Genesis 4

Genesis 4:1

If Eve thought that in Cain she had gotten the man—JEMOVAN, the Messiah, as the words in the Hebrew may bear, she found herself sadly mistaken

Genesis 4:3

By instruction from God, more or less express, several of the Mosaic rites were practised long before the giving of the law at Sinai; as the distinction between clean and unclean beasts, chap. vii. 2: priests, altars, burnt-offerings, and drink-offerings; viii. 20, xiv. 18, xxii. 13, and xxxv. 14; abstinence from blood, ix. 4; oil for consecration, xxviii. 18, and xxxv. 14; marriage of brother’s widows, xxxviii. 8, 9, 20

Genesis 4:4

Heb. xi. 4. “By faith—as to the divine appointment, of which “their father had informed them, and by faith, in the promised Messiah, “signified thereby, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than “Cain; perhaps more proper in its matter, and certainly so in its manner, “by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his “gifts.” Perhaps the Lord testified his respect by consuming his sacrifice with fire from heaven; as in the case of Aaron, Lev. ix. 24: Gideon, Judg. vi. 21; David, 1 Chron. xxi. 26; Solomon, 2 Chron. vii. 1; and Elijah, 1 Kings xviii. 38

Genesis 4:5-15

Full of rage against God and his brother, Cain’s looks became sour, dejected, envious, and angry.—To convince him of his fault, God shewed him that it was his own want of faith and sincerity which hindered his acceptance; and that, if he did not repent, his sin would quickly subject him to punishment; And that in temporals Abel continued as subject to him, and was as affectionate as ever. While they talked in the field, Cain, still enraged in his heart, murdered his righteous brother, on account of his piety, Psal. iv. 21. 1 John iii. 12.—Abel’s blood cried to God for just vengeance upon Cain, Heb. xii

Genesis 4:24

God, notwithstanding Cain’s denial and insulting pretence that he had given him no charge of his brother, condemned him to punishment, and cursed the fields which he should cultivate into a farther degree of barrenness, Psal. ix. 12. Cain never lamented the heinousness of his sin, but complained that it could not be pardoned, and that his punishment was too great; and that now every body would be ready to kill him as the public enemy of mankind, and devoted of God to destruction. But God marked him with some visible token, and denounced a still heavier vengeance against the person who should kill him. Thus, Job xviii. 11. and xv. 20—24. “Terrors made him afraid on every side, and drove him to his feet. He travelled in pain all his days,” &c.—Lev. xxvi. 17, 36. “But God slew him not, lest his people should forget,” Psal. lix. 11. Ver. 19. Contrary to God’s original institution of marriage, and the stated equality preserved by his providence among the males and females of mankind, Lamech the descendant of Cain, to gratify his intemperate lust, first took a plurality of wives, and introduced a custom which still remains in many places of the world; and with which not a few of the pious Hebrews, inadvertent to the sinfulness thereof, complied; Gen. xvi. and xxix. 2 Sam. iii. v. 1 Kings xi. &c. But Christ fully laid open the iniquity of this practice, and restored marriage to its original form; Gen. ii. 18—24. Mal. ii. 14, 15. Mat. xix. 8. Ver. 23, 24. To deter his wives from hurting him, or to render them fearless of his being hurt by others, he boasts that he was well able to take care of himself; and that God, who took so much care of Cain, would certainly take much more care of his life who had never been a murderer. Perhaps for this purpose he puts it to them as a question, “Have I slain a man to my wounding, or a young man to my hurt?” &c

Genesis 4:26

The professors of the true religion, descended from Seth or others, called themselves the children of God, as a mark of distinction from the profane descendants of Cain; and they set up or re-established the more public and solemn worship of God on the sabbath, or on other occasions

REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. IV.—Let me believe the promise of God; but never sinfully hasten to obtain the promised blessing, lest I grasp a devil, a murderer, instead of the great God my Saviour! Never let me partially esteem children, or any thing else, lest what I regard become the plague of my soul, or my house; while what I contempt as vanity be highly favoured of the Lord! Let me train up my children betimes in proper callings, and especially in the fear and service of God! Let me always honour the Lord with the best I possess, ever remembering that “without faith it is impossible to please him!” If he shew a superior regard to others, never let my eye be evil because his is good, but let me ascribe righteousness to him, and take to myself shame and confusion of face!—But how great is the strength of enraged natural corruption! Nothing is so base, so impious, so unnatural, but it will attempt it. How fearful for guilty transgressors to fall into the hands of an angry God! No falsehood can deceive him, nor force withstand him. Nor can all the carnal expedients on earth relieve a conscience divinely charged and burdened with guilt.—Never let me envy the prosperity of the wicked, their cities erected, their numerous and thriving families, their artful inventions, or pleasures of sense!—But when Jesus adds to his church, or reforms the worship of it, let me rejoice thereat!—Meanwhile, in the name, the employ, the sacrifice, and death of Abel, let me behold Jesus appearing in the likeness of sinful flesh, and sullied with the vilest reproach:—Jesus as the great Shepherd of his Father’s church:—Jesus, as the faithful offerer of himself unto God for a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour:—Jesus, the hatred and murder of whom, by his brethren the Jews, issued in the curse of their country, the rejection of their church, and the scattering and misery of their nation, as a lasting monument of the vengeance of heaven!