CHAPTER IV _The birth, trade, and religion of Cain and Abel_, 1-7. _Cain murders his brother Abel_, 8. _God calls him into judgment for it_, 9, 10. _He is cursed_, 11, 12. _He despairs_, 15, 14. _A promise given him of preservation, and a mark set on_ _him to prevent his being killed_, 15. _... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 4:2. _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 Script... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 4:3. _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 certain... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 4:4. _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... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 4:5. _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... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 4:6. _WHY ART THOU WROTH?_] This was designed as a gracious warning, and a preventive of the meditated crime.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 4:7. _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 displea... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 4:8. _CAIN TALKED WITH ABEL HIS BROTHER_] ויאמר קין 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 tha... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 4:10. _THE VOICE OF THY BROTHER'S BLOOD_] It is probable that Cain, having killed his brother, dug a hole and burled 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... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 4:12. _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 στενων και τρεμων εση, _thou_ _shalt be groaning and trembling_ upon th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 4:13. _MY PUNISHMENT IS GREATER THAN I CAN BEAR._] The margin reads, _Mine iniquity_ is _greater than_ that it may _be forgiven_. The original words, גדול עוני מנשוא _gadol avoni minneso_, may be translated, _Is my crime too great to be forgiven_? words which we may presume he uttered... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 4:14. _BEHOLD, THOU HAST DRIVEN ME OUT_] In Genesis 4:11-1, 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 cou... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 4:15. _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, Στενων και τρεμων εση, _Groa... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 4:16. _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, Genesis 4:12,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 4:17. _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 sac... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 4:19. _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_, practised, and defended to the present day.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 4:20. _JABAL - WAS THE FATHER_] The _inventor_ or _teacher_, for so the word is understood, 1 Samuel 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... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 4:21. _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 l... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 4:22. _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 culti... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 4:23. _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 liter... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 4:25. _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... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 4:26. _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 distin... [ Continue Reading ]