mischievous designs towards men, and it being easiest to take vengeance on him that way: and when he had deprived him of the use of his feet, he made him to go rolling all along, and dragging himself upon the ground. And when God had appointed these penalties for them, he removed Adam and Eve out of the garden into another place.
CHAPTER II.
Concerning the Posterity of Adam, and the ten Generations from him to the Deluge.
§ 1. ADAM AND Eve had two sons; the
elder of them was named Cain; which name,
when it is interpreted, signifies a possession. The
younger was Abel, which signifies
sorrow. They had also daughters.
Cain and
Abel.Now the two brethren were pleased
with different courses of life; for
Abel, the younger, was a lover of righteousness,
and, believing that God was present at all his
actions, he excelled in virtue, and his employment
was that of a shepherd. But Cain was not only
very wicked in other respects, but was wholly
intent upon getting; and he first contrived to
plough the ground. He slew his brother on the
occasion following: They had resolved to
sacrifice to God. Now Cain brought the fruits of the
earth, and of his husbandry; but Abel brought
milk, and the first-fruits of his flocks; but God
was more delighted with the latter oblation,[1] when
he was honoured with what grew naturally of its
own accord, than he was with what was the
invention of a covetous man, and gotten by forcing
the ground; whence it was that Cain was very
angry that Abel was preferred by God before him,
and he slew his brother, and hid his dead body,
thinking to escape discovery. But God, knowing
what had been done, came to Cain,
The murder
of Abel. and asked him what was become
of his brother; because he had
not seen him of many days,
whereas he had used to observe them conversing
together at other times. But Cain was in doubt
with himself, and knew not what answer to give
to God. At first he said that he was himself at a
loss about his brother's disappearing; but when
he was provoked by God, who pressed him
vehemently, as resolving to know what the matter
was, he replied he was not his brother's guardian
or keeper, nor was he an observer of what he
did. But in return, God convicted Cain as
having been the murderer of his brother; and
said, "I wonder at thee, that thou knowest not
what is become of a man whom thou thyself hast
destroyed." God, therefore, did not inflict the
punishment [of death] upon him, on account of
his offering sacrifice, and thereby making
supplication to him not to be extreme in his wrath to him;
but he made him accursed, and threatened his
posterity in the seventh generation. He also
cast him, together with his wife, out of that land.
And when he was afraid that in wandering about
he should fall among wild beasts, and by that
means perish, God bid him not to entertain such
a melancholy suspicion, and to go over all the
earth without fear of what mischief he might
suffer from wild beasts; and setting a mark upon
him that he might be known, he commanded him
to depart.
2. AND WHEN Cain had travelled over many
countries, he, with his wife, built a city named
Nod, which is a place so called,
Cain in the
land of Nod.and there he settled his abode;
where also he had children. However,
he did not accept of his
punishment in order to amendment, but to
increase his wickedness; for he only aimed
to procure everything that was for his own
bodily pleasure, though it obliged him to be
injurious to his neighbours. He augmented
his household substance with much wealth
by rapine and violence; he excited his
acquaintance to procure pleasures and spoils of
robbery, and became a great leader of men into
wicked courses. He also introduced a change in
that way of simplicity wherein men lived before,
and was the author of measures and weights.
And whereas they lived innocently and generously
while they knew nothing of such arts, he changed
the world into cunning craftiness. He first of
all set boundaries about lands; he built a city,
and fortified it with walls, and he compelled his
family to come together to it; and called that city
Enoch, after the name of his eldest son Enoch.
Now Jared was the son of Enoch; whose son was
Malaliel; whose son was Methusela; whose son
was Lamech; who had seventy-seven children by
two wives, Silla and Ada. Of
The posterity
of Cain.those children by Ada, one was
Jabal; he erected tents, and loved
the life of a shepherd. But Jubal,
who was born of the same mother with him,
exercised himself in music,[2] and invented the
psaltery and the harp. But Tubal, one of his
sons by the other wife, exceeded all men in
strength, and was very expert and famous in
martial performances. He procured what tended
to pleasure of the body by that method; and first
of all invented the art of making brass. Lamech
was also the father of a daughter, whose name
was Naamah; and because he was so skilful in
matters of divine revelation, that he knew he was
to be punished for Cain's murder of his brother,
he made that known to his wives. Nay, even
while Adam was alive, it came to pass that the
posterity of Cain became exceeding wicked, every
one successively dying one after another, more
wicked than the former. They were intolerable
- ↑ St. John's account of the reason why God accepted the sacrifice of Abel, and rejected that of Cain, as also why Cain slew Abel, on account of that his acceptance with God, is much better than this of Josephus: I mean, because "Cain was of the evil one, and slew his brother." And "wherefore slew he him? Because his works were evil, and his brothers righteous." 1 John iii. 12, Josephus's reason seems to be no better than a pharisaical notion or tradition.
- ↑ From this Jubal, not improbably, came Jobel, the trumpet of jobel or jubilee; that large and loud musical instrument, used to proclaiming liberty at the year of jubilee.
