성경 주석서

Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

Thorns also and thistles. — Ubi veritas dixit, quod terra homini spinas et tribulos germinaret, subintelligendum fuit, ait Petrarcha, et rusticos tribulis omnibus asperiores. Petrach. De Remed. Ver. Fort. Dial. , 59. The clowns of Midian drove Jethro’s daughters from the water they had drawn. Rudeness hath no respect either to sex or condition. Those churls of Succoth were worthily "threshed with thorns of the wilderness, and with briers," and thereby "taught" better manners. Judges 8:7-16

Thou shalt eat the herb of the field. — And no longer feed on these pleasant fruits of Paradise, which by thy sin thou hast forfeited. Thus man is driven from his dainty and delicate diet, to eat husks with hogs, as the prodigal, or at least, grass with the ox, as Nebuchadnezzar, and be glad of it too; as our ancestors, who though they fed not at first on acorns, as the poets fable, yet if they could get a dish of good green herbs, they held themselves as well provided for as if they had all.

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In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou [art], and unto dust shalt thou return.

In the sweat of thy face. — Or, of thy nose, as one Picherelius in Cosmop . rendereth it; that sweat that, beginning in thy brow, runs down by thy nose, through thy hard labour. This is a law laid upon all sorts, to sweat out a poor living, to humble themselves, by just labour, to sweat either their brows or their brains, See my True Treasure . for this latter also is a "sore" occupation, Ecclesiastes 1:13 and the minister’s toil is compared to that of those that cleave wood; or work hard in harvest. 1 Thessalonians 3:5 Matthew 10:10 1 Corinthians 9:14 , … κοπωντες, πατα το κοπτειν .

Shalt thou eat bread. — Not herbs only, as ver. 18. And here take notice of an elegant gradation, together with a merciful mitigation of man’s misery. Thou shalt eat "earth" (ver. 17), "herbs" (ver. 18), and now here, "Thou shalt eat bread," that stay and staff of man’s life under his hard labour Panem, dictum volunt α παν - Isodor ., lib. xx.

Until thou return unto the ground. — "O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord," Jeremiah 22:29 i.e., "earth" by creation, "earth" by corruption, "earth" by resolution. This is the end of all men, and the living should lay it to heart. In this third of Genesis we find man’s Exodus. This is the first text of mortality, and all comments, yea, all dead corpses Etiam muta clamant cadavera. - Basil . concur to the exposition of it.

For dust thou art. — Think on this, and be proud, if thou canst. We were created εικονι θεου , but now we live ει κονι χοιχη , saith Agapetus. Had we so sweet a generation as that little creature Scaliger Exercit. ad Cardan. speaks of, that is bred in sugar, we might have some ground of boasting; but now we may sprinkle the dust of humility on our heads, as the ancients used to do, in token that they deserved to be as far under, as now they were above ground.

And to dust thou shalt return. — By this limitation, God restrains man’s death here threatened, to that earthy part of him, his body. The sorest death occurs when a man "dies in his sins," as those Jews did. John 8:21 Better die in a ditch a far deal. When he is "killed with death," as Jezebel’s "children," Revelation 2:23 this is the second death. The condemned person comes out of a dark prison, and goes to the place of execution; so do many from the womb to the tomb, nay, to that tormenting Tophet, to the which death is but a trap-door to give them entrance.

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And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

And Adam called his wife’s name Eve. — That is, Life, or Living. Not, per antiphrasim, as some would have it; much less out of pride and stomach, in contempt of the divine sentence denounced against them both, that they should surely die, as Rupertus would have it: but because she was to be mother of all living, whether a natural or a spiritual life; and likewise for a testimony of his faith in, and thankfulness for, that lively and lifegiving oracle. λογια ζωντα , i.e., ζωοποιουντα . Genesis 3:15

The mother of all living. — "Have we not all," as "one father," Malachi 2:10 so, one mother? did we not all tumble in a belly? "why do we then deal treacherously every man against his brother?" Malachi 2:10 This one consideration should charm down our rising and boiling spirits one against another, as it did Abraham’s. Genesis 13:8

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Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

Coats of skins and clothed them. — God put them in leather, when yet there was better means of clothing, to humble them doubtless, and draw them to repentance. Whether God created these skins anew, or took them off the backs of sheep and goats killed for sacrifice, to remind man of his mortality and mortification, it much matters not. Our first parents, who, even after the fall were the goodliest creatures that ever lived, went no better clothed: no more did those worthies "of whom the world was not worthy." Hebrews 11:38 And surely, howsoever our condition and calling afford us better array, and the vulgar, like a Bohemian cur, The dogs that kept Vulcan’s temple would tear those that came in tattered clothes. - Hospinian . fawn upon every good suit ( purpuram magis quam Deam colunt ), yet we must take heed that pride creep not into our clothes, those ensigns of our sin and shame, since our fineness is our filthiness, our neatness our nastiness. It is a sure sign of a base mind, Vestium curiositas, deformitatis mentium et morum ndicium est . - Bernard . though in high place, to think he can make himself great with anything that is less than himself, and win more credit by his garments than his graces. St Peter teacheth women (who, many of them, are too much addicted to over-much fineness) to garnish themselves, not with gay clothes, but with a "meek and quiet spirit," 1 Peter 3:3-4 as Sarah did, and not as those mincing dames, whose pride the prophet inveighs against, as punctually as if he had viewed the ladies’ wardrobes in Jerusalem. Isaiah 3:1-26 Rich apparel are but fine covers of the foulest shame. The worst is nature’s garment; the best but folly’s garnish. How blessed a nation were we, if every silken suit did cover a sanctified soul: or if we would look upon our clothes, as our first parents did, as lovetokens from God!

How could they but see it to be a singular favour that God with his own hands should clothe them (though he had cast them out of Paradise for their nurture); a visible sacrament of his invisible love and grace concerning their souls, in covering their sins, and so interesting them into true blessedness. Psalms 32:1-2

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And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

The man is become as one of us. — A holy irrision of man’s vain affectation of the Deity. Quod Deus loquitur cum risu, tu legas cum fletu. Howbeit St Augustine Aug. De Gen. ad Literam , lib. xi., cap. 39. is of opinion that God speaks thus, not by way of insulting over Adam, but deterring others from such proud attempts. Discite iustitiam moniti, …

And take also of the tree of life. — And so think to elude the sentence of death pronounced upon him by God; which yet he could not have done, had he eaten up tree and all. He should but have added to his sin and judgment by abuse of this sacrament; which would have sealed up life unto him, had he held his integrity. Multi etiam hodie propter arborem scientiae amittunt arborem vitae: In terris manducant quod apud inferos digerunt. Aug.

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Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

Therefore the Lord God sent him forth. — He gently dismissed him, as the word signifies; placed him over against Paradise, in the sight thereof (as Stella Stella in Luke 7:1-50 . observeth out of the Septuagint) that, by often beholding, the sorrow of his sin, might be increased, that his "eye might affect his heart" Iisdem, quibus videmus, oculis flemus. Lamentations 3:5 Yet, "lest he should be swallowed up of over-much sorrow," and so Satan get "an advantage of him" - for 2 Corinthians 2:7 ; 2 Corinthians 2:11 God is not ignorant of his devices - Christ, the promised Seed, was, by his voluntary banishment, to bring back all believers to their heavenly home; to bear them by his angels into Abraham’s bosom, and to "give them to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." Revelation 2:7 Our whole life here is nothing else but a banishment. That we like it no worse, is because we never knew better. They that were born in hell, saith the proverb, think there’s no other heaven. The poor posterity of a banished prince take their mean condition well-aworth; Moses counts Egypt, where yet he was but a sojourner, his home; and in reference to it calls his son, born in Midian, Gershom, that is, a stranger there. Oh, how should we breathe after our heavenly home! groaning within ourselves, like those birds of paradise naturalists Avis Paradisi . - Gesner . speak of, stretching forth the neck, as the apostle’s word αποκαρασοκια , Romans 8:19 . importeth, "waiting for the adoption, even the redemption of our bodies," Romans 8:23 glorifying God meanwhile with our spirits and bodies, devouring all difficulties, donec a spe ad speciem transeamus , till Christ, who is gone to prepare a place for us, return and say, "This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise."

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And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.

I have gotten a man from the Lord. — Or, that famous man, the Lord; as if she had brought forth the man Christ Jesus. These were words of hope not of substance verba spei, non rei ; for "Cain was of that wicked one," the devil, 1 John 3:12 as all reprobates are. 1 John 3:10 Cain the author of the city of the world, saith Augustine, Aug. De Civit. Dei, lib. xv., cap. 1. is born first, and called Cain, that is, a "possession," because he buildeth a city, is given to the cares and pomp of the world, and persecutes his brother that was chosen out of the world. But Abel, the author of the city of God, is born second, called "vanity," because he saw the world’s vanity, and is therefore driven out of the world by an untimely death. So early came martyrdom into the world; the first man that died, died for religion. In a witty sense, saith Hugh Broughton, H. Broughton of the 10. part. ex Rab. Bochai. Cain and Abel contain in their names advertisements for matter of true continuance and corruption. Cain betokeneth possession in this world; and Abel betokeneth one humbled in mind, and holding such possession vain. Such was his offering - sheep kind, the gentlest of all living beasts; and therefore the favour of God followed him. And the offering of Cain was of the fruit of the earth; as he loved the possession of this world, and the service of the body, which yet can have no continuance, and followed after bodily lusts; therefore the blessed God favoured him not. Thus far he cited from the Rabbins. Another English divine Yates’s Model. hath this note upon these words, I have gotten a man from the Lord, Jehovah. Adam and Eve were all about the composition of Cain. His soul was inspired pure and holy; yet as soon as the vital spirits laid hold of it, it was in the compound, a son of Adam. A skilful artificer makes a clock of all its essential parts most accurately; only he leaves the putting of all parts together to his unskilful apprentice, who so jumbles together the several joints, that all falls to jarring, and can keep no time at all, every wheel running backward-way. So God most artificially still perfects both body and soul; but our accursed parents put all out of frame, and set every part in a contrary course to God’s will. Sin is propagated, and proceeds from the union of body and soul into one man, That phrase, "warmed in sin," Psalms 51:5 is meant of the preparation of the body as an instrument of evil, which is not so actually, till the soul come.

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And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.

In process of time. — That distance of time between the creation and the general flood, Varro, the most learned of the Romans, calleth ‘ Aσηλον , obscure or unknown, because the heathen had no records of that which we now clearly understand to have been then done, out of the Holy Scriptures.

Cain brought of the fruit. — They brought their sacrifices to Adam, the high priest of the family, who offered them to God in their name. Godw. Hebr. Antiq., p. 27. So in the Levitical law, though a man’s offering were never so good, he might not offer it himself, upon pain of death; but the priest must offer it. And the priest was to offer as well the poor man’s turtle, as the rich man’s ox. To teach that none may present his service to God, how good soever he may conceit it, but in the hand of the high priest of the New Testament Jesus Christ, the Just One, who will not only present, but perfume the poorest performances of an upright heart, with his odours. Revelation 8:3

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