Genesis 4:11

_AND NOW ART THOU CURSED FROM THE EARTH, WHICH HATH OPENED HER MOUTH TO RECEIVE THY BROTHER'S BLOOD FROM THY HAND;_ NOW ART THOU CURSED FROM THE EARTH. Here a curse is added to the general one denounced on the ground for Adam's sin. The meaning of the words, according to our version, which is supported by Baumgarten, Knobel, etc., is; that the soil which Cain had cultivated, having drunk innocent blood, would, as it were, in indignation and horror at the awful crime of fratricide, withhold its productive powers; and though he should prosecute his agricultural works with accustomed assiduity, all his labour, industry, and art would now be fruitless; the seasons would be unpropitious, the ground yield little or no return, like the land of Canaan, which spewed out its inhabitants on account of their abominable vices (Leviticus 18:28). The phrase, "which hath opened her mouth t

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, (245) imputed to it; because, in abhorrence of the pollution, it had opened its mouth...

8-15 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 hea...

- Section IV - The Family of Adam - Cain and Abel 1. קין _qayı̂n_, Qain (Cain), “spear-shaft,” and קנה _qānah_, “set up, establish, gain, buy,” contain the biliteral root קן _qan_, “set up, erect, gain.” The relations of root words are not confined to the narrow rules of our common etymology, but really extend to such instinctive usages as the unlettered speaker will invent or employ. A full examination of the Hebrew tongue leads to the conclusion that a biliteral root lies at the base of many of those triliterals that consist of two firm consonants and a third weaker one varying in itself and its position. Thus, יטב _yāṭab_ and טיב _ṭôb_. So...

EXPOSITION GENESIS 4:1 Exiled from Eden, o'er, canopied by grace, animated by hope, assured of the Divine forgiveness, and filled with a sweet peace, the first pair enter on their life experience of labor and sorrow, and the human race begins its onward course of development in sight of the mystic cherubim and flaming sword. AND ADAM KNEW EVE, HIS WIFE. I_.e._ "recognized her nature and uses" (Alford; cf. Numbers 31:17). The act here mentioned is recorded not to indicate that paradise was "_non nuptiis, sed virginitate destinatum_" (Jerome), but to show that while Adam was formed from the soil, and Eve from a rib taken from his side, the other members of the race were to be produced "neque ex terra neque

AND NOW [ART] THOU CURSED FROM THE EARTH,.... From receiving benefit by it, and enjoying the fruits of it as before, and from having a settled dwelling in it, as is afterwards explained: WHICH HATH OPENED HER MOUTH TO RECEIVE THY BROTHER'S BLOOD FROM THY HAND; the blood of his brother, which was shed by his own hand, was received and sucked into the earth, where it was spilt, through the pores of it, and drank up and covered, so as not to be seen; in which it was as it were more humane to Abel, and as it were more ashamed of the crime, and shuddered more, and expressed more horror at it, than Cain....

CHAPTER 4 After the Fall and the Two Seeds _ 1. Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1)_ 2. Their offerings (Genesis 4:3) 3. The divine remonstrance (Genesis 4:6) 4. Abel slain by his brother (Genesis 4:8) 5. Cain's judgment (Genesis 4:9) 6. Cain and his offspring and the progress of the world (Genesis 4:17) 7. Seth in place of Abel (Genesis 4:25)...

The Story of Cain and Abel. This belongs to the J cycle of stories, but apparently not to the same stratum as Genesis 4:3, for it is assumed that the earth has a population from which Cain fears vengeance, and the curse in Genesis 4:11 f. ignores the cursing of the ground in Genesis 3:17. Originally then the story was placed in a later period of human history: its present position is perhaps due to the identification of Cain the murderer with Cain the firstborn of Eve. Whether the original story had to do with peoples or individuals is uncertain; in any case Stade's theory that it accounted for the nomad life of the Kenites is improbable in spite of the identity in the name. The two brothers naturally brought their offerings from

III. THE MURDERER'S DOOM. 11. NOW ART THOU CURSED FROM THE EARTH. Life was held so sacred that, at first, even the murderer did not forfeit his life, but in the covenant with Noah it was enacted that, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed." Cain is placed under. curse that has several features. He is cursed from the ground. It will no longer furnish him. secure resting-place, but he shall be. fugitive upon its surface. There is. poetic touch in the thought that the earth which opened its mouth to receive the blood of the slain Abel now curses his murderer and refuses to give him. safe dwelling place on her bosom....

FROM THE EARTH. The Hebrew accent _athnach._ after "cursed" suggests "more than the ground' (Genesis 3:17)....