Genesis 4

were solemn times of making their devout acknowledgments to God: so, I doubt not, there were some set places where they met for that purpose. For the word in Hebrew for brought, is never used about domestic or private sacrifices; but always about those public sacrifices, which were brought to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to be offered by the priest. As (Lev. iv. 4.) " He shall bring the bullock to the door," &c. Which occurs all along, especially iu the ninth chapter of that book. And therefore, I suppose, they brought these sacrifices, here mentioned, to some fixed place; looking towards the Schechinah, or glorious presenceof God, at the entrance of the garden of Eden, from which Adam had been expelled. For there being, no doubt, some settled place where they performed sacred offices, it is most reasonable to think it had respect to the Schechinah, or Divine Majesty. Wheresoever that appeared, there they* appeared (as the Scripture speaks) before God: because there he manifested his special presence, which moved them to go thither to. worship him, to give him thanks, or to inquire of him,,’ as we read Rebecca did, xxv. 22. What kind of sacrifices these were, is a question among learned men. The Talmudists arc of opinion they were whole burnt-offerings, and that there were no other before the law was given, (which I shall not now examine,) nor would the Jews, after the giving of the law, permit the Gentiles to offer any other at their temple. It is their opinion also, that Cain and Abel brought these sacrifices to Adam, to be offered iDyirim: for which I sec no convincing reason; but, rather, they themselves seem to have offered them. And then this place effectually confutes their opinion, who say the first-born were separated to the office of priesthood: for, by these words, it is plain, the youngest sacrificed, as well as the eldest. And so they did in following ages; when we find Jacob performing the office of a priest, (Gen. xxviii. 18. xlvi. 1.) Which proves their opinion rather to be true, who say, that every man anciently had the power, in his own family, to do the office of a priest, as Job did, (i. 5.) But when families combined together, under one head, prince, or governor, he had the sole right of sacrificing devolved to him, as their common father. Thus Melchizedcck was both king of Salem and priest of the most high God. All which was taken away by the law of Moses, which permitted none to officiate among the Israelites, but the family of Aaron; and no sacrifices to be offered, but at the tabernacle of the congregation, Lev. xvii. 3, 4, 5. It is a much harder question, how they came to sacrifice at all, cither meal or beasts: since we read of no command from God requiring them to bring him such oblations: which hath led some to conclude, that men did this out of a grateful inclination, to return him some of bis own blessings; though they had no directions from him about it. But, if this were true, how came Abel to believe that his sacrifice of a beast would be so acceptable to God, as the apostle says it was by faith? (Hcb. xi. 4.) That faith had something else to warrant it, than barely his own reason. Adam, in all likelihood, had. received some order concerning it; and began to sacrifice (as I noted before, iii. 21.) by direction from the Schechinah, or Divine Majesty: from whence a voice spake to him upon several occasions, (ii, 16; 17, iii. 8, 9, &c.) This order, indeed, is not recorded, no more than many other things which Moses in his short history omitted, (as Enoch’s prophecy, Noah’s preaching, the peopling of the world, &c. see vcr. 15.) hut it doth not seem probable that Adam would have pre-* sumed to invent a way of worship, by killing beasts and burning their fat: especially, since one cannot perceive any inclination of it in nature. And therefore Euscbius very judiciously resolves, in my opinion, that this way of worship was not taken up by chance, or by a human motion,. Kara Stlay 8 Iwivotav wtojS^Xtj/icvo^ but suggested to them by a Divine intimation, (lib. i. Dcmonstr. Eyang. cap. 10.) Of which Plato ono would think had some notion, when he forbids his law-maker (in his Epinomis) to make any alteration in the rites of sacrificing, because, oh Zwarby tlU-, vat rrj SyrjTrj ruv toiovtwv tripi, it is not possible fot OUT mortal nature to know any thing about such matters. with the Eaalites, (1 Kings xviii. 38, &c.) Whence the Israelites, wishing all prosperity to their king, pray that God would accept (in* the Hebrew, turn into ashes) his bumf sacrifice, (Psal. xx. 4.) And we find some relics of this’among the heathen: for, when the Greeks went" on shipboard to the Trojan war, Homer represents Jupiter’ promising them good success in this manner, Iliad, ii. v. 354:‘Atrrpaxrwy ariS^£t’ hatfftjxa (rfjfiara <palvo)y. by lightning on the right hand of them, (as it may be translated) or shining graciously upon them, (as the ancient scholiast expounds it) and making favourable tokens appear to them. In like manner, he gave the same encouragement to the Trojans, when they were going to set upon the Greeks, Iliad, x. v. 236, 237: Zeus; 2e <r<juv Kpovifye lv$££ta atifiara ^aiVwv,‘Aorpaffra Jupiter giving them good signs, lightened upon them. And thunder sometimes accompanying these flashes of lightning (as it did on Mount Sinai), Virgil makes him to have established covenants in that manner, (iEneid. xii. v. 200.) AYherc, after iEneas had called the sun to witness, &c. Latinus lifts up his eyes and right hand to heaven, saying, " Audiat haec genitor, qui foedera fulmine saucit."; Let the (heavenly) Father hear what I say,‘who establishes’covenants witli thunder. If such passages as these were attended to, no considering man would think the books of Moses to be of less antiquity than they pretend to; they opening to us the very fountains of things, particularly of the ancient religion. And the Lord said unto Cain, &c] He did not intend wholly to cast off Cain, by refusing his sacrifice, it is plain, I think, by this question. Which was, in cflect, to tell him, he had no reason to be angry or out of humour; but only to become a better. man: arid then God would have respect unto him also. So it follows:, hut the foulest fact may be covered with a Ik. But this conceit is confuted by the very question which is put to Cain. right idolater (as many think), it is very likely he introduced the worship of the sun (which was the most ancient sort of idolatry), as the best resemblance he could find of the glory of theLord: which was wontto appear in aflaminglight. And in aftertimes they worshipped fire in the eastern countries; as the best emblem of the sun, when it was absent. And dwelt in the land of Nod.] At last he settled in a country, which had the name of Nod; from h\s wandering up and down, like a vagabond, till he fixed here: where, it seems, he still continued restless; moving from one part of the country to another, till, in conclusion, " he built a city," (for his security, some think) as we read in the verse following. Some translate it, in the land of vagabonds. And R. Solomon fancies the very ground shaked under him, and made people runaway from him, saying, “This is the cruel man that killed his brother.” On the east of Eden.] He still went eastward from that country, where Adam settled after he was thrust out of paradise. Sec iii. 24. Which Junius thinks was in that tract of ground where the Nomadcs afterwards dwelt, bordering upon Susiana. Which is far more probable, than the conceit of the author of the book Cosri, (par. ii. § 14.) who would have Cain’s going " from the presence of the Lord" nothing else but his expulsion out of the land of Canaan, where Adam dwelt after he was thrust out of paradise: and consequently, the land of Nod was not far from the land of Canaan. Nothing can be more ungrounded than this; which overthrows, also, all that Moses saith of Eden, and the garden planted there; from whence Adam went out on the east side, and therefore not towards Canaan, which was westward. 2G [chap. IV. Mclech, which signifies a king, somo of the Jews fancy him to have been a great man: for none but such, they say, had two wives in those ancient times; though they hold it was lawful (as Selden shews, lib. v. De Jure N. et G. cap.G.) for any body that could maintain them to have had more. But it is more likely that Lamech was the first that adventured to transgress the original institution; which was observed even by the Cainitcs till this time. When, perhaps, his earnest desire of seeing that blessed seed which was promised to Eve, might induce him to take more wives than one: hoping, by multiplying his posterity, some or other of them might prove so happy as to produce that seed. And this he might possibly persuade himself was the more likely, because the right that was in Cain the first-born, he might now conclude was revived’in himself: who, being the seventh from Cain, had some reason to imagine the curse laid upon him, of being punished sevenfold, i. e. for seven generations, was now expired; and his posterity restored to the right of fulfilling the promise. There are divers other interpretations, which I shall not mention; because this is most pertinent to the preceding discourse. Vcr. 25. Bare a son.] The Jews think he was born a year after Abel was killed. And called his name Seth.] Mothers anciently gave names to their children, as well as the fathers. And Eve gave this son the name of Seth, because she looked upon him as appointed (so the word signifies) by God, to be what Cain, she thought, shouldhave been; till God rejected his sacrifice, and he slew Abel: in whose room she Delieved God had substituted this son, to be the seed from whom the Redeemer of tKe world should come. The Arabians say, (particularly Elmacinus, p. 7.) that Seth was the inventor of letters and writing (as Jubal was of music, and Tubal-Cain of arms), which so much surpassed all other inventions, that some (as Cedrenus tells us) called him a god; i. e. the highest benefactor to mankind. Which, if it were true, we might think that thence his children were called " the sons of God," (vi. 2.) But it is most likely this mistake arose from Symmachus’s translation of the last words of the next verse, which, if we may believe Suidas, was thus: " Then began Seth to be called by the name of God." For which there is no foundation, either there or any where else iu Scripture. For though it be said that Moses was made " a god to Pharaoh," yet he is never simply called a god, as Jacobus Capellus well observes. Nor is any king or prince called by that name, particularly, in Scripture; though in general it says of them all,, that " they are gods."

Genesis 4:1

JjlND Adam faiew Eve his wife, &c. After they were thrown out of paradise; not before (whatsoever some of the Jewish doctors fancy to the contrary); nay, as some mil have it, after they had spent some time in acts of re-* pentancc, which is not an improbable opinion. Ihave gotten a man from the Lord.~\ i. e. The promised Messiah; which she imagined would have been her firstborn. For the words of the promise (iiu 15.) might as well be expounded of the first seed the wonmn, had, as of any of his posterity.

Genesis 4:2

She bare his brother AbeL. But gives no reason of his name, which signifies vanity; as she did of Cain’s^, which signifies acqxiisition, or possession. Nor is it saiil who gave this second son the name of Abel: but it seems they made no account of him, in comparison with the first; born. " Quod non posuerunt in eo spem factee promissionis de semine, ut in Rain," (as Joh. Forsterus judiciously speaks, in his Lexicon, on the word Hevel,) Because they did not place in him their hope of the promised, seed, as ■ they did in Cain. And Abel iva<s a keeper of sheep, &c.] The younger son, was a shepherd; and the elder an husbandman and planter. For this last seems to have been Adam’s chief employ-? ment, both before and after his fall, (Gen. ii. 15. iii. 23.) and therefore either chosen by Cain, in imitation of his father, or put upon him by his direction, as the more noble of the two. Whence the eastern people gave him the name of Abdalr cariths; which some mistook for another son of Adam: but in truth was another name of Cain, signifying a tiller of the field, as Mr. Seldcn shews, lib. y. De Jure N. et G. cap. 8. The patriarchs indeed after the flood, at least in Abraham’s family, chose to feed cattle: but that was because it was less laborious, and more suitable to that unsettled condition wherein they lived for many years, removing, like the ancient Nomades, from one country to another.

Genesis 4:3

In process of time. In the Hebrew the words are, in the $nd of days: that is, in the conclusion of the year, or after harvest. So days signify in many other places, particularly Judg. xi. 4. where after days is after q year. This was a very seasonable time to make their grateful acknowledgments to God; who had given them a fruitful year, and blessed them with increase. Accordr ingly God ordained, in future times, that the Israelites should keep a solemn feast, in the year’s end, to thank hip for the ingathering of their fruits. (Exod. xxiii. 16. xxxiv. 2%) But in what year of the world it was that Cain and Abel brought these sacrifice^, we have no means to know. It was, no doubt; when they were grown men; and perhaps had m.orc brothers and sisters besides themselves. Sqc vcj. 17. Cain brought of the fruit of th$ ground an offering unto tlie Lord.] These were the most ancient sacrifices among the gentiles, both Gre.ck and Jloman, as their authors Jell us; and therefore it is most likely that Adam began with these oblations, of herbs, flowers, frankincense, meal, &c. in which CsLin followed him; being of the same profession, and prpvided with store of such things. Now, #s there

Genesis 4:4

And Abel, he also brought of the firstling of his flock, &c. Many have fancied, from hence, that Cain’s guilt lay in this, that he did not bring the first of his fruit, as he ought to have done, and as the heathens ever did, or were bound to do by their pontifical laws, (as Mr. Selden observes, chap. i. of his Hist, of Tithes) in their Praemessum, i. e. the first-fruits of their corn, or their Calpar, which was the richest of their wine. For it is. only said, he brought of the fruit of his ground, when Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock. And Moses also adding, that Abel brought of the fat thereof, that is, the very best; they think Cain’s fault was, that he brought not the fullest ears of corn (which he kept for himself;, but the lankest, or brought them with a niggardly hand, or a grudg- „ ing mind. Thus Palladius, in the Life of St. Chrysostom, says, " He was the first that tasted the first-fruits, and kept the best things for his own belly." Twv dirtpx** «^y«»’- traro 7r^owroc, W; lavrov Xatfiepyiq. ra Trputrtla ^vXaijac, p. 108 Bnt there is no certainty of this; and the apostle to the Hebrews hath directed us to a better account, (xi. 4.) Abel’offered with a pious mind; Cain without a due sense of God, and sincere affection to him. He offered the fruit of his ground; but did not devote himself to God. Therefore it follows, Tlie Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering.’] He graciously accepted them: and his offering was accepted, because he himself was accepted. It is a metaphor from those who, when a present is made to them, look kindly upon the person that brings it, if they like him and his present; or turn away their faces, if they disdain • them. How God testified his acceptance of Abel’s sacrifice is the only difficulty: which the Jews say was by fire coming from heaven (or rather, I think, by a stream of light, or a flame from the Schechinah, or glorious presence ofGod^ to whom it was offered) which burnt up his sacrifice. Thus, Thcodotion of old translated these words:‘A7re/3\e^sv i v l rdg Svalag Aj3tX, ko\ avhrprja: He looked upon AbeVs sacrifices, and set them on fire. Which St. Hierom, aud other ancient writers approve. The footsteps of which we meet withal, in Gen. xv.17. and examples of it very many in future times: when Moses offered the first great burntoffering according to the Jaw, (Lev. ix. 24.) when Gideon offered upon the rock, (Judg. vi. 21.) and David stayed the ^ plague, (1 Chron. xxi. 2G.) and Solomon consecrated the temple, (2 Chron. vii. 13.) and when Elijah contended

Genesis 4:5

But unto Cain and his offering he had not respect. He did not so much as shine upon his sheaves; much less make them ascend up to heaven in a smoke: though he were the elder brother, and brought his Offering first. And Cain teas very wroth.] This highly incensed him against Abel: when he should have made severe reflections on himself, and considered what it was that provoked God to slight his sacrifice; that so he might amend it, and procure his favour. Unto which he had not a title by his birthright, but by his piety. It is possible, indeed, that Eve might have instilled an opinion into him, that he, being the first-born, was the blessed seed which God had promised. And then this may be conceived to have enraged him the more against his brother; when he saw such a distinguishing mark of God’s special favour to him in the very act of sacrificing. Which made him look upon Abel with a jealous eye, and tempted him to kill him; that he might not supplant him in his “hope, of being the fulfillcr of the oracle beforcmentioned, iii. 15. And his countenance fell.] He did not merely look dejectedly through grief; but knit his brows, and had a down look, as we speak, lowering and cloudy: like those who have evil designs in their heads, and meditate nothing but revenge. ■

Genesis 4:7

If thou dost well, shall thou not be accepted? &c. There are vast varieties in the interpretation of.this verse, with which I shall not trouble the reader (sec Theodorick Hackspan, lib. i. Miscel. cap. 4. Mercer, and L. dc Dieu, different from all, with Dr. Lightfoot), but only. give the sense of our translation. " If thou dost well, shall thou not be accepted?” Canst thou doubt that I have an impartial respect to true goodness, wheresoever I find it? But if thou, dost not well, sin (that is, the punishment of sin, as ver. 13. xix. 15. and many other places) lieth at the door J] Is ready to follow the offence. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shall rule over him.] He is still thy younger brother, and shall be subject to thee, (sec iii. 16.) and thou shalt be his superior. So here are three things suggested to Cain, to appease his, anger against his brother. First, That the reason of his not being respected was not in his brother, but in himself: who, if he would do well, as Abel had done, should find favour no’less than he. Secondly, That there was no reason he that did ill should fare like him that did well; but quite contrary, should feel the marks of God’s displeasure. And yet, Thirdly, This should not alter his civil right, nor give Abel any authority over him: but he should still retain the privilege of his birthright; and need fear no harm from his brother, who’was his inferior.

Genesis 4:8

And Cain talked with Abel his brother. Asked him in a friendly manner (as one, brother speaks to another) if he would walk into the fields? This, seems more likely to me, than that he told him how the Lord had chidden him (as Aben Ezra interprets it),, or that he disputed with him about the other world, and the judgment to come, as others of theni expound if. Which Mr; Selden very judiciously concludes to have arisen from Onkelos’s paraphrase on tho foregoing Verse, which is this,: “If thou amend thy worship (or service of me) shalt thou not be pardoned? but if thou dost not amend it, thy sin shall remain to the day of judgment, in which thou shalt be punished if thou dost not repent.” Upon which follows, in some editions of the Pentateuch, the dispute which Cain had with Abel about the day of judgment, as a traditional explication of this eighth verse. Lib.vii. dc Jure N. etGen. cap. 4. IVJien they were in the field.] When he had drawn him from company, and had him alone. Cain rose tip against Abel his brother.] Assaulted him on a sudden; took him at an advantage. And slew him.] Gave him a stab; or some other way wounded him; so as to shed his blood. Verso 11.

Genesis 4:9

The Lord said unto Cain, Wliere is thy brother?. Which is not spoken, as if he was ignorant; but to awaken Cain, and make him sensible, that he knew what had passed; And he said, I know not.] I can give no account of him; Am I my brother’s keeper?] Was he committed, like a little child to my care; to look after him, and see he took no harm? Rage made him rude; and not mind what he said, nor to whom he spoke. Salvian, indeed, (lib. i. de gubern. Dei) thinks this speech proceeded from atheism; and that, in those early days, the opinion sprung up, whichi in his time, had infected many," Deuin tcrrestria non respiccre/’&c. That God did not mind what we do on earth:

Genesis 4:10

And he said, What hast thou done?. Consider what a heinous crime thou hast committed; which cannot ho concealed from me. For, The voice of thy brother’s blood crieih, &c] Calls for speedy and sevcro vengeance. In the Hebrew it is bloods, in the plural number; because, say the Hebrew doctors, he killed Abel and all his posterity, which were in his loins: according to^what we Tead, 2 Kings ix.26. “I have seen the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons (though we read of nobody stoned bnt Naboth himself), saith the Lord, nnd f will requite thee in this plat,” Sec. Sec Sanhedrin, cap. iv. and Excerpt. Gemara, cap. vi. N.7. A Job. Coch. Vor. 11. And now thou art cursed from the earth, tvhicJi hath opened, &c] I pass a sentence of perpetual banishment upon thee, from this country; which hath drunk in the blood of thy brother. Hitherto Adam aud his children had lived together; but now, as Aben Ezra well observes, Cain was banished into a region far off from his father, who dwelt in the neighbourhood of Paradise. Lantech took unto him two wives.] By a small transposition of letters, Lamech being the same with

Genesis 4:12

And when thou tillest the ground, &c. And wheresoever thou shalt flee, the earth, which thou tillest, shall be barren; and not bring forth answerable to thy labour. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.] In that strange country thou shalt have no rest; but wander up and down unquietly, and not know where to settle: or as the LXX. translate the words, " Go about groaning and -trembling, full of anguish in thy mind, and with a continual shaking in thy body." Thus St. Basil, in his Homily against Drunkenness understood it, when he said, “A drunkard draws upon himself the curse of Cain “Tpiftuv *ra< icepupepofievoc Bid navroc /5tov. Staggering and turned about uncertainly all his life long. Hen. Valcsius thinksliis brother’s ghost haunted’him whithersoever he went; which made him runfrom place to place to avoid its persecution. So he paraphrases these -words, (Annot. in lib. iii. Euseb. Hist. Eccles. cap. G.) Umbra fratris tui qnem occidisti, perseqiteter te ubique, et tiderit infesta. And so he interprets the foregoing words, “The *roice of thy brother’s blood crieth to me from the ground.” Thy brother, whom thou hast impiously slain, requires me to avenge him, and exact the punishment of thee, which is *due for his murder. And indeed it was a notion, not only among the pagans, but among the Jews also (as he shews), that the ghosts of those who were murdered persecuted their murderers, and required punishment of them.

Genesis 4:13

My punishment is greater than lean bear. This is too heavy a punishment, fori sink under the weight of it. Others interpret it (as appears by the margin of our Bible), “My sin is unpardonable;” or too great to be forgiven. Thus he, who, nt first, was not so sensible of his sin as to confess it, now fhiriksit to no purpose to bog mercy.

Genesis 4:14

Behold, thou hast driven nte this day from the fact ofihewrih. Vanished mo (as was said before, vor. 11.) from my own native -country. And from thy face shall I be hid.] And more than that, I tm’banished from thy blessed presence, (as appears from ver. 1G.) and shall not have the liberty to come before thy glerious Majesty. With respect to which he may be said to have been excommunicated, though not in full sense of that word, as Mr. Selden shews, lib. i. dc Synedr. cap. 2* p. 44G. 455, &c. And I shall be a fugitive, &c] Wandering up and down in unknown regions. And it shall come to pass, tjiat every one thatfindeth me shall slay me.] I shall be looked upon as a common enemy; so thatwhosocver lights upon me, taking mc for a dangerous person, will kill me. To find another, in Scripture language, signifies to fall upon him by chance or unawares; without any precedent hatred: as Bochart observes, from 1 Sam. xxiv. 14. and other places, lib. ii. Hicrozoic. p. i. cap. 21.

Genesis 4:15

And tJie Lord said unto him, Therefore, whoso slayeth Cain, &c. Or, (as the w r ord we translate therefore may be rendered) not so: it shall not be as thou suspectest But Lud. de Dieu gives many instances where this word ]2b is used as an affirmative, signifying as much as surely. So the meaning is, Take it for a certain truth, that if any man slay Cain, he (that is Cain) shall be avenged sevenfold; or rather, through seven generations, God will punish the slaughter, of Cain a long time: “for the number seven is aopiffrov.ir()9ovs trrjfjtapTiKdy, (as the Chronic. Excerpt, before Job. Antiochenus spcal)an indication of an indeterminate, but great number; signifying as much as he shall endure many punishments. For God intended the life of Cain should be prolonged, in a miserable estate, as an example of his vengeance; to deter others from committing the like murder. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, &c.] What this mark w r as, we must be content to be ignorant. Some think God stigmatized him with a letter of his name in his forehead; (or, rather, I should think, set such a brand upon him as signified him to be accursed:) others, that he looked most frightfully, so that every body avoided him; or, that his head shaked continually; or, (as others) he had a trembling in his whole body; or, his face, perhaps, was blasted by lightning from the presence of the Lord. Certain it is, that it was some notorious mark of God’s displeasure; which made men shun him. For we must not imagine there w r as nobody in the w r orld, at this time, but Adam, Eve, and Cain: but consider that the design of this Holy Book is not to give us a particular account of the whole race of mankind descended from Adam (who, no doubt, had a great many more children than Cain and Abel; and they also had children before this happened), but only of those persons who were most remarkable; and whose story was necessary to be known, for the understanding of the succession down to Moses’s time. Accordingly we read, presently after this, that Cain had n wife; and more than that, he built a city: which supposes a great company of people •to inhabit it, (ver. 17.) And here, by the way, we need not wonder there is no mention made,of the institution of sacrifices; when the first peopling of the world is only supposed, not related.

Genesis 4:16

And Cainwmt wL. Not voluntarily, but by the force of the Divine cnr&e. From (he presence of the XorcZ.] There was a Divine glory, called “by the Jews the Schochin&h, which appealed from the beginning (as I have often said before); the. sight of which Cain never afterlhis enjoyed; but was banished from it: andGod withdrawing his gracious presence from him (so St Chrysostom), be was also forsaken by him, and put out of his special protection. If Cain, after this, turned a jlown-

Genesis 4:17

And Cain knew his wife.~. There hath been no mention hitherto of any woman in the world hut Eve, much less of Cain’s having a wife. And therefore it is uncertain whether tins were a wife he took before he killed his brother, or after. It is most probable before; because we may well think all the world abhorred the thoughts of marriage, with such an impious murderer, whom God also had accursed. But whether it were before or after, I see no reason to conclude that this wife was his sister: there being women enough in the world beside, before this time, as was said before, (ver. 15.) For even in our country, in the age before us, there sprung from two persons, three hundred and sixtyseven children, within the space of eighty years. And therefore, the world being now (when Cain slew Abel) a hundred and twenty-eight, or a hundred and thirty years old, according to Archbishop Usher, and Jac. Capcllus’s Chronology, we cannot but conceive there were a great number of people in it, descended from all those sons and daughters which Adam begot, (chap. v. 4.) Wc arc not told how many, but some of the ancient eastern traditions (in Cedrcnus) say, he had thirty-three sons and twenty-seven daughters. It is true, indeed, that at the first Cain could marry none bat one of his sisters. Which was then lawful, because absolutely necessary: but prohibited by God, when that necessity ceased. Of which the eastern people were so sensible, that they took care to have it thought, that Cain and Abel did not marry those who were nearest akin to them, but those that were at some distance. For their tradition is, that Eve, at her two first births, brought VOL. J. twins, a son and a daughter; viz. Cain with his sister Azron, and Abel with his sister Awin; as Saidus Patricides, patriarch of Alexandria, reports. Now, such was their caution not to match with those that were nearest in blood, but with those further off, as much as was then possible; Cain was not suffered to marry his twin-sister, nor Abel his: but Adam gave Awiu to Cain, and Azron to Abel., I cannot vouch the truth of this story; which I mention only to shew, thatmankindhavehadasense, that all possible care should be used to avoid marriages with the nearest relations: for though this story was derived, perhaps, from the Jews, yet it was believed by other people. See Mr. Scldcn, lib. v. De Jure, N. er/G. cap. 8. -Whence Diodorus Siculus says, lib. i. it was mow edoc rwv dvQpajTTwv, the common use of mankind, that brothers and sisters should not be joined in marriage. And Plato (lib. viii. de Lcgib.) calls such marriages /ii?^a/iwc Seta Kat Seofitffrj, by no means holy, bat hateful to God. • For though they were not so in the beginning of things, they became so afterwards: that hcing natural in one state of things- (as Grotius well observes, lib. De Jure,B. et P. cap. 10.) which is unnatural in another state. And he built a city.] Not as soon as he came into this country; but when he had a numerous progeny, able to people it: and consequently in his old age. His end in building it, some think, was to cross the curse of wandering to and fro: others, to defend himself against those whom his guilty conscience made him fear; or, to secure the spoils which, by force and violence, (as Josephus relates, lib. i. Antiq. cap. 3.) he had taken from others. There are those who imagine, that when he attempted to build this city, he often broke off the work, out of a panic fear: such an one as Romulus felt, after he had killed his brother Remus.. And called the name of the city, after the name of his son.] Some think he declined his own name, because he knew it to be odious every where: but it is more likely, it was for that reason which moved men in aftertimes to do the same. For it hath been a very ancient usage for great men to call the cities which they built by the name of their sons, rather than their own; out of the great love they bare to their children. Thus Nimrod called Nineveh after the name of his son Ninus: which the psalmist notes as a piece of the vanity of mankind, to call their lands (that is, the houses where they dwelt, as R. Solomon Jarchi interprets it) by their own names, to be a lasting monument of them and of their family. Enoch.] There were an ancient people called by Pliny, Heniochii; by Mela, Eniochi; and by Lucan, Enochii: some of which lived so far eastward, that Sir W. Raleigh fancies they might be the posterity of this Enoch.

Genesis 4:18

And unto Enoch was born Jrad, &c. It is remarkable, that though Moses gives us some account of the descendants of Cain, yet he saith not a word of the years that they lived; and carries their genealogy but a little way. Whereas he deduces the genealogy of Seth down to the flood, and so to his own time, &c. And also relates particularly, (chap, v.) towhatagethe life of his principal posterity was prolonged. It seems, he looked upon Cain’s race as such a reprobate generation, that he would not number them in the book of the living: as St. Cyril speaks.

Genesis 4:20

He was the father. The Hebrews call him the father of any thing, who was the first inventor of it; or a most excellent master in that art. Such was Jabal in the art of making tents, folding flocks, and all other parts of pasturage. Which, though begun by Abel, was not by him brought to perfection; or, if it were, Jabal was the first in the family of Cain that was eminent in the following inventions. Of such as dwell in tents.] Taught men to pitch tents; which were moveable houses, that might easily be carried from place to place, when there was occasion to remove for new pasture. Under this is comprehended all that belongs to the care of cattle in their breeding, feeding, and preserving, as appears by what follows. And of such as have cattle.] In the Hebrew the words arc, and of cattle. Where the copulative vau, which we translate and,’ signifies as much as with: and so the words are to be here translated, " such as dwell in tents, with cattle.” Thus Bochartus observes it is used, 1 Sam.xiv.lS. u The ark of God was at that time with the children of Israel;” as we, with the ancients, truly translate it. And so it should be translated, Exod. i. 5. " All the souls that came out of Jacob’s loins were seventy souls, with Joseph/* Vox Joseph is not to be added (as we seem to understand it) unto the seventy, but made up that number, as appears from Gen. xlvi. 27. So that the sense of this whole verse seems to be, that though men fed cattle before in good pastures, yet Jabal was the first, that, by the invention of tents, made the more desert countries serviceable to them: where, when they had eaten up all the grass in one place, they might in a little time take up their tents, and fix them in another. To this purpose Jl. Solomon Jarchi. And in these tents, it is likely, he taught them to defend their cattle, as well as themselves, from heat and cold, and all other dangers to which they were exposed in those desert places.

Genesis 4:21

Father of such as handle the harp and organ. The first inventor of musical instruments, and that taught men to play upon them. What citmor is, (“which we translate harp) see in Bochartus’s Canaan, lib. ii. cap. 7. p. SOS. I believe the first word includes in it all stringed, the latter all wind musical instruments. It is possible that Apollo, or Linus, or Orpheus (for there are all these various opinions), might be the inventor of the harp among the Greeks: but it was their vanity that made them fancy such instruments had their original in their country.

Genesis 4:22

Tnbal-Cain. The Arabians still call a plate of iron or brass by the name of Tabal, (as I3ocharlus observes out of Aviccnna, and others, lib. iii. Phaleg. cap. 12.) who, as it follows in the text, was An instructor of every artificer in brass and iron.] i. e. Found the art of melting metals, and making nil sorts of weapons, arms, and other instruments of iron and brass. Many think that Vulcan is the same with Tubal-Caiu (their names being not unlike); particularly Gerh. Vossius, DeOrig. Idolol. lib. i. cap. 16. His sister’s name was Naamah.] Whom Vossins, (lb. cap. 17.) takes to have been the heathen Minerva, or Venus. Her name signifies beautiful, or fair, oric of a sweet aspect: and the Arabians say, she invented colours and painting as Jubal did music. See Elmacinus, p. 8.

Genesis 4:23

And Lantech said unto his wives, &c. Hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech. Something had preceded these words, which was the occasion of them: but it is hard to find what it was. Jacobus Capellns, indeed (in his IIistoriaSacraetExotica),hath aconccitthat Lamech was now in a vapouring humour, being puffed tip with the glory of his son’s inventions; to whose music and other arts he endeavoured to add poetry: which he expressed in the following words, that seem to him a thrasonical hymn, wherein he brags what feats he would do. For so he reads the words (with Aben Ezra), not / have slain but I will kill a man with one blow of my fist, &c. But I can see no warrant for this translation, without a violence to the Hebrew text; and therefore we must seek for another interpretation. J have slain a man to my wounding, &c] These words would haA r e a plain exposition (which otherwise are difficult), if we could give credit to the Hebrew tradition; which, St. Hierom says, several Christians followed: that Lamech, being informed by a certain youth, as he was hunting, that there was a wild beast lay lurking in a secret place, went thither; and unawares killed Cain, who lay hid there: and then, in a rage at what he had done, fell upon the youth that had occasioned this mistake, and beat him to death. But, as there is no certainty of this, so it doth not agree with the next Terse: which seems to sappose Cain to be now alive. Therefore, Lud. De Dieu, following Onkelos, reads the words by way of interrogation; " Have I slain a man? or, so much as a boy?” that you should be afraid of my life? It seems the use of weapons being found out by one of his sons, and grown common, his wives apprehended that somebody or other might make use of them to slay him. But he bids them comfort themselves, for he was not guilty of slaying any body himself; and therefore might reasonably hope nobody would hurt him. And then the meaning of the next verse is easy.

Genesis 4:24

If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lantech seventy and seven fold. If God hath guarded Cain so strongly, who was a murderer, as to threaten great and long punishments to those that slay him; lie will punish them far more, and pursue them with a longer vengeance, who shall slay me, being a guiltless person.

Genesis 4:26

To him also was born a son. When he was a hundred and five years old, as we read, v. 6. And he called his name Enos.] Signifying the weak and miserable condition of mankind; which he seemed, by giving him this name, to deplore. Tlien began men to call upon the name of the Lord.] This doth not import that men did not call upon the Lord (w T hjch includes all his worship and service) before this time: but that now (as Jac. Capellus conceives) they were awakened, by the consideration of their infirmity beforementioned, to be more serious and frequent in religious offices: or, rather (as others understand it) they began to hold more public assemblies. For families being now; multiplied, to which religion was before confined, they joined together and met in larger societies and communion, for the solemn worship of God by sacrifices, and other religious services. For to call upon God, comprehends, as I said, all religion: which consists in acknowledging him to be the Lord of all; in lauding all his glorious perfections; giving him thanks for his benefits; and beseeching the continuance of them. But it being scarce credible, that public assemblies were not held long before this (it being probable that, even when Cain and Abel sacrificed, their families joined together to worship God), it hath moved some men of note (such as Bertram and Ilackspan), to follow our marginal translation; “Then began men (i. e. the children of Seth) to call themselves by the name of the Lord:” that is, the servants or worshippers of the Lord; in distinction from * the Cainites, and such profane persons as had forsaken him. And indeed a great number of the Jewish writers, with whom Mr. Selden joins, (in his De Diis Syris, Prdlegom. 3.) would have the words expounded thus, to signify that apostacy: " Then was there profanation, by invoking the name of the Lord.” For the word hochal, which we here translate began, signifying profaned, in Lev. xix. 12. (“Thou shalt not profane the name of the Lord thy God;”) they, take Moses’s meaning to be, “That the most Holy Name which belongs to the Creator and Possessor of heaven and earth alone, was now impiously given unto creatures:” particularly to the sun. And thus the Arabic interpreter, in Erpenius’s edition; " Then began men to apostatize from the worship of God.” But a great number of very learned men have opposed themselves to this interpretation; and with much judgment: Moses being here speaking of the pious family of Seth, and not of impious Cain’s: and the word hochal (as Hackspan observes), with the preposition le following in the next word, being constantly used in the sense of beginnings, not of profanation. And therefore they content themselves with our marginal translation: or else think that God was now first called upon by the name of Jehovah. Or, that liturgies,- as we call them, or public forms of worship, were now appointed at set hours: or, some other considerable improvements made in religious offices. For the Arabian Christians represent this Enos as an excellent governor: who, while he lived, preserved his family in good order; and when he died, called them all together, and gave them a charge to keep God’s commandments, and not associate themselves with the children of Cain. So Elmacinus.