CRITICAL NOTES.—
Genesis 4:1. Gotten a man from the Lord.] Or, perhaps, “Gotten a man, even Jehovah.” The rendering of the A. V. is no doubt the one more generally followed. Leeser and Murphy have, “from the Lord”; Young, “by the Lord”; Gesenius, “by the aid of Jehovah”; Davies, “with the Eternal,” i.e., “with His presence and help”; in like manner the Sept. renders the words, διὰ τοῦ θεοῦ; and the Vulg. per Deum. Lange is dissatisfied with this translation as “too weak,” and proposes to read: “a man, with Jehovah”; “that is,” he says, “one who stands in connection with Jehovah.… In the blessed confidence of female hope, she would seem, with evident eagerness, to greet, in the new-born, the promised woman’s seed (ch. Genesis 3:15) according to her understanding of the word.” We are not surprised that Prof. Tayler Lewis (in Lange’s Genesis) should pronounce even “with Jehovah” a harsh and difficult rendering; and that the juxtaposition of “’eth Cain” “ ’eth Jehovah” (“she bare ’eth Cain, and said, I have gotten a man ’eth Jehovah”) seems to shut us up to the rendering: “I have borne a man, the very Jehovah, or, I have borne a man, the very God, the very Jehovah.” There are, in truth, three considerations which must be well weighed in order to appreciate at its just value the evidence in favour of this last rendering.
(1.) The meaning of the name Jehovah (Yahweh); for which we must refer to “Critical Notes” on Ch. 2 and on Exodus
3. From the exposition there given it will be seen that this name of covenant grace was not wholly inapplicable to the woman’s promised seed, and did certainly, in a general way, comprehend the promise of the redemption.
(2.) The common usage of the particle ’eth (“’eth-Yahweh”) in which it is much more frequently “a sign of the definite accusative” than anything else. In other words, “I have gotten a man even Yahweh” is the rendering suggested at first sight of the original.
(3.) The error of Eve on one point does not convict her of error on another. Her exclamation, rendered as now suggested, assumes two things:—(a) That the promised seed would be Yahweh himself; and (b) that this her first-born was the promised seed. Her pardonable error as to (b), in no way brings discredit on her persuasion as to (a). And be it remembered that the naturalness of such an exclamation—not its entire correctness—is sufficient to remove any objection from this source to the translation before us. On the whole, we are constrained to regard this as the better translation.—
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Genesis 4:1-2
DOMESTIC LIFE
I. That it is designed for the numerical increase of humanity. The position of Adam and Eve prior to the birth of their two sons was unique. They were alone in the great world. In Eden they would not be so deeply conscious of this solitude, as there their solitude was filled with God and holy thoughts. But, now, in their altered condition of life, they would feel more keenly the need of earthly companionship. Their intercourse with Jehovah is not so easy and natural as it used to be, and, as they cannot live without fellowship, they would hail with joy the birth of a son. It is the tendency of fallen manhood to supply the place of the Divine with the human, to substitute earth for heaven. Parental loneliness is a grief to many. Their home rings not with the happy voice of childhood. But still it is impossible that any parents now can be lonely as the progenitors of our race. The intellectual, and social, and moral companionships of the outside world are too numerous to leave domestic life in solitude.
2. The position of Adam and Eve prior to the birth of their two sons was interesting. They are now in a great crisis of their lives. They have passed through all the bitter experiences of sin. They have become cognizant of Satanic influence. They are fallen creatures. They have been driven from the supreme enjoyments of a holy life and residence into the struggle of a hard life. Yet they are encircled by Divine mercy. How will they act? In what manner and spirit will they conduct their new and arduous life? Will they push further into sin, or will they begin their domestic life in purity and hope? How will their recent sin affect their rising progeny? These and kindred questions invest the position of Adam and Eve at this time with deep and extraordinary interest. Hence the domestic relations of life were intended to people the country, to provide men from the intellectual, commercial and moral pursuits of life.
II. That it should be careful as to the nomenclature of its children. Eve’s first-born was called “Cain,” her next son was designated “Abel.” We observe that:
1. Child nomenclature should be appropriate. The name Cain signifies possession. Eve regarded her first-born son with delight. He was her property. Some parents only regard their children as so much property, as worth so much to them in the labour market. But Cain was to our first parents a moral possession. They regarded him as the gift of God. Children are the most happy, and yet the most solemn and responsible possession of domestic life. They are not to be regarded as “encumbrances,” but as capable of healthy work and sublime moral destiny. They are to be well cultured. They ought to increase the spiritual value of the home to which they belong. They ought to be trained for the God from whence they came. Give them appropriate names, expressive of their early dispositions, their infantile circumstances, or of some holy thought connected with the providence of God in your history.
2. Child nomenclature should be instructive. While the name of Cain signified possession, that of Abel signified vanity. Many conjectures have been offered as to the reason of the name given to Abel. The probability is that our first parents were getting into the painful experiences of life, and embodied their verdict of it in the name of their child. Thus the name of their second son gathers up the history of their past, and the sorrows of their present condition. It would ever be a monitor to both child and parents. When either is tempted to be led away by earthly things, it would serve to remind them of their vanity. It is well to have Scriptural names in a family. They are deeply instructive.
3. Child nomenclature should be considerate. The names that parents sometimes give to children, while they are appropriate, instructive, and prophetic, should always be in harmony with good taste and refined judgment. Some parents give their children several names, as if one or two were not enough to distinguish them, or as if they wished to give them good practice in writing in future days. How many men are ashamed of the uneuphonious and jawbreaking names that have been given to them in childhood. Hence parents should be considerate in the domestic nomenclature of their offspring. Let their names be pictures of goodness, and patterns of truth.
III. That it should judiciously bring up children to some honest and helpful employments.
1. These two brothers had a daily calling. They were not allowed to idle away their time at home, without instruction to prepare them for the active duties of life, or without work to develop their growing and youthful energies. Every young man, irrespective of his social position, or great expectations, ought to be brought up to some useful employment. The world invites his effort. Commerce is calling for it. Art would prize it. Literature would repay it. Heaven will reward it. Indolence is the curse of family life.
2. Each of these brothers had his distinctive calling. Abel was a keeper of sheep. Cain was a tiller of the ground. Thus the two brothers were not engaged in the same pursuit. It is well for a family to cultivate within itself all the employments of civilized life. Then one member of it becomes the happy compliment of another, and all are in a state of comparative independence. Some men look down on the agriculturalist. They have no reason to. It is the most ancient trade. It is most honourable. It is mediatorial in its character, for it takes the gifts from the hand of God to distribute them to supply the wants of humanity. This should evoke gratitude.
3. These brothers had a healthful calling. Both of them worked in the open air. Some parents allow their boys to be confined in sultry offices, or in ill-ventilated workshops, where physical manhood is weakened by daily labour. Men should study health in their secular pursuits. Work ought to strengthen rather than weaken.
4. These brothers had a calling favourable to the development of intellectual thought. Shepherds, and tillers of the ground, ought to be men of great souls, and sublime ideas. They are students of nature. Their daily occupation brings them near to God. Many of the Psalms are the outcome of a shepherd life.
IV. That it should not be unmindful of its religious obligations. “And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.”
1. These offerings are rendered obligatory by the mercies of the past. This first family had received many blessings at the Divine hand. Their spared lives. Their increasing family. Their fruitful gardens. It was natural that they should be inspired with the idea of religious worship. There is not a family in the world but has reason to worship God.
2. These offerings should be the natural and unselfish outcome of our commercial prosperity. Cain and Abel were prosperous in their avocations, and hence it was only natural and right that they should offer to God the fruit of the earth and the firstlings of the flock. The first fruits of trade should be presented to the Lord. They are His due. It would show our unselfish reception of His gifts. It would enrich His church, and aid His moral enterprise in the world.
3. These offerings ought to embody the true worship of the soul. People say that they can worship God without giving him anything. They sing His praise, they pray to Him, but they never give to Him the firstlings of their flocks. They are wealthy, yet they give the Lord nothing. Their worship is a mockery. If their prayers were true, their gifts would be ready. In such a case the gift is the measure of the prayer. The poor widow will give her mite. The penitent heart will give itself. LESSONS:—
1. That domestic life is sacred as the ordination of God.
2. That children are the gift of God, and are often prophets of the future.
3. That working and giving are the devotion of family life.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Genesis 4:1-2. Providence has distinguished men from their first birth into the world.
The propagation of the human race is outside of Paradise, not because it is first occasioned by sin, but rather because it supposes a distinct development of mankind, and is tainted with its sin [Lange].
Adam had, no doubt, already commenced both occupations, and the sons selected each a different department. God himself had pointed out both to Adam—the tilling of the ground by the employment assigned him in Eden, which had to be changed into agriculture after his expulsion; and the keeping of cattle in the clothing which He gave him (Genesis 3:21). Moreover, agriculture can never be entirely separated from the rearing of cattle; for a man not only requires food, but clothing, which is procured directly from the hides and wool of tame animals. The different occupations of the brothers, therefore, are not to be regarded as a proof of the difference in their dispositions. This comes out first in the sacrifice, which they offered after a time to God, each one from the produce of his vocation [Keil and Delitzsch.]