Genesis 4:15 - Exposition

The condemned fratricide's apprehensions were allayed by a special act of grace. And the Lord said unto him, Therefore (the LXX ; Symm; Theodotion, Vulgate, Syriac, Dathius, translate Not so— ου ̓ χ ου ̓ ì τως , nequaquam , reading לאֹ כֵו instead of לָכֵן ) whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold . I .e. fully , sevenfold vengeance—complete vengeance (cf. Le Genesis 26:28 ). In the case of Cain's murderer there was to be no such mitigation of the penalty as in the case of Cain himself; on the contrary, he would be visited more severely than Cain, as being guilty not alone of homicide, but of transgressing the Divine commandment which said that Cain was to live (Willet). As to why this special privilege was granted to Cain, it was not because " the early death of the pious Abel was in reality no punishment, but the highest boon (Kalisch), nor because banishment from God's presence was the greatest possible punishment, "having in itself the significance of a social human death" (Lange), nor because it was needful to spare life for the increase of posterity (Rosenmüller); but perhaps—

1. To show that " Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."

2. To prove the riches of the Divine clemency to sinful men.

3. To serve as a warning against the crime of murder. To this probably there is a reference in the concluding clause. And the Lord set a mark upon —gave a sign to ( LXX .)— Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. Commentators are divided as to whether this was a visible sign to repress avengers (the Rabbis, Luther, Calvin, Piscator, &c.;), or an inward assurance to Cain himself that he should not be destroyed (Aben Ezra, Dathe, Rosenmüller, Gesemus, Tuch, Kalisch, Delitzsch). In support of the former it is urged that an external badge would be more likely to repel assailants; while in favor of the latter it is pleaded that of seventy-six times in which oth occurs in the Old Testament, in seventy-five it is translated sign . If there was a visible mark upon the fugitive, it is impossible to say what it was; that it was a shaking ( LXX .), or a continual fleeing from place to place (Lyra), or a horn in the head (Rabbis), a peculiar kind of dress (Clericus), are mere conceits. But, whatever it was, it was not a sign of Cain's forgiveness (Josephus), only a pledge of God's protection; Cf. the Divine prophetic sentence against the Jewish Cain ( Psalms 59:11 ).