Genesis 4:1 - Exposition

Exiled from Eden, o'er, canopied by grace, animated by hope, assured of the Divine forgiveness, and filled with a sweet peace, the first pair enter on their life experience of labor and sorrow, and the human race begins its onward course of development in sight of the mystic cherubim and flaming sword. And Adam knew Eve, his wife . I .e. "recognized her nature and uses" (Alford; cf. Numbers 31:17 ). The act here mentioned is recorded not to indicate that paradise was " non nuptiis, sed virginitate destinatum " (Jerome), but to show that while Adam was formed from the soil, and Eve from a rib taken from his side, the other members of the race were to be produced " neque ex terra neque quovis alio mode, sed ex conjunctione maris et foeminse " (Rungius). And she conceived . The Divine blessing ( Genesis 1:28 ), which in its operation had been suspended during the period of innocence, while yet it was undetermined whether the race should develop as a holy or a fallen seed, now begins to take effect (cf. Genesis 18:14 ; Ruth 4:13 ; Hebrews 11:11 ). And bare Cain . Acquisition or Possession , from kanah , to acquire (Gesenius). Cf. Eve's exclamation. Kalisch, connecting it with kun or kin , to strike, sees an allusion to his character and subsequent history as a murderer, and supposes it was not given to him at birth, but at a later period. Tayler Lewis falls back upon the primitive idea of the root, to create, to procreate, generate, of which he cites as examples Genesis 14:19 , Genesis 14:22 ; Deuteronomy 32:6 , and takes the derivative to signify the seed , explaining Eve's exclamation kanithi kain as equivalent to τετοκα τοκον , genui genitum or generationem . And said, I have gotten a man from the Lord . The popular interpretation, regarding kani-thi as the emphatic word in the sentence, understands Eve to say that her child was a thing achieved, an acquisition gained, either from the Lord (Onkelos, Calvin) or by means of, with the help of, the Lord ( LXX ; Vulgate, Jerome, Dathe, Keil), or for the Lord (Syriac). If, however, the emphatic term is Jehovah, then eth with Makkeph following will be the sign of the accusative, and the sense will be, " I have gotten a man—Jehovah" (Jonathon, Luther, Baumgarten, Lewis); to which, perhaps, the chief objections are