Genesis 4:8

And Cain talked with Abel,.... Or "said", or "spoke unto" him (l); either what the Lord God said to him in the foregoing verses, as Aben Ezra; or he spoke to him in a kind and friendly manner, and

And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And Cain talked with Abel his brother.

cir. 3865 Cain talked with Abel, either, 1. Familiarly and friendly, as he used to do, thereby to make him secure and careless; or by way of expostulation and contention; in the field, into which Abel was led, either by his own employment, or, 2. By Cain’ s persuasion; this being a fit place for the execution of his wicked purpose. Slew him, possibly with stone or club, or with some iron tool belonging to husbandry.

Genesis 4:8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.Ver. 8. And Cain talked with Abel.] What talk they had is not set down. The Septuagint and vulgar versions tell us, Cain said, Let us go out into the field. The Chaldee adds, that he should say, There was no judgment, nor judge, nor world to come, nor reward for justice, nor vengeance for wickedness, &c. Certain it is that those that are set to go on in sin do lay hold upon all the principles in their heads, and "imprison them in unrighteousness," that they may sin more freely. They muzzle the mouths of their consciences, that they may satisfy their lusts without control. But had Zimri peace that slew his master? or Cain that slew his brother? hath any ever waxed fierce against God and prospered? Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew.] So Cain was the devil’ s patriarch, and Abel the Church’ s protomartyr. It is not long since Alphonsus Diazius, a Spaniard, an advocate to the Court of Rome, came from Rome to Neoberg, in Germany, to kill his own brother, John Diazius, a faithful professor of the Reformed religion, and a familiar friend to Bucer, who gives him an excellent commendation. But it is worth the observing, says one, that the first quarrel about religion arose propemodum inter media sacrificia, in the midst of the sacrifices almost. These theological hatreds (as I may call them) are most bitter hatreds, and are carried on, for most part, with Cain-like rage and bloody opposition. No fire sooner breaks forth, none goes out more slowly, than that which is kindled about matters of religion; and the nearer any come to other, the more deadly are their differences, and the more desperate their designs one against another. The Persians and Turks are both Mohammedans, and yet disagreeing about some small points in the interpretation of their Alkoran, the Persians burn whatsoever books they find of the Turkish sect. And the Turks hold it more meritorious to kill one Persian, than seventy Christians. The Jew can better brook a heathen than a Christian; they curse us in their daily devotions, concluding them with a Maledic Domine Nazaraeis. The Pope will dispense with Jews, but not with Protestants. Lutherans will sooner join hands with a Papist than a Calvinist. And what a spirit had he, that in a sermon at Norwich, not long since, inveighing against Puritans, said, If a cup of cold water had a reward, much more a cup of such men’ s blood! Mortuus est Cain sed utinam ille non viveret in suis filiis, qui clavum eius, sanguine Abelis rubentem, ut rem sacrum, circumferunt, adorant et venerantur. The place where Cain slew Abel is by some thought to be Damascus in Syria, called therefore Damesec, that is, a bag of blood, Act. and Mon., fol. 814. Bucholeer. Turk. Hist. x. See D.

(8) And Cain talked with Abel his brother.—Heb., And Cain said unto Abel his brother. To this the Samaritan Pentateuch, the LXX., the Syriac, and the Vulg. add, “Let us go out into the field;” but neither the Targum of Onkelos nor any Hebrew MS. or authority, except the Jerusalem Targum, give this addition any support. The authority of the versions is, however, very great: first, because Hebrew MSS. are all comparatively modern; and secondly, because all at present known represent only the Recension of the Masorites. Sooner or later some manuscript may be found which will enable scholars to form a critical judgment upon those places where the versions represent a different text. If we could, with the Authorised Version, translate “Cain talked with Abel,” this would imply that Cain triumphed for a time over his angry feelings, and resumed friendly intercourse with his brother. But such a rendering is impossible, as also is one that has been suggested, “Cain told it unto Abel his brother” that is, told all that had passed between him and Jehovah. Either, therefore, we must accept the addition of the versions, or regard the passage as at present beyond our powers. It came to pass, when they were in the field.—The open, uncultivated land, where Abel’s flocks would find pasture. We cannot suppose that this murder was premeditated. Cain did not even know what a human death was. But, as Philippson remarks, there was a perpetual struggle between the husbandmen who cultivated fixed plots of ground and the wandering shepherds whose flocks were too prone to stray upon the tilled fields. Possibly Abel’s flocks had trespassed on Cain’s land, and when he went to remonstrate, his envy was stirred at the sight of his brother’s affluence. A quarrel ensued, and Cain, in that fierce anger, to fits of which he was liable (Genesis 4:5), tried to enforce his mastery by blows, and before he well knew what he was doing, he had shed his brother’s blood, and stood in terror before the first human corpse.

Verse 8. Cain talked with Abel his brother] ויאמר קין vaiyomer Kayin, and Cain said, c. not talked, for this construction the word cannot bear without great violence to analogy and grammatical accuracy. But why should it be thus translated? Because our translators could not find that any thing was spoken on the occasion; and therefore they ventured to intimate that there was a conversation, indefinitely. In the most correct editions of the Hebrew Bible there is a small space left here in the text, and a circular mark which refers to a note in the margin, intimating that there is a hiatus or deficiency in the verse. Now this deficiency is supplied in the principal ancient versions, and in the Samaritan text. In this the supplied words are, LET US WALK OUT INTO THE FIELD. The Syriac has, Let us go to the desert. The Vulgate Egrediamur foras, Let us walk out. The Septuagint, Διελθωμενειςτοπεδον, Let us go out into the field. The two Chaldee Targums have the same reading; so has the Coptic version. This addition is completely lost from every MS. of the Pentateuch now known; and yet it is sufficiently evident from the Samaritan text, the Samaritan version, the Syriac, Septuagint, and Vulgate, that it was in the most authentic copies of the Hebrew before and some time since the Christian era. The words may therefore be safely considered as a part of the sacred text, and with them the whole passage reads clear and consistently: "And Cain said unto Abel his brother, Let us go out into the field: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up," c. The Jerusalem Targum, and the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, pretend to give us the subject of their conversation: as the piece is curious, I shall insert the substance of it, for the sake of those who may not have access to the originals. "And Cain said unto Hebel his brother, Let us go out into the field and it came to pass that, when they were in the field, Cain answered and said to Hebel his brother, I thought that the world was created in mercy, but it is not governed according to the merit of good works. nor is there any judgment, nor a Judge, nor shall there be any future state in which good rewards shall be given to the righteous, or punishment executed on the wicked; and now there is respect of persons in judgment. On what account is it that thy sacrifice has been accepted, and mine not received with complacency? And Hebel answered and said, The world was created in mercy, and it is governed according to the fruit of good works; there is a Judge, a future world, and a coming judgment, where good rewards shall be given to the righteous, and the impious punished; and there is no respect of persons in judgment; but because my works were better and more precious than thine, my oblation was received with complacency.

8. told] Heb. said unto, which is the only possible meaning of the original. The rendering “told” implies that Cain repeated to Abel, his brother, the words spoken to him by Jehovah. But this is not the meaning of the original, which is, “Cain said unto Abel his brother”; some words, which are wanting in the Hebrew text, either having been intentionally omitted by the compiler, or accidentally dropped by carelessness in transcription. As the R.V. margin states, “many ancient authorities [Sam., LXX, Syr. Pesh., and Ps. Jon.] read said unto Abel his brother, Let us go into the field”; LXX, διέλθωμενεἰςτὸπεδίον; Lat. egrediamur foras. This addition has all the appearance of an insertion, supplied to fill up an obvious gap, and borrowed from the next verse. Gunkel proposes to read, instead of “and said” (vayyτmer), “and was bitter” (vayyκmer), i.e. “and made a quarrel.” Here, as in the preceding verse, we have probably an instance of a very early disturbance of the text. Possibly, the words spoken by Cain to his brother Abel contained some allusion which seemed wanting in the right spirit towards the faith and worship of the God of Israel, and were omitted without other words being substituted. the field] i.e. having left the sacred place, shrine or altar, where they had offered their sacrifices. An allusion to such a spot might well have been omitted as unsuitable. rose up] preliminary to assault: see Judges 8:21; 2 Samuel 2:14; 2 Kings 3:24.

8. Talked with Abel — Rather, said to Abel. The Septuagint, Samaritan, Syriac, and Vulgate supply: Let us go into the field; but the Hebrew text does not relate what he said, but, as in Genesis