And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
Ver. 3. In process of time.] That distance of time between the creation and the general flood, Varro, the most learned of the Romans, calleth ‘ Aσηλον, obscure or unknown, because the heathen had no records of that which we now clearly understand to have been then done, out of the Holy Scriptures.
Cain brought of the fruit.] They brought their sacrifices to Adam, the high priest of the family, who offered them to God in their name. a So in the Levitical law, though a man's offering were never so good, he might not offer it himself, upon pain of death; but the priest must offer it. And the priest was to offer as well the poor man's turtle, as the rich man's ox. To teach that none may present his service to God, how good soever he may conceit it, but in the hand of the high priest of the New Testament Jesus Christ, the Just One, who will not only present, but perfume the poorest performances of an upright heart, with his odours. Rev 8:3
a Godw. Hebr. Antiq., p. 27.