Genesis 4:20-22

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 4:19-22

We have here some particulars concerning Lamech, the seventh from Adam in the line of Cain. Observe, I. His marrying two wives. It was one of the degenerate race of Cain who first transgressed that original law of marriage that two only should be one flesh. Hitherto one man had but one wife at a time; but Lamech took two. From the beginning it was not so. Mal. 2:15; Matt. 19:5. See here, 1. Those who desert God's church and ordinances lay themselves open to all manner of temptation. 2. When a... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 4:20

And Adah bare Jabal ,.... According to Hillerus F13 Onomastic. Sacr. p. 35,45, 349. , this name, and Jubal and Tubal, after mentioned, all signify a river; why Lamech should call all his sons by names signifying the same thing, is not easy to say. He was the father of such as dwelt in tents, and of such as have cattle : not in a proper sense the father of them, though his posterity might succeed him in the same business; but he was the first author and inventor of tents or... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 4:21

And his brother's name was Jubal ,.... This was another son of Lamech by Adah, and his name differs only in one letter from his brother's: he was the father of all such that handle the harp and organ : he was the inventor of instrumental music, both of stringed instruments, such as were touched by the fingers, or struck with a quill, as the "harp"; and of wind instruments, such as were blown, as the "organ", which seems not to be the same we call so, being a late invention; but however a... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 4:22

And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain ,.... Thought by many to be the same with Vulcan, his name and business agreeing; for the names are near in sound, Tubalcain may easily pass into Vulcan; and who, with the Heathens, was the god of the smiths, and the maker of Jupiter's thunderbolts, as this was an artificer in iron and brass, as follows: his name is compounded of two words, the latter of which was no doubt put into his name in memory of Cain his great ancestor; the former Josephus F21 ... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:20

Jabal - was the father - The inventor or teacher, for so the word is understood, 1 Samuel 10:12 . He was the first who invented tent-making, and the breeding and managing of cattle; or he was, in these respects, the most eminent in that time. Though Abel was a shepherd, it is not likely he was such on an extensive scale. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:21

Jubal - the father - i.e. The inventor of musical instruments, such as the כנור kinnor , which we translate harp, and the עוגב ugab , which we render organ; it is very likely that both words are generic, the former including under it all stringed instruments, and the latter, all wind instruments. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:22

Tubal-cain - The first smith on record, who taught how to make warlike instruments and domestic utensils out of brass and iron. Agricultural instruments must have been in use long before, for Cain was a tiller of the ground, and so was Adam, and they could not have cultivated the ground without spades, hooks, etc. Some of these arts were useless to man while innocent and upright, but after his fall they became necessary. Thus is the saying verified: God made man upright, but they have... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:20

Verse 20 20.Jabal; he was the father of such as dwell in tents. Moses now relates that, with the evils which proceeded from the family of Cain, some good had been blended. For the invention of arts, and of other things which serve to the common use and convenience of life, is a gift of God by no means to be despised, and a faculty worthy of commendation. It is truly wonderful, that this race, which had most deeply fallen from integrity, should have excelled the rest of the posterity of Adam in... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 4:16-24

The kingdom of God contrasted with the kingdom of this world. Society without the Lord. The banished Cain and his descendants. I. MULTIPLICATION apart from Divine order is no blessing. II. CIVILIZATION without religion is a chaos of conflicting forces, producing violence, bloodshed, working out its own ruin. Compare France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Arts of life may grow from a mere natural root. Music, mechanical skill, scientific discovery, and invention, in... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 4:17-26

The progress of the race. I. ITS INCREASE IN POPULATION . Starting from a single pair in Eden, in the course of seven generations the human family must have attained to very considerable dimensions. At the birth of Seth, Adam was 130 years old, and in all probability had other sons and daughters- besides Cain and his wife. If Lamech, the seventh from Adam in the line of Cain, was contemporaneous with Enoch, the seventh from Adam in the line of Seth, at least 600 years had passed away... read more

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