Holly Bible - KJV with Concise Commentaries by Z Selam - HTML preview
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penitents, they did not write themselves comfortless, having the promise of a Savior to support themselves with. We have here,
I The names of their two sons.
1. Cain signifies possession; for Eve, when she bore him, said with joy, and thankfulness, and great expectation, I have gotten a man from the LORD. Observe, Children are God's gifts, and he must be acknowledged in the building up of our families. It doubles and sanctifies our comfort in them when we see them coming to us from the hand of God, who will not forsake the works and gifts of his own hand. Though Eve bore him with the sorrows that were the consequence of sin, yet she did not lose the sense of the mercy in her pains. Comforts, though alloyed, are more than we deserve; and therefore our complaints must not drown our thanksgivings. Many suppose that Eve had a conceit that this son was the promised seed, and that therefore she thus triumphed in him, as her words may be read, I have gotten a man, the LORD, God-man. If so, she was wretchedly mistaken, as Samuel, when he said, Surely the LORD's anointed is before me, 1Sa 16:6. When children are born, who can foresee what they will prove? He that was thought to be a man, the LORD, or at least a man from the LORD, and for his service as priest of the family, became an enemy to the LORD. The less we expect from creature s, the more tolerable will disappointments be.
2. Abel (Heb. Hebhel), a breath, or vanity. Some translation "a breath," "vapor," "transitoriness," which are suggestive of his brief existence and tragic end. When she thought she had obtained the promised seed in Cain, she was so taken up with that possession that another son was as vanity to her. To those who have an interest in Christ, and make him their all, other things are as nothing at all. It intimates likewise that the longer we live in this world the more we may see of the vanity of it. What, at first, we are fond of, as a possession, afterwards we see cause to be dead to, as a trifle. The name given to this son is put upon the whole race, Ps 39:5. Every man is at his best