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James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Genesis 4:3-5

"And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto Jehovah. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof, and Jehovah had respect unto Abel and to his offering: but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.""In process of time ..." is an expression that moves this episode to a point long after the events of the preceding chapter."Fruit of the ground... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Genesis 4:1

Genesis 4:1. And Adam knew his wife, &c.— All the speculations respecting this passage might have been spared, if the words had been rendered, Adam HAD known his wife Eve, a translation which the original perfectly well bears. Moses, it is evident, gives only the most concise account of things, regardless of smaller matters. He was to give a general history of the creation of the world, and of man; of the fall, and expulsion from Paradise; of the effects of that fall, and of the promised... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Genesis 4:2

Genesis 4:2. Abel— This word signifies vanity. Calmet says, that Eve having observed in the conduct of Cain that he was not the deliverer which she imagined, gave to her second son a name which might denote the vanity of her former hopes: or she might be desirous to express, that the infant was born subject to the inconstancy and vanity of the things of this world, which she herself began to experience more and more every day. Grotius and others remark, that as the employments of these two... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Genesis 4:3

Genesis 4:3. Brought an offering— The words here used are the same with those applied to the legal offerings: יבא iabo, brought, is always used for the sacrifices brought to the door of the tabernacle: and מנחה minchah, for an offering or present made to God or man, as a means of appeasing wrath, &c. See Psalms 20:3. Accept [or turn to ashes] thy burnt sacrifice, menche. The reader is desired to bear this remark in mind. read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Genesis 4:4

Genesis 4:4. Abel, of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat, &c.— Cain's offering was suitable to his profession, and Abel's was equally so to his: there does not appear to me any reason of preference on this account. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, Abel of the firstlings and fattest of his flock: for this, I apprehend, is clearly meant by what we render, and of the fat thereof. For the text may, with the greatest propriety, be rendered, Abel brought of the firstlings of his... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Genesis 4:1

1. Eve said, I have gotten a man from the Lord—that is, "by the help of the Lord"—an expression of pious gratitude—and she called him Cain, that is, "a possession," as if valued above everything else; while the arrival of another son reminding Eve of the misery she had entailed on her offspring, led to the name Abel, that is, either weakness, vanity (Psalms 39:5), or grief, lamentation. Cain and Abel were probably twins; and it is thought that, at this early period, children were born in pairs... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Genesis 4:2

2. Abel was a keeper of sheep—literally, "a feeder of a flock," which, in Oriental countries, always includes goats as well as sheep. Abel, though the younger, is mentioned first, probably on account of the pre-eminence of his religious character. read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Genesis 4:3

3. in process of time—Hebrew, "at the end of days," probably on the Sabbath. brought . . . an offering unto the Lord—Both manifested, by the very act of offering, their faith in the being of God and in His claims to their reverence and worship; and had the kind of offering been left to themselves, what more natural than that the one should bring "of the fruits of the ground," and that the other should bring "of the firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof" [ :-]. read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Genesis 4:4

4. the Lord had respect unto Abel, not unto Cain, c.—The words, "had respect to," signify in Hebrew,—"to look at any thing with a keen earnest glance," which has been translated, "kindle into a fire," so that the divine approval of Abel's offering was shown in its being consumed by fire (see Genesis 15:17 Judges 13:20). read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 4:1-8

Was Eve thanking God for helping her bear a son (Cain), [Note: Mathews, p. 265; Wenham, pp. 101-2.] or was she boasting that she had created a man (Cain) as God had created a man (Adam, Genesis 4:1)? [Note: Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., pp. 111-12; Waltke, Genesis, p. 96.] The former alternative seems preferable (cf. Genesis 4:25). "Cain" means "acquisition," a portent of his own primary proclivity. Abel, from the Hebrew hebel, means "breath, vapor, exhalation, or what ascends." As things... read more

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