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L.M. Grant

L. M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:1-26

CAIN AND ABEL Adam and Eve, having acquired a sinful nature, could only communicate the same nature to their children. Their firstborn was named Cain, which means "smith" or "fabricator," one who plans and fashions things in a pleasing way. Their second child's name, Abel, means "transitory". Their names indicate something of what their history proved. Cain depended on his own ability, while Abel depended on the Lord, having his earthly life only transitory, though still speaking after his... read more

James Gray

James Gray's Concise Bible Commentary - Genesis 4:1-26

THE STREAM OF HUMANITY DIVIDED TWO KINDS OF WORSHIPPERS (Genesis 4:1-8 ) What were the occupations of these brothers? What does the name of God in (Genesis 4:3 bring to mind from our second lesson? We are not told how God showed respect for Abel’s offering and disrespect for Cain’s, but possibly, as on later occasions, fire may have come out from before the Lord (i.e., in this case from between the cherubim) to consume the one in token of its acceptance. A more important question is why... read more

Joseph Parker

The People's Bible by Joseph Parker - Genesis 4:13-26

Cain's Punishment Gen 4:13 My object is to show, so far as I may be able, some of the necessary consequences of sin, and to point out how those consequences prove the terribleness of wrong-doing. Sometimes we know a thing better by its consequences than by its essence. I think this is particularly the case with sin. It may require great intellectual power to see sin as sin, but the consequences of sin show themselves in glaring and appalling clearness to the dullest eyes. If, then, any man... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:19-24

19-24 One of Cain's wicked race is the first recorded, as having broken the law of marriage. Hitherto, one man had but one wife at a time; but Lamech took two. Wordly things, are the only things that carnal, wicked people set their hearts upon, and are most clever and industrious about. So it was with this race of Cain. Here was a father of shepherds, and a father of musicians, but not a father of the faithful. Here is one to teach about brass and iron, but none to teach the good knowledge of... read more

Paul E. Kretzmann

The Popular Commentary by Paul E. Kretzmann - Genesis 4:16-24

The Family of Cain v. 16. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. From over against the face of the Lord, from the place where the Lord revealed Himself to His people, Cain, with one of his sisters, who was his wife, journeyed toward the east of the land of Eden, where the garden of the Lord was situated. He cut himself off from all intercourse with the Lord and with His people. v. 17. And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived and... read more

Johann Peter Lange

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Critical, Doctrinal and Homiletical - Genesis 4:1-26

SECOND SECTIONCain and Abel.—The Cainites.—The ungodly Worldliness of the First Civilization. Genesis 4:1-261And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived, and bare1 Cain [the gotten, or possession], and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord [from, or with the God of the future, or 2 Jehovah]. And again2 she bare his brother Abel [Habel, the perishable; הֶבֶל, vanishing breath of life]. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3And in process of time it came to... read more

Frederick Brotherton Meyer

F.B. Meyer's 'Through the Bible' Commentary - Genesis 4:9-26

Cain’s Career Genesis 4:9-26 God’s first question to the soul is, “Adam, where art thou?” The next, “Where is thy brother?” We are our brother’s keepers. All related to us, within our reach, or needing our help have a claim. We must not take advantage of them. Their well-being and our own are inseparable. God keeps an inventory of His saints, and will avenge them. Their blood will cry to God against those who have wronged them. There is only one cry in the world which is stronger-“the blood... read more

G. Campbell Morgan

G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible - Genesis 4:1-26

The degeneration of the first man and woman was transmitted, the firstborn being manifestly an inheritor of the fallen nature of his parents. His mother named him Cain, intimating a hope that the seed had come which should bruise the head of the serpent. How little she knew of the nature of her own sin. Thus from the beginning sin manifested a wayward rebelliousness which ever tends to break the heart of fatherhood and motherhood; and experimentally some of the consciousness of the pain of God... read more

James Nisbet

James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 4:19-24

AN EARLY CHAUVINIST‘And Lamech took unto him two wives,’ etc. Genesis 4:19-Jeremiah : Here we have I. A violator of the Divine law of marriage.—Monogamy was the Divine law of marriage, and in all likelihood this rule had been observed till Lamech’s time. The general opinion is, that Lamech was the first to disobey this law by taking ‘two wives.’ The fact would scarcely have been recorded, had it not been intended to note a new departure from the established order of things. ‘This was his... read more

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