Verse 8
8. Talked with Abel Rather, said to Abel . The Septuagint, Samaritan, Syriac, and Vulgate supply: Let us go into the field; but the Hebrew text does not relate what he said, but, as in Genesis 3:22-23, hastens to the sequel, the bloody action in the field. The repetition of the words, his brother, seems designed to impress the awful wickedness of the deed .
Slew him The first death was by violence; the first murder a fratricide . “And wherefore slew he him?” inquires the apostle . 1 John 3:12. “Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous . ” “Cain was of that wicked one,” whom the Lord declares (John 8:44) to have been “a murderer from the beginning,” “a liar, and the father of it.” By his lying he deceiveth the whole world and makes himself the murderer of man. Cain identified himself with that wicked one, became a child of the devil, and representative of the seed of the serpent. The first murder sprung from jealousy; jealousy begat hatred, and hatred beget murder. Hence the apostle says: “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.” 1 John 3:15.
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