Ylllgatc, Syriac, Dnthius, translate Not so- destroyed (Aben Ezra, DatheJ. Rosenmilller, .,;,x oi'•rw(', ,1eq11aqitam, reading ,:;,_ N~ in- Gesenius, Tuch, Kalisch, 1Jollt2sch). l11 support of the former it is urged that an Eknd of P~) whosoever slayeth Cain, ven- external badge would bo moro likely to repel geance shall be taken on him eevenfold. assailants ; ,vhile in favour of tho latter it is I. e. fully, sevenfold vengeance-complete pleaded .that of seventy-six times in which vengeance (cf. Levit. mi. 28). In the case oth occurs in the Olcl '.l.'estamcnt, in scvehty- of Caiu's murderer there was to be no such five it is translated ti,gn. If thero wns a mitigation of the penalty as in tho case of visible mark upon tho fugitivo, it is impos• Cain himself; on the contrary, ho would bo sible to say what it was; that it was a .,.isitcd more severely than Cain, as being shaking (LXX.), or a continual fleeing from guilty not alone of homicide, but of trans- place to place (Lyra), or e. horn in the head gressing the Dinne commandment which (Rabbis), a peculiar kind of dress (Clericus), said that Cain was to live (Willet). As to are mere conceits. But, whatever it was, it why this special privilege was granted to was not a sign of C:i.in's forgiveness (Jose- Cain, it was not because "the early death phus), only a pledge of God's protection. of the pious Abel was in reality no punish- Cf. the Divino prophetic sentenco against the ment, but the highest boon" (Kalisch), nor J cwish Cain (Ps. !ix. 11 ). because banishment from God's presence was Ver. 16.-And Co.in went out from the the greatest possible punishment, "having preaence of the Lord. Not simply ended in itself the significance of a social human his interview and prepared to emi&rate from death" (Lange), nor because it was needful the abode of his youth (Kalisch) ; out, more to spare life for the increase of posterity especially, withdrew from the neighbourhood (Rosenmiiller); but perhaps - 1. To show of the cherubim (vide on ver, 14). And that " Vengeance is mine ; I will repay, -dwelt in the land of Nod. The geographical saith the Lord." 2. To prove the riches situation of Nod (Knobel, China!) cannot be of the Di vine cleme!lcy to sinful men. 3. determined fwther than that it was on the To serve as a warning again,,--t the crime east of Eden, and its name, Nod; or wander- of murder. To this probably there is a ing (cf. vers. 12, 14 ; Ps. lvi. 8), was clearly reference in the concluding clause. And derived from Cain's fugitive· and vagabond the Lord set a ma.rk upon-gave a sign life (vide Michaelis, 'Suppl: ,' p. 1612; and~ to (LXX. )-C&in, lest a.ny 11ntliu him cf. Furst, 'Lex.,' sub voce), "which shi:Jw• should kill him. Commentators are divided eth, as Josephus well conjectureth, that as to whether this was a visible sign to Cain was not amended by his .punishment, repress avengers (the Rabbis, Luther, Cal- but waxed worse and worse, giving himself Yin, Piscator, &c.), or :i.n inward nssurance to rapine, robbery, oppression, deceit" to Caill himself t!iat he should not be (Willet).
HOMILETICS. Vcrs. 1-15.-Thejirst brothers. I. THE BROTHERS AT HOME, 1. The first home'. Of Divine appointment, and among the choicest blessings that have_ survived the fall, homes are designed for-(1) The increas_e of the. huma:n f~mily. Of a~l animals; tl,e offspring of man is least fitted to provide for itself m infancy. - ~1thout the shelter of a home man would be born only to die. (2) The hnppmeee of the r.ic:e. Considering mnn's weakness and wants! miserie~ n~d -dang?re, as a falle~ being existing in a. sin_-c_ureed world, the fnmily ?onshtution, wlnch secures, tlJ~ interdependence of rnd1v1duals, largely enhances bis comfc;,rt. Whether. the sn!De amount of happiness would have been attainable had the race. been crented, hke the angelic, as a multitude of separate i11dividuals may be difficulj; ~o deten~ine. (3) The training of children. Being God's gift, they should be highly pnzed, tenderly cherished, carefully nurtured~ intelligently _counselled by the father, anxiously cared for by the mother, lovmgly, perseverwgly, prayerfuJly reared by. both; edacated not for themselves, or th_e world, or even _for th~ir p~rents, but for God • trained to work, as indolence is a em, and to worship, as piety 1s a duty. 2. A ~ home. Its localily, though outside the garden, was still in Eden, which was a mercy, and probably not far from t~e cherubim, Adam's gate of heaven, which was hopeful. When man founds a home it should never be for removed from God, heaven or the Church. Its structure, mayhap, was humble,-nnother garden likely, but th~ time man-made 1 and not so fair as that which God had planted,-but its precincts were hallowed by the rites oc religion. It is one mark of a pious honi.e wl,en Gu<l l,ae an altar in it (Pa. cxviii. 15). Its inmates were fallen creatures, but OJJ. lV, 1-lG. J THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 83