Commentary on Genesis, Vol. 1 · Martin Luther
PART II. OFFERINGS IN GENERAL, OF OUR FIRST PARENTS, AND OF CAIN AND ABEL.
PART IV. HOW CAIN MURDERED HIS BROTHER AND WAS REQUIRED TO GIVE AN ACCOUNT, AND HOW HE CONDUCTED HIMSELF. I. V. 8a. _And Cain told (talked with) Abel his brother._ Our translation has it, "And Cain said to Abel, his brother," adding the words, "Let us go out doors." But this is one of the inventions of the Rabbins, to whom how much credit is to be given, I have fully shown. Lyra, following the invention of Eben Ezra, relates that Cain told his brother how severely he had been rebuked of the Lord. But who would believe that for which there is no authority in the Scriptures? We hold therefore to that meaning of the text which the Scriptures plainly show to be its true sense, that Cain, being reprobated or rejected of God, indulged his wrath, and that he now added to his former sins, contempt of his parents and of the Word, thinking thus within himself, "The promised Seed of the woman belongs to me as the first-born. But my brother, Abel, that contemptible one and that one of naught, is evidently preferred to me by the divine authority itself, manifested by the fire from heaven consuming his sacrifice. What shall I do, therefore? I will dissemble my wrath until an opportunity of taking vengeance shall occur."
The words therefore, "And Cain spoke to Abel his brother," I understand as meaning that Cain, dissembling his anger, conducted himself toward Abel as toward a brother, and that he spoke to him and conversed with him, as if he bore with a quiet mind the divine rejection he had just experienced, and the sentence of God thus pronounced against him. It was in this manner also that Saul dissembled his wrath, who likewise pretended a benevolent mind and good-will toward David. "I know well," said Saul, "that thou shalt surely be king," 1 Sam. 24:20; and yet he was all the while thinking of the way in which, having killed David, he might prevent his being king. Just in the same way did Cain now converse in dissimulation with Abel his brother, saying to him, I see that thou art chosen of the Lord. I envy thee not this divine blessing, etc., etc. This is the very manner of hypocrites. They pretend friendship until an opportunity of doing the harm they intend presents itself.
That such is the true sense of the passage all the circumstances clearly show. For if Adam and Eve could have gathered the least suspicion of the intended murder, think you not that they would either have restrained Cain or removed Abel, and placed the latter out of danger? But as Cain had altered his countenance and his carriage toward his brother, and had talked with him in a brotherly manner they thought all was safe, and the son had bowed to and acquiesced in the admonition of his father. This outward appearance and carriage deceived Abel also, who, if he had feared anything like murder from his brother, would doubtless have fled from him, as Jacob fled from Esau when he feared his brother's wrath. What therefore could possibly have come into the mind of Jerome, when he believed the Rabbins, who say that Cain was here expostulating with his brother? Wherefore Cain is here the image and the picture of all hypocrites and murderers, who under the show of godliness slaughter the good. For Cain thus being besieged by Satan covers his wrath, waiting the opportunity to slay his brother Abel; meanwhile he converses with him, as a brother beloved, that he might the sooner lay his hands upon him unawares. This passage therefore is intended for our instruction; that we may learn to understand the ways of murderers and hypocrites. For thus it truly always comes to pass that every Cain talks with his brother, as Cain of old talked brotherly with Abel; and on the other hand also, every Abel trusts in every Cain, as a brother would trust a brother; and thus he is murdered, and the pious parents meanwhile are deceived.
Just so the Pope and the bishops of this day talk and consult much concerning the peace and the concord of the Church. But he is most assuredly deceived who does not understand all these councils directly the contrary. For true is that word of the Psalm, "The workers of iniquity speak peace to their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts," Ps. 28:3. For the very nature of all hypocrites is, that they carry an appearance of goodness, speak friendly to you, pretend humility, patience, and charity, and give alms, etc.; and yet, they are all the while planning slaughter in their heart. Let us learn therefore by this history to know a Cain, and to guard best against him when he speaks the most friendly, and as a brother to a brother. For it is in this way that our adversaries, the bishops and the Pope, talk with us in our day, while they pretend a desire for concord and peace, and seek reconciliation of doctrines; whereas if an opportunity of seizing us and executing their rage upon us should present itself, you would soon hear them speak in a very different tone. For all the time there is death in the pot, 2 Kings 4:40; and under the best and sweetest words there lies concealed a deadly poison.
V. 8b. _And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him._ Here then you see the deceptiveness under the above dissembled conversation of Cain with his brother. Cain had been admonished by his father with divine authority to guard against sin in the future and to expect pardon for the past through the promised Seed. But Cain despises both admonitions and indulges in his sin, as all the wicked do. For true is the saying of Solomon, "When the wicked cometh, there cometh also contempt, and with ignominy cometh reproach," Prov. 18:3. Just in the same manner our ministry of the Word at the present day deserves no blame. We teach, we exhort, we rebuke, we turn ourselves every way, that we may recall the multitude from the security of sin to the fear of God. But the world, like an untamed beast, still goes on and follows not the Word, but its own lusts, which it strives to palliate under the appearance of what is honest and right. The prophets and the apostles also stand before us as examples of the same labor in vain, and we also are taught the same by our own experience. Our adversaries being so often admonished and convicted know they are doing wrong, and yet they lay not aside their murderous hatred against us.
From the case of Cain therefore learn what a hypocrite is; namely, one who pretends to the worship of God and charity, and yet at the very same time destroys the worship of God and slaughters his brother. And all this semblance of good-will is only intended to create the better opportunities of doing the harm designed. For if Abel had foreseen the implacable wrath and the truly diabolical fury of his brother, he might have saved his life by flight. But as Cain betrayed nothing of this kind while he talked with his brother in seeming affection and put on the appearance of his usual good-will, Abel perished before he felt the fear of danger. There is no doubt that Abel, when he saw his brother rising up against him, entreated and implored him not to pollute himself with this awful sin. But a mind thus beset by sin pays no regard to prayers, nor heeds uplifted hands. Just as Cain therefore had despised the admonition of his father; so now also he equally despises his brother, fallen on his knees before him.
These things instruct us in that cruel tyranny of Satan, under which our nature when involved in sins is bound. Hence Paul calls such, "The children of wrath," Eph. 2:3; and declares that such are "taken captive by Satan at his will," 2 Tim. 2:26. For when we are mere men; that is, when we apprehend not the blessed Seed by faith, we are all like Cain, and nothing is wanting but an opportunity to murder our brother. For nature, destitute of the Holy Spirit, is driven by that same evil spirit by which Cain was driven to murder. Whereas if there were in any one those sufficient powers or that free-will of which men talk, by which a man might defend himself against the assaults of Satan, these gifts of nature would most assuredly have existed in Cain, to whom belonged the first birth-right and the promise of the blessed Seed. But it was not so. And the condition of all men is the same. Unless nature be helped by the Spirit of God, it cannot uphold itself nor stand. Then why do we vainly and absurdly boast of free-will? Now follows another remarkable passage. II. V. 9. _And Jehovah said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?_
Good God! into what depth of sin does our miserable nature fall, when driven onward by the devil. At last murder was committed on a brother. And perhaps murdered Abel lay for days unburied. When therefore Cain returned to his parents at the accustomed time, and Abel returned not with him, the anxious parents said to him, Cain, thou art here, but where is Abel? Thou art returned home, but Abel is not returned. The flock is without their shepherd. Tell us therefore where thy brother is? Upon this, Cain, growing indignant, makes answer to his parents, by no means with due reverence, "I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?" But it happened to Cain as to all the wicked, that by _ex_cusing he _ac_cused himself. Agreeably also to the words of Christ our Lord, "From thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant," Math. 18:32. The heathen had also a striking proverb among them, "A liar ought to have a good memory." Such was the judgment of heathen men, though they knew nothing of the judgment of God and of conscience, and were capable of judgment and giving admonition concerning natural and civil things only. And true it is that liars expose themselves to many dangers of detection, and betray many facts, by which they may be convicted and refuted. Hence the Germans have this proverb, "A lie is a very fruitful thing." For one lie begets seven other lies, which become necessary to establish the first lie, and to make it wear the face of truth. And yet it is impossible after all to prevent conscience from betraying itself at times, if not in words then in countenance and gesture. This will be proved by numberless examples hereafter. I will cite one example here.
In Thuringia there is a small town in the district of Orla, called Neustadt. In this town a harlot had murdered her infant, to which she had secretly given birth, and had thrown it, after the murder, into a neighboring fish-pond. By a singular occurrence a portion of the linen in which she had wrapped the infant brought the horrid deed to light, and the case was brought before the magistrate; and as the simple men of the place knew no better means of investigating the crime in order to discover its author, they called all the young women of the town into the town-hall and closely examined them all, one by one. The judgment concerning all the rest was quite manifest, and it was evident that they were all innocent. But when they came to her who was the real perpetrator of the deed she did not wait for the questions to be put to her, but immediately declared aloud that she was not the guilty person. This declaration at once caused the magistrate to suspect that she really was the author of the deed, because she was more anxious than all the rest to clear herself from any suspicion. Therefore she was seized by the constables and forthwith suffered death. Indeed examples of the same kind are infinite and occur daily, showing that where persons are most anxious to _ex_cuse themselves, they most effectually _ac_cuse and betray themselves. So true is that word which we have just before heard that sin does indeed lie asleep and concealed, but it lies "at the door."
Just so in the present case. Cain thinks that he has made an effectual excuse for himself, by saying that he was not his brother's keeper; whereas, by the very mention of his brother's name, he at once confesses that he ought to have been his younger brother's keeper. And then again does he not, by the same admitted confession, that he ought to have been his brother's keeper, accuse himself of being of a hostile mind towards his brother? And does he not moreover strike into the mind of his parents a surmise of the murder committed? For Abel nowhere appears and is not to be found. Just so also Adam excuses himself in paradise, and lays all the blame on Eve. But this excuse of Cain is far more idle and absurd; for while he excuses his sin he doubles it. Whereas on the contrary, the free confession of sin finds mercy and appeases wrath. It is recorded in the history of St. Martin that when he was pronouncing to some notorious sinners the pardon of their sins, he was rebuked by Satan, who asked him why he did so; to whom St. Martin is said to have replied, "Why I would pronounce the pardon even of thy sins, if thou wouldst say from thy heart, I repent that I have sinned against the Son of God, and I pray to God to pardon me for the same." But the devil never does this. For he persists in and defends his sin.
All liars and hypocrites imitate Cain their father in his lie, by either denying their sin, or excusing it. Hence they cannot find pardon of their sins from God. And we see the same in domestic life. By the defense of wrong doing, anger is increased. For whenever the wife, or the children, or the servants have done wrong, and deny or excuse their wrong doing, the father of the family is the more moved to wrath; whereas, on the contrary, plain confession always meets pardon or a lighter punishment. But it is the very nature of hypocrites to excuse and palliate their sin, or to deny it altogether, and under the show of religion to slay the innocent. But here let us take a view of the manner in which sins follow each other and increase more and more. First of all Cain sins by presumption and unbelief. When priding himself on the privilege of his first birth-right, he takes it for granted that he shall be accepted of God on the ground of his high merit as the eldest son. Upon this pride and this glory of self-righteousness immediately follow the envy and hatred of his brother, whom he sees preferred before himself by a certain sign from heaven. Upon this envy and hatred follow hypocrisy and lying. He talks with his brother in dissembled affection, whom he all the while designs to murder, and whom by his affectionate conversation he throws the more effectually off his guard. Upon this hypocrisy follows murder. Upon this murder follows a lying excuse to cover his awful sin. And the last stage of the whole sin is despair and desperation; and this last step is the fall from heaven to hell!
And although Adam and Eve in paradise did not deny their sin, yet they confessed it quite coldly, and shifted it from the one to the other. Adam laid it on Eve, and Eve laid it on the serpent. But Cain went further than them both, for he not only did not confess the murder he had committed, but declared that he had nothing to do with the care of his brother. And did not this speech at once prove that his mind was in a state of hostility against his brother? Though therefore Adam and Eve confessed their sin with only half their hearts, yet they had some claim to pardon, and they were punished with less severity accordingly. But Cain, because he denied his sin determinately, was rejected, and fell into despair. And the same judgment awaits all our Cainite popes, cardinals and bishops, who although they plan in their minds plots of murder against us, yet say like Cain their father, "I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?"
There was a common proverb of old, "What is it to the Romans that the Greeks die?" So we think that our dangers and calamities only belong to ourselves. But how does this principle agree with the commandment of God? For his will is, that we should all live together, and be to each other as brethren? Cain therefore by this very saying of his heavily accuses himself when he makes the excuse that the custody of his brother was no matter of his. Whereas if he had said to his father, "Alas, my father, I have slain Abel, my brother. I repent of the deed I have done. Return upon me what punishment thou wilt." Had he thus spoken, there might have been room for a remedy; but as he denied his sin and contrary to the will of God cast off the charge of his brother altogether, there was no place left for mercy or favor.
Moreover Moses has arranged all this narrative thus particularly and remarkably on purpose that it might be a testimony and memorial of all hypocrites, that he might, by his peculiar manner of recording the solemn facts, graphically paint forth what hypocrites really are, and that he might show how awfully they are seized upon by Satan as his instruments, and inflamed by him against God and against his Word and his Church. It was not enough for his murderer that he had killed his brother contrary to the command of God, but he adds to that sin the further sin that, when God inquires of him concerning his brother, he becomes filled with indignation and rage. I say when God inquires of him, because, although it was Adam who spoke these words to his son Cain, yet he spoke them by the authority of God and by the Holy Spirit. In so awful a sin therefore was it not a most kind and gentle manner of expression to inquire, "Where is Abel thy brother?" And yet to this voice, which contained in it nothing severe, the hypocrite and the murderer grows so ferocious and proud that he replies, "I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?" And he is fired with indignation that he should be called to an account concerning the matter at all. For the reply of Cain is the reply of a spirit of resistance and indignation against God.
But to this sin Cain adds a worse sin still. For when he ought to have fallen under this accusation of having committed the murder, he himself at once turns round and accuses God and expostulates with him: "Am I my brother's keeper?" He prefaces his reply with no expression of reverence or honor, though due both to God and to his father. He did not say, "Lord, I know not." He did not say, "My Father, didst thou make me the keeper of my brother?" Such expressions as these would have indicated feeling of reverence towards God or towards his parent. But he answers as being Lord himself and plainly manifests that he felt indignant at being called to account even by him who had the high right even to call him to that account. And this is a true picture of all hypocrites. When standing in the most manifest sins they grow full of insolence and pride, and aim all the while at appearing most righteous persons. They will not believe even God himself when rebuking them by his Word. Nay, they set themselves against God, contend with him and excuse their sin. Thus David says, "that God is judged of men, but that at length he clears and justifies himself, and prevails," Ps. 51:4. This is that insolence of hypocrites which Moses here paints.
But how does this attempt of Cain succeed. Thus while he uses every means to _ex_cuse himself, he most powerfully _ac_cuses himself. Thus Christ says, "Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant," Luke 19:22. Now, this servant wished to appear without guilt, saying, "For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: Thou takest up that which thou layest not down, and reapest that which thou didst not sow: therefore I hid thy talent in a napkin," verses 20 and 21. Now, what _ex_cuses more plausible than these could the wicked servant adopt? Yet by what means more effectual could he _ac_cuse himself? For Christ at once uses his own very words against this wicked servant, and condemns him out of his own mouth. And this is the very way and wisdom of the Holy Spirit. Such examples are profitable to us that we may learn not to contend with God. On the contrary therefore when thou feelest in thine own conscience that thou art guilty, take heed with all thy soul that thou contend neither with God nor with men by defending or excusing thy sin. Rather do this, When thou seest God points his spear at thee, flee not from him; but on the contrary flee to him with humble confession of thy sin, and with prayer for his pardon. Then will God draw back his spear and spare thee. But when by the denial and excuse of thy sin thou fleest farther and farther from him, the nearer is God to thee as an enemy and the more closely and hotly does he pursue thee as such. Nothing therefore is better or safer for thee than to come to him at once with the confession of thy fault. For thus it comes to pass that, when God conquers us, we also conquer by him.
But Cain and hypocrites do not this. God points his spear at them, but they do not humble themselves before him nor pray to him for pardon. Nay, they even point their spear at God, just as Cain did on this occasion. Cain does not say, "Lord, I confess that I have killed my brother; forgive me." On the contrary, though being the accused, he himself accuses God by replying, "Am I my brother's keeper?" And what was the effect of his pride? By it he openly confessed that he cared naught for the divine laws, which say, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," Lev. 19:18. And again, "Do not unto another that which you would not have another do unto you," Math. 7:12. These laws were not first written, nor only written, in the Decalogue, but they were inscribed in the minds of all men by nature. Yet Cain not only acted directly against these laws, but showed that he cared naught for them, nay, that he absolutely despised them. In this way therefore Cain stands the picture, as we have said, not only of a wicked man, but of a man the most wicked, who, though a murderer, is yet a hypocrite wishing to appear a saint; being all the time one more prepared to accuse God than to appear worthy of accusation. And this is what all hypocrites do. They blaspheme God and crucify his Son, and yet wish to appear righteous. For after their murders, blasphemies and all other sins their whole aim is to seek means whereby to excuse and palliate the great sins they have committed. But the result always is that they only betray themselves and are condemned out of their own mouths.
Ideas discussed in this chapter
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.