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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
on the Whole Bible
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Matthew Henry |
G E N E S I S
CHAP. IV.
In this chapter we have both the world and the church in a family,
in a little family, in Adam’s family, and a specimen given of the
character and state of both in after-ages, nay, in all ages, to the
end of time. As all mankind were represented in Adam, so that
great distinction of mankind into saints and sinners, godly and
wicked, the children of God and the children of the wicked one,
was here represented in Cain and Abel, and an early instance is
given of the enmity which was lately put between the seed of
the woman and the seed of the serpent. We have here,
I. The
birth, names, and callings, of Cain and Abel,
II. Their
religion, and different success in it,
and part of
III. Cain’s anger at God and the reproof of him for that anger,
IV. Cain’s murder of his brother, and the process
against him for that murder. The murder committed,
The proceedings against him.
1. His arraignment,
former part.
2. His plea,
latter part.
3. His conviction,
4. The sentence passed upon him,
5. His complaint
against the sentence,
6. The ratification of the sentence,
7. The execution of the sentence,
V. The family and posterity of Cain,
VI. The birth of
another son and grandson of Adam,
| Cain and Abel. | B. C. 3875. |
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1 And Adam knew Eve his wife;
and she conceived, and bare
Cain, and said, I have gotten a man
from the LORD.
2 And she again
bare his brother Abel. And Abel was
a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a
tiller of the ground.
Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters,
But Cain and Abel seem to
have been the two eldest. Some think they
were twins, and, as Esau and Jacob, the
elder hated and the younger loved. Though
God had cast our first parents out of paradise,
he did not write them childless; but, to show
that he had other blessings in store for them,
he preserved to them the benefit of that first
blessing of increase. Though they were
sinners, nay, though they felt the humiliation
and sorrow of penitents, they did not write
themselves comfortless, having the promise
of a Saviour to support themselves with. We
have here,
I. The names of their two sons.
1. Cain
signifies possession; for Eve, when she bore
him, said with joy, and thankfulness, and
great expectation, I have gotten a man from
the LORD. Observe, Children are God’s
gifts, and he must be acknowledged in the
building up of our families. It doubles and
sanctifies our comfort in them when we see
them coming to us from the hand of God,
who will not forsake the works and gifts of
his own hand. Though Eve bore him with
the sorrows that were the consequence of sin,
yet she did not lose the sense of the mercy in
her pains. Comforts, though alloyed, are
more than we deserve; and therefore our
complaints must not drown our thanksgivings.
Many suppose that Eve had a conceit
that this son was the promised seed, and
that therefore she thus triumphed in him, as
her words may be read, I have gotten a man,
the LORD, God-man. If so, she was wretchedly
mistaken, as Samuel, when he said,
Surely the LORD‘s anointed is before me,
1 Sam. xvi. 6.
When children are born, who
can foresee what they will prove? He that
was thought to be a man, the LORD, or at
least a man from the LORD, and for his
service as priest of the family, became an
enemy to the LORD. The less we expect
from creature s, the more tolerable will disappointments
be.
2. Abel signifies vanity.
When she thought she had obtained the promised
seed in Cain, she was so taken up with
that possession that another son was as vanity
to her. To those who have an interest in
Christ, and make him their all, other things
are as nothing at all. It intimates likewise
that the longer we live in this world the more
we may see of the vanity of it. What, at
first, we are fond of, as a possession, afterwards
we see cause to be dead to, as a trifle.
The name given to this son is put upon the
whole race,
Every man is at
his best estate Abel–vanity. Let us labour
to see both ourselves and others so. Childhood
and youth are vanity.
II. The employments of Cain and Abel.
Observe,
1. They both had a calling.
Though they were heirs apparent to the
world, their birth noble and their possessions
large, yet they were not brought up in
idleness. God gave their father a calling,
even in innocency, and he gave them one.
Note, It is the will of God that we should
every one of us have something to do in this
world. Parents ought to bring up their
children to business. “Give them a Bible
and a calling (said good Mr. Dod), and God
be with them.”
2. Their employments were
different, that they might trade and exchange
with one another, as there was occasion.
The members of the body politic have need
one of another, and mutual love is helped by
mutual commerce.
3. Their employments
belonged to the husbandman’s calling, their
father’s profession–a needful calling, for the
king himself is served of the field, but a
laborious calling, which required constant
care and attendance. It is now looked
upon as a mean calling; the poor of the land
serve for vine-dressers and husbandmen,
Jer. lii. 16.
But the calling was far from being a
dishonour to them; rather, they were an
honour to it.
4. It should seem, by the order
of the story, that Abel, though the younger
brother, yet entered first into his calling, and
probably his example drew in Cain.
5. Abel
chose that employment which most befriended
contemplation and devotion, for to these a
pastoral life has been looked upon as being
peculiarly favourable. Moses and David kept
sheep, and in their solitudes conversed with
God. Note, That calling or condition of
life is best for us, and to be chosen by us,
which is best for our souls, that which least
exposes us to sin and gives us most opportunity
of serving and enjoying God.
3 And in process of time it came
to pass, that Cain brought of the
fruit of the ground an offering unto
the LORD.
4 And Abel, he also
brought of the firstlings of his flock
and of the fat thereof. And the
LORD had respect unto Abel and to
his offering:
5 But unto Cain and
to his offering he had not respect.
And Cain was very wroth, and his
countenance fell.
Here we have,
I. The devotions of Cain
and Abel. In process of time, when they
had made some improvement in their respective
callings (Heb. At the end of days,
either at the end of the year, when they kept
their feast of in-gathering or perhaps an
annual fast in remembrance of the fall, or
at the end of the days of the week, the
seventh day, which was the sabbath)–at
some set time, Cain and Abel brought to
Adam, as the priest of the family, each of
them an offering to the Lord, for the doing of
which we have reason to think there was a
divine appointment given to Adam, as a
token of God’s favour to him and his thoughts
of love towards him and his, notwithstanding
their apostasy. God would thus try Adam’s
faith in the promise and his obedience to the
remedial law; he would thus settle a correspondence
again between heaven and earth,
and give shadows of good things to come.
Observe here,
1. That the religious worship
of God is no novel invention, but an ancient
institution. It is that which was from the
beginning
(1 John i. 1);
it is the good old
way,
Jer. vi. 16.
The city of our God is indeed
that joyous city whose antiquity is of
ancient days,
Truth got the
start of error, and piety of profaneness.
2. That is a good thing for children to be
well taught when they are young, and trained
up betimes in religious services, that when
they come to be capable of acting for themselves
they may, of their own accord, bring
an offering to God. In this nurture of the
Lord parents must bring up their children,
3. That we should
every one of us honour God with what we
have, according as he has prospered us. According
as their employments and possessions
were, so they brought their offering.
See
Our merchandize and
our hire, whatever they are, must be holiness
to the Lord,
Isa. xxiii. 18.
He must have
his dues of it in works of piety and charity,
the support of religion and the relief of the
poor. Thus we must now bring our offering
with an upright heart; and with such sacrifices
God is well pleased.
4. That hypocrites
and evil doers may be found going as far as
the best of God’s people in the external services
of religion. Cain brought an offering
with Abel; nay, Cain’s offering is mentioned
first, as if he were the more forward of the
two. A hypocrite may possibly hear as many
sermons, say as many prayers, and give as
much alms, as a good Christian, and yet,
for want of sincerity, come short of acceptance
with God. The Pharisee and the
publican went to the temple to pray,
II. The different success of their devotions.
That which is to be aimed at in all
acts of religion is God’s acceptance: we
speed well if we attain this, but in vain do
we worship if we miss of it,
Perhaps, to a stander-by, the sacrifices of
Cain and Abel would have seemed both
alike good. Adam accepted them both, but
God, who sees not as man sees, did not. God
had respect to Abel and to his offering, and
showed his acceptance of it, probably by
fire from heaven; but to Cain and his offering
he had not respect. We are sure there
was a good reason for this difference; the
Governor of the world, though an absolute
sovereign, does not act arbitrarily in dispensing
his smiles and frowns.
1. There was a difference in the characters
of the persons offering. Cain was a wicked
man, led a bad life, under the reigning
power of the world and the flesh; and therefore
his sacrifice was an abomination to the
Lord
(Prov. xv. 8);
a vain oblation,
Isa. i. 13.
God had no respect to Cain himself, and
therefore no respect to his offering, as the
manner of the expression intimates. But
Abel was a righteous man; he is called righteous
Abel
his heart was
upright and his life was pious; he was one
of those whom God’s countenance beholds
and whose prayer is therefore his
delight,
God had respect to
him as a holy man, and therefore to his
offering as a holy offering. The tree must
be good, else the fruit cannot be pleasing to
the heart-searching God.
2. There was a difference in the offerings
they brought. It is expressly said
(Heb. xi. 4),
Abel’s was a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain’s: either,
(1.) In the nature of it. Cain’s
was only a sacrifice of acknowledgment offered
to the Creator; the meat-offerings of
the fruit of the ground were no more, and,
for aught I know, they might be offered
in innocency. But Abel brought a sacrifice
of atonement, the blood whereof was shed in
order to remission, thereby owning himself a
sinner, deprecating God’s wrath, and imploring
his favour in a Mediator. Or,
(2.) In the qualities of the offering. Cain brought
of the fruit of the ground, any thing that came
next to hand, what he had not occasion for
himself or what was not marketable. But
Abel was curious in the choice of his offering:
not the lame, nor the lean, nor the refuse,
but the firstlings of the flock–the best
he had, and the fat thereof–the best of those
best. Hence the Hebrew doctors give it
for a general rule that every thing that is
for the name of the good God must be the
goodliest and best. It is fit that he who is
the first and best should have the first and
best of our time, strength, and service.
3. The great difference was this, that Abel
offered in faith, and Cain did not. There
was a difference in the principle upon which
they went. Abel offered with an eye to
God’s will as his rule, and God’s glory as his
end, and in dependence upon the promise of a
Redeemer; but Cain did what he did only for
company’s sake, or to save his credit, not in
faith, and so it turned into sin to him. Abel
was a penitent believer, like the publican that
went away justified: Cain was unhumbled;
his confidence was within himself; he was like
the Pharisee who glorified himself, but
was not so much as justified before God.
III. Cain’s displeasure at the difference
God made between his sacrifice and Abel’s.
Cain was very wroth, which presently appeared
in his very looks, for his countenance
fell, which bespeaks not so much his grief
and discontent as his malice and rage. His
sullen churlish countenance, and a down-look,
betrayed his passionate resentments:
he carried ill-nature in his face, and the show
of his countenance witnessed against him.
This anger bespeaks,
1. His enmity to God,
and the indignation he had conceived against
him for making such a difference between his
offering and his brother’s. He should have
been angry at himself for his own infidelity
and hypocrisy, by which he had forfeited
God’s acceptance; and his countenance
should have fallen in repentance and holy
shame, as the publican’s, who would not lift
up so much as his eyes to heaven,
Luke xviii. 13.
But, instead of this, he flies out against
God, as if he were partial and unfair in distributing
his smiles and frowns, and as if he
had done him a deal of wrong. Note, It is
a certain sign of an unhumbled heart to
quarrel with those rebukes which we have,
by our own sin, brought upon ourselves.
The foolishness of man perverteth his way,
and then, to make bad worse, his heart fretteth
against the Lord,
Prov. xix. 3.
2. His
envy of his brother, who had the honour to
be publicly owned. Though his brother
had no thought of having any slur put upon
him, nor did now insult over him to provoke
him, yet he conceived a hatred of him as an
enemy, or, which is equivalent, a rival.
Note,
(1.) It is common for those who have
rendered themselves unworthy of God’s favour
by their presumptuous sins to have indignation
against those who are dignified
and distinguished by it. The Pharisees
walked in this way of Cain, when they neither
entered into the kingdom of God themselves
nor suffered those that were entering to go in,
Luke xi. 52.
Their eye is evil, because
their master’s eye and the eye of their fellow-servants
are good.
(2.) Envy is a sin that
commonly carries with it both its own discovery,
in the paleness of the looks, and its own
punishment, in the rottenness of the bones.
6 And the LORD said unto Cain,
Why art thou wroth? and why is thy
countenance fallen?
7 If thou doest
well, shalt thou not be accepted? and
if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the
door. And unto thee shall be his desire,
and thou shalt rule over him.
God is here reasoning with Cain, to convince
him of the sin and folly of his anger
and discontent, and to bring him into a good
temper again, that further mischief might be
prevented. It is an instance of God’s patience
and condescending goodness that he
would deal thus tenderly with so bad a man,
in so bad an affair. He is not willing that
any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance. Thus the father of the prodigal
argued the case with the elder son
&c.), and God with those Israelites who
said, The way of the Lord is not equal,
Ezek. xviii. 25.
I. God puts Cain himself upon enquiring
into the cause of his discontent, and considering
whether it were indeed a just cause:
Why is thy countenance fallen? Observe,
1. That God takes notice of all our sinful passions
and discontents. There is not an angry
look, an envious look, nor a fretful look, that
escapes his observing eye.
2. That most of
our sinful heats and disquietudes would soon
vanish before a strict and impartial enquiry
into the cause of them. “Why am I wroth?
Is there a re al cause, a just cause, a proportionable
cause for it? Why am I so soon
angry? Why so very angry, and so implacable?”
II. To reduce Cain to his right mind
again, it is here made evident to him,
1. That he had no reason to be angry at
God, for that he had proceeded according to
the settled and invariable rules of government
suited to a state of probation. He sets
before men life and death, the blessing and
the curse, and then renders to them according
to their works, and differences them according
as they difference themselves–so shall
their doom be. The rules are just, and
therefore his ways, according to those rules,
must needs be equal, and he will be justified
when he speaks.
(1.) God sets before Cain life and a blessing:
“If thou doest well, shalt thou not be
accepted? No doubt thou shalt, nay, thou
knowest thou shalt;” either,
[1.] “If thou
hadst done well, as thy brother did, thou
shouldst have been accepted, as he was.”
God is no respecter of persons, hates nothing
that he had made, denies his favour to none
but those who have forfeited it, and is an
enemy to none but those who by sin have
made him their enemy: so that if we come
short of acceptance with him we must thank
ourselves, the fault is wholly our own; if we
had done our duty, we should not have
missed of his mercy. This will justify God
in the destruction of sinners, and will aggravate
their ruin; there is not a damned sinner
in hell, but, if he had done well, as he might
have done, had been a glorious saint in
heaven. Every mouth will shortly be stopped
with this. Or,
[2.] “If now thou do well,
if thou repent of thy sin, reform thy heart
and life, and bring thy sacrifice in a better
manner, if thou not only do that which is
good but do it well, thou shalt yet be accepted,
thy sin shall be pardoned, thy comfort and
honour restored, and all shall be well.” See
here the effect of a Mediator’s interposal between
God and man; we do not stand upon
the footing of the first covenant, which left
no room for repentance, but God had come
upon new terms with us. Though we have
offended, if we repent and return, we shall
find mercy. See how early the gospel was
preached, and the benefit of it here offered
even to one of the chief of sinners.
(2.) He sets before him death and a curse:
But if not well, that is, “Seeing thou didst
not do well, didst not offer in faith and in a
right manner, sin lies at the door,” that is,
“sin was imputed to thee, and thou wast
frowned upon and rejected as a sinner. So
high a charge had not been laid at thy door,
if thou hadst not brought it upon thyself,
by not doing well.” Or, as it is commonly
taken, “If now thou wilt not do well, if thou
persist in this wrath, and, instead of humbling
thyself before God, harden thyself against
him, sin lies at the door,” that is,
[1.] Further
sin. “Now that anger is in thy heart,
murder is at the door.” The way of sin is
down-hill, and men go from bad to worse.
Those who do not sacrifice well, but are careless
and remiss in their devotion to God,
expose themselves to the worst temptations;
and perhaps the most scandalous sin lies at
the door. Those who do not keep God’s ordinances
are in danger of committing all
abominations,
Or,
[2.] The
punishment of sin. So near akin are sin and
punishment that the same word in Hebrew
signifies both. If sin be harboured in the
house, the curse waits at the door, like a
bailiff, ready to arrest the sinner whenever he
looks out. It lies as if it slept, but it lies at
the door where it will be soon awaked, and
then it will appear that the damnation slumbered
not. Sin will find thee out,
Num. xxxii. 23.
Yet some choose to understand this also
as an intimation of mercy. “If thou doest
not well, sin (that is, the sin-offering), lies at
the door, and thou mayest take the benefit
of it.” The same word signifies sin and a
sacrifice for sin. “Though thou hast not
done well, yet do not despair; the remedy is
at hand; the propitiation is not far to seek;
lay hold on it, and the iniquity of thy holy
things shall be forgiven thee.” Christ, the
great sin-offering, is said to stand at the door,
Rev. iii. 20.
And those well deserve to
perish in their sins that will not go to the
door for an interest in the sin-offering. All
this considered, Cain had no reason to be
angry at God, but at himself only.
2. That he had no reason to be angry at
his brother: “Unto thee shall be his desire,
he shall continue his respect to thee as an
elder brother, and thou, as the first-born,
shalt rule over him as much as ever.” God’s
acceptance of Abel’s offering did not transfer
the birth-right to him (which Cain was jealous
of), nor put upon him that excellency of
dignity and of power which is said to belong
to it,
God did not so intend it;
Abel did not so interpret it; there was no
danger of its being improved to Cain’s
prejudice; why then should he be so much
exasperated? Observe here,
(1.) That the
difference which God’s grace makes does not
alter the distinctions which God’s providence
makes, but preserves them, and obliges us
to do the duty which results from them: believing
servants must be obedient to unbelieving
masters. Dominion is not founded
in grace, nor will religion warrant disloyalty
or disrespect in any relation.
(2.) That the
jealousies which civil powers have sometimes
conceived of the true worshippers of God as
dangerous to their government, enemies to
Cæsar, and hurtful to kings and provinces (on
which suspicion persecutors have grounded
their rage against them) are very unjust and
unreasonable. Whatever may be the case
with some who call themselves Christians, it
is certain that Christians indeed are the best
subjects, and the quiet in the land; their
desire is towards their governors, and these
shall rule over them.
8 And Cain talked with Abel his
brother: and it came to pass, when
they were in the field, that Cain rose
up against Abel his brother, and slew
him.
We have here the progress of Cain’s anger,
and the issue of it in Abel’s murder, which
may be considered two ways:–
I. As Cain’s sin; and a scarlet, crimson,
sin it was, a sin of the first magnitude, a sin
against the light and law of nature, and
which the consciences even of bad men have
startled at. See in it,
1. The sad effects of
sin’s entrance into the world and into the
hearts of men. See what a root of bitterness
the corrupt nature is, which bears this gall
and wormwood. Adam’s eating forbidden
fruit seemed but a little sin, but it opened
the door to the greatest.
2. A fruit of the
enmity which is in the seed of the serpent
against the seed of the woman. As Abel
leads the van in the noble army of martyrs
so Cain stand in the front
of the ignoble army of persecutors,
So early did he that was after the flesh persecute
him that was after the Spirit; and so
it is now, more or less
(Gal. iv. 29),
and so it
will be till the war shall end in the eternal
salvation of all the saints and the eternal
perdition of all that hate them.
3. See also
what comes of envy, hatred, malice, and all
uncharitableness; if they be indulged and
cherished in the soul, they are in danger of
involving men in the horrid guilt of murder
itself. Rash anger is heart-murder,
Much more is malice so; he that
hates his brother is already a murderer before
God; and, if God leave him to himself, he
wants nothing but an opportunity to render
him a murderer before the world. Many
were the aggravations of Cain’s sin.
(1.) It
was his brother, his own brother, that he
murdered, his own mother’s son
(Ps. l. 20),
whom he ought to have loved, his younger
brother, whom he ought to have protected.
(2.) He was a good brother, one who had
never done him any wrong, nor given him the
least provocation in word or deed, but one
whose desire had been always towards him,
and who had been, in all instances, dutiful
and respectful to him.
(3.) He had fair
warning given him, before, of this. God
himself had told him what would come of it,
yet he persisted in his barbarous design.
(4.) It should seem that he covered it with a
show of friendship and kindness: He talked
with Abel his brother, freely and familiarly,
lest Abel should suspect danger, and keep
out of his reach. Thus Joab kissed Abner,
and then killed him. Thus Absalom feasted
his brother Amnon and then killed him.
According to the Septuagint [a Greek version
of the Old Testament, supposed to have
been translated by seventy-two Jews, at the
desire of Ptolemy Philadelphus, above 200
years before Christ], Cain said to Abel, Let
us go into the field; if so, we are sure Abel
did not understand it (according to the modern
sense) as a challenge, else he would not
have accepted it, but as a brotherly invitation
to go together to their work. The Chaldee
paraphrast adds that Cain, when they were
in discourse in the field, maintained that
there was no judgment to come, no future
state, no rewards and punishments in the
other world, and that when Abel spoke in
defence of the truth Cain took that occasion
to fall upon him. However,
(5.) That which
the scripture tells us was the reason why
he slew him was a sufficient aggravation of
the murder; it was because his own works
were evil and his brother’s righteous, so that
herein he showed himself to be of that wicked
one
a child of the devil, as
being an enemy to all righteousness, even in
his own brother, and, in this, employed
immediately by the destroyer. Nay,
(6.) In
killing his brother, he directly struck at God
himself; for God’s accepting Abel was the
provocation pretended, and for this very
reason he hated Abel, because God loved
him.
(7.) The murder of Abel was the more
inhuman because there were now so few men
in the world to replenish it. The life of a
man is precious at any time; but it was in a
special manner precious now, and could ill
be spared.
II. As Abel’s suffering. Death reigned
ever since Adam sinned, but we read not of
any taken captive by him till now; and now,
1. The first that dies is a saint, one that was
accepted and beloved of God, to show that,
though the promised seed was so far to destroy
him that had the power of death as to
save believers from its sting, yet still they
should be exposed to its stroke. The first that
went to the grave went to heaven. God
would secure to himself the first-fruits, the
first-born to the dead, that first opened the
womb into another world. Let this take off
the terror of death, that it was betimes the
lot of God’s chosen, which alters the property
of it. Nay,
2. The first that dies is a
martyr, and dies for his religion; and of such
it may more truly be said than of soldiers
that they die on the bed of honour. Abel’s
death has not only no curse in it, but it has
a crown in it; so admirably well is the property
of death altered that it is not only rendered
innocent and inoffensive to those that
die in Christ, but honourable and glorious to
those that die for him. Let us not think it
strange concerning the fiery trial, nor shrink
if we be called to resist unto blood; for we
know there is a crown of life for all that are
faithful unto death.
| Cain’s Punishment. | B. C. 3875. |
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9 And the LORD said unto Cain,
Where is Abel thy brother? And he
said, I know not: Am I my brother’s
keeper?
10 And he said, What hast thou
done? the voice of thy brother’s blood
crieth unto me from the ground.
11 And now art thou cursed from the
earth, which hath opened her mouth
to receive thy brother’s blood from
thy hand;
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.
We have here a full account of the trial
and condemnation of the first murderer. Civil
courts of judicature not being yet erected for
this purpose, as they were afterwards
(ch. ix. 6),
God himself sits Judge; for he is the
God to whom vengeance belongs, and who
will be sure to make inquisition for blood,
especially the blood of saints. Observe,
I. The arraignment of Cain: The Lord
said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother?
Some think Cain was thus examined the next
sabbath after the murder was committed,
when the sons of God came, as usual, to present
themselves before the Lord, in a religious
assembly, and Abel was missing, whose place
did not use to be empty; for the God of
heaven takes notice who is present at and
who is absent from public ordinances. Cain
is asked, not only because there is just cause
to suspect him, he having discovered a malice
against Abel and having been last with him,
but because God knew him to be guilty; yet
he asks him, that he may draw from him a
confession of his crime, for those who would
be justified before God must accuse themselves,
and the penitent will do so.
II. Cain’s plea: he pleads not guilty, and
adds rebellion to his sin. For,
1. He endeavours
to cover a deliberate murder with a
deliberate lie: I know not. He knew well
enough what had become of Abel, and yet
had the impudence to deny it. Thus, in
Cain, the devil was both a murderer and a
liar from the beginning. See how sinners’
minds are blinded, and their hearts hardened
by the deceitfulness of sin: those are strangely
blind that think it possible to conceal their
sins from a God that sees all, and those are
strangely hard that think it desirable to conceal
them from a God who pardons those
only that confess.
2. He impudently charges
his Judge with folly and injustice, in putting
this question to him: Am I my brother’s
keeper? He should have humbled himself,
and have said, Am not I my brother’s murderer?
But he flies in the face of God himself,
as if he had asked him an impertinent
question, to which he was no way obliged
to give an answer: “Am I my brother’s
keeper? Surely he is old enough to take care
of himself, nor did I ever take any charge of
him.” Some think he reflects on God and
his providence, as if he had said, “Art not
thou his keeper? If he be missing, on thee
be the blame, and not on me, who never
undertook to keep him.” Note, A charitable
concern for our brethren, as their keepers,
is a great duty, which is strictly required of
us, but is generally neglected by us. Those
who are unconcerned in the affairs of their
brethren, and take no care, when they have
opportunity, to prevent their hurt in their
bodies, goods, or good name, especially in
their souls, do, in effect, speak Cain’s language.
See
III. The conviction of Cain,
God gave no direct answer to his question, but
rejected his plea as false and frivolous:
“What hast thou done? Thou makest a light
matter of it; but hast thou considered what
an evil thing it is, how deep the stain, how
heavy the burden, of this guilt is? Thou
thinkest to conceal it, but it is to no purpose,
the evidence against thee is clear and
incontestable: The voice of thy brother’s blood
cries.” He speaks as if the blood itself were
both witness and prosecutor, because God’s
own knowledge testified against him and
God’s own justice demanded satisfaction.
Observe here,
1. Murder is a crying sin,
none more so. Blood calls for blood, the
blood of the murdered for the blood of the
murderer; it cries in the dying words of
Zechariah
The Lord look
upon it and require it; or in those of the
souls under the altar
(Rev. vi. 10),
How long,
Lord, holy, and true? The patient sufferers
cried for pardon (Father, forgive them), but
their blood cries for vengeance. Though
they hold their peace, their blood has a loud
and constant cry, to which the ear of the
righteous God is always open.
2. The blood
is said to cry from the ground, the earth,
which is said to open her mouth to receive his
brother’s blood from his hand,
v. 11.
The earth did, as it were, blush to see her own
face stained with such blood, and therefore
opened her mouth to hide that which she
could not hinder. When the heaven revealed
Cain’s iniquity, the earth also rose up against
him
(Job xx. 27),
and groaned on being thus
made subject to vanity,
Rom. viii. 20, 22.
Cain, it is likely, buried the blood and the
body, to conceal his crime; but “murder
will out.” He did not bury them so deep
but the cry of them reached heaven.
3. In
the original the word is plural, thy brother’s
bloods, not only his blood, but the blood of
all those that might have descended from
him; or the blood of all the seed of the
woman, who should, in like manner, seal the
truth with their blood. Christ puts all on one
score
or because account
was kept of every drop of blood shed. How
well is it for us that the blood of Christ
speaks better things than that of Abel!
Abel’s blood cried for vengeance,
Christ’s blood cries for pardon.
IV. The sentence passed upon Cain: And
now art thou cursed from the earth,
v. 11.
Observe here,
1. He is cursed, separated to all evil, laid
under the wrath of God, as it is revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men,
Who knows
the extent and weight of a divine curse, how
far it reaches, how deep it pierces? God’s
pronouncing a man cursed makes him so;
for those whom he curses are cursed indeed.
The curse for Adam’s disobedience terminated
on the ground: Cursed is the ground for thy
sake; but that for Cain’s rebellion fell immediately
upon himself: Thou art cursed;
for God had mercy in store for Adam, but
none for Cain. We have all deserved this
curse, and it is only in Christ that believers
are saved from it and inherit the blessing,
2. He is cursed from the earth. Thence
the cry came up to God, thence the curse
came up to Cain. God could have taken
vengeance by an immediate stroke from
heaven, by the sword of an angel, or by a
thunderbolt; but he chose to make the earth
the avenger of blood, to continue him upon
the earth, and not immediately to cut him
off, and yet to make even this his curse. The
earth is always near us, we cannot fly from
it; so that, if this is made the executioner of
divine wrath, our punishment is unavoidable:
it is sin, that is, the punishment of sin, lying
at the door. Cain found his punishment
where he chose his portion and set his heart.
Two things we expect from the earth, and
by this curse both are denied to Cain and
taken from him: sustenance and settlement.
(1.) Sustenance out of the earth is here withheld
from him. It is a curse upon him in his
enjoyments, and particularly in his calling:
When thou tillest the ground, it shall not
henceforth yield unto thee its strength. Note,
Every creature is to us what God makes it,
a comfort or a cross, a blessing or a curse.
If the earth yield not her strength to us, we
must therein acknowledge God’s righteousness;
for we have not yielded our strength
to him. The ground was cursed before to
Adam, but it was now doubly cursed to Cain.
That part of it which fell to his share, and of
which he had the occupation, was made unfruitful
and uncomfortable to him by the
blood of Abel. Note, The wickedness of the
wicked brings a curse upon all they do and
all they have
&c.), and this
curse embitters all they have and disappoints
them in all they do.
(2.) Settlement on the
earth is here denied him: A fugitive and a
vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. By this
he was condemned,
[1.] To perpetual disgrace
and reproach among men. It should
be ever looked upon as a scandalous thing to
harbour him, converse with him, or show him
any countenance. And justly was a man
that had divested himself of all humanity
abhorred and abandoned by all mankind,
and made infamous.
[2.] To perpetual disquietude
and horror in his own mind. His
own guilty conscience should haunt him
wherever he went, and make him Magormissabib,
a terror round about. What rest
can those find, what settlement, that carry
their own disturbance with them in their
bosoms wherever they go? Those must needs
be fugitives that are thus tossed. There is
not a more restless fugitive upon earth than
he that is continually pursued by his own
guilt, nor a viler vagabond than he that is at
the beck of his own lusts.
This was the sentence passed upon Cain;
and even in this there was mercy mixed, inasmuch
as he was not immediately cut off,
but had space given him to repent; for God
is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that
any should perish.
| Cain’s Complaint. | B. C. 3875. |
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13 And Cain said unto the LORD,
My punishment is greater than I can
bear.
14 Behold, thou hast driven
me out this day from the face of the
earth; and from thy face shall I be
hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a
vagabond in the earth; and it shall
come to pass, that every one that
findeth me shall slay me.
15 And
the LORD said unto him, Therefore
whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance
shall be taken on him sevenfold.
And the LORD set a mark upon Cain,
lest any finding him should kill him.
We have here a further account of the proceedings
against Cain.
I. Here is Cain’s complaint of the sentence
passed upon him, as hard and severe.
Some make him to speak the language of
despair, and read it, My iniquity is greater
than that it may be forgiven; and so what he
says is a reproach and affront to the mercy of
God, which those only shall have the benefit
of that hope in it. There is forgiveness with
the God of pardons for the greatest sins and
sinners; but those forfeit it who despair of
it. Just now Cain made nothing of his sin,
but now he is in the other extreme: Satan
drives his vassals from presumption to despair.
We cannot think too ill of sin, provided
we do not think it unpardonable. But
Cain seems rather to speak the language of
indignation: My punishment is greater than
I can bear; and so what he says is a reproach
and affront to the justice of God, and a complaint,
not of the greatness of his sin, but of
the extremity of his punishment, as if this
were disproportionable to his merits. Instead
of justifying God in the sentence, he
condemns him, not accepting the punishment
of his iniquity, but quarrelling with it.
Note, Impenitent unhumbled hearts are therefore
not reclaimed by God’s rebukes because
they think themselves wronged by them; and
it is an evidence of great hardness to be more
concerned about our sufferings than about
our sins. Pharaoh’s care was concerning this
death only, not this sin
(Exod. x. 17);
so was
Cain’s here. He is a living man, and yet
complains of the punishment of his sin,
He thinks himself rigorously dealt
with when really he is favourably treated;
and he cries out of wrong when he has more
reason to wonder that he is out of hell. Woe
unto him that thus strives with his Maker,
and enters into judgment with his Judge.
Now, to justify this complaint, Cain descants
upon the sentence.
1. He sees himself excluded
by it from the favour of his God,
and concludes that, being cursed, he is hidden
from God’s face, which is indeed the
true nature of God’s curse; damned sinners
find it so, to whom it is said, Depart from me
you cursed. Those are cursed indeed that
are forever shut out from God’s love and
care and from all hopes of his grace.
2. He
sees himself expelled from all the comforts of
this life, and concludes that, being a fugitive,
he is, in effect, driven out this day from the
face of the earth. As good have no place on
earth as not have a settled place. Better rest
in the grave than not rest at all.
3. He sees
himself excommunicated by it, and cut off
from the church, and forbidden to attend on
public ordinances. His hands being full of
blood, he must bring no more vain oblations,
Isa. i. 13, 15.
Perhaps this he means when
he complains that he is driven out from the
face of the earth; for being shut out of the
church, which none had yet deserted, he was
hidden from God’s face, being not admitted to
come with the sons of God to present himself
before the Lord.
4. He seen himself exposed
by it to the hatred and ill-will of all mankind:
It shall come to pass that every one that
finds me shall slay me. Wherever he wanders,
he goes in peril of his life, at least he
thinks so; and, like a man in debt, thinks
every one he meets a bailiff. There were
none alive but his near relations; yet even of
them he is justly afraid who had himself been
so barbarous to his brother. Some read it,
Whatsoever finds me shall slay me; not only,
“Whosoever among men,” but, “Whatsoever
among all the creatures.” Seeing himself
thrown out of God’s protection, he sees
the whole creation armed against him. Note,
Unpardoned guilt fills men with continual
terrors,
Prov. xxviii. 1; Job xv. 20, 21; Ps. liii. 5.
It is better to fear and not sin than to
sin and then fear. Dr. Lightfoot thinks this
word of Cain should be read as a wish: Now,
therefore, let it be that any that find me may
kill me. Being bitter in soul, he longs for
death, but it comes not
as those under spiritual torments do,
II. Here is God’s confirmation of the sentence;
for when he judges he will overcome,
Observe,
1. How Cain is protected
in wrath by this declaration, notified, we may
suppose, to all that little world which was
then in being: Whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance
shall be taken on him seven-fold, because
thereby the sentence he was under
(that he should be a fugitive and a vagabond)
would be defeated. Condemned prisoners
are under the special protection of the law;
those that are appointed sacrifices to public
justice must not be sacrificed to private revenge.
God having said in Cain’s case, Vengeance
is mine, I will repay, it would have
been a daring usurpation for any man to
take the sword out of God’s hand, a contempt
put upon an express declaration of
God’s mind, and therefore avenged seven-fold.
Note, God has wise and holy ends in
protecting and prolonging the lives even of
very wicked men. God deals with some according
to that prayer, Slay them not, lest my
people forget; scatter them by thy power,
Ps. lix. 11.
Had Cain been slain immediately,
he would have been forgotten
but now he lives a more fearful and lasting
monument of God’s justice, hanged in chains,
as it were.
2. How he is marked in wrath:
The Lord set a mark upon Cain, to distinguish
him from the rest of mankind and to notify
that he was the man that murdered his brother,
whom nobody must hurt, but every
body must hoot at. God stigmatized him
(as some malefactors are burnt in the cheek),
and put upon him such a visible and indelible
mark of infamy and disgrace as would make
all wise people shun him, so that he could
not be otherwise than a fugitive and a vagabond,
and the off-scouring of all things.
| The Family of Cain. | B. C. 3875. |
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16 And Cain went out from the
presence of the LORD, and dwelt in
the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.
17 And Cain knew his wife; and she
conceived, and bare Enoch: and he
builded a city, and called the name of
the city, after the name of his son,
Enoch.
18 And unto Enoch was
born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael:
and Mehujael begat Methusael: and
Methusael begat Lamech.
We have here a further account of Cain,
and what became of him after he was rejected
of God.
I. He tamely submitted to that part of his
sentence by which he was hidden from God’s
face; for
(v. 16)
he went out from the presence
of the Lord, that is, he willingly renounced
God and religion, and was content to forego
its privileges, so that he might not be under
its precepts. He forsook Adam’s family and
altar, and cast off all pretensions to the fear
of God, and never came among good people,
nor attended on God’s ordinances, any more.
Note, Hypocritical professors, that have dissembled
and trifled with God Almighty, are
justly left to themselves, to do something
that is grossly scandalous, and so to throw off
that form of godliness to which they have
been a reproach, and under colour of which
they have denied the power of it. Cain went
out now from the presence of the Lord, and
we never find that he came into it again, to
his comfort. Hell is destruction from the
presence of the Lord,
2 Thess. i. 9.
It is a
perpetual banishment from the fountain of all
good. This is the choice of sinners; and so
shall their doom be, to their eternal confusion.
II. He endeavoured to confront that part
of the sentence by which he was made a fugitive
and a vagabond; for,
1. He chose his land. He went and dwelt
on the east of Eden, somewhere distant from
the place where Adam and his religious
family resided, distinguishing himself and
his accursed generation from the holy seed,
his camp from the camp of the saints and the
beloved city,
Rev. xx. 9.
On the east of Eden,
the cherubim were, with the flaming sword,
There he chose his lot, as if to
defy the terrors of the Lord. But his
attempt to settle was in vain; for the land he
dwelt in was to him the land of Nod (that is,
of shaking or trembling), because of the continual
restlessness and uneasiness of his own
spirit. Note, Those that depart from God
cannot find rest any where else. After Cain
went out from the presence of the Lord, he
never rested. Those that shut themselves
out of heaven abandon themselves to a perpetual
trembling. “Return therefore to thy
rest, O my soul, to thy rest in God; else thou
art for ever restless.”
2. He built a city for a habitation,
He was building a city, so some read it, ever
building it, but, a curse being upon him and
the work of his hands, he could not finish it.
Or, as we read it, he built a city, in token of
a fixed separation from the church of God, to
which he had no thoughts of ever returning.
This city was to be the head-quarters of the
apostasy. Observe here,
(1.) Cain’s defiance
of the divine sentence. God said he should
be a fugitive and a vagabond. Had he repented
and humbled himself, this curse might
have been turned into a blessing, as that of
the tribe of Levi was, that they should be
divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel; but
his impenitent unhumbled heart walking contrary
to God, and resolving to fix in spite of
heaven, that which might have been a blessing
was turned into a curse.
(2.) See what
was Cain’s choice, after he had forsaken God;
he pitched upon a settlement in this world,
as his rest for ever. Those who looked for
the heavenly city chose, while on earth, to
dwell in tabernacles; but Cain, as one that
minded not that city, built himself one on
earth. Those that are cursed of God are
apt to seek their settlement and satisfaction
here below,
(3.) See what method
Cain took to defend himself against
the terrors with which he was perpetually
haunted. He undertook this building, to
divert his thoughts from the consideration of
his own misery, and to drown the clamours
of a guilty conscience with the noise of axes
and hammers. Thus many baffle their convictions
by thrusting themselves into a hurry
of worldly business.
(4.) See how wicked
people often get the start of God’s people,
and out-go them in outward prosperity. Cain
and his cursed race dwell in a city, while
Adam and his blessed family dwell in tents.
We cannot judge of love or hatred by all that
is before us,
Eccl. ix. 1, 2.
3. His family also was built up. Here is
an account of his posterity, at least the heirs
of his family, for seven generations. His
son was Enoch, of the same name, but not
of the same character, with that holy man
that walked with God,
ch. v. 22.
Good men
and bad may bear the same names: but God
can distinguish between Judas Iscariot and
Judas not Iscariot,
The names
of more of his posterity are mentioned, and
but just mentioned; not as those of the holy
seed
(ch. v.),
where we have three verses concerning
each, whereas here we have three or
four in one verse. They are numbered in
haste, as not valued or delighted in, in comparison
with God’s chosen.
| The Family of Lamech. | B. C. 3875. |
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19 And Lamech took unto him
two wives: the name of the one was
Adah, and the name of the other
Zillah.
20 And Adah bare Jabal:
he was the father of such as dwell
in tents, and of such as have cattle.
21 And his brother’s name was Jubal:
he was the father of all such as handle
the harp and organ.
22 And Zillah,
she also bare Tubal-cain, an instructor
of every artificer in brass and
iron: and the sister of Tubal-cain
was Naamah.
We have here some particulars concerning
Lamech, the seventh from Adam in the
line of Cain. Observe,
I. His marrying two wives. It was one of
the degenerate race of Cain who first transgressed
that original law of marriage that
two only should be one flesh. Hitherto one
man had but one wife at a time; but Lamech
took two. From the beginning it was not so.
Mal. ii. 15; Matt. xix. 5.
See here,
1. Those who desert God’s church and ordinances
lay themselves open to all manner of
temptation.
2. When a bad custom is begun
by bad men sometimes men of better characters
are, through unwariness, drawn in to
follow them. Jacob, David, and many
others, who were otherwise good men, were
afterwards ensnared in this sin which Lamech
begun.
II. His happiness in his children, notwithstanding
this. Though he sinned, in marrying
two wives, yet he was blessed with
children by both, and those such as lived to
be famous in their generation, not for their
piety, no mention is made of this (for aught
that appears they were the heathen of that
age), but for their ingenuity. They were not
only themselves men of business, but men
that were serviceable to the world, and eminent
for the invention, or at least the improvement,
of some useful arts.
1. Jabal was a
famous shepherd; he delighted much in
keeping cattle himself, and was so happy in
devising methods of doing it to the best advantage,
and instructing others in them, that
the shepherds of those times, nay, the shepherds
of after-times, called him father; or
perhaps, his children after him being brought
up to the same employment, the family was a
family of shepherds.
2. Jubal was a famous
musician, and particularly an organist, and
the first that gave rules for the noble art or
science of music. When Jabal had set them
in a way to be rich, Jubal put them in a way
to be merry. Those that spend their days in
wealth will not be without the timbrel and
harp,
probably the jubilee-trumpet was so called;
for the best music was that which proclaimed
liberty and redemption. Jabal was their Pan
and Jubal their Apollo.
3. Tubal Cain was
a famous smith, who greatly improved the
art of working in brass and iron, for the service
both of war and husbandry. He was
their Vulcan. See here,
(1.) That worldly
things are the only things that carnal wicked
people set their hearts upon and are most ingenious
and industrious about. So it was
with this impious race of cursed Cain. Here
were a father of shepherds and a father of
musicians, but not a father of the faithful.
Here was one to teach in brass and iron, but
none to teach the good knowledge of the
Lord. Here were devices how to be rich,
and how to be mighty, and how to be merry,
but nothing of God, nor of his fear and service,
among them. Present things fill the
heads of most people.
(2.) That even those
who are destitute of the knowledge and grace
of God may be endued with many excellent
and useful accomplishments, which may make
them famous and serviceable in their generation.
Common gifts are given to bad men,
while God chooses to himself the foolish
things of the world.
23 And Lamech said unto his wives,
Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye
wives of Lamech, hearken unto my
speech: for I have slain a man to my
wounding, and a young man to my
hurt.
24 If Cain shall be avenged
sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and
sevenfold.
By this speech of Lamech, which is here
recorded, and probably was much talked of
in those times, he further appears to have
been a wicked man, as Cain’s accursed race
generally were. Observe,
1. How haughtily
and imperiously he speaks to his wives, as
one that expected a mighty regard and observance:
Hear my voice, you wives of Lamech.
No marvel that he who had broken one law
of marriage, by taking two wives, broke another,
which obliged him to be kind and
tender to those he had taken, and to give
honour to the wife as to the weaker vessel.
Those are not always the most careful to do
their own duty that are highest in their demands
of respect from others, and most frequent
in calling upon their relations to know
their place and do their duty.
2. How
bloody and barbarous he was to all about
him: I have slain, or (as it is in the margin)
I would slay a man in my wound, and a young
man in my hurt. He owns himself a man of
a fierce and cruel disposition, that would lay
about him without mercy, and kill all that
stood in his way; be it a man, or a young
man, nay, though he himself were in danger
to be wounded and hurt in the conflict.
Some think, because
(v. 24)
he compares himself
with Cain, that he had murdered some
of the holy seed, the true worshippers of
God, and that he acknowledged this to be the
wounding of his conscience and the hurt of
his soul; and yet that, like Cain, he continued
impenitent, trembling and yet unhumbled.
Or his wives, knowing what
manner of spirit he was of, how apt both to
give and to resent provocation, were afraid
lest somebody or other would be the death
of him. “Never fear,” says he, “I defy any
man to set upon me; whosoever does, let me
alone to make my part good with him; I will
slay him, be he a man or a young man.”
Note, It is a common thing for fierce and
bloody men to glory in their shame
as if it were both their safety and their
honour that they care not how many lives
are sacrificed to their angry resentments, nor
how much they are hated, provided they
may be feared. Oderint, dum metuant–Let
them hate, provided they fear.
3. How impiously
he presumes even upon God’s protection
in his wicked way,
He had
heard that Cain should be avenged seven-fold
(v. 15),
that is, that if any man should dare
to kill Cain he should be severely reckoned
with and punished for so doing, though Cain
deserved to die a thousand deaths for the
murder of his brother, and hence he infers
that if any one should kill him for the
murders he had committed God would much
more avenge his death. As if the special
care God took to prolong and secure the life
of Cain, for special reasons peculiar to his
case (and indeed for his sorer punishment, as
the beings of the damned are continued) were
designed as a protection to all murderers.
Thus Lamech perversely argues, “If God
provided for the safety of Cain, much more
for mine, who, though I have slain many, yet
never slew my own brother, and upon no
provocation, as he did.” Note, The reprieve
of some sinners, and the patience God exercises
towards them, are often abused to the
hardening of others in the like sinful ways,
But, though justice strike
some slowly, others cannot therefore be sure
but that they may be taken away with a swift
destruction. Or, if God should bear long
with those who thus presume upon his forbearance,
they do but hereby treasure up unto
themselves wrath against the day of wrath.
Now this is all we have upon record in
scripture concerning the family and posterity
of cursed Cain, till we find them all cut off
and perishing in the universal deluge.
| The Birth of Seth. | B. C. 3874. |
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25 And Adam knew his wife again;
and she bare a son, and called his
name Seth: For God, said she, hath
appointed me another seed instead of Abel,
whom Cain slew.
26 And to
Seth, to him also there was born a
son; and he called his name Enos:
then began men to call upon the
name of the LORD.
This is the first mention of Adam in the
story of this chapter. No question, the murder
of Abel, and the impenitence and apostasy
of Cain, were a very great grief to him
and Eve, and the more because their own
wickedness did now correct them and their
backslidings did reprove them. Their folly
had given sin and death entrance into the
world; and now they smarted by it, being,
by means thereof, deprived of both their sons
in one day,
ch. xxvii. 45.
When parents are
grieved by their children’s wickedness they
should take occasion thence to lament that
corruption of nature which was derived from
them, and which is the root of bitterness.
But here we have that which was a relief to
our first parents in their affliction.
I. God gave them to see the re-building of
their family, which was sorely shaken and
weakened by that sad event. For,
1. They
saw their seed, another seed instead of Abel,
v. 25.
Observe God’s kindness and tenderness
towards his people, in his providential
dealings with them; when he takes away one
comfort from them, he gives them another
instead of it, which may prove a greater
blessing to them than that was in which they
thought their lives were bound up. This
other seed was he in whom the church was to
be built up and perpetuated, and he comes
instead of Abel, for the succession of confessors
is the revival of the martyrs and as it
were the resurrection of God’s slain witnesses.
Thus we are baptized for the dead
that is, we are, by baptism,
admitted into the church, for or instead of
those who by death, especially by martyrdom,
are removed out of it; and we fill up their
room. Those who slay God’s servants hope
by this means to wear out the saints of the
Most High; but they will be deceived.
Christ shall still see his seed; God can out
of stones raise up children for him, and make
the blood of the martyrs the seed of the
church, whose lands, we are sure, shall never
be lost for want of heirs. This son, by a
prophetic spirit, they called Seth (that is, set,
settled, or placed), because, in his seed, mankind
should continue to the end of time, and
from him the Messiah should descend. While
Cain, the head of the apostasy, is made a
wanderer, Seth, from whom the true church
was to come, is one fixed. In Christ and his
church is the only true settlement.
2. They
saw their seed’s seed,
To Seth was
born a son called Enos, that general name for
all men, which bespeaks the weakness, frailty,
and misery, of man’s state. The best men are
most sensible of these, both in themselves and
their children. We are never so settled but
we must remind ourselves that we are frail.
II. God gave them to see the reviving of
religion in their family: Then began men to
call upon the name of the Lord,
v. 26.
It is
small comfort to a good man to see his children’s
children, if he do not, withal, see peace
upon Israel, and those that come of him
walking in the truth. Doubtless God’s name
was called upon before, but now,
1. The worshippers
of God began to stir up themselves
to do more in religion than they had done;
perhaps not more than had been done at first,
but more than had been done of late, since
the defection of Cain. Now men began to
worship God, not only in their closets and
families, but in public and solemn assemblies.
Or now there was so great a reformation in
religion that it was, as it were, a new beginning
of it. Then may refer, not to the birth
of Enos, but to the whole foregoing story:
then, when men saw in Cain and Lamech the
sad effects of sin by the workings of natural
conscience,–when they saw God’s judgments
upon sin and sinners,–then they were so
much the more lively and resolute in religion.
The worse others are the better we should
be, and the more zealous.
2. The worshippers
of God began to distinguish themselves.
The margin reads it, Then began men to be
called by the name of the Lord, or to call themselves
by it. Now that Cain and those that
had deserted religion had built a city, and
begun to declare for impiety and irreligion,
and called themselves the sons of men, those
that adhered to God began to declare for him
and his worship, and called themselves the
sons of God. Now began the distinction between
professors and profane, which has been
kept up ever since, and will be while the
world stands.
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