Genesis 4:17

And Cain knew his wife,.... Who this woman was is not certain, nor whether it was his first wife or not; whether his sister, or one that descended from Adam by another of his sons, since this was

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. And Cain knew his wife.

circ. 3875 Cain knew his wife; of which phrase see Poole on "". He built a city; partly to divert his troubled mind with business and pleasure, and partly for his own security against the enemies and evils which his guilty conscience made him fear, notwithstanding the assurance which God had given him. And this he did as soon as he was in capacity for it, either by the increase of his own posterity, or by the accession of other degenerate sons of Adam to him, who either being banished, or having departed from the church, willingly associated themselves with their brethren in iniquity. After the name of his son, Enoch; not after his own name, which he knew to be infamous and hateful.

Genesis 4:17 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.Ver. 17. And he builded a city.] So, many drown themselves either in secular businesses, or sensual pleasures, and all to put by their melancholy dumps, and heart-qualms, as they call them; indeed to muffle up the mouths of their horribly guilty consciences. So Nicephorus Phocas, when, Zimri-like, he had killed his master, he laboured, like Cain, to secure himself with building high walls. After which, he heard a voice telling him, that though he built his walls never so high, yet sin within the walls would undermine all. Besides that, one small drop of an evil conscience troubles a whole sea of outward comforts and contentments: a confluence whereof would no more ease conscience, than a silken stocking would do a broken leg. Silly are they that think to glide away their groans with games, and their cares with cards, &c. Called the city after the name of his son Enoch.] That he might be styled, Lord Enoch of Enoch! This is the ambition of worldly men; their names are not written in heaven; they will propagate them therefore upon earth, as Nimrod by his tower, Absalom by his pillar, Cain by his city Enoch (which St Augustine fitly maketh a figure of Rome, because both of them were built by a parricide). "Their inward thought is," saith the psalmist, "that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations"; and therefore, "they call their lands after their own names." They seek to immortalise themselves upon their possessions; but the third heir seldom ever owns them. Hence, houses and lands change masters so oft ( Olim eram Menippi, nunc Spensippi, &c., said that house in the Apologue). God justly crosses these "inhabitants of the earth," as they are called, in opposition to the saints, whose "conversation is in heaven," whereof they are fellow citizens. These know that they have here no abiding city, they look for one therefore above, not Henochia, but Heaven, "whose builder and maker is God." εανυψοιςτατειχηεωςουρανου, ενδσντςκακονευαλωτοςηπολις. - Cedren. De male quaesito vix gaudet tertius haeres . - Lucan.

CAIN AND HIS .(17) Cain knew his wife.—As Jehovah had told Eve that He would “greatly multiply her conception” (Genesis 3:16), we cannot doubt but that a numerous offspring had grown up in the 130 years that intervened between the birth of Cain and that of Seth, the substitute for Abel. As a rule, only the eldest son is mentioned in the genealogies, and Abel’s birth is chronicled chiefly because of his tragical end, leading to the enactment of the merciful law which followed and to the sundering of the human race. One of Adam’s daughters apparently clave unto her brother, in spite of the solemn decree of banishment passed upon him, probably, by his father, and followed him in his wanderings as his wife, and bare him a son, whom they called “Enoch.” Now this name, in Hebrew Chanoch, is of the utmost importance in estimating Cain’s character. It means train in Proverbs 22:6 (“Train up a child”), but is used in Deuteronomy 20:5 of the dedication of a house; and thus Cain also calls his city “Enoch,” dedicated. But in old times the ideas of training and dedication were closely allied, because teaching generally took the form of initiation into sacred rites, and one so initiated was regarded as a consecrated person. Though, then, the wife may have had most to do with giving the name, yet we see in it a purpose that the child should be a trained and consecrated man; and Cain must have now put off those fierce and violent habits which had led him into so terrible a crime. We may add that this prepares our minds for the rapid advance of the Cainites in the arts of civilisation, and for the very remarkable step next taken by Cain. He builded a city.—Heb., was building, that is, began to build a city. There was not as yet population enough for a city, but Cain, as his offspring increased, determined that they should dwell together, under training, in some dedicated common abode. He probably selected some fit spot for the acropolis, or citadel, to be the centre of his village; and as training is probably the earlier, and dedication the later meaning, Cain appears as a wise ruler, like Nimrod subsequently, rather than as a religious man. His purpose was much the same as that of the builders of the Tower of Babel, who wanted to keep mankind together that they might form a powerful community. It is worth notice that in the line of Seth, the name of the seventh and noblest of that race, is also Enoch, whose training was a close walk with God.

Verse 17. She - bare Enoch] As חנוך Chanoch signifies instructed, dedicated, or initiated, and especially in sacred things, it may be considered some proof of Cain's repentance, that he appears to have dedicated this son to God, who, in his father's stead, might minister in the sacerdotal office, from which Cain, by his crime, was for ever excluded.

17–24. The Descendants of Cain: The Genealogy of the Cainites. (J.) See the Special Note on “the Antediluvian Patriarchs,” see below. The traditions preserved in this section probably belong to a different J source from that of the verses immediately preceding. This will explain how it is that Cain, who has just been condemned to a nomad life and has withdrawn into the land of “Wandering” (Nod), is in Genesis 4:17 described as the founder of a city, and as the ancestor of men who originated the industries and callings of civilization. NOTE ON THE According to chap. 5 (P), the interval of time between the work of Creation (Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 2:4 a) and the visitation of the Flood (Genesis 6:9 ff.) is occupied by a list of ten Patriarchs. The chronological scheme of P, according to the Hebrew text, makes this period to consist of 1656 years (in the Samaritan text, it Isaiah 1307 years; in the LXX, 2242). The description given of the ten Patriarchs is precise and formal. It is limited in each case to the bare formulae narrating facts respecting (i) the age of the Patriarch at the birth of his firstborn, (ii) the number of his remaining years, and the fact that he was the father of other children, (iii) his age at the time of his death. The account which is thus given furnishes an explanation of the great population of the earth which is overthrown in the Flood. The chapter, however, contains no mention of the growing wickedness of the race. And it does not appear that P takes any account of the Narrative of the Fall (chap. 3 J). Budde, indeed (Urgesch. 93–103), contends that the names of the Patriarchs are intended to symbolize the condition of their age, the names Jared (= descent), Methuselah (= the man of the weapon, or the man of violence) denoting its deterioration. The ten names represented the history of the human race before the Flood. The distribution of these ten names over the period of 1656 years implies a minute and elaborate calculation by the chronologists and chroniclers, whose work has been employed in P. I. Ten Babylonian Kings It is impossible to resist the conclusion that there is some sort of connexion between the ten Antediluvian Patriarchs of Genesis 5 and the ten kings before the Flood in the Babylonian Legends. The names of the ten kings are as follows: (A. According to Berossus.)(B. According to cuneiform inscriptions.). Alτrus.1. Arϋru.. Alaparos.2. Adapa.. Amκlτn.3. Amκlu (= Man, ? = Enosh).. Ammenτn.4. Ummanu (= Master-crafts-man, ? = Kenan).. Megalβros. 6. Daτnos. 7. Euedτrachos. 8. Amempsinos.7. Enmeduranki (?=Enoch). 8. Amel-Sin (= Man of the god Sin, ? = Methuselah).. Τtiartes.9. Ubara-Jutu. . Xisϋthros.10. Ḥ ?asisatra (?=Noah).In this list there may possibly be discerned some points of correspondence with the Hebrew. (a) In No. 3 Amelu (= Man) may be translated in Enosh=Man. (b) In (4) Ummanu (= Workman), in Kenan; and in (8) Amel-Sin (Man of Sin), in Methuselah (= Man of Shelah). (c) No.

- XIX. The Line of Cain 17. חניך chenôk, Chanok, “initiation, instruction.” 18.

17. Cain knew his wife — See on Genesis 4:1. “The text assumes it as self-evident that she accompanied him in his exile; also that she was a daughter of Adam, and, consequently a sister of Cain.