A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

Genesis 3

¹ Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, “Yea, hath God said, ‘Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” — the serpent was more subtle, or crafty, by its manipulation of God’s Words and its loathly form, is the natural symbol of such a deceiver of man;

— the tempter appreared unto the woman as the more susceptible and unguarded of the two creatures he would betray; and ventures upon a half-questioning, half-insinuating remark;

² And the woman said unto the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, — the woman said, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; indicating, Eve extolled the large extent of liberty they enjoyed in ranging at will amongst all the trees, except one;

³ but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ‘Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.’” — but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden; this tree, is highly probable, stood near the tree of life, since that is described in the same “midst of the garden,” Genesis 2:9

⁴ And the serpent said unto the woman, “Ye shall not surely die; — ye shall not surely die; the serpent proceeded, in direct contradiction to divine command, not only to assure her of perfect impunity, but to promise great benefits from partaking of it;

⁵ for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” — your eyes shall be opened; his words meant more than met the ear “your eyes shall be opened”

— and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil: as “Elohim” which word is sometimes used of judges or magistrates, sometimes of angels, or “the mighty angels” as the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases the word; and sometimes of God himself, and of the divine Persons in the Godhead;

— knowing good and evil; or, as God, like unto God himself in that their knowledge should be enlarged, knowing more than just good and evil as many are being deceived with a new version today: “and you’ll go to heaven”

— the Targum, whose origin was in the Aramaic language, could be traced to Ezra speaking to the returning exiles who couldn’t understand Hebrew, but was expounded to them in a language they could understand.

⁶ And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and ate, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he ate. — the prevailing motive to influence her to eat: pleasant to the eyes, of a beautiful colour, and very inviting to the taste; succumbed to the lust of the flesh;

— and a tree to be desired to make one wise; which promised not only what she perceived by the discourse she had with the serpent, which she believed that this would be the consequence of eating this fruit, which looked very desirable, and she concluded to justify herself to eat;

— and gave also to her husband with her; that he might eat as well as she, and partake of the same benefits and advantages she hoped to reap from hence;

— and he did eat; an emphasis upon his eating lies the fate of his posterity; not the woman for the man was the federal head, and he sinning, all his posterity sinned in him, and died in him; through this offence judgment came upon all to condemnation; all became sinners, and subject to death;

⁷ And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves things to gird about. — the eyes of them both were opened that they were naked; the consciousness of guilt striked upon them as soon as they had broken God’s commandment by eating of the forbidden fruit;

— and they sewed, or platted fig leaves together; to cover at least part of their shame one from another, made themselves aprons;

⁸ And they heard the voice of the Lord God, walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. — “the voice of the Lord God, walking” seems like he appears as of the same kind;

— Adam and his wife hid themselves: being sensible of God’s approach, filled with shame and conscience of their own guilt, and dread of judgment; instead of flying to God for mercy, they foolishly attempted to run away from him, whom it was impossible to avoid;

⁹ And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, “Where art thou?” — the question, “Where art thou?” implies that the Lord was aware of their endeavor to hide themselves from him to face the consequence;

¹⁰ And he said, “I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” — I was afraid, because I was naked; he confesses his nakedness, which was evident; but makes no mention of his sin; this he wished rather to hide, feeling the shameful effects of himself;

¹¹ And He said, “Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?” — hast thou eaten of the tree; though God knows all our sins, yet he will know them from us, and requires from us an ingenuous confession of them, not that he may be informed, but that we may be humbled;

¹² And the man said, “The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” — the woman gave me; he shifts the blame to God; since the woman had been given him for his companion and help, he had eaten of the tree from her;

¹³ And the Lord God said unto the woman, “What is this that thou hast done?” And the woman said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I ate.” — the serpent beguiled me; that is, a spirit in the serpent, which she took for a good one, but proved a bad one, with lying words and deceitful language imposed upon her; thus similarily laying the blame on otheers;

¹⁴ And the Lord God said unto the serpent, “Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. — upon thy belly shalt thou go; thus “no longer on thy feet, or half erect,” but thou shalt crawl along, thy belly cleaving to the earth;

— the Targum of Jonathan adds more details:

And the Lord God brought the three unto judgment; and He said to the serpent, Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou of all the cattle, and of all the beasts of the field: upon thy belly thou shalt go,

and thy feet shall be cut off, and thy skin thou shalt cast away once in seven years; and the poison of death shall be in thy mouth, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.

¹⁵ And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.” — I will put enmity between thee and the woman; and the man too, but the woman alone is mentioned, for the devil’s greater confusion;

— she conceived an antipathy against it, and which is become natural between the serpent and man; man abhors the sight of a serpent, and the serpent the sight of man; and are poison to each other;

¹⁶ Unto the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” — multiplies “her sorrow and her conception,” that is, her sorrow generally, but especially in connection with pregnancy, when with anguish and peril of life she wins the joy of bringing a man into the world;

¹⁷ And unto Adam He said, “Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, ‘Thou shalt not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.

— cursed is the ground for thy sake; it shall now yield both fewer and worse fruits, and not even those without more care and trouble to thy mind, and the minds of thy posterity, and more labour to your bodies than otherwise would have been requisite;

— in sorrow shall thou eat of it all the days of thy life, meaning that with much toil and trouble, in manuring and cultivating the earth, he should get his living out of the produce of it, though with great difficulty; and this would be his case as long as he was in it.

¹⁸ Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. — thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; to give him more trouble, and cause him more fatigue and sorrow to root them up;

— and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; not the fruits of the garden of Eden, but only the common herbs of the wild, such as even the beasts of the earth fed upon: to such a low condition was man, the lord of the whole earth; and this was according to the law of consequence effect, of eating the forbidden fruit should be deprived of them all;

¹⁹ In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground, for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” — in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread; sweat appearing chiefly on the forehead, from whence it trickles down by the nose in persons employed in hard labour;

— for dust thou art, and unto dust shall thou return; his body was composed of the dust, was of the earth, earthly, and should be reduced to that again by death;

²⁰ And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. — Adam called his wife’s name Eve; named “Ishah” a woman, because taken from the man; for through her alone could human life be continued, and the “woman’s seed” be obtained who was to raise up man from his fall.

²¹ Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them. — coats of skins; animals, therefore, were killed not just for food, but also for clothing, to defend them from the heat and cold, and other injuries of the air to which they were now to be exposed;

²² And the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become as one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat and live for ever” — behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil; we are now prepared to understand the nature of the two trees which were in the midst of the garden;

— the tree of knowledge of good and evil; if man had obeyed, he would have come to this knowledge in a legitimate way; and to partake of the Divine nature of God;

— as one of us, if it concerning the angels, it is an unreasonable conceit that the great God should level himself with the angels, and give them a kind of equality with himself, as this expression indicates. To know all things, both good and evil; no, the “Us” incorporates just the Father and Son; see John 1:1-3

²³ therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. — therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden; gave him orders to depart immediately; sent or put him away as a man does his wife, when he divorces her;

— to till the ground, from whence he was taken: either the earth in general, out of which he was made, and to which he must return, and in the mean while must labour hard, in digging and ploughing, in planting and sowing, that so he might get a livelihood;

— the Targum of Jonathan adds more details, “and he went and dwelt in Mount Moriah, to till the ground from which he had been created.”

²⁴ So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. — so he drove out the man; this signified the exclusion of him and his guilty race from that communion with God which was the bliss and glory of paradise;

— cherubim, armed with a dreadful and irresistible power, represented by flaming swords which turned every way; on that side the garden which lay next to the place where Adam was sent, to keep the way that led to the tree of life.

Genesis 4

¹ And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have gotten a man from the Lord.” — Eve calls Cain “a man,” Hebrew, ish, a man;

— Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters, Genesis 5:4 “And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years; and he begot sons and daughters,” but Cain and Abel seem to have been the two eldest;

² And she again bore his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. — Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground; as Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born (Genesis 5:3), there was a long period for the increase of Adam’s family (comp. Genesis 4:14-17);

³ And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. — in process of time; might be after a harvest, or after a long indefinite period, shown by the age of Adam at the birth of Seth to have been something less than 130 years;

— the Targum of Jonathan says “it was at the end of days, on the fourteenth of Nisan,” as if it was the preparation of the Passover;

— remember, the Targum, whose origin was in the Aramaic language, could be traced to Ezra speaking to the returning exiles who couldn’t understand Hebrew, but was expounded to them in a language they could understand.

⁴ And Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering; — and the Lord God had respect to Abel and to his offering; and God showed his acceptance of his offering;

— Rashi adds more details: “Fire descended and consumed his offering”

⁵ but unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. — and Cain was very angry, his countenance fell; a feeling of resentment, and a sense of disappointment and condemnation take possession of Cain’s heart; 

⁶ And the Lord said unto Cain, “Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen? — Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? the Lord does not yet give up Cain but make an efford to deal with him;

— if thou do well, shalt thou not be accepted? to do well is to retrace his steps, to consider his ways, and find out wherein he has been wrong, and to amend his offering and his intention accordingly.

⁷ If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” — if thou doest well; but he (Cain) didn’t do well, hence Cain couldn’t qualify the last phase: “and thou shalt rule over him.”

— and unto thee shall be his desire; to whom do the pronouns “his” and “him” refer? Perhaps it should be read as: “And as to thy brother, unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over thee with all the right of the first born,” which is misleading since this clause is subjected to the first clause, “If thou doest well,”

— perhaps this verse could have been restructured this way: “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted; and thou shalt rule over him? But if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door; and unto thee shall be his desire.”

⁸ And Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him. — And Cain talked with Abel his brother; under the guise of brotherly familiarity, he concealed his premeditated purpose till a convenient time and place occurred for the murder;

— the Targum of Jonathan adds some step-by-step details:

And Kain said to Habel his brother, Come, and let us two go forth into the field.

And it was that when they two had gone forth into the field, Kain answered and said to Habel, I perceive that the world was created in goodness, but it is not governed (or conducted) according to the fruit of good works, for there is respect to persons in judgment; therefore it is that thy offering was accepted, and mine not accepted with good will.

Habel answered and said to Kain, In goodness was the world created, and according to the fruit of good works is it governed; and there is no respect of persons in judgment; but because the fruits of my works were better than thine, my oblation, before thine, hath been accepted with good will.

Kain answered and said to Habel, There is neither judgment nor Judge, nor another world; nor will good reward be given to the righteous, nor vengeance be taken of the wicked.

And Habel answered and said to Kain, There is a judgment, and there is a Judge; and there is another world, and a good reward given to the righteous, and vengeance taken of the wicked.

And because of these words they had contention upon the face of the field; and Kain arose against Habel his brother, and drave a stone into his forehead, and killed him.

— or for a more modern version:

“And Cain said to Abel his brother, ‘Let us go out to the field.’

And when they were in the field, Cain said to Abel, ‘I perceive that the world is created by mercy, but it does not operate according to good deeds; therefore, your offering was accepted while mine was not.’

Abel answered Cain, ‘The world is indeed created by mercy and operates according to good deeds; because my deeds were better than yours, my offering was accepted.’

Cain replied to Abel, ‘There is no judgment, no judge, no other world, no reward for the righteous, and no punishment for the wicked.’

Abel responded, ‘There is judgment, there is a judge, there is another world, there is reward for the righteous, and there is punishment for the wicked.’

And as they argued about these matters, Cain rose up against Abel his brother and struck him with a stone in his forehead, and killed him.”

⁹ And the Lord said unto Cain, “Where is Abel thy brother?” And he said, “I know not. Am I my brother’s keeper?” — it seems that Cain went away, scarcely conscious of the greatness of his crime; thus in Cain, like the devil, was both a murderer and a liar from the beginning;

— then the voice of God repeated it in his own heart, Where is Abel, thy brother! Not that God was ignorant where he was, but to inquire into the causes, and hear the accused speak for themselves, before passing sentence;

— am I my brother’s keeper? Why dost thou inquire of me concerning him who is of age to look to himself? Is he such a stripling that he needs a guardian? Or didst thou ever make me his guardian? all which was very saucily and impudently thought of in his harden heart;

¹⁰ And He said, “What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground. — thy brother’s blood crieth unto me; the sight God has seen tells him that the blood he has shed calls aloud for judgement and vengeance;

¹¹ And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand. — and now art thou cursed from the earth; from receiving its benefit and enjoying its fruits as before;

¹² When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be on the earth.” — a fugitive; condemned to perpetual exile; a degraded outcast; the miserable victim of an accusing conscience;

— “a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be on the earth” a vagabond shalt thou be, banished from thy own land and kindred; reminds us of the Gypsies; who are they?

¹³ And Cain said unto the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. — my punishment is greater than I can bear; what an overwhelming sense of misery; but no sign of repentence, nor cry for pardon;

¹⁴ Behold, Thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from Thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth. And it shall come to pass that every one who findeth me shall slay me.”

— he is driven, not “from the face of the earth,” which was impossible, but from the adâmâh, his dear native soil, banished from which, he must go into the silence and solitude of an earth unknown and untracked;

— whosoever findeth me, shall slay me; implies that the family of Adam had now become numerous. Not only sons and daughters, but their children and grandchildren may have been growing up when Cain was sent into exile; but in his present terror even an excited fancy suggested an enemy at every turn.

¹⁵ And the Lord said unto him, “Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

— sevenfold; Cain’s punishment was severe, because his crime was the result of violent passions, but his life was not to be taken because God wanted the earth to be populated;

— and the Lord set a mark upon Cain; to distinguish him from the rest of man; what the mark was, God has not told us: therefore any conjectures of men are just conjectures; and the Targum of Jonathan says: “Behold now, any one who killeth Kain, unto seven generations vengeance shall be taken of him,”

¹⁶ And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod to the east of Eden. — Cain, on migrating from the whole land of Eden, regarded himself as beyond the range of the sight of his fellow humans and from God;

— the land of Nod; read the word Nod with different set of vowels, the place could well be India! The Sacred Text in its original doesn’t have any vowel; they were added later, so the possibility is there.

¹⁷ And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. — he calls his son Henok (Enoch), and his city after the name of his son; the same word is employed in the lines of Seth Genesis 5:18, of Midian Genesis 25:4, and of Reuben Genesis 46:9

¹⁸ And unto Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech. — and unto Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begat Mehujael, and Mehujael begat Methusael; and Methusael begat Lamech;

— God, “declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done,” Isaiah 46:10 hence he, by preserving Cains despite his sin, wants this line to be preserved;

¹⁹ And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. — Lamech took unto him two wives; contrary to the first institution of marriage, whereby only one man and one woman were to be joined together, and become one flesh, Genesis 2:24

²⁰ And Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents, and of those who have cattle. — the father of such as dwelt in tents, and of such as have cattle: though his posterity might succeed the same business; since he was the first inventor of tents or movable habitations, which could be carried from place to place;

²¹ And his brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who handle the harp and organ. — he was the father of all such that handle the harp and organ: he was the inventor of instrumental music, both of stringed instruments;

²² And Zillah, she also bore Tubalcain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron; and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah. — an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron; he taught men the way of melting metals, and of making armour and weapons of war, and other instruments, for various uses;

²³ And Lamech said unto his wives, “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech! For I have slain a man for my wounding, and a young man for my hurt. — and Lamech (Josephus says he had 77 children) said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah; besides confessing what he had done, he self boasting what he would do should he be attacked; as this he wasn’t backed by God; but acting as if he were God;

²⁴ If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.” — the Septuagint has it “seventy times seven” which may also seem probable; in view of his boasting; like Nebuchadnezzar, saying, “Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty?”

— the line of Cain is traced no further than the seventh generation from Adam, as Josephus says “the posterity of Cain became exceeding wicked, every one successively dying, one after another, more wicked than the former.” We cannot tell whether there were any more in that line before the flood; the other line through Noah and Abraham is from Seth; and from them the Messiah would descend;

— perhaps the seven generation in verse 15 above, the Targum of Jonathan: “Behold now, any one who killeth Kain, unto seven generations vengeance shall be taken of him,” may mean that Cain’s posterity would be protected only till the seventh generation;

²⁵ And Adam knew his wife again; and she bore a son and called his name Seth. “For God,” said she, “hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.” — another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew; Cain, the firstborn, and Abel, who had outstripped him in prosperity, were both lost to Adam;

²⁶ And to Seth also there was born a son, and he called his name Enosh. Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. — then began men to be called by the name of the Lord; to pray unto God, to worship God; or to call themselves by the name of the Lord;

— now Cain and those that had deserted God had built a city, they began to err, and they made themselves idols, and surnamed their idols by the name of the Lord; and begun to declare for themselves the sons of men. Those that adhered to God began to declare for him and his worship, and called themselves the sons of God.

~ by Joel on July 3, 2024.

Posted in Books of Moses