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Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume I

Book Seven — Cain and Abel

Verses 4 and 5. And the Lord had respect to Abel and to his gifts: but to Cain and to his gifts he had no respect

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Verses 4 and 5. And the Lord had respect to Abel and to his gifts: but to Cain and to his gifts he had no respect.1

VERS. 4. & 5. Et respexit Dominus ad Abel, & ad munera eius: ad Cain autem, & ad munera eius non respexit.

Pro Respexit, Hebraeum verbum quo hic usus est Moses [וישע, vaischa, a radice שעה], significat respicere, attendere, animadvertere, intentoque & defixo obtutu aliquid cernere. Secundum Oleastrum vero proprie significat desinere, quiescere, & requiescere: quae verbi notio bene congruit huic loco. Paraphrasis Chaldaica sic ad verbum habet, Fuit complacentia apud Deum erga Abel, hoc est, placuit Domino munus Abel; vel, ut alias dicere solet sacra Scriptura, complacuit sibi Deus, vel complacitum est Deo in munere Abel. Dupliciter autem significare solet Scriptura placuisse Deo aliquod sacrificium: vel dicendo, Deum respexisse ad illud sacrificium, sicut hoc loco, nec aliud est respicere, quam approbare, & acceptum habere: vel dicendo, Deum esse odoratum illud sacrificium in odorem suavitatis, quod Moses infra cap. 8. huius libri scribit de primo sacrificio, quod Noe post diluvium obtulit Deo.
For 'He had respect [Respexit],' the Hebrew word which Moses here used [וישע, vaischa, from the root שעה] signifies to look upon, to attend, to notice, and with fixed and intent gaze to discern something. But according to Oleaster it properly signifies to cease, to rest, and to be at rest — which notion of the word suits this place well. The Chaldaic Paraphrase has thus word for word: 'There was complacency with God toward Abel,' that is, Abel's gift pleased the Lord; or, as sacred Scripture is wont to say elsewhere, God was well pleased, or it was pleasing to God in Abel's gift. But Scripture is wont to signify in two ways that some sacrifice pleased God: either by saying that God 'had respect' to that sacrifice, as in this place — and 'to have respect' is nothing else than to approve and to hold accepted; or by saying that God 'smelled' that sacrifice 'as an odor of sweetness,' which Moses writes below in chapter 8 of this book about the first sacrifice which Noah offered to God after the flood.2
Intellexit autem Cain Deo placuisse oblationem Abel, non autem suam, signo quodam externo: quod non fuit aliud, quam ut docet Hieronymus in libro Traditionum Hebraicarum in Genesim, de coelo repente misso igne cremasse Deum, & consumpsisse sacrificium Abel, intacta prorsus oblatione Cain. Id quod secutus Theodotio, sic hunc locum vertit, Et inflammavit Dominus super Abel. Neque coniectura haec fidem non habet. Siquidem eo signo legimus postea saepe declarasse Deum sibi placuisse aliquorum hominum sacrificia: quemadmodum de sacrificio consecrationis Aaron proditum est, Levit. 9. de sacrificio Gedeonis, Iudic. 6. Davidis priori libri Paralip. cap. 21. Salomonis 2. Paralip. cap. 7. Eliae 3. Reg. 18. Neemiae lib. 2. Machab. cap. 1. Simile quoddam prodigium ostentare solitum daemonem alicubi in sacrificiis quae sibi offerebantur (adeo semper nequissimus divinitatis aemulator, & callidissimus simulator fuit daemon) tradit Solinus, cap. 11. Nec longe, ait, inde collis est Vulcanius, in quo qui divinae rei operantur, ligna vitea super aras struunt, nec ignis apponitur in hanc congeriem, cum porricias intulerint. Si adest Deus, sic sacrum probatur: Sarmenta licet viridia ignem sponte concipiunt, & nullo inflammante a litato numine fit incendium. Ibi epulantibus alludit flamma, quae flexuosis excessibus vagabunda, quem contigerit non adurit, nec aliud est quam imago nuncia perfecti rite voti. Ita Solinus.
But Cain understood that Abel's oblation pleased God, and not his own, by a certain external sign — which was nothing else, as Jerome teaches in the book of Hebrew Traditions on Genesis, than that God, fire being suddenly sent from heaven, burned and consumed Abel's sacrifice, Cain's oblation being wholly untouched. Which Theodotion, following, thus rendered this passage: 'And the Lord inflamed [it] upon Abel.' Nor does this conjecture lack credibility. Since by that sign we read that God afterward often declared that the sacrifices of some men pleased him: as is handed down of the sacrifice of Aaron's consecration (Lev 9), of Gideon's sacrifice (Judg 6), of David's (1 Paralip. 21), of Solomon's (2 Paralip. 7), of Elijah's (3 Kings 18), of Nehemiah's (2 Maccabees 1). That the demon was accustomed to display some similar prodigy somewhere in the sacrifices offered to him (so ever a most wicked rival of divinity, and a most cunning imitator, was the demon) Solinus relates, chapter 11: 'Not far from there,' he says, 'is the Vulcanian hill, on which those who perform divine rites pile vine-wood upon the altars, nor is fire applied to this heap when they have brought the offerings. If God is present, the sacred rite is thus proved: green twigs, though they be, conceive fire of their own accord, and with no one kindling, from the propitiated deity a burning arises. There the flame plays about the feasters, which, wandering with winding excursions, does not burn whomever it touches, and is nothing else than an image announcing the vow rightly perfected.' Thus Solinus.3
Cur autem Moses describendo generationem horum duorum fratrum, priorem nominet Cain quam Abel: mox autem narrando utriusque oblationem, & divinam approbationem munerum...
But why Moses, in describing the generation of these two brothers, names Cain before Abel; yet soon, in narrating the oblation of each, and the divine approbation of the gifts...4
Abel non autem Cain, prius memoret Abel, quam Cain, rationem exponens B. Ambrosius libri primi, de Cain & Abel. cap. 3. ad hunc modum scribit: Non est otiosum, quod cum ante generatus sit Cain, ut lectio docet, praelatus sit hoc loco Abel, nec idem sit ordo nominum, qui est ordo naturae. Quid sibi vult mutatio ordinis, ut prius iunioris meminerit, ubi scribitur vitae status, operisque usus? Officiorum interrogemus distantiam, ut colligamus causam praelationis. Operari terram usu prius est, gratia inferius quam oves pascere, Hoc enim instar est cuiusdam doctoris & principis. Meritoque prior se a vetustioribus inchoavit, iunior recentiora praetulit, quae nullas spinas, nullos tribulos germinarent, nulli sententiae essent obnoxia. Denique peccati reus Adam de Paradiso dimissus est voluptatis, ut operaretur terram. Recte ergo ubi nascuntur hi fratres, servatur etiam in praedicando ordo naturae: ubi vero exprimitur disciplina vivendi, seniori iunior antefertur: quia etsi tempore iunior, virtute praestantior est. Innocentia enim tempore posterior est quam malitia, & quadam suppar aetate, sed meritorum nobilitate antiquior. Senectus enim venerabilis est non annis incana, sed moribus, & aetas, inquit, senectutis vita immaculata. Ubi enim generatio exprimitur, praeveniat Cain: ubi disciplinarum fit praedicatio, praecurrat Abel. Adolescentiam igitur, & ipsam in exordiis iuventutem variarum illecebris passionum fervere quis abnuat? Sed ubi maturior aetas successerit, tanquam pubescentis lasciviae tempestate discussa tranquillitatem refundi, & in quosdam portus quietos lassa anima navigium subducere. Itaque graves motus nostrae adolescentiae fida senectutis statione placidantur. Sic Ambrosius.
...names Abel, but not Cain — [why] he mentions Abel before Cain — blessed Ambrose, in the first book on Cain and Abel, chapter 3, expounding the reason, writes in this manner: 'It is not idle, that although Cain was generated before, as the reading teaches, Abel is preferred in this place, nor is the order of names the same as the order of nature. What does the change of order mean, that it mentions the younger first, where the state of life and the practice of work is written? Let us inquire into the difference of the offices, that we may gather the cause of the precedence. To work the earth is prior in use, inferior in grace, to feeding sheep; for this is like a kind of teacher and prince. And deservedly the elder began himself from more ancient things, the younger preferred more recent ones, which would sprout no thorns, no thistles, and be subject to no penalty. Finally, Adam, guilty of sin, was sent from the Paradise of pleasure, to work the earth. Rightly, therefore, where these brothers are born, the order of nature is preserved even in the telling; but where the discipline of living is expressed, the younger is preferred to the elder — because, although younger in time, he is more excellent in virtue. For innocence is later in time than malice, and of a nearly equal age, but more ancient in the nobility of merits. For old age is venerable not gray with years, but with morals; and "age," he says, "is the immaculate life of old age." For where generation is expressed, let Cain come first; where the proclamation of disciplines is made, let Abel run before. Who then would deny that adolescence, and youth itself in its beginnings, boils with the enticements of various passions? But when a riper age has succeeded, [the mind] is, as it were, the storm of pubescent wantonness dispelled, restored to tranquility, and the weary soul draws its ship into certain quiet ports. And so the grave motions of our adolescence are calmed by the faithful station of old age.' Thus Ambrose.5

Translator’s notes

  1. New lemma: Genesis 4:4b-5a (marginal 'VERS. 4. & 5.'). ↩
  2. On 'Respexit' (Gen 4:4). HEBREW GLYPH verified by magnification: וישע (vaischa = va-yisha', 'and he had regard,' Gen 4:4), from the root שעה (sha'ah, 'to look/regard'); the margin reads 'Hebraeum verbum est וישע vaischa a radice שעה.' The word signifies to look upon, attend, discern; Oleaster: to rest. Chaldaic: 'complacency toward Abel.' Scripture signifies God's pleasure in a sacrifice in two ways: 'had respect' (= approved and accepted), or 'smelled as an odor of sweetness' (as of Noah's sacrifice, Gen 8). Marginal glosses: 'Quid sit Deum respexisse ad Abel, & quo signo id cognosci potuerit'; 'Hebraeum verbum est וישע (vaischa) a radice שעה.' ↩
  3. Cain knew that Abel's oblation pleased God, not his own, by an external sign: fire suddenly sent from heaven consumed Abel's sacrifice, leaving Cain's untouched (Jerome, Traditiones Hebraicae in Genesim; Theodotion rendered it 'And the Lord inflamed upon Abel'). The same sign is recorded for Aaron (Lev 9), Gideon (Judg 6), David (1 Chr 21), Solomon (2 Chr 7), Elijah (1 Kgs 18), Nehemiah (2 Macc 1). The demon imitated this prodigy (Solinus 11 — the Vulcanian hill where vine-wood on the altars ignites spontaneously if the deity is propitiated, a harmless wandering flame signaling the vow accepted). Marginal glosses: 'Quo signo sibi Abelis sacrificium placuisse Deus ostenderit'; 'Prodigiosa daemonum fallacia ex historia Solini.' ↩
  4. Raises the next question: why Moses names Cain before Abel in the account of their birth, but soon [names Abel first] in the account of their offering and God's approval. Marginal gloss: 'Cur in generatione prior nominetur Cain.' Catchword: 'Abel' (continues on the next page). ↩
  5. Ambrose (De Cain et Abel 1.3): why Abel is named before Cain in the oblation — the change of order marks the difference of offices. Tilling the earth is prior in USE but inferior in GRACE to shepherding (which is like a teacher and prince); in birth the order of nature is kept (Cain first), but in the discipline of living the younger, more virtuous, is preferred; innocence is later than malice but nobler in merit; old age is venerable by morals not years (Wisd 4:9, 'the immaculate life'); youth boils with passions, calmed by mature age. Marginal glosses: 'In oblatione autem prior memoretur Abel'; 'B. Ambrosius'; 'Sapien. 3.' NOTE: the running header on this page misprints 'IN GENESIM, LIB. VI.' for LIB. VII. Running head '723'; true printed page 733. ↩