Genesis 4:12

_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._ A fugitive and a vagabond - condemned to perpetual banishment; a degraded outcast, the miserable victim of an accusing conscience. The Septuagint translates these words by stenoon, kai tremoon sighing and trembling, as completely paralyzed by the constant apprehension of death. But the English version is more in accordance with the context. Augustine remarked the striking analogy between the doom of Cain and that of the unbelieving, obdurate Jews, who, like Cain, killed their brother. Now their fate has been like his-that of weary, uncertain wanderers on the earth for 18 centuries (cf. Deuteronomy 28:16; Deuteronomy 28:25;...

12._When thou tillest the ground_. This verse is the exposition of the former; for it expresses more clearly what is meant by being cursed _from _the earth, namely, that the earth defrauds its cultivators of the fruit of their toil. Should any one object that this punishment had before been alike inflicted on all mortals, in the person of Adam; my answer is, I have no doubt that something of the benediction which had hitherto remained, was now further withdrawn with respect to the murderer, in order that he might privately feel the very earth to be hostile to him. For although, generally, God causes his sun daily to rise upon the good and the evil, (Matthew 5:45,) yet, in the meantime, (as often as he sees good,) he punished the sins, sometimes of a whole nation, and sometimes of certain men, with rain and hail, and clouds, so far, at least, as is useful to give determinate proof

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...

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 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....

- 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

WHEN THOU TILLEST THE GROUND,.... Which was the business he was brought up in and followed, Genesis 4:2 IT SHALL NOT HENCEFORTH YIELD UNTO THEE HER STRENGTH; the earth had been cursed for Adam's sin, and was not so fruitful as in its original state; and now it was cursed again for Cain's sin; not the whole earth, but that part which belonged to Cain, and was cultivated by him; and so it must be supposed to be cursed, not only in the spot where he had been settled, but in every other place where he should come and occupy, and which through this additional curse became so barren that it did not yield such good fruits, and such an increase of it as before; it lost its native and vital juice, by which seed cast into it became not so fruitful, and did not increase; but instead of this, though much pains were taken to manure it, and much was sown, yet it brought forth little, at lea

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

IT SHALL NOT HENCEFORTH YIELD UNTO THEE HER STRENGTH. He had been. tiller of the soil, but henceforth his labors would be barren because the earth would refuse to make fruitful returns.. am of the opinion that this means, literally, that he would be banished into. barren region where his labors would meet with scanty reward. A FUGITIVE AND. VAGABOND SHALT THOU BE. He would also be. homeless wanderer. Driven from the fertile region where Adam and his descendants were settled, he would find in the inhospitable region to which he would be exiled no suitable spot for. permanent abiding place....