---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Genesis 4"
description: "CHAPTER 4   :-. BIRTH OF CAIN
AND ABEL. 1. Eve said, I have gotten a man
from the Lord—that is, \"by the help of the Lord\"—an
expression of pious gratitude"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/genesis/4"
---

![Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible](/images/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible.jpg)

 The Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
 
Include 66 books
 
Denomination: calvinism
 
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CHAPTER 4

. BIRTH OF CAIN
AND ABEL.

**1. Eve said, I have gotten a man
from the Lord**—that is, "by the help of the Lord"—an
expression of pious gratitude—and she called him Cain, that is, "a
possession," as if valued above everything else; while the
arrival of another son reminding Eve of the misery she had entailed
on her offspring, led to the name Abel, that is, either weakness,
vanity ([Psalms 39:5](../../../kjv/psalms/39/5)), or grief,
lamentation. Cain and Abel were probably twins; and it is thought
that, at this early period, children were born in pairs ([Psalms 39:5](../../../kjv/psalms/39/5)) [CALVIN].

**2. Abel was a keeper of
sheep**—literally, "a feeder of a flock," which, in
Oriental countries, always includes goats as well as sheep. Abel,
though the younger, is mentioned first, probably on account of the
pre-eminence of his religious character.

**3. in process of time**—*Hebrew,*
"at the end of days," probably on the Sabbath.
**brought . . . an offering
unto the Lord**—Both manifested, by the very act of offering,
their faith in the being of God and in His claims to their reverence
and worship; and had the kind of offering been left to themselves,
what more natural than that the one should bring "of the fruits
of the ground," and that the other should bring "of the
firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof" [].

**4. the Lord had respect unto Abel,
not unto Cain,** c.—The words, "had respect to,"
signify in *Hebrew,*—"to look at any thing with a keen
earnest glance," which has been translated, "kindle into a
fire," so that the divine approval of Abel's offering was shown
in its being consumed by fire (see [Genesis 15:17](../../../kjv/genesis/15/17)
[Judges 13:20](../../../kjv/judges/13/20)).

**7. If thou doest well, shalt thou
not be accepted?**—A better rendering is, "Shalt thou not
have the excellency"? which is the true sense of the words
referring to the high privileges and authority belonging to the
first-born in patriarchal times.
**sin lieth at the door**—sin,
that is, a sin offering—a common meaning of the word in Scripture
(as in [Hosea 4:8](../../../kjv/hosea/4/8); [2 Corinthians 5:21](../../../kjv/2-corinthians/5/21);
[Hebrews 9:28](../../../kjv/hebrews/9/28)). The purport of the
divine rebuke to Cain was this, "Why art thou angry, as if
unjustly treated? If thou doest well (that is, wert innocent and
sinless) a thank offering would have been accepted as a token of thy
dependence as a creature. But as thou doest not well (that is, art a
sinner), a sin offering is necessary, by bringing which thou wouldest
have met with acceptance and retained the honors of thy birthright."
This language implies that previous instructions had been given as to
the mode of worship; Abel offered through faith ([Hebrews 9:28](../../../kjv/hebrews/9/28)).
**unto thee shall be his
desire**—The high distinction conferred by priority of birth is
described ([Genesis 27:29](../../../kjv/genesis/27/29)); and it
was Cain's conviction, that this honor had been withdrawn from him,
by the rejection of his sacrifice, and conferred on his younger
brother—hence the secret flame of jealousy, which kindled into a
settled hatred and fell revenge.

**8. And Cain talked with Abel his
brother**—Under the guise of brotherly familiarity, he concealed
his premeditated purpose till a convenient time and place occurred
for the murder ([1 John 3:12](../../../kjv/1-john/3/12);
[Judges 1:11](../../../kjv/judges/1/11)).

**9. I know not**—a falsehood. One
sin leads to another.

**10. the voice of thy brother's blood
crieth unto me**—Cain, to lull suspicion, had probably been
engaging in the solemnities of religion when he was challenged
directly from the Shekinah itself.

**11, 12. now art thou cursed from the
earth**—a curse superadded to the general one denounced on the
ground for Adam's sin.

**12. a fugitive**—condemned to
perpetual exile; a degraded outcast; the miserable victim of an
accusing conscience.

**13, 14. And Cain said . . . My
punishment is greater than I can bear**—What an overwhelming
sense of misery; but no sign of penitence, nor cry for pardon.

**14. every one that findeth me shall
slay me**—This shows that the population of the world was now
considerably increased.

**15. whosoever slayeth Cain**—By
a special act of divine forbearance, the *life* of Cain was to
be spared in the then small state of the human race.
**set a mark**—not any
visible mark or brand on his forehead, but some *sign* or *token*
of assurance that his life would be preserved. This sign is thought
by the best writers to have been a wild ferocity of aspect that
rendered him an object of universal horror and avoidance.

**16. presence of the Lord**—the
appointed place of worship at Eden. Leaving it, he not only severed
himself from his relatives but forsook the ordinances of religion,
probably casting off all fear of God from his eyes so that the last
end of this man is worse than the first ().
**land of Nod**—of flight
or exile—thought by many to have been Arabia-Petræa—which was
cursed to sterility on his account.

**17-22. builded a city**—It has
been in cities that the human race has ever made the greatest social
progress; and several of Cain's descendants distinguished themselves
by their inventive genius in the arts.

**19. Lamech took unto him two
wives**—This is the first transgression of the law of marriage on
record, and the practice of polygamy, like all other breaches of
God's institutions, has been a fruitful source of corruption and
misery.

**17-22. builded a city**—It has
been in cities that the human race has ever made the greatest social
progress; and several of Cain's descendants distinguished themselves
by their inventive genius in the arts.

**23, 24. Lamech said unto his
wives**—This speech is in a poetical form, probably the fragment
of an old poem, transmitted to the time of Moses. It seems to
indicate that Lamech had slain a man in self-defense, and its drift
is to assure his wives, by the preservation of Cain, that an
*unintentional* homicide, as he was, could be in no danger.

**26. men began to call upon the name
of the Lord**—rather, by the name of the Lord. God's people, a
name probably applied to them in contempt by the world.

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