CRITICAL NOTES.— Genesis 4:1. Gotten a man from the Lord.] Or, perhaps, “Gotten a man, even Jehovah.” The rendering of the A. V. is no doubt the one more generally followed. Leeser and Murphy have, “from the Lord”; Young, “by the Lord”; Gesenius, “by the aid of Jehovah”; Davies, “with the Eternal,”... [ Continue Reading ]
CRITICAL NOTES.— Genesis 4:7. Sin lieth at the door.] Rather: “A sin-offering is crouching at the door, or (more generally) opening”: _e.g._ “at the opening, or entrance, of thy brother’s fold.” This exegesis supplies a point of departure for the words which immediately follow, and which otherwise s... [ Continue Reading ]
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Genesis 4:9_ THE BITTER CURSE WHICH SIN BRINGS UPON AN INDIVIDUAL LIFE We have been thoroughly educated in the nature and effects of sin by the sacred narrative, not by philosophical instruction, but by the interesting events and transactions of daily life. We sa... [ Continue Reading ]
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Genesis 4:16_ THE FUTURE OF A GOD-FORSAKEN LIFE I. That a God-forsaken man is not cut off from the mitigating influences of domestic life. 1. _Here the future of the cursed life has some relief._ Cain had his wife to share his sorrow, and, for all we know, to h... [ Continue Reading ]
CRITICAL NOTES.— Genesis 4:23. Adah and Zillah.] Probably the oldest fragment of poetry extant. With a slight freedom of translation, we may perhaps thus approach the metrical cast of the original:— “Adah and Zillah! hear ye my voice, Ye wives of Lamech! give ear to my tale: A MAN have I slain in... [ Continue Reading ]