of it." The same word signifies sin, and a sacrifice for sin. "Though thou hast not done well, yet do not despair; the remedy is at hand; the proposition is not far to seek; lay hold on it, and the iniquity of the holy things shall be forgiven thee." Christ, the great sin-offering, is said to stand at the door, Rev. 3. 20. And those well deserve to perish in their sins, that will not go to the door for an interest in the sin-offering. All this considered, Cain had no reason to be angry at God, but at himself only.
2. He shows him that he had no reason to be angry at his brother; "Unto thee shall be his desire, he shall continue his respect to thee as an elder brother, and thou, as the first-born, shalt rule over him as much as ever." God's acceptance of Abel's offering did not transfer the birthright to him, (which Cain was jealous of,) nor put upon him that excellency of dignity and excellency of power which are said to belong to it, ch. 49. 3. God did not so intend it; Abel did not so interpret it; there was no danger of its being improved to Cain's prejudice; why then should he be so much exasperated? Observe here, (1.) That the difference which God's grace makes, does not alter the distinctions which God's providence makes, but preserves them, and obliges us to do the duty which results from them: believing servants must be obedient to unbelieving masters. Dominion is not founded in grace, nor will religion warrant disloyalty or disrespect in any relation. (2.) That the jealousies which civil powers have sometimes conceived of the true worshippers of God as dangerous to their government, enemies to Caesar, and hurtful to kings and provinces, (on which suspicion persecutors have grounded their rage against them,) are very unjust and unreasonable. Whatever may be the case with some who call themselves christians, it is certain that christians indeed are the best subjects, and the quiet in the land; their desire is toward their governors, and they shall rule over them
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.
We have here the progress of Cain's anger, and the issue of it in Abel's murder; which may be considered two ways.
I. As Cain's sin; and a scarlet, crimson sin it was, a sin of the first magnitude, a sin against the light and law of nature, and which the consciences even of bad men have startled at. See in it, 1. The sad effects of sin's entrance into the world, and into the hearts of men. See what a root of bitterness the corrupt nature is, which bears this gall and wormwood. Adam's eating forbidden fruit seemed but a little sin, but it opened the door to the greatest. 2. A fruit of the enmity which is in the seed of the serpent against the seed of the woman. As Abel leads the van in the noble army of martyrs, Matth. 23. 35, so Cain stands in the front of the ignoble army of persecutors, Jude 11. So early did he that was after the flesh, persecute him that was after the spirit; and so it is now, more or less. Gal. 4. 29, and so it will be, till the war shall end in eternal salvation of all the saints, and the eternal perdition of all that hate them. 3. See also what comes of envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness; if they be indulged and cherished in the soul, they are in danger of involving men in the horrid guilt of murder itself. Rash anger is heart-murder, Matth. 5. 21, 22. Much more is malice so; he that hates his brother, is already a murderer before God: and if God leave him to himself, he wants nothing but an opportunity of being a murderer before the world.
Many were the aggravations of Cain's sin. (1.) It was his brother, his own brother, that he murdered; his own mother's son, Ps. 50. 20, whom he ought to have loved; his younger brother, whom he ought to have protected. (2.) He was a good brother; one who had never done him any wrong, nor given him the least provocation, in word or deed, but one whose desire had been always toward him, and who had been, in all instances, dutiful and respectful to him. (3.) He had fair warning given him, before, of this; God himself had told him what would come of it, yet he persisted in his barbarous design. (4.) It should seem that he covered it with a show of friendship and kindness. He talked with Abel his brother, freely and familiarly, lest he should suspect danger, and keep out of his reach. Thus Joab kissed Abner, and then killed him. According to the Septuagint,* [1]he said to Abel, Let us go into the field; if so, we are sure Abel did not understand it (according to the modern sense) as a challenge, else he would not have accepted it, but as a brotherly invitation to go together to their work. The Chaldee-Paraphrast adds, that Cain, when they were in discourse in the field, maintained that there was no judgment to come, no future state, no rewards and punishments in the other world; and that when Abel spake in defence of the truth, Cain took that occasion to fall upon him. However, (5.) That which the scripture tells us was the reason for which he slew him, was a sufficient aggravation of the murder; it was because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous, so that herein he showed himself to be of that wicked one, 1 John 3. 12, a child of the devil, as being an enemy to all righteousness, even in his own brother; and, in this, employed immediately by the destroyer. Nay, (6.) In killing his brother, he directly struck at God himself; for God accepting of Abel was the provocation pretended; and for that very reason he hated Abel, because God loved him. (7.) The murder of Abel was the more inhuman, because there were now so few men in the world to replenish it. The life of a man is precious at any time; but it was in a special manner precious now, and could ill be spared.
II. As Abel's suffering. Death reigned ever since Adam sinned, but we read not of any taken captive by him till now; and now, 1. The first that dies, is a saint, one that was accepted and beloved of God; to show that though the promised Seed was so far to destroy him that had the power of death, as to save believers from its sting, yet that still they should be exposed to its stroke. The first that went to the grave went to heaven; God would secure to himself the first fruits, the first-born to the dead, that first opened the womb into another world. Let this take off the terror of death, that it was betimes the lot of God's chosen, which alters the property of it. Nay, 2. The first that dies, is a martyr, and dies for his religion; and of such it may more truly be said than of soldiers, that they die in the field of honour. Abel's death has not only no curse in it, but it has a crown in it; so admirably well is the property of death altered, that it is not only become innocent and inoffensive to those that die in Christ, but honourable and glorious to those that die for him. Let us not think it strange concerning the fiery trial, nor shrink if we be called to resist unto blood; for we know there is a crown of life for all that are faithful unto death.
9. And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know
- ↑ * It may be proper to state, for the information of some readers, that the LXX, or Septuagint, is the name of a Greek version of the Old Testament, supposed to be the work of seventy-two Jews who are usually called in a round number, the Seventy, and who made this version, at the desire of Ptolemy Philadelphus, about 200 years before Christ.——Christ and his Apostles usually quote from this version. Ed.
