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 and a vagabond in the earth: 15 And the LORD said unto him, Therefore e 13 And Cain said unto the LORD, My pun- whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be ishment is greater than I can bear. taken on him seven-fold. And the LORD 'set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. b 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 a Or, Mine iniquity is greater than that it may be forgiven. Rev. xvi. 9.b Job xv. 20-24. Prov. xiv. 32. xxviii. 1. Ps. cxliii. 7. 2 Thess. i. 9.- c Ps. li. 11.- d Ch. ix. 6. but because the object of his envy was more righteous than himself. Alas! how exceeding sinful does sin appear in its first manifestation! 16 And Cain & went out from the presence Numb. xxxv. 19, 21, 27.- Le Ps. lxxix. 12.- Ezek. ix. 4, ful tillage. 2. He was to be a fugitive and a vagabond, having no place in which he could dwell with comfort or security. To these Cain himself adds others. 1. His being hidden from the face of God; which appears to signify his being expelled from that particular place where God had manifested his presence, in or contiguous to Paradise, whither our first parents resorted as to an oracle, and where they offered their daily adorations. So in verse 16 it is said, Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and was not permitted any more to associate with the family in acts of religious worship. 2. The continual Verse 10. The voice of thy brother's blood] It is probable that Cain, having killed his brother, dug a hole and buried him in the earth, hoping thereby to prevent the murder from being known; and that this is what is designed in the words, Thy brother's blood crieth unto me FROM THE GROUND-which hath opened her mouth to receive it from thy hand. Some think that by the voice of thy brother's blood the cries of Abel's widow and children are to be understood, as it is very probable that he was father of a family; in-apprehension of being slain, as all the inhabitants of deed his occupation and sacrifices seem to render this probable, and probability is all we can expect on such a subject. God represents these as calling aloud for the punishment of the murderer; and it is evident that Cain expected to fall by the hands of some persons who, from his consanguinity, had the right of the avenger of blood; for now that the murder is found out, he expects to suffer death for it. See ver. 14. the earth were at that time of the same family, the Verse 15. The Lord set a mark upon Cain] What this mark was, has given rise to a number of frivol Verse 12. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be] Thou shalt be expelled from the presence of God, and from thy family connexions, and shalt have no fixed secure residence in any place. The Septuagint render this orεvwv kaι тpeμwv εoy, thou shalt be groan-ously curious conjectures. Dr. Shuckford collects the ing 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. Verse 13. My punishment is greater than I can bear.] The margin reads, Mine iniquity is greater than that it may be forgiven. The original words, most remarkable. Some say he was paralytic; this seems to have arisen from the version of the Septuagint, Erevov Kai трɛμwv εog, Groaning and trembling shalt thou be. The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel says the sign was from the great and precious name, probably one of the letters of the word m Yehovah. The author of an Arabic Catena in the Bodleian Library says, "A sword could not pierce him; fire could not burn him; water could not drown him; the air could not blast him; nor could thunder or The author of Bereshith lightning strike him." Rabba, a comment on Genesis, says the mark was a circle of the sun rising upon him. Abravanel says the sign was Abel's dog, which constantly accompanied him. Some of the doctors in the Talmud say that it was the letter n tau marked on his forehead, which signified his contrition, as it is the first letter in the Verse 14. Behold, thou hast driven me out] In word nawn teshubah, repentance. Rabbi Joseph, verses 11, 12, God states two parts of Cain's punish-wiser than all the rest, says it was a long horn growment: 1. The ground was cursed, so that it was not ing out of his forehead! to yield any adequate recompence for his most care ɔ gadol avoni minneso, may be translated, Is my crime too great to be forgiven? Words which we may presume he uttered on the verge of black despair. It is most probable that y avon signifies rather the crime than the punishment; in this sense it is used Lev. xxvi. 41, 43, 1 Sam. xxviii. 10, 2 Kings vii. 9; and x nasa signifies to remit or forgive. The marginal reading is, therefore, to be preferred to that in the text. Dr. Shuckford farther observes that the Hebrew 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. B. C. cir. 3810. A. M. cir. 194. 18 And unto Enoch was born с the name of the His posterity. A. M. cir. 194. 20 And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. A. M. cir. 500. 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 * instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: 19 And Lamech took unto him two wives: and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. Heb. Chanoch. Ch. v. 18, 22.- b Ps. xlix. 11. 2 Sam. xv. 18.- Heb. Lemech. Ch. v. 21. xxxvi. 2. ii. 18, 24. word w oth, which we translate a mark, signifies a sign or token. Thus, Gen. ix. 13, the bow was to be leoth, for a sign or token that the world should not be destroyed; therefore the words, And the Lord eet a mark upon Cain, should be translated, And the Lord appointed to Cain a token or sign, to convince him that no person should be permitted to slay him. To have marked him would have been the most likely way to have brought all the evils he dreaded upon him; therefore the Lord gave him some miraculous sign or token that he should not be slain, to the end that he should not despair, but, having time to repent, might return to a gracious God and find mercy. Notwithstanding the allusion which I suppose St. Paul to have made to the punishment of Cain, some think that he did repent and find mercy. I can only say this was possible. Most people who read this account wonder why Cain should dread being killed, when it does not appear to them that there were any inhabitants on the earth at that time besides himself and d Jer. xxxv. 9, 10. Hebr. xi. 9. Rom. iv. 11, 12.- - Heb. whetter. Exod. xxv. 3. 2 Chron. ii. 7. ing the women either old or young, or such as are under the age of seventeen." See Dodd. But this calculation may be disputed, because there is no evidence that the antediluvian patriarchs began to have children before they were sixty-five hundred and thirty years of age had one hundred years of age. Now, supposing that Adam at one and thirty children, which is quite possible, and each of these a child at sixty-five years of age, and one in each successive year, the whole, in the one hundred and thirtieth year of the world, would amount to one thousand two hundred and nineteen persons; a number sufficient to found several villages, and to excite the apprehensions under which Cain appeared at this time to labour. Verse 16. The land of Nod] As nod signifies should be rendered, And Cain went out from the prethe same as nad, a vagabond, some think this verse sence of the Lord, from the east of Eden, and dwelt a tagabond on the earth; thus the curse pronounced on him, verse 12, was accomplished. his parents. To correct this mistake, let it be observed that the death of Abel took place in the one hundred and twenty-eighth or one hundred and Verse 17. She-bare Enoch] As Chanoch sigtwenty-ninth year of the world. Now, "supposing nifies instructed, dedicated, or initiated, and especially Adam and Eve to have had no other sons than Cain in sacred things, it may be considered some proof of and Abel in the year of the world one hundred and Cain's repentance, that he appears to have dedicated twenty-eight, yet as they had daughters married to this son to God, who, in his father's stead, might mithese sons, their descendants would make a consider-nister in the sacerdotal office, from which Cain, by able figure on the earth. Supposing them to have his crime, was for ever excluded. been married in the nineteenth year of the world, they might easily have had each eight children, some males and some females, in the twenty-fifth year. In the fiftieth year there might proceed from them in a direct line sixty-four persons; in the seventy-fourth year there would be five hundred and twelve; in Verse 19. Lamech took-two wives] He was the first who dared to reverse the order of God by introducing polygamy; and from him it has been retained, practised, and defended to the present day. Verse 20. Jabal-was the father] The inventor or teacher, for so the word is understood, 1 Sam. x. the ninety-eighth year, four thousand and ninety- 12. He was the first who invented tent-making, ; in the one hundred and twenty-second they and the breeding and managing of cattle; or he was, Would amount to thirty-two thousand seven hundred in these respects, the most eminent in that time. and sixty-eight: if to these we add the other chil- Though Abel was a shepherd, it is not likely he was drea descended from Cain and Abel, their children, such on an extensive scale. and their children's children, we shall have, in the aforesaid one hundred and twenty-eight years, four hundred and twenty-one thousand one hundred and capable of generation, without reckon sixty-four men 65 Verse 21. Jubal—the father] i. e. The inventor of musical instruments, such as the v kinnor, which we translate harp, and the 2ry ugab, which we render organ; it is very likely that both words are Lamech's speech A. M. cir. 500. GENESIS. 23 And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken a Or, I would slay a man in my wound, &c. Ch. xlix. 6. generic, the former including under it all stringed instruments, and the latter, all wind instruments. Verse 22. Tubal-cain] The first smith on record, who taught how to make warlike instruments and domestic utensils out of brass and iron. Agricultural instruments must have been in use long before, for Cain was a tiller of the ground, and so was Adam, and they could not have cultivated the ground without spades, hooks, &c. Some of these arts were useless to man while innocent and upright, but after his fall they became necessary. Thus is the saying verified: God made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions. As the power to get wealth is from God, so also is the invention of useful arts. M. De Lavaur, in his Conference de la Fable avec l'Histoire Sainte, supposes that the Greeks and Romans took their smith-god Vulcan from Tubalcain, the son of Lamech. The probability of this will appear, 1. From the name, which, by the omission of the Tu and turning the b into v, a change frequently made among the Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, makes Vulcain or Vulcan. 2. From his occupation he was an artificer, a master smith in brass and iron. 3. He thinks this farther probable from the names and sounds in this verse. The melting metals in the fire, and hammering them, bears a near resemblance to the hissing sound of by tsillah, the mother of Tubal-cain; and by tsalal signifies to tinkle or make a sound like a bell, 1 Sam. iii. 11, 2 Kings xxi. 12. 4. Vulcan is said to have been lame; M. De Lavaur thinks that this notion was taken from the noun yby tsela, which signifies a halting or lameness. 5. Vulcan had to wife Venus the goddess of beauty; Naamah, the sister of Tubalcain, he thinks may have given rise to this part of the fable, as her name in Hebrew signifies beautiful or gracious. 6. Vulcan is reported to have been jealous of his wife, and to have forged nets in which he took Mars and her, and exposed them to the view of the whole celestial court: this idea he thinks was derived from the literal import of the name Tubal-cain; ban tebel signifies an incestuous mixture of relatives, Lev. xx. 12; and xp kana, to burn with jealousy; from these and concomitant circumstances the case of the detected adultery of Mars and Venus might be easily deduced. He is of opinion that a tradition of this kind might have readily found its way from the Egyptians to the Greeks, as the former had frequent intercourse with the Hebrews. to his wives. A. M. cir. 500. Some of the Jewish doctors say her name is recorded in scripture because she was an upright and chaste woman; but others affirm that the whole world wandered after her, and that of her evil spirits were born into the world. This latter opinion gives some countenance to that of M. De Lavaur. Verse 23. And Lamech said unto his wives] The speech of Lamech to his wives is in hemistichs in the original, and consequently, as nothing of this kind occurs before this time, it is very probably the oldest piece of poetry in the world. The following is, as nearly as possible, a literal translation: "And Lamech said unto his wives, It is supposed that Lamech had slain a man in his own defence, and that his wives being alarmed lest the kindred of the deceased should seek his life in return, to quiet their fears he makes this speech, in which he endeavours to prove that there was no room for fear on this account; for if the slayer of the wilful murderer, Cain, should suffer a seven-fold punishment, surely he, who should kill Lamech for having slain a man in self-defence, might expect a seventy-seven-fold punishment. This speech is very dark, and has given rise to a great variety of very strange conjectures. Dr. Shuckford supposes there is an ellipsis of some preceding speech or circumstance which, if known, would cast a light on the subject. In the antediluvian times, the nearest of kin to a murdered person had a right to revenge his death by taking away the life of the murderer. This, as we have already seen, appears to have contributed not a little to Cain's horror, verse 14. Now we may suppose that the descendants of Cain were in continual alarms, lest some of the other family should attempt to avenge the death of Abel on them, as they were not permitted to do it on Cain; and that, in order to dismiss those fears, Lamech, the seventh descendant from Adam, spoke to this effect to his wives: "Why should you render yourselves miserable by such ill-founded fears? We have slain no person; we have not done the least wrong to our brethren of the other family; surely then reason should dictate to you that they have no Of Naamah nothing more is spoken in the scrip-right to injure us. It is true that Cain, one of our tures; but the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel ancestors, killed his brother Abel; but God, willing makes her the inventress of funeral songs and lamen- to pardon his sin, and give him space to repent, tations. R. S. Jarchi says she was the wife of Noah, threatened to punish those with a seven-fold punishand quotes Bereshith Rabba in support of the opinion. ment who should dare to kill him. If this be so, then those who should have the boldness to kill any of us who are innocent, may expect a punishment still more rigorous. For if Cain should be avenged seven-fold on the person who should slay him, surely Lamech or any of his innocent family should be avenged seventy-seven-fold on those who should injure them." The Targums give nearly the same meaning, and it makes a good sense; but who can say it is the true sense? If the words be read interrogatively, as they certainly may, the sense will be much clearer, and some of the difficulties will be removed: "Have I slain a man, that I should be wounded? Or a young man, that I should be bruised?" The birth of Enos. A. M. 130. A. M. 235. hath appointed me another seed f xviii. 24. Ps. cxvi. 17. Isai. xliv. 5. xlvii. 1. lxiii. 19. Joel ii. 32. Zeph. iii. 9. Acts xi. 26. Rom. x. 13. 1 Cor. i. 2. Eph. iii. 14, 15. Jesus Christ should come it might be clearly seen that he came by the promise, through grace, and not by nature. Verse 26. Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.] The marginal reading is, Then began men to call themselves by the name of the Lord; which words are supposed to signify that in the time of Enos the true followers of God began to distinguish themselves, and to be distinguished by others, by the appellation of Sons of God; those of the other branch of Adam's family, among whom the divine worship was not observed, being distinguished by the name, Children of Men. It must not be dissembled that many eminent men have contended that b huchal, which we translate began, should be ren But even this still supposes some previous reason ordered began profanely, or then profanation began, and conversation. I shall not trouble my readers with a ridiculous Jewish fable, followed by St. Jerome, of Lamech having killed Cain by accident, &c.; and after what I have already said, I must leave the passage, I fear, among those which are inscrutable. Verse 25. God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel] Eve must have received on this occasion some divine communication, else how could she have known that this son was appointed in the place of Abel, to continue that holy line by which the Messiah was to come? From this we see that the line of the Messiah was determined from the beginning, and that it was not first fixed in the days of Abraham; for the promise was then only renewed, and that branch of his family designated by which the sacred line was to be continued. And it is worthy of remark that Seth's posterity alone continued after the flood, when all the other families of the earth were destroyed, Noah being the tenth descendent from Adam through Seth. from this time they date the origin of idolatry. Most of the Jewish doctors were of this opinion, and Maimonides has discussed it at some length in his Treatise on lolatry; as this picce is curious, and gives the most probable account of the origin and progress of idolatry, I shall insert it here. "In the days of Enos the sons of Adam erred with great error, and the counsel of the wise men of that age became brutish, and Enos himself was (one) of them that erred; and their error was this: they said, Forasmuch as God hath created these stars and spheres to govern the world, and set them on high, and imparted honour unto them, and they are ministers that minister before him; it is meet that men should laud, and glorify, and give them honour. For this is the will of God, that we magnify and honour whomsoever he magnifieth and honoureth; even as a king would have them honoured that stand before him, and this is the honour of the king himself. When this thing was come up into their hearts they Though all these persons are mentioned in the began to build temples unto the stars, and to offer following chapter, I shall produce them here in the sacrifice unto them, and to laud and glorify them order of their succession: 1. Adam; 2. Seth; 3. with words, and to worship before them, that they Enos; Cainan; 5. Mahalalecl; 6. Jared; 7. might in their evil opinion obtain favour of the Laoch; 8. Methuselah; 9. Lamech (the second); Creator; and this was the root of idolatry, &c. And 10 Noah. In order to keep this line distinct, we in process of time there stood up false prophets find particular care was taken that, where there were among the sons of Adam, which said that God had two or more sons in a family, the one through whom commanded and said unto them, Worship such a star, God particularly designed to bring his Son into the or all the stars, and do sacrifice unto them thus and world was, by some especial providence, pointed thus; and build a temple for it, and make an image out. Thus in the family of Adam, Seth was chosen; of it, that all the people, women, and children may in the family of Noah, Shem; in the family of Abra-worship it. And the false prophet showed them the ham, Isaac; and in that of David, Solomon and image which he had feigned out of his own heart, Nathan. All these things God watched over by an and said it was the image of such a star, which was especial providence from the beginning, that when made known unto him by prophecy. And they began after this manner to make images in temples, and under trees, and on tops of mountains and hills, and assembled together and worshipped them, &c. And this thing was spread through all the world, to serve images with services different one from another, and to sacrifice unto and worship them. So, in process of time, the glorious and fearful name (of God) was forgotten out of the mouth of all living, and out of their knowledge, and they acknowledged him not. And there was found no people on the earth that knew ought, save images of wood and stone, and temples of stone, which they had been trained up from their childhood to worship and serve, and to swear by their names. And the wise men that were among them, as the priests and such like, thought there was no God save the stars and spheres, for whose sake and in whose likeness they had made these images; but as for the Rock everlasting, there was no man that acknowledged him or knew him save a few persons in the world, as Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Shem, and Heber. And in this way did the world walk and converse till that pillar of the world, Abraham our father, was born." Maim. in Mishn. and Ainsworth in loco. 1. We see here the vast importance of worshipping God according to his own mind; no sincerity, no uprightness of intention, can atone for the neglect of positive commands delivered in divine revelation, when this revelation is known. He who will bring an cucharistic offering instead of a sacrifice, while a sin-offering lieth at the door, as he copies Cain's conduct, may expect to be treated in the same manner. creation of Adam. Reader, remember that thou hast an entrance unto the holiest through the veil, that is to say his flesh; and those who come in this way, God will in no wise cast out. 2. We see the horrible nature of envy: its eye is evil merely because God is good; it easily begets hatred; hatred, deep settled malice; and malice, murder! Watch against the first appearance of this most destructive passion, the prime characteristic of which is to seck the destruction of the object of its malevolence, and finally to ruin its possessor. 3. Be thankful to God that, as weakness increased and wants became multiplied, God enabled man to find out useful inventions, so as to lessen excessive labour, and provide every thing indispensably necessary for the support of life. He who carefully attends to the dictates of honest, sober industry, is never likely to perish for lack of the necessaries of life. 4. As the followers of God at this early period found it indispensably necessary to separate themselves from all those who were irreligious and profane, and to make a public profession of their attachment to the truth, so it should be now. There are still men of profane minds, whose spirit and conduct are destructive to godliness; and in reference to such the permanent order of God is, Come out from among them, touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. He who is not determined to be a Christian at all events, is not far from being an Infidel. Those only who confess Christ among men shall be acknowledged before his Father and the angels of God. CHAPTER V. A recapitulation of the account of the creation of man, 1, 2; and of the birth of Seth, 3. Genealogy of the ten antediluvian patriarchs, 3-31. Enoch's extraordinary piety, 22; his translation to heaven without seeing death, 24. The birth of Noah, and the reason of his name, 29; his age at the birth of Japheth, 32. A. M. 1. B. C. 4004. THIS is the book of the gene-blessed them, and called their rations of Adam. that God created man, in the likeness of they were created. God made he him; A. M. 1. B. C. 4004. 2 Male and female created he them; and and thirty years, and begat a son 3 And Adam lived an hundred A. M. 130. B. C. 3874. a 1 Chron. i. 1. Matt. i. 1. Luke iii. 36, 38.- NOTES ON CHAP. V. Ch. i. 26. | Wisd. ii, 23. Eph. iv. 24. Col. iii. 10. Ch. i 27. Verse 1. The book of the generations] sepher in Hebrew, which we generally translate book, signifies a register, an account, any kind of writing, even a letter, such as the bill of divorce. Here it means the account or register of the generations of Adam or his descendants to the five hundredth year of the life of Noah. In the likeness of God made he him] This account is again introduced to keep man in remembrance of the heights of glory whence he had fallen; and to prove to him that the miscries and death consequent on his present state were produced by his transgression, and did not flow from his original state. For, as he was created in the image of God, he was created free from natural and moral evil. As the deaths of the patriarchs are now to be mentioned, it was necessary to introduce them by this observation in order to justify the ways of God to man. Verse 3. And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, &c.] The scripture chronology, especially in the ages of some of the antediluvian and postdiluvian patriarchs, has exceedingly puzzled chronologists, critics, and divines. The printed Hebrew text, the |