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Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume I

Book Seven — Cain and Abel

Verse 16. And Cain, having gone out from the face of the Lord, dwelt a fugitive in the land, at the eastern region of Eden

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Verse 16. And Cain, having gone out from the face of the Lord, dwelt a fugitive in the land, at the eastern region of Eden.1

VERS. 16. Egressusque Cain a facie Domini habitavit profugus in terra, ad orientalem plagam Eden.

EGRESSUS est Cain a facie Dei, non quod a Dei notitia & potentia praesentiaque, per quam ubique est, discedere potuerit. Quo ibo, inquit David Psalm. 138. a spiritu tuo? & quo a facie tua fugiam? Si ascendero in coelum, tu illic es: si descendero in infernum, ades. Si sumpsero pennas meas diluculo, & habitavero in extremis maris. Etenim illuc manus tua deducet me, & tenebit me dextera tua: Et ostendens neminem posse a conspectu Dei abscedere, aut sese
Cain went out from the face of God — not that he could depart from God's knowledge and power and presence, by which he is everywhere. 'Whither shall I go,' says David (Psalm 138), 'from your spirit? and whither shall I flee from your face? If I ascend into heaven, you are there; if I descend into hell, you are present. If I take my wings at dawn, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea — even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.' And showing that no one can depart from God's sight, or [conceal] himself...2
sese vel tenebris vel latebris eius oculis abscondere & occultare, subdit, Et dixi, Forsitan tenebrae conculcabunt me, & nox illuminatio mea in deliciis meis. Quia tenebrae non obscurabuntur a te, & nox sicut dies illuminabitur: sicut tenebrae eius, ita & lumen eius. Quomodo enim (ut bene argumentatur Paulus Actuum 17.) longe ab unoquoque nostrum Deus esse potest, cum in ipso vivamus, moveamur, & simus? Non igitur Cain egressus est a facie Dei, quasi eius notitiam & potentiam fugiens, sed egressus est ab ea terra & loco, ubi Deus faciem suam ostendere solebat, id est, praesentiam suam declarare edendo oracula, reddendo responsa, & sub aspectabili forma humanae naturae cum primis illis hominibus familiariter loquendo. Vel, quemadmodum paulo supra interpretati sumus, egressus est a facie Dei, id est, singularis benevolentiae curae ac protectionis, quam Deus erga servos & amicos suos gerit, gratia & praesidio abdicatus, & destitutus est.
...or to hide and conceal himself from his eyes by darkness or hiding-places, [David] subjoins: 'And I said, Perhaps the darkness shall trample me, and the night [shall be] my illumination in my delights. Because the darkness shall not be darkened from you, and the night shall be lit up as the day: as its darkness, so also its light.' For how (as Paul well argues, Acts 17) can God be far from each one of us, since in him we live, move, and are? Therefore Cain did not go out from the face of God as if fleeing his knowledge and power, but he went out from that land and place where God was wont to show his face — that is, to declare his presence by uttering oracles, rendering responses, and by speaking familiarly, under a visible form of human nature, with those first men. Or, as we interpreted a little above, he went out from the face of God, that is, he was renounced and destitute of the grace and protection of that singular benevolence, care, and protection which God bears toward his servants and friends.3
PUTAT Catharinus primos illos homines Paradiso eiectos venisse in Iudaeam, & inibi versatos esse, quin etiam verisimile putat & Abel sacrificasse eo in loco, ubi postea fuit Hierusalem; miror, eum non insuper addidisse Abel interfectum esse a Cain eo in loco, qui postea dictus est mons Calvariae, ubi Christus a Iudaeis occisus est. Cain igitur secundum Catharinum ex Iudaea egressus, alio profectus est. Verum haec nec umbram habent probabilitatis, quin falsa esse, ex his quae supra 3. li. de loco, & situ Paradisi disputavimus, facile intelligi potest.
Catharinus thinks those first men, cast out of Paradise, came into Judaea, and dwelt there; indeed he even thinks it probable that Abel too sacrificed in the place where Jerusalem later was. I wonder that he did not add besides that Abel was killed by Cain in the place later called Mount Calvary, where Christ was killed by the Jews. Cain therefore, according to Catharinus, having gone out from Judaea, went elsewhere. But these things have not even a shadow of probability; indeed that they are false can easily be understood from what we disputed above (book 3) concerning the place and situation of Paradise.4
PRO illo Profugus. Hebraice est vocabulum [נוד] Nod, quod Septuaginta putarunt esse nomen proprium loci; & idcirco sic verterunt hunc locum, Et habitavit in terra Naid, quos secutus Iosephus, scribit Cainum multas regiones una cum uxore sua emensum, tandem Naida oppidum condidisse, ibique sedem fixisse & liberos procreasse. Sed Hieronymus in Traditionibus Hebraicis censet, [נוד] Nod, esse nomen appellativum, Latine significans vagum, fluctuans, instabile ac sedis incertae. Sic enim explanata est Dei sententia adversus Cain, quod illuc atque illuc vagus & profugus oberraturus esset.
For that word 'Fugitive.' In Hebrew it is the word [נוד] 'Nod,' which the Seventy thought to be the proper name of a place; and therefore they rendered this place thus, 'And he dwelt in the land of Naid.' Following them, Josephus writes that Cain, having traversed many regions together with his wife, at length founded the town of Naida, and there fixed his seat and procreated children. But Jerome, in the Hebrew Traditions, judges that [נוד] 'Nod' is a common noun, signifying in Latin 'wandering, fluctuating, unstable, and of uncertain seat.' For thus was God's sentence against Cain explained — that he would wander here and there, a vagabond and fugitive.5

But what Cain was like after he went out from the face of God — that is, how impious, impure, and polluted and lost in all crimes — Josephus expounds in these words (book 1 of the Antiquities, ch. 11): 'But so far was he from changing his life for the better by this chastisement, that he was made even worse, indulging his pleasures, or [indulging himself] with injury to others, and accumulating domestic resources by force and rapine; and, summoning from everywhere companions of robbery and wickedness, he became a master to them for a life of crime. Besides, he changed the hitherto simple manner of living, by devising measures and weights, and depraved the pristine sincerity and generosity, ignorant of such arts, into a certain new cunning.' Thus Josephus.6

QUALIS autem fuerit Cain postquam egressus est a facie Dei, id est, quam impius, impurus, omnibusque sceleribus inquinatus ac perditus, his verbis exponit Iosephus lib. 1. Antiquitatum cap. 11. Caeterum, tantum abfuit ut hac castigatione in melius vitam mutaverit, ut peior etiam sit factus, suis voluptatibus, vel cum aliorum iniuria indulgens & facultates domesticas per vim ac rapinas accumulans; accitis undecumque latrociniorum & nequitiae sociis, magister illis ad facinorosam vitam est effectus. Ad haec, simplicem hactenus vivendi rationem, excogitatis mensuris & ponderibus immutavit, pristinamque sinceritatem & generositatem ignaram talium artium, in novam quandam versutiam depravavit. Sic Iosephus.

Recte nos monet Ambrosius hunc locum tractans, in cap. 10. libri secundi de Cain & Abel, horum duorum fratrum casibus & eventis manifestum fieri, mala quae bonis accidunt, & bona quae malis contingunt in hac vita, prudenter existimantibus, vere nec bona nec mala esse iudicanda. Nam
Rightly does Ambrose warn us, treating this place (ch. 10, book 2 on Cain and Abel), that from the fortunes and outcomes of these two brothers it is made manifest that the evils which befall the good, and the goods which happen to the wicked in this life, are, to those judging prudently, truly to be judged neither goods nor evils. For...7
da. Nam & mala viris bonis aeternum in bonum & immortalem gloriam convertuntur, bona vero malis sempiterno dedecori, & exitio sunt. Ecce Abel vir innocens ac sanctus, propter ipsam sanctitatis excellentiam gratiamque pietatis & religionis adversus Deum, florente aetate, nullo susceptae prolis gaudio, nulloque futurae posteritatis solatio, per summam iniuriam & crudelitatem a fratre suo interfectus est. Iam atrocis autem facinoris auctor Cain, homo impius, & sceleratissimus longissimam vitam exegit, uxorem duxit, filios procreavit numerosam & diuturnam vidit posteritatem, urbes condidit, multorumque princeps ac Dominus plurimos annos impune vixit. At enim praecox mors Abel multis & magnis cum laboribus aerumnis & calamitatibus, quarum haec vita nostra referta est, celeriter exemit. Prorogatio autem vitae Cain, vindictae & cruciatus productio fuit, pariter enim cum ipsa eius vita, animi & corporis angor & conflictatio producebatur. Et Abelis quidem laudes omnis aetas loquetur: Caini vero impietatis, & crudelitatis memoriam omnium saeculorum homines summo cum odio & detestatione usurpabunt.
...neither goods. For evils are turned for good men into an eternal and immortal good and glory, but goods for the wicked are for everlasting disgrace and destruction. Behold, Abel, an innocent and holy man, on account of that very excellence of sanctity and the grace of piety and religion toward God, in the flower of his age, with no joy of offspring received and no consolation of future posterity, was killed by his brother through the greatest injury and cruelty. But now Cain, the author of the atrocious crime, an impious and most wicked man, lived a very long life, took a wife, procreated sons, saw a numerous and long-lasting posterity, founded cities, and, prince and lord of many, lived many years unpunished. But indeed the premature death of Abel quickly took him away from the many and great labors, miseries, and calamities with which this our life is filled. But the prolongation of Cain's life was a prolongation of vengeance and torment, for equally with his life the anguish and conflict of mind and body was prolonged. And every age will speak Abel's praises; but the memory of Cain's impiety and cruelty men of all ages will recall with the greatest hatred and detestation.8
Illud praeterea animadvertendum est, non ex huius vitae, aut bonis aut malis eventis de hominum virtute & improbitate, miseria item & felicitate existimari oportere. Saepenumero enim multis rebus adversis magnisque calamitatibus virtus premitur & conflictatur: contra vero secundis rebus & ad voluntatem fluentibus alacris, & gloriosa, & quasi beata exultat improbitas, ut ex hisce rebus iudicari non possit utrum quis apud Deum odio, an amore dignus sit, ut in libro Ecclesiastae, cap. 9. dixit Salomon. Verum si sapimus, haec ipsa res cogit nos credere, non una cum corpore extingui animum, sed cum is corpore excessit, aliam ei superesse vitam, aliud boni & mali iudicium, aliamque pro cuiusque hominum meritis, praemiorum & suppliciorum distributionem expectari debere. Nisi quis forte tam sit amens vel impius, ut nullum bonorum & malorum discrimen esse apud Deum, nullove Dei respectu & cura res humanas agi putet.
This too must be noted, that one ought not to judge of men's virtue and wickedness, and likewise misery and felicity, from the good or evil events of this life. For very often virtue is oppressed and buffeted by many adversities and great calamities; but on the contrary, in prosperous circumstances flowing to its wish, wickedness exults, lively and glorious and as it were blessed — so that from these things it cannot be judged whether anyone is worthy of hatred or of love with God, as Solomon said in the book of Ecclesiastes ch. 9. But if we are wise, this very thing compels us to believe that the soul is not extinguished together with the body, but that, when it has departed the body, another life remains for it, another judgment of good and evil, and another distribution of rewards and punishments according to each man's merits is to be expected — unless perhaps someone is so mad or impious as to think there is no distinction of good and evil with God, or that human affairs are conducted with no regard and care of God.9

But it pleases me here to set down Ambrose's words, worthy indeed to be read by all, and pondered with frequent recollection. 'They are refuted,' he says, 'in this place, who think this life, which is in this world, is the only one. All things are full of falling, full of grief, and are refuted by the simple series of deeds. For behold, a just, innocent, pious man, incurring his brother's hatred on account of the grace of devotion, was taken away by parricide while still immature in age; and an iniquitous, wicked, impious man, even polluted by fraternal murder, led a long age, took a wife, left posterity, founded cities, and merited this by divine permission. Does not in these things the voice of God openly cry, You err who think that here is all the grace of living? You do not understand, you do not notice, that this old age is a veteran procession of miseries and of age, the wages of troubles; and that we are surrounded, as by a Scylla-like experience, by daily shipwrecks, are beaten by waves, dwell in rocky habitations, and take delight in these — like that [life which is] not so much an eternal living-being as an immortal evil. Therefore even for this Cain the long life granted was a vengeance, in that he lived in fear, and...'10

SED lubet hic Ambrosii verba ponere, digna sane legi ab omnibus, & frequenti recordatione perpendi. Redarguuntur, inquit, hoc in loco, qui unicam hanc vitam putant esse, quae sit in hoc saeculo. Omnia plena lapsus, plena maeroris sunt, & redarguuntur simplici serie gestorum. Ecce enim iustus, innocens, pius, propter gratiam devotionis odia fratris incurrens, immaturus adhuc aevi sublatus est parricidio: & iniquus, sceleratus, impius, etiam fraterna caede pollutus longaevam duxit aetatem, duxit uxorem, posteritatem reliquit, urbes condidit, & hoc meruit permissione divina. Nonne in his aperte vox Dei clamat, Erratis qui putatis hic esse omnem vivendi gratiam? Non intelligitis, non advertitis senectutem hanc miseriarum esse veteranam processionemque aetatis, aerumnarum stipendia, & Scyllaeo quodam usu circumsonari nos quotidianis naufragiis, tundi fluctibus, in scopulosis habitaculis degere, & in his delectari, sicut illud non tam aeternum animal, quam immortale malum. Ergo & isti Cain longaevitas indulta, vindicta est, eo quod vixit in metu, &

...in fear, and ran through a long space with much and fruitless labor — than which punishment nothing is graver, than that anyone should himself be the cause of greater punishments to himself. See, therefore, how perpetual is the life of the just, and how none is that of the wicked. The blood of the just cries out, even [when they are] dead; but the life of the sinner is hidden.' Thus he [Ambrose].11

metu & prolixum spatium multo cucurrit & infructuoso labore, qua poena nihil gravius, quam ut quis ipse sibi maiorum causa poenarum sit. Vide igitur quam perpetua vita iustorum, & nulla sit improborum. Iusti sanguis clamat, & mortui, vita autem peccatoris absconditur. Haec ille.

Translator’s notes

  1. New lemma: Genesis 4:16 (marginal 'VERS. 16.'), Cain's departure and dwelling in the land of Nod, east of Eden. ↩
  2. 'Cain went out from the face of God' — not a departure from the omnipresent God's knowledge and power, as David attests (Ps 139:7-10, 'Whither shall I flee from your face? ... even there your hand shall lead me'). No one can depart from God's sight or hide himself... Marginal gloss: 'Quid significet Cain egressum esse e facie Domini.' Catchword 'sese' (continues on the next page). ↩
  3. God's omnipresence: darkness cannot hide from him (Ps 139:11-12); 'in him we live, move, and are' (Acts 17:27-28). So Cain's 'going out from the face of God' is not fleeing the omnipresent God, but leaving the land/place where God manifested himself (uttering oracles, rendering responses, speaking familiarly under human form with the first men); or (as earlier interpreted) being renounced from the grace and protection God bears toward his servants and friends. ↩
  4. Catharinus's improbable view: the first men, expelled from Paradise, came into Judaea; Abel sacrificed where Jerusalem later stood (Pererius sardonically wonders he did not add Abel was killed on Mount Calvary, where Christ was killed by the Jews); Cain then left Judaea for elsewhere. Pererius: this has not a shadow of probability, and is shown false by his earlier disputation (book 3) on the location of Paradise. Marginal gloss: 'Opinatio Catharini minime probabilis.' ↩
  5. On 'Fugitive.' GLYPH verified (appears twice on the page): נוד (Nod, Gen 4:16). The LXX took it as a place-name — 'the land of Naid' — and Josephus followed (Cain traversed many regions with his wife, founded the town Naida, settled, and had children). But Jerome (Hebrew Traditions/Quaest. Hebr.) takes נוד (Nod) as a common noun meaning 'wandering, fluctuating, unstable, of uncertain abode' — matching God's sentence that Cain would wander as a vagabond and fugitive. ↩
  6. Josephus (Antiquities 1.11) on how wicked Cain became after his exile: far from improving under chastisement, he grew worse — indulging pleasures, harming others, amassing wealth by force and rapine, gathering bandits as their master in crime; and he corrupted the simple old way of life by inventing weights and measures, depraving the pristine sincerity into cunning. 'Thus Josephus.' Marginal gloss: 'Qualis fuerit Cain post fratricidium.' ↩
  7. Ambrose's lesson (De Cain et Abel 2.10): from the two brothers' fortunes it is manifest that, to the prudent, the evils befalling the good and the goods befalling the wicked in this life are truly neither goods nor evils. Marginal gloss: 'Egregium documentum ex Ambrosio: Nec vere mala esse quae viris bonis adversa accidunt.' Page footer signature 'CCCC 3'; catchword 'da. Nam' (continues on the next page). ↩
  8. Ambrose's lesson applied: evils turn to eternal glory for the good, worldly goods to everlasting disgrace for the wicked. Abel (innocent, holy) was killed young and childless; Cain (wicked) lived long, married, had a numerous posterity, founded cities, prospered unpunished — yet Abel's death freed him from life's miseries, while Cain's long life prolonged his torment; and every age praises Abel but detests Cain. Marginal gloss: 'Nec vere mala esse quae viris bonis adversa eveniunt, nec bona quae improbis prospera contingunt.' Verso running head 'COMMENTARIORVM' number '748'; true printed page 758. ↩
  9. One must not judge virtue or wickedness by this life's fortunes (virtue is often oppressed, wickedness prospers — 'no man knows whether he is worthy of hatred or love,' Eccl 9:1). Rightly weighed, this proves the soul survives the body: another life, judgment, and distribution of rewards/punishments must follow — unless one madly denies God's providence over human affairs. Marginal gloss: 'Aliam post hanc superesse vitam quomodo probari possit.' ↩
  10. Ambrose (De Cain et Abel) refuting those who think this the only life: all is full of falling and grief, refuted by the plain series of events — the just (Abel) taken young by parricide, the wicked (Cain) granted a long life, wife, posterity, and cities. God's voice cries, 'You err who think here is all the grace of living': this old age is a 'veteran procession of miseries,' daily shipwrecks amid rocks — life more an 'immortal evil' than an eternal good. So even Cain's long life was itself a vengeance, since he lived in fear, and... Catchword 'metu' (continues on the next page). ↩
  11. End of the Ambrose quote: Cain's long, fearful, fruitless life was itself the gravest punishment (to be one's own cause of greater penalties). The life of the just is 'perpetual,' that of the wicked 'none' — the just's blood cries even after death, but the sinner's life is 'hidden.' 'Thus Ambrose.' Odd-side running head 'IN GENESIM, LIB. VII.' number '749'; true printed page 759. ↩