnes of God. Onkelos the Chaldee Paraphrast, translateth, then beganne men to pray: But the Chaldee in the Masorites bible saith, Then in his dayes the sonnes of men left off from praying, (or became prophane, so that they prayed not) in the name of the Lord.