성경 주석서

Genesis 4:9. I know not: am I my brother's keeper?— There is no wonder, that he, who from such vile motives could murder his brother, because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous, 1Jn 3:12 should, with an impudent sullenness, give the lie to his Maker. See the dreadful effects of the fall immediately indicating themselves, to display which, was probably one great reason of recording this history. Again, Abel, as Calmet observes, unjustly murdered by his eldest brother, admirably denotes the violent death of the Lord Jesus Christ by the hands of the Jews. St. Paul says, that the blood of Jesus speaketh better things than that of Abel, Hebrews 12:24.

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Genesis 4:10. The voice of thy brother's blood crieth, &c.— i.e.. Calls upon me for vengeance. See ch. Genesis 18:20-21.

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Genesis 4:14. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth— that is, of this part of the earth, or country: and from thy face shall I be hid; an expression which must be restricted, as well as the former; for how could he be hid from the face of God, if we understand it of his all-seeing eye? May it not, therefore, refer to that presence of God, which was appropriated to some certain place? And therefore may we not reasonably conclude, that the same Shechinah, or Divine Presence, mentioned before, and placed at the garden of Eden, is here referred to? And indeed the word פני peni, face, here used, is generally referred to God's presence in the tabernacle, &c. It is the opinion of many, that Cain came to worship at the place appointed, when the Lord thus convicted him of his crime; an opinion the more probable, from Gen 4:16 where it is said, Cain went out from the presence of the Lord; that is, "from the place of his peculiar presence and worship." All which, it must be observed, tends to shew the consistency of the sacred scripture, and to confirm our general plan of interpretation.

Every one that findeth me, shall slay me— By this expression, Cain demonstrates the dreadful effects of vice on the mind, which it terrifies with continual alarms, creating fear where no fear is. Hence it evidently follows, that there were many persons on the earth at this time. Now according to the computation of the best chronologers, it was in the hundred and twenty-ninth year of Adam's age that Abel was slain: for the scripture says expressly, that Seth (who was given in the lieu of Abel) was born in the hundred and thirtieth year, (very likely the year after the murder was committed,) to be a comfort to his disconsolate parents. So that Cain must have been a hundred and twenty-nine years old, when he abdicated his own country: at which time there must have been a great quantity of mankind upon the face of the earth; it may be, to the number of a hundred thousand souls:* for if the children of Israel, from seventy persons, in the space of four hundred and thirty years, became six hundred thousand fighting men, (though vast numbers must have died during this increase,) we may very well suppose, that the children of Adam, whose lives were so very long, might amount to a hundred thousand in a hundred and thirty years, which are above four generations.

• It has been shewn, that, supposing Adam and Eve to have had no other sons than Cain and Abel, in the year of the world 128; yet, as they had daughters married with these sons, their descendants would make a considerable figure on the earth. For, supposing them to have been married in the nineteenth year of the world, they might have had each of them eight children, some males and some females, in the twenty-fifth year. In the fiftieth year there might have proceeded from them, in a direct line, 64 persons; in the seventy-fourth year there would be 572; in the ninety-eighth 4096; in the hundred and twenty-second, they would amount to 32,768. If to these we add the other children descended from Cain and Abel, their children, and the children of their children, we shall have, in the aforesaid hundred and twenty-eighth year, 421,164 men above the age of seventeen, without reckoning the women, both old and young, or the males under seventeen.

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Genesis 4:15. Therefore whosoever, &c.— As Cain was reserved for exemplary punishment, God delivers him from the apprehension of death, and assures him, that seven-fold vengeance, that is, very severe vengeance, (for the word sevenfold is often put for an indefinite, but great number,) shall be taken on any person who should slay him.

And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, &c.— The literal translation is, and the Lord gave to, or placed before Cain a sign, אות aut, σημειον, LXX, that no one who found him should kill him, i.e.. assured him of this by some external mark or miracle. As the Hebrew and the Septuagint clearly agree in this translation, it puts an end at once to all those frivolous inquiries concerning the mark, as it has been called, which God put upon Cain. See Exodus 10:1.Isaiah 66:19; Isaiah 66:19; Isaiah 66:24. It is not improbable, but this sign or miracle was given in the presence of so many, that all were soon informed of the will of the Lord concerning Cain.

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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, Pro 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."

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Genesis 4:17. And Cain, &c.— It is evident from this verse, how brief the narration of Moses is, how he passes over time, and connects events of many years distance. For it is plain, that several years must have passed from the exile of Cain to his building this city. He chose rather to call it after his son's name than his own, probably because of the odium under which he lay.

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Genesis 4:18. Unto Enoch was born, &c.— It is observable, that while the genealogy of Seth is accurately deduced to Noah, and while an exact account is given of the age of his descendants, the genealogy of the descendants of Cain is carried but a little way, and no mention is made of their age. The reason is evident: Moses wrote this history for the chosen seed, from whom should spring the great Messiah; and to deduce the grand original promise.

REFLECTIONS.—The murder of Abel was secret, and no doubt carefully concealed. But there is a great eye, from which nothing is hid, nothing is secret: and he in this world orders his providence, often in ways almost miraculous, to bring the blood that is covered to light. Mark here the direct, wilful lie, and most insolent answer of Cain; and mark the reply of God, pointed with conviction, covering him with confusion, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. Blood hath a voice to reach the skies.

(1.) Shall murdered bodies thus cry out, and murdered souls be silent? Hear, ye careless sinners! whose lips and lives cast abroad firebrands, arrows, and death. Tremble, ye negligent pastors! how many lost immortal souls are laying their blood at your door? (2.) Where shall the man flee, whose sin hath testified to his face, whose guilt is evident? To the blood of Jesus. This crieth louder for mercy, than Abel's did for vengeance: happy the soul whose cries of sin are drowned in deeper cries of the blood of the Saviour! Even a murderer need not despair. Again, we may observe, that Cain's punishment was less than his iniquity deserved; yet he murmurs against it, as more than he can bear. The hardened heart of man is thus ever disposed to charge God foolishly. Doth a living man dare to complain of any present burden? Let him rather stand astonished that he is out of hell. Depend upon it, they who quarrel with the punishments of sin, as too severe, will feel them to their cost by and by; and be made to own the justice of them too. Three sore judgments were upon him; rejection from God's face; expulsion from the comforts of society and the church of God; and a restless and tormented conscience. Hence we may learn, that the soul which departs from God, is the prey of constant disquiet: though it seeks rest, it finds none. We have also here Cain's banishment in consequence of his sin. The presence of the Lord he no longer desired, but dreaded; and therefore sought to fly from it. He had done now with worship and sacrifices. None sink so low, none grow so infamously vile, as those who, having made profession of godliness, return, as the dog, to their vomit.

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Genesis 4:19. Lamech took unto him two wives, &c.— This account of Lamech has been the subject of much inquiry; and indeed it is very difficult to be understood. "That Lamech had used force against some other man," says Dr. Delaney, "is evident: as also that he thought himself much more criminal in doing so, even than Cain; as appears from the words, if Cain shall be, &c." Now the true reason why God guarded Cain from destruction, under so severe a penalty upon any one who should slay him, was demonstrably this: that he might preserve him, as a living monument of the curse of God upon murder. Granting this to be the reason, and that Lamech knew it, (as he could not but know it,) his exclamation to his wives is plainly a confession that he had been guilty of a much greater crime than Cain; and therefore concluded, that God might justly render him a much more dreadful monument of his wrath than he had rendered Cain; and in this terror, that bitter exclamation falls from him, if Cain shall be avenged seven-fold, truly Lamech seventy and seven.

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