Cain's Punishment and Posterity

‘eii. £). Wc have seen the tragical end of righteous Abel; but what becomes of the murderer? Probably he had hid the dead body

Gcfi.A:] Cain’s punishment. 59

of his brother, to elude detectioD: but God will find him out. Jehovah said unto Cain, Where is Abel, thy brother? What a cutting question! The words thy brother would remind him of the tender ties of flesh and blood which he had broken; and if he had any feeling of conscience left in him, must pierce him to the quick. But oh, how black, how hardened is the state of his mind I ]Iark his answer. First, the falsehood of it — / know not. We feel astonished that a man can dare to lie in the presence of his Maker: yet how many lies are uttered before him by formalists and hypocrites! Secondly, the insolence of it — Am I my brother s keeper? This man had no fear of God before his eyes: and where this is pvanting, regard to man will be wanting also,* Even natural affection will be swallowed up in selfishness. Supposing he had not known where his brother was, it did not follow that he had no interest in his preservation: but he did know, and instead of being his keeper, had been his murderer!

Ver. 1 0. And he said, TVhat hast thou done? ih, what indeed! This was the question put to Eve: this question will be put to every sinner sooner or later, and conscience must answer to it too! But Cain refuses to speak. Be it so; there needs no confession to substantiate his

* Luke xviii.

60 Cain’s punishment. [Dis. 8.

guilt. His brothers blood had already done this! Blood has a voice that will speak; yea, that will cri, to heaven from the ground for vengeance on him who sheds it; and a brothers blood especially. — What a scene will open to view at the last judgment, when the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.’ And if such was the cry of Abel’s blood, what must have been that of the blood which Mas shed on Calvary? We should have thought that blood must have called for vengeance seven-fold; and in one view it did so: but in another it speaks better things than that of Abel.

Ver. n, 12. But let us notice the doom of Cain. He was cursed from the earth; it should in future refuse to yield him its wonted fruits, and he should be a fugitive and a vagabond in it. Three thing’s are here observable: — First: By the sovereign will of the Lord of All, his life was spared. Afterwards a positive law was made by the same authority, that whosoever should shed mails blood, by man should his blood be shed. But at present, for reasons of state in the breast of the Kino- of kino-s,* the murderer shall be

* If he had died by the hand of man, it must have been either by an act of private revenge, which would have encreascd bloodbhed; or Adam himself must have been the executioner of his son, from which trial of “quenching the coal that ViUS left,” God might graciuubly exempt him,.

Gen. 4. J gain’s punishjient. 6

reprieved. — Secondly: The curse which attached to his life, like that of our first parents, is confined to the present state. There is no reason in the world to suppose that the punishment of such a crime would actually be so, any more than others, nor others any more than this; but a future life was at that time sparingly revealed, and almost every thing concealed under the veil of temporal good and evil, — Thirdly: It contains a special addition to that which was denounced on Adam. The earth was cursed to him; but Cain was cursed from the earth. It had been his brother’s friend, by affording a kind of sanctuary for his blood which he had pursued; but to him it should be an enemy, not only refusing its wonted fruits, but even a place whereon to rest his foot, or in which to hide his guilty head!

Ver. 13, 14. This tremendous sentence draws forth an answer from the murderer. There is a great change since he spoke last, but not for the better. All the difference is, instead of his high tone of insohsnce, we perceive him sinking into the last stage of depravity, sullen desperation. Behold here a finished picture of impenitent misery. What a contrast to the fifty- first psalm! There the evil dwelt upon and pathetically lamented is sin; but here it is only punish-

^2 Cain’s punishment. [Dis. 8.

nient. See how he expatiates upon it .... Driven from the face of the earth .... deprived of God’s favour and blessing, and in a sort, of the tneans of hope*. ... a wanderer and an outcast from men .... to all which his fears add, ‘Wherever I am, by night or by day, my life will be in perpetual danger!’ Truly it was a terrible doom, a kind of hell upon earth. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!

Jer. 15. From the last part of what his fears foreboded, however, God was pleased to exempt him; yet not in mercy, but in judgment. He shall not die, but live, a monument of divine justice. If he had died, his example might soon have been forgotten: but mankind shall see and fear. Slaij them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power, and bring them down, oh Lord! (Psal. lix. 11.) God is not obliged to send a sinner to the place of the damned, in order to punish him: he can call his name Magormissabib, and render him a terror to himself and to all about him! (Jer. xx. 3, 4.) What the mark was which was set upon Cain, we know not, nor docs it behove us to enquire: whatever it was, it amounted to a safe passage through the world,

* See verse l6i.

Gen. A).] Cain’s punishment. 6S

so far as respected a punishment from man for his present crime.

Ver. 16. And now having obtained a reprieve, he retires in the true spirit of a reprobate, and tries to forget his misery. It shocked hin» at first to be driven out from God’s face, by which perhaps he meant, from all connexion with the people and worship of God, from the means of grace, and so from the hope of mercy: but in a little time the sensation subsides, and he resolves to enjoy the present world as well as he can. He goes out from the presence of the Lord, takes a final leave of God and his worship, and his people, and cares no more about them. If this be the meaning of the words, (and I know of no other so probable) it wears a very favourable appearance with respect to the state of things in Adam’s family. It shews that the worship of God was there carried on, and that God was with them. Indeed, if it were not carried on there, it appears to have had no existence in the world, which there is no reason to believe was ever the case when once it had begun. With respect to Cain, the country whither he went is called Nod, or Naid, which signifies a vagabond. It was not so called before, but on his account; as who should say, the land of the “vagabond.

^4- Cain’s PuxisiniEXT. [Dis. 8.

Ver. 17- He was married before this, though we are not told to whom. Doubtless it was to one of Adam’s daughters, mentioned in chap. V. 4, which near afhnity, though since forbidden, was then absolutely necessary.- Of her, in the land of the vagabond, he had a son whom he called Enoch; not him who ualkecl icitfi God, but” one of the same name. It signihes taught, or dedicated: it is rather difficult to account for his callino- the child by this name, after what had taken place. Possibly it might be one of those effects of education which are often seen in the ungodly children of religious parents. When he himself was born, he was, as we have seen, accounted aii acquisition, and was doubtless dedicated, and as he grew up taught by his parents. Of this it is likely he had made great account, priding himself in it, as many graceless characters do in being the children of the righteous: and now having a child of his own might wish to stamp upon him this mark of honour, though it was merely nominal. — After this, Cain built, or was building, a city: a very small one no doubt, as need required. He began what his family, as they encreased, perfected, and called after the name of his son. Thus he amused himself as wtW as he could. The divine forbearance probably hardened him in his security, as it commonly does the ungocy. Because sentence

Gen. 4.] gain’s posterity. 65

against an evil work is not executed speedilif, therefore the hearts of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evil. Eccles. viii. 11.

Ver. 18 — 2-4. Next follow the generations of Cain, which present a few general observations. — (1.) Nothing good is said of any one of them; but heathen like, they appear to have lost all fear of God, and regard to man. — (2.) Two or three of them become famous for arts: one was a shepherd, another a musician, and another a smith; all very well in themselves, but things in which the worst of men may excel. Some have supposed that we are indebted to revelation for all this kind of knowledge. Had it been said, we are indebted to our Creator for it, it had been true; for to his instruction the discretion of the husbandman is ascribed. (Isai. xxviii. 26.) But revelation was given for greater and better objects; namely, to furnish not the man, but the man of God. — (3.) One of them was infamous for his wickedness, namely Lamech. He was the first who violated the law of marriage; a man giving loose to his appetites, and who lived a kind of lawless life. Among other evils he followed the example of his ancestor, Cain. It is not said who he slew; but he himself says it was a young man. This is the first instance, but not the last, in which 66 Cain’s PosTEmiY. [Dis. 3.

sensuality and murder are connected. Nor did he barely follow Cain’s example; but seems to have taken encouragement from the divine forbearance towards him, and to have presumed that God would be still more forbearing towards him. Thus one sinner takes liberty to sin from the suspension of judgment towards another.

Here ends the account of cursed Cain. We hear no more of his posterity, unless it be as tempters to the soyis of God, till they were all swept away by the deluge!