Genesis 4:1

And Adam knew Eve his wife,.... An euphemism, or modest expression of the act of coition.

And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. And Adam knew Eve his wife - Murphy translates 'the man;' but there is no good reason for this change.

GENESIS CHAPTER 4 The birth of Cain and Abel, and their employment, . Cain’ s offering, . Abel’ s sacrifice, and God’ s acceptance, . Cain’ s rejected; his discontent, . God expostulates it with him, . He murders Abel, . God makes inquiry after Abel, . The cry of his blood, . God’ s curse upon Cain, . His complaint, . God mitigates it, . Its execution, . Cain’ s posterity, . Lamech’ s two wives, . They bear unto him sons, who dwell in tents, ; invent musical instruments, ; have skill in brass and iron, . His boasting, . The birth of Seth, . His son; the revival of religion, . This modest expression is used both in Scripture and other authors, to signify the conjugal act or carnal knowledge. So , , . Cain, whose name signifies a possession. A man, a male child, as , which was most welcome. From the Lord; or, by or with the Lord, i.e. by virtue of his first blessing, , and special favour. Or, a man the Lord, as the words properly signify: q.d. God-man, or the Messias, hoping that this was the promised Seed.

Genesis 4:1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.Ver. 1. 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 ; for "Cain was of that wicked one," the devil, as all reprobates are. Cain the author of the city of the world, saith Augustine, 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, 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 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," is meant of the preparation of the body as an instrument of evil, which is not so actually, till the soul come. Aug. De Civit. Dei, lib. xv., cap. 1. H. Broughton of the 10. part. ex Rab. Bochai. Yates’ s Model.

IV. THE OF THE FAMILY, AND OF THE NON- LIFE.(1) She . . . bare Cain, and said . . . —In this chapter we have the history of the founding of the family of Cain, a race godless and wanton, but who, nevertheless, far outstripped the descendants of Seth in the arts of civilisation. To tillage and a pastoral life they added metallurgy and music; and the knowledge not only of copper and its uses, but even of iron (Genesis 4:22), must have given them a command over the resources of nature so great as to have vastly diminished the curse of labour, and made their lives easy and luxurious. I have gotten a man from the Lord.—Rather, who is Jehovah. It is inconceivable that eth should have here a different meaning from that which it has in Genesis 1:1. It there gives emphasis to the object of the verb: “God created eth the heaven and eth the earth,” that is, even the heaven and even the earth. So also here, “I have gotten a man eth Jehovah.” even Jehovah. The objection that this implies too advanced a knowledge of Messianic ideas is unfounded. It is we who read backward, and put our ideas into the words of the narrative. These words were intended to lead on to those ideas, but they were at present only as the germ, or as the filament in the acorn which contains the oak-tree. If there is one thing certain, it is that religious knowledge was given gradually, and that the significance of the name Jehovah was revealed by slow degrees. (See on Genesis 4:26.) Eve attached no notion of divinity to the name; still less did she foresee that by the superstition of the Jews the title Lord would be substituted for it. We distinctly know that Jehovah was not even the patriarchal name of the Deity (Exodus 6:3), and still less could it have been God’s title in Paradise. But Eve had received the promise that her seed should crush the head of her enemy, and to this promise her words referred, and the title in her mouth meant probably no more than “the coming One.” Apparently, too, it was out of Eve’s words that this most significant title of the covenant God arose. (See Excursus on names Elohim and Jehovah-Elohim, at end of this book.) Further, Eve calls Cain “a man,” Heb., ish, a being. (See on Genesis 2:23.) As Cain was the first infant, no word as yet existed for child. But in calling him “a being, even the future one,” a lower sense, often attached to these words, is not to be altogether excluded. It has been said that Eve, in the birth of this child, saw the remedy for death. Death might slay the individual, but the existence of the race was secured. Her words therefore might be paraphrased: “I have gained a man, who is the pledge of future existence.” Mankind is thus that which shall exist.

CHAPTER IV The birth, trade, and religion of Cain and Abel, 1-7. Cain murders his brother Abel, 8. God calls him into judgment for it, 9, 10. He is cursed, 11, 12. He despairs, 15, 14. A promise given him of preservation, and a mark set on him to prevent his being killed, 15. He departs from God's presence, 16. Has a son whom he calls Enoch; and builds a city, which he calls after his name, 17. Cain has several children, among whom are Lamech, the first bigamist, 18, 19. Jobat, who taught the use of tents and feeding cattle, 20. Jabal, the inventor of musical instruments, 21. Tubal-cain, the inventor of smith-work, 22. Strange speech of Lamech to his wives, 23, 24. Seth born to Adam and Eve in the place of Abel, 25. Enoch born, and the worship of God restored, 26. NOTES ON CHAP. IV Verse 1. I have gotten a man from the Lord.] Cain, קין, signifies acquisition; hence Eve says קנתי kanithi, I have gotten or acquired a man, את יהוה eth Yehovah, the Lord. It is extremely difficult to ascertain the sense in which Eve used these words, which have been as variously translated as understood. Most expositors think that Eve imagined Cain to be the promised seed that should bruise the head of the serpent. This exposition really seems too refined for that period. It is very likely that she meant no more than to acknowledge that it was through God's peculiar blessing that she was enabled to conceive and bring forth a son, and that she had now a well-grounded hope that the race of man should be continued on the earth. Unless she had been under Divine inspiration she could not have called her son (even supposing him to be the promised seed) Jehovah; and that she was not under such an influence her mistake sufficiently proves, for Cain, so far from being the Messiah, was of the wicked one; 1 John 3:12. We may therefore suppose that את היוה eth Yehovah, THE LORD, is an elliptical form of expression for meeth Yehovah, FROM THE LORD, or through the Divine blessing.

1. Cain … gotten] Heb. ḳ ?anah, to get. The word “Cain” does not mean “gotten”; but Eve’s joyful utterance gives a popular etymology, which derived the proper name from the verb whose pronunciation it resembled. The word “Cain” (Ḳ ?ayin) means in Hebrew “a lance”; and by some the name is interpreted to mean “a smith.” Its relation to Tubal-Cain “the artificer” is doubtful (see Genesis 4:24). That the name is to be identified with that of the nomad tribe of the “Kenites” (cf. Numbers 24:22, Judges 4:11) is a view which has been strongly maintained by some scholars. But the evidence seems to be very slight. The Kenites were not traditionally hostile to Israel, and did not play any important part in the history of the people so far as is known. The fact that the name appears in another form, “Kenan,” in the genealogy (chap. Genesis 5:9-14) should warn us against hasty identifications. Pronunciation notoriously suffers through transmission, and spelling of proper names is wont to be adapted to the sound of more familiar words. Eve gives her child its name as in Genesis 4:24. It has been pointed out that elsewhere, where the mother is mentioned in J and E, she gives the name, cf. Genesis 29:32-35, Genesis 30:1-24 (but see Genesis 4:26, Genesis 5:29, Genesis 25:25); whereas, in P, the father gives the name, cf. Genesis 21:3. That the mother should name the child, has been considered to be a survival of a primitive “matriarchal” phase of society: see note on Genesis 2:24. But the inference is very doubtful. I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord] Literally, “I acquired (or, have acquired) man, even Jahveh.” Eve’s four words in the Hebrew (ḳ ?βnξthi ξsh eth-Yahveh) are as obscure as any oracle. (i) The difficulty was felt at a very early time, and is reflected in the versions LXX διὰτοῦθεοῦ, Lat. per Deum, in which, as R.V., the particle κth is rendered as a preposition in the sense of “in conjunction with,” and so “with the help of,” “by the means of.” Kφnig, who holds an eminent position both as a commentator and as a Hebrew grammarian and lexicographer, has recently strongly defended the rendering of κth as a preposition meaning “with,” in the sense here given by the English version “with the help of” (see Z.A.T.W. 1912, Pt i, pp. 22 ff.). The words will then express the thanksgiving of Eve on her safe deliverance of a child. It is a pledge of Divine favour. Child-birth has been “with the help of the Lord.” (ii) The Targum of Onkelos reads mκ-κth = “from” (instead of κth = “with”), and so gets rid of the difficulty: “I have gotten a man from Jehovah,” i.e. as a gift from the Lord. But this is so easy an alteration that it looks like a correction, and can scarcely be regarded as the original text. Praestat lectio difficilior.

- Section IV - The Family of Adam - Cain and Abel 1. קין qayı̂n, Qain (Cain), “spear-shaft,” and קנה qānah, “set up, establish, gain, buy,” contain the biliteral root קן qan, “set up, erect, gain.”

1. Adam knew Eve — A euphemism, based upon a profound conception of the marital relation. “Generation in man is an act of personal free-will, not a blind impulse of nature.