March 12, 2021 omanba
THOMAS SCOTT COMMENTARY
Verses 10-12. Thus god called upon Cain to reflect on the horrid nature and aggravated circumstances of his crime, and the vengeance due to him, in order to awaken his remorse and alarm his fears.—Understand hatred, and proud revenge, producing premeditated murder, while men were comparatively few in number, and probably none had yet died; the murder of a brother, in cruel disregard to their common parents, for no other cause than the excellency of his character, and envy excited by the favour which God had shown him; a malignant hatred of holiness, daring contempt of the Lord himself, and determined enmity to Him; were united in this one crime.—The justice and holiness of the great Governor of the universe render it so proper for Him to punish offenders, that they, who suffer flagrant wrong, are often spoken of in Scripture, as loudly calling upon Him to execute vengeance on their injurers. And as He witnesses the secret crimes which elude human justice, so those crimes themselves are represented as demanding the punishment of the offenders from the Judge of all, “to whom vengeance belongs.” Thus Abel’s blood called, as with a loud voice, to the Lord to punish the murderer: and Cain’s enormous crime exposed him to so awful and deserved a curse, that the very elements were ready to rise up in arms against him, as the Creator’s instruments of vengeance; and the earth would withhold her wonted increase, because he had forced her to drink the blood of righteous Abel.—There is vast majesty and energy in thus personifying the inanimate creatures, and representing them as uniting against Cain.—In consequence of his crime, he would also be dreaded and detested, and the sight of him compelled to leave their society,. And to wander as a vagabond in distant parts, filled with anguish, and made a terror to himself.
(Groaning and trembling.—Sept.)
THOMAS HAWEIS COMMENTARY
Verses 10-12: We have here, 1. God’s reply, pointed with conviction, covering him with confusion, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. Blood hath a voice to reach the skies; murder will call for vengeance, blood for blood.
(1.) Shall murdered bodies thus cry out, and murdered souls be silent? Hear, ye careless sinners, whose lips and lives cast abroad firebrands and death. Tremble, ye negligent pastors: how many immortal souls are laying their blood at your door! (2.) Where shall man flee, whose sin hath testified to his face, whose guilt is evident? To the blood of Jesus. This crieth louder for mercy, than Abel’s did for vengeance: happy the soul whose cries of sin are drowned in deeper cries of the blood of the Savior. Even a murderer need not despair.
2. God’s judgment against him: now thou art cursed. No judgment so heavy as the wrath of God, and how much more when without hope of mercy. He is spared to live upon the earth, not in prospect of repentance, but as a warning against sin; a reprobate sinner is a damned one in this world. How should we be afraid of sin, lest we provoke God to give us up to a reprobate mind, and then we are as desperate as if already shut up in the belly of hell! Two things shall make his abode here as miserable, as his prospects hereafter are terrible.
(1.) The earth shall withhold her sustenance: though tilled, it shall not yield her increase. Adam received it barren, but by sweat it brought forth fruit. Cain shall not only sweat to till, but shall find it barren still. Note, A wicked man hath the curse of God on whatever he hath and doth; and this, like the gall in the cup, embitters all.
(2.) It shall refuse him a settlement; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be. He shall be cast out from the society of men, and left to wander up and down, as much a terror to himself, as an abhorrence to others. Note, This fugitive and vagabond is every sinner; he seeks to fly from himself, but guilt, like a fiend of hell, haunts him; and conscience, with a scorpion’s whip, continually scourges him.
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