Genesis 4:16

Went out from the presence, &c.— From the altar of God, says Mr. Locke, after Bertram. "There was a divine glory, called by the Jews, the Shechinah, which appeared from the beginning, (as I often remarked before, says Bp. Patrick,) the sight of which, it is probable, Cain never again enjoyed."

Dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east, &c.— Great inquiries have been made, where, and what, this land of Nod was. It appears to us, and we are not singular in the opinion, that no particular land is mentioned; nor do we conceive the word rendered Nod, to be a proper name. The curse denounced upon Cain was, that he should be a vagabond נד nod; and the sacred historian says in this verse, that (in completion of the curse) Cain dwelt in the land, or on the earth נוד nod, a vagabond, wandering about, an exile, from the east of Eden.

From the view which we have taken of this account of the murder of Abel, it is plain, that it stands clear of all contradiction. The time when his brother murdered him was in the hundred and twenty-ninth year of the world's creation, when, according to a moderate computation, their descendants and those of their parents could not but be very numerous. The manner in which he murdered him, might not be with a sword or spear, (which, perhaps, were not then in use,) since a club, or stone, or any rural instrument, in the hand of rage and revenge, was sufficient to do the work. The place where he murdered him, is said to be, the field, not in contradistinction to any large and populous city then in being, but rather to the tents, where their parents, and others, might live. The cause of his murdering him was a spirit of envy and malice. Ainsworth observes, that "as there are seven abominations in the heart of him who loveth not his brother, Proverbs 26:25 there were the like number of transgressions in Cain's whole conduct: for, 1st, he sacrificed without faith: 2nd, he was displeased that God respected him not: 3rdly, he hearkened not to God's admonition: 4thly, he spake dissembling to his brother: 5thly, he killed him in the field: 6thly, he denied that he knew where he was: 7thly, he neither asked nor hoped for mercy from God, but despaired, and so fell into the condemnation of the devil."