Genesis 4:2

_AND SHE AGAIN BARE HIS BROTHER ABEL. AND ABEL WAS A KEEPER OF SHEEP, BUT CAIN WAS A TILLER OF THE GROUND._ And she again bare his brother Abel - Hebrew, 'she added to bear.' "Abel," or, according to the Hebrew, _ HAABEL_ (H1893), a breath-metaphorically, vanity, weakness, transitoriness (Psalms 39:5; Romans 8:20), or grief, lamentation. The name, if given at his birth, probably originated in the painful sense which his arrival produced in the breast of his mother, by reminding her of the misery and short-lived existence she had entailed on her offspring; or it may be that it was not bestowed upon him until after death, and then it would have a reference to his sudden and tragic end by the violent hands of his brother. This is the opinion of Kenn

2._And she again bare his brother Abel _(226) It is well known whence the name of Cain is deduced, and for what reason it was given to him. For his mother said, קניתי (_kaniti_,) I have gotten a man; and therefore she called his name Cain. (227) The same explanation is not given with respect to Abel. (228) The opinion of some, that he was so called by his mother out of contempt, as if he would prove superfluous and almost useless, is perfectly absurd; for she remembered the end to which her fruitfulness would lead; nor had she forgotten the benediction, “Increase and multiply.” We should (in my judgment) more correctly infer that whereas Eve had testified, in the name given to her firstborn, the joy which suddenly burst upon her, and celebrated the grace of God; she afterwards, in her other offspring,

1-7 When Cain was born, Eve said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. Perhaps she thought that this was the promised seed. If so, she was wofully disappointed. Abel signifies vanity: when she thought she had the promised seed in Cain, whose name signifies possession, she was so taken up with him that another son was as vanity to her. Observe, each son had a calling. It is the will of God for every one to have something to do in this world. Parents ought to bring up their children to work. Give them a Bible and a calling, said good Mr. Dod, and God be with them. We may believe that God commanded Adam, after the fall, to shed the blood of innocent animals, and after their death to burn part or the whole of their bodies by fire. Thus that punishment which sinners deserve, even the death of the body, and the wrath of God, of which fire is a well-known emblem, and also the sufferings of Chris...

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 Scriptures, and the successive births of children of the same parents are noted, the acts of conceiving and bringing forth are mentioned in reference to each child; here it is _not_ said that she _conceived_ and brought forth Abel, but simply _she added to bring forth Abel his brother_; that is, as I understand it, Cain was the first-born, Abel, his twin brother, came next. _ABEL WAS A KEEPER OF SHEEP_] Adam was originally a _gardener_, Abel a _shepherd_, and Cain an _agriculturist_ or _farmer_. These were the three

- 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 SHE AGAIN BARE HIS BROTHER ABEL,.... Or "added to bare" y, not directly or immediately, but perhaps the following year; though some have thought, because no mention is made of her conceiving again, that she brought forth Abel at the same time she did Cain, or that the birth of the one immediately followed upon that of the other: and it is the common opinion of the Jews z that with Abel, as with Cain, was born a twin sister, whom the Arabic writers a call Lebuda: the name of Abel, or rather Hebel, signifies not "mourning", as Josephus b observes, but "vanity", Eve not making that account of him as she did of Cain; or perhaps because by this time she became sensible of her mistake in him, or had met with something which convinced her that all earthly enjoyments were vanity; or by a spirit of prophecy foresaw what would befall this her second son, that he should be very early deprived o...

ABEL Abel ("exhalation," or, "that which ascends") is a type of the spiritual man. His sacrifice, in which atoning blood was shed (Hebrews 9:22) was therefore at once his confession of sin and the expression of his faith in the interposition of a substitute (Hebrews 11:4)....

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