Page:Keil and Delitzsch,Biblical commentary the old testament the pentateuch, trad James Martin, volume 1, 1885.djvu/118

 which cried unto God (Heb 11:4).

verses 11-14
“ And now (sc., because thou hast done this) be cursed from the earth.” From: i.e., either away from the earth, driven forth so that it shall no longer afford a quiet resting-place ( Gerlach, Delitzsch, etc.), or out of the earth, through its withdrawing its strength, and thus securing the fulfilment of perpetual wandering ( Baumgarten, etc.). It is difficult to choose between the two; but the clause, “ which hath opened her mouth,” etc. seems rather to favour the latter. Because the earth has been compelled to drink innocent blood, it rebels against the murderer, and when he tills it, withdraws its strength, so that the soil yields no produce; just as the land of Canaan is said to have spued out the Canaanites, on account of their abominations (Lev 18:28). In any case, the idea that “the soil, through drinking innocent blood, became an accomplice in the sin of murder,” has no biblical support, and is not confirmed by Isa 26:21 or Num 35:33. The suffering of irrational creatures through the sin of man is very different from their participating in his sin. “ A fugitive and vagabond (ונד נע, i.e., banished and homeless) shalt thou be in the earth.” Cain is so affected by this curse, that his obduracy is turned into despair, “ My sin,” he says in Gen 4:13, “ is greater than can be borne.” עון נשׁא signifies to take away and bear sin or guilt, and is used with reference both to God and man. God takes guilt away by forgiving it (Exo 34:7); man carries it away and bears it, by enduring its punishment (cf. Num 5:31). Luther, following the ancient versions, has adopted the first meaning; but the context sustains the second: for Cain afterwards complains, not of the greatness of the sin, but only of the severity of the punishment. “ Behold, Thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from Thy face shall I be hid;...and it shall come to pass that every one that findeth me shall slay me.” The adamah, from the face of which the curse of Jehovah had driven Cain, was Eden (cf. Gen 4:16), where he had carried on his agricultural pursuits, and where God had revealed His face, i.e., His presence, to the men after their expulsion from the garden; so that henceforth Cain had to wander about upon the wide world, homeless and far from the presence of God, and was afraid lest any one who found him might slay him. By “ every one that findeth me” we are not to understand omnis creatura, as though Cain had excited the hostility