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Read Ebook: Commentary on Genesis Vol. 2: Luther on Sin and the Flood by Luther Martin Lenker John Nicholas Translator
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Ebook has 485 lines and 140057 words, and 10 pages
d. Why God does not inquire after the blood of beasts 160-161.
e. Whether this inquiry was from God direct or made through Adam 162-163.
f. How Cain felt upon this inquiry 164.
g. How to understand the statement that Abel's blood crieth to heaven 167.
h. This inquiry is a sign of God's care for Abel 169.
i. The time this inquiry occurred 173.
B. CAIN'S PUNISHMENT IN DETAIL.
a. How Cain's punishment and curse differed from Adam's 176-178.
b. Why Cain's person was cursed 178-179.
c. How his curse and punishment were lightened 182.
a. How this curse affected the earth 186-187.
b. Why Adam used such severe words in this curse 186.
c. How it caused the earth to be less fruitful 187.
a. This refers chiefly to the true Church, as is illustrated by many examples of the saints 194-195.
b. It refers less to the false 194-195.
c. Many take offense at this 196.
A. Cain's Punishment in General.
Also elsewhere in the sacred story, mention is made of such altars under the open heaven, and of sacrifices made upon them. And, if we should come together at this day under the open sky to bend our knees, to preach, to give thanks, and to bless each other, a custom would be inaugurated altogether beneficial.
So Paul had, and so the pope and the bishops have now, only one way left them: to acknowledge their sin and to supplicate the forgiveness of God. If they will not do this, God in his wrath will surely require at their hands the blood of the godly. Let no one doubt this!
B. Cain's Punishment In Detail.
This, in after ages, really came to pass. While it is true the promise of the blessed seed was a distinction confined to the Jews, according to the statement in Psalm 147, 20: "He hath not dealt so with any nation," the Gentiles, nevertheless, retained the privilege of beggars, so to speak. It was in this manner that the Gentiles, through divine mercy, obtained the same blessing the Jews possessed on the ground of the divine faithfulness and promise.
a. These words have greatly perplexed interpreters 197.
b. The way Augustine explains them 197.
c. The explanation of the rabbins 198.
d. Why the rabbins' interpretation cannot be accepted 200.
e. The true understanding of these words 201.
f. What makes these words difficult 202.
a. They are twofold, of the law and of grace 223.
b. The promise Adam received 224.
c. Whether God gave Cain one of these promises 224-225.
d. The kind of promises well organized police stations have 226.
e. The promises the Church has 227.
f. Cain's promise is temporal, incidental and incomplete 227.
a. Can anything definite be said of it. What the fathers thought of it 231.
b. Why this sign was placed upon him 232.
c. How he had to carry it his whole life 232.
d. How the sign was a confirmation and a promise of the law 233.
a. The first parents in obedience to God made Cain an outcast 234-235.
b. How the first parents overcame their parental affections in expelling Cain 236.
c. His expulsion must have pierced Cain to the heart 238.
d. How he went from the presence of Jehovah, to be without that presence 239.
e. It was a sad departure, both for Cain and his parents 240.
f. Whither he resorted 241.
The deluge very likely destroyed paradise 241.
Where was paradise 242.
The deluge destroyed paradise 243.
The deluge gave the earth an entirely different form 244.
A further proof of Cain's despair is, that he does not utter one word of reverence. He never mentions the name of God or of his father. His conscience is so confused and so overwhelmed with terror and despair that he is not able to think of any hope of pardon. The Epistle to the Hebrews gives the same description of Esau when it states that he "for one mess of meat, sold his own birthright. For ye know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place for change of mind, though he sought it diligently with tears," Heb 12, 16-17. Thus in the present instance, Cain feels his punishment, but he grieves more for his punishment than for his sin. And all persons, when in despair, do the same.
Unsettled and aimless like this was Cain's whole posterity. They had neither promise nor command from God, and lacked all definite guidance for life and for death. Hence, if any of them came to the knowledge of Christ, and allied themselves with the true Church, it was not by reason of a promise but through sheer compassion.
There is, then, no necessity for doing violence to this text as Rabbi Solomon does, who, after the words "whosoever slayeth Cain," puts a stop; making it to be a hiatus or , as we find in that noted line in Virgil --
And then the expression, "shall be punished sevenfold," the rabbi refers to Cain himself, who was punished in his seventh generation. For Cain begat Enoch, and Enoch begat Irad, and Irad begat Mehujael, and Mehujael begat Methusael, and Methusael begat Lamech.
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