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General observations

CHAP. IV.

on the preceding chapter.

place where pure spirits alone could dwell. Yet in prevent the extension of its contagion. If men, now the midst of wrath God remembers mercy, and a promise of redemption from this degraded and cursed state is made to them through HIM who, in the fulness of time, is to be made flesh, and who, by dying for the sin of the world, shall destroy the power of Satan, and deliver all who trust in the merit of his sacrifice from the power, guilt, and nature of sin, and thus prepare them for the celestial Paradise at the right hand of God. Reader, hast thou repented of thy sin? for often hast thou sinned after the similitude of thy ancestor's transgression. Hast thou sought and found redemption in the blood of the Lamb? Art thou saved from a disposition which led thy first parents to transgress? Art thou living a life of dependence on thy Creator, and of faith and loving obedience to him who died for thee? Wilt thou live under the curse, and die eternally? God forbid! Return to him with all thy soul, and receive this exhortation as a call from his mercy.

so greatly multiplied on the earth, and fertile in mischievous inventions, were permitted to live nearly a thousand years, as in the ancient world, to mature and perfect their infectious and destructive counsels, what a sum of iniquity and ruin would the face of the earth present! Even while they are laying plans to extend the empire of death, God, by the very means of death itself, prevents the completion of their pernicious and diabolic designs. Thus what man, by his wilful obstinacy does not permit grace to correct and restrain, God, by his sovereign power, brings in death to control. It is on this ground that wicked and blood-thirsty men live not out half their days; and what a mercy to the world that it is so! They who will not submit to the sceptre of mercy shall be broken in pieces by the rod of iron. Reader, provoke not the Lord to displeasure; thou art not stronger than he. Grieve not his Spirit, provoke him not to destroy thee; why shouldst thou die before thy time? Thou hast sinned much, and needest every moment of thy short life to make thy calling and election sure. Shouldst thou provoke God, by thy perseverance in iniquity, to cut thee off by death before this great work is done, better for thee thou hadst never been born!

How vain are all attempts to attain immortality here! For some thousands of years men have been labouring to find out means to prevent death; and some have even boasted that they had found out a medicine capable of preserving life for ever, by resisting all the attacks of disease, and incessantly repairing all the wastes of the human machine. That is, the alchymistic philosophers would have the world to believe that they had found out a private passage to the tree of immortality; but their own deaths, in the common order of nature, as well as the deaths of the millions which make no such pretensions, are not only a sufficient confutation of their baseless systems, but also a continual proof that the cherubim, with their flaming swords, are turning every way to keep the passage of the tree of life. Life and immortality are, however, brought to light by the Gospel; and he only who keep

To what has already been said on the awful contents of this chapter, I can add little that can either set it in a clearer light, or make its solemn subject more impressive. We see here that by the subtlety and envy of the devil sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and we find that death reigned, not only from Adam to Moses, but from Moses to the present day. How abominable must sin be in the sight of God, when it has not only defaced his own image from the soul of man, but has also become a source of natural and moral evil throughout every part of the globe! Disruption and violence appear in every part of nature; vice, profligacy, and misery, through all the tribes of men and orders of society. It is true that where sin hath abounded, there grace doth much more abound; but men shut their eyes against the light, and harden their hearts against the truth. Sin, which becomes propagated into the world by natural generation, growing with the growth and strengthening with the strength of man, would be as endless in its duration, as unlimited in its influence, did not God check and re strain it by his grace, and cut off its extending influ-eth the sayings of the Son of God shall live for ever. ence in the incorrigibly wicked by means of death. Though the body is dead-consigned to death, because How wonderful is the economy of God! That which of sin, yet the spirit is life because of righteousness; entered into the world as one of the prime fruits and and on those who are influenced by this Spirit of effects of sin, is now an instrument in his hands to righteousness, the second death shall have no power,

CHAPTER IV.

Cain murders his brother Abel, 8.

God calls him

The birth, trade, and religion of Cain and Abel, 1-7. into judgment for it, 9, 10. He is cursed, 11, 12. He despairs, 13, 14. A promise given him of preservation, and a mark set on him to prevent his being killed, 15. He departs from God's presence, 10. Has a son whom he calls Enoch; and builds a city, which he calls after his name, 17. Cain has several children, among whom are Lamech, the first bigamist, 18, 19. Jabal, who taught the use of tents and feeding cattle, 20. Jubal, the inventor of musical instruments, 21. Tubal-cain, the inventor of smithwork, 22. Strange speech of Lamech to his wives, 23, 24. Seth born to Adam and Eve in the place of Abel, 25. Enoch born, and the worship of God restored, 26.

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NOTES ON CHAP. IV.

Verse 1. I have gotten a man from the Lord.] Cain, p, signifies acquisition; hence Eve says 'np kanithi, I have gotten or acquired a man,

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 pecu-
liar 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; 1 John iii. 12. We may therefore suppose
that
neth Yehovah, THE LORD, is an elliptical form
of expression for
meeth Yehovah, FROM THE
LORD, or through the Divine blessing.
Verse 2. And she again bare his brother Abel.]
Literally, She added to bear (
vattoseph
laledeth) his brother. From the very face of this ac-
count it appears evident that Cain and Abel were twins.
In most cases where a subject of this kind is intro-
duced in the Holy Scriptures, and the eccessive births
of children of the same parents are noted, the acts of
conceiving and bringing forth are mentioned in refer-
ence to each child; here it is not said that she con-
ceived 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

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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;

h

Num. Heb. sheep or

d Chap. iii. 23; ix. 20. Heb. at the end of days.
xviii. 12. Num. xviii. 17; Prov. iii. 9.
goats. Heb. xi. 4.

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ple. 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. xi. 4, we shall see cause to form this conclusion.

Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering] minchah, unto the Lord. The word minchah is explained, Lev. ii. 1, &c., 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.

Verse 4. Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock] Dr. Kennicott contends that the words he also brought, xm Di xa hebi gam hu, should be translated, Abel brought Ir also, i. e. a minchah or gratitude offering; and beside this he brought of the first-born (1♫ 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. xi. 4: By FAITH Abel offered #heiova Ovolav, a MORE or GREATER sacrifice; not a more excellent, (for this is no meaning of the word hetv,) which leads us to infer, according to Dr. Kennicott, that Abel, besides his minchah or gratitude offering, brought also Ovota, 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 Abel was a keeper of sheep] Adam was originally of the apostle: God testifying rois dwpors, of his GIFTS, a gardener, Abel a shepherd, and Cain an agriculturist which certainly shows he brought more than one. or farmer. These were the three primitive employ-cording to this interpretation, Cain, the father of Deism, ments, and, I may add, the most rational, and conse- not acknowledging the necessity of a vicarious sacriquently the best calculated to prevent strife and an

next.

immoderate love of the world.

Verse 3. In process of time] Dp 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 sim

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fice, 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

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* Chap. xxxi. 2; Num. xvi. 15; Isa. iii. 10, 11; Psalm 1 Or, have the excellency; Heb. xi. 4; Prov. xxi. 27; Job xxix. 4. Or, subject unto thee; chap. iii. 16.

xx. 3.

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 ver. 7.

Verse 5. 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.

Verse 6. Why art thou wroth ?] This was designed as a gracious warning, and a preventive of the meditated crime.

Verse 7. 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; non na 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 on chattath, and son 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 duapria by the Septuagint, which is the term the apostle uses, 2 Cor. v. 21: He hath made him to be sin (úμapriav, ▲ SINOFFERING) 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, &c., were in his power, and a victim proper for a sin-offering was lying (probets, 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 Saviour 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, &c.] 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.

Verse 8. Cain talked with Abel his brother]

Now

" vaiyomer Kayin, and Cain said, &c.; 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. 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, ▲ie20wμev eis To Tεdiov, 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," &c. The Jerusalem Targum, and the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, pretend to give us the subject of their conversation as the

:

Cain slays his brother.

A. M. cir. 129.
B. C. cir. 3875.

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and it came to pass, when they | which hath opened her mouth to
were in the field, that Cain rose receive thy brother's blood from
thy hand;

up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
9 And the LORD said unto Cain,
is Abel thy brother? And he said,
not: Am I my brother's keeper?

• Where
I know

10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.

A. M. cır. 129.

B. C. cir. 3875.

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

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14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day the face of the earth; and from thy

11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, from

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Verse 10. 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

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 ver. 14.

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 mer-crieth unto me FROM THE GROUND-which hath opened cy, 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."

Verse 12. 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 σrevov Kai тpeμwv εoŋ, 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.

Verse 13. My punishment is greater than I can bear.] The margin reads, Mine iniquity is greater than that it may be forgiven. The original words,

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 gadol avoni minneso, may be translated, Is my all those who are partakers of the Spirit of God. crime too great to be forgiven? words which we may Every persecutor is a legitimate son of the old mur-presume he uttered on the verge of black despair. It derer. This is the first triumph of Satan; it is not is most probable that ¡y avon signifies rather the crime merely a death that he has introduced, but a violent than the punishment; in this sense it is used Lev. one, as the first-fruits of sin. It is not the death of xxvi. 41, 43; 1 Sam. xxviii. 10; 2 Kings vii. 9; and 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 Verse 14. Behold, thou hast driven me out] In soul; it is not done by a common enemy, from whom verses 11, 12, God states two parts of Cain's punishnothing better could be expected, but by the hand of a ment: 1. The ground was cursed, so that it was not brother, and for no other reason but because the object to yield any adequate recompense for his most careful of his envy was more righteous than himself. Alas! tillage. 2. He was to be a fugitive and a vagabond, how exceeding sinful does sin appear in its first mani- having no place in which he could dwell with comfestation ! fort or security. To these Cain himself adds others.

nasa signifies to remit or forgive. The marginal reading is, therefore, to be preferred to that in the text.

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be taken on him seven-fold.
And the LORD set a mark upon
Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.
16 And Cainy went out from the presence
of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod,
on the east of Eden.

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Chap. ix. 6; Num. xxxv. 19, 21, 27.- - Psa. lxxix. 12. Ezek. ix. 4, 6.-72 Kings xiii. 23; xxiv. 20; Jer. xxiii. 39; lii. 3.

1. His being hidden from the face of God; which ap-
pears to signify his being expelled from that particular
place where God had manifested his presence, in or
contiguous to Paradise, whither our first parents re-
sorted as to an oracle, and where they offered their
daily adorations. So in verse 16, it is said, Cain went
out from the presence of the Lord, and was not per-
mitted 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 mur-
derer 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 punish-
ment of Cain St. Paul probably alludes, 2 Thess. i. 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.

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.

Verse 15. 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, Erevov kaι трeμwv εon, 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 3 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 n tau marked on his forehead, which signified his contrition, as it is the first letter in the word nan teshubah, repentance. Rabbi Joseph, wiser than all the rest, says it was a long horn grow-sixty-five years of age, and one in each successive ing out of his forehead!

Dr. Shuckford farther observes that the Hebrew word Moth, which we translate a mark, signifies a sign or token. Thus, Gen. ix, 13, the bow was to be 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;

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

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 labour.

Verse 16. The land of Nod] As 11 nod signifies the same as 13 nad, 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, verse 12, was accomplished.

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