SEV Biblia, Chapter 4:15
Y le respondió el SEÑOR: Cierto que cualquiera que matare a Caín, siete veces será castigado. Entonces el SEÑOR puso señal en Caín, para que no lo hiriese cualquiera que le hallara.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Genesis 4:15
Verse 15. The Lord set a mark upon Cain] What this mark was, has given rise to a number of frivolously curious conjectures. Dr. Shuckford collects the most remarkable. Some say he was paralytic; this seems to have arisen from the version of the Septuagint, stevev kai tpemov esh, Groaning and trembling shalt thou be. The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel says the sign was from the great and precious name, probably one of the letters of the word Yehovah. The author of an Arabic Catena in the Bodleian Library says, ""A sword could not pierce him; fire could not burn him; water could not drown him; the air could not blast him; nor could thunder or lightning strike him."" The author of Bereshith Rabba, a comment on Genesis, says the mark was a circle of the sun rising upon him. Abravanel says the sign was Hebel's dog, which constantly accompanied him. Some of the doctors in the Talmud say that it was the letter t tau marked on his forehead, which signified his contrition, as it is the first letter in the word hbwt teshubah, repentance. Rabbi Joseph, wiser than all the rest, says it was a long horn growing out of his forehead! Dr. Shuckford farther observes that the Hebrew word tya oth, which we translate a mark, signifies a sign or token. Thus, chap. ix. 13, the bow was to be tyal leoth, for a sign or token that the world should not be destroyed; therefore the words, And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, should be translated, And the Lord appointed to Cain a token or sign, to convince him that no person should be permitted to slay him. To have marked him would have been the most likely way to have brought all the evils he dreaded upon him; therefore the Lord gave him some miraculous sign or token that he should not be slain, to the end that he should not despair, but, having time to repent, might return to a gracious God and find mercy. Notwithstanding the allusion which I suppose St. Paul to have made to the punishment of Cain, some think that he did repent and find mercy. I can only say this was possible. Most people who read this account wonder why Cain should dread being killed, when it does not appear to them that there were any inhabitants on the earth at that time besides himself and his parents. To correct this mistake, let it be observed that the death of Hebel took place in the one hundred and twenty-eighth or one hundred and twenty-ninth year of the world. Now, ""supposing Adam and Eve to have had no other sons than Cain and Hebel in the year of the world one hundred and twenty-eight, yet as they had daughters married to these sons, their descendants would make a considerable figure on the earth. Supposing them to have been married in the nineteenth year of the world, they might easily have had each eight children, some males and some females, in the twenty-fifth year. In the fiftieth year there might proceed from them in a direct line sixty-four persons; in the seventy-fourth year there would be five hundred and twelve; in the ninety-eighth year, four thousand and ninety- six; in the one hundred and twenty-second they would amount to thirty-two thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight: if to these we add the other children descended from Cain and Hebel, their children, and their children's children, we shall have, in the aforesaid one hundred and twenty-eight years four hundred and twenty-one thousand one hundred and sixty-four men capable of generation, without reckoning the women either old or young, or such as are under the age of seventeen."" See Dodd.
But this calculation may be disputed, because there is no evidence that the antediluvian patriarchs began to have children before they were sixty-five years of age. Now, supposing that Adam at one hundred and thirty years of age had one hundred and thirty children, which is quite possible, and each of these a child at sixty-five years of age, and one in each successive year, the whole, in the one hundred and thirtieth year of the world, would amount to one thousand two hundred and nineteen persons; a number sufficient to found several villages, and to excite the apprehensions under which Cain appeared at this time to labour.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 8-15 - Malice in the heart ends in murder by the hands. Cain slew Abel, his own brother, his own mother's son, whom he ought to have loved; his younger brother, whom he ought to have protected; a good brother, wh had never done him any wrong. What fatal effects were these of ou first parents' sin, and how must their hearts have been filled with anguish! Observe the pride, unbelief, and impenitence of Cain. He denies the crime, as if he could conceal it from God. He tries to cove a deliberate murder with a deliberate lie. Murder is a crying sin Blood calls for blood, the blood of the murdered for the blood of the murderer. Who knows the extent and weight of a Divine curse, how far it reaches, how deep it pierces? Only in Christ are believers saved from it, and inherit the blessing. Cain was cursed from the earth. He foun his punishment there where he chose his portion, and set his heart Every creature is to us what God makes it, a comfort or a cross, blessing or a curse. The wickedness of the wicked brings a curse upo all they do, and all they have. Cain complains not of his sin, but of his punishment. It shows great hardness of heart to be more concerne about our sufferings than our sins. God has wise and holy ends in prolonging the lives even of very wicked men. It is in vain to inquir what was the mark set upon Cain. It was doubtless known, both as brand of infamy on Cain, and a token from God that they should not kil him. Abel, being dead, yet speaketh. He tells the heinous guilt of murder, and warns us to stifle the first risings of wrath, and teache us that persecution must be expected by the righteous. Also, that ther is a future state, and an eternal recompence to be enjoyed, throug faith in Christ and his atoning sacrifice. And he tells us the excellency of faith in the atoning sacrifice and blood of the Lamb of God. Cain slew his brother, because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous, 1Jo 3:12. In consequence of the enmity put betwee the Seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, the war broke out which has been waged ever since. In this war we are all concerned, non are neuter; our Captain has declared, He that is not with me is agains me. Let us decidedly, yet in meekness, support the cause of truth an righteousness against Satan.
Original Hebrew
ויאמר 559 לו יהוה 3068 לכן 3651 כל 3605 הרג 2026 קין 7014 שׁבעתים 7659 יקם 5358 וישׂם 7760 יהוה 3068 לקין 7014 אות 226 לבלתי 1115 הכות 5221 אתו 853 כל 3605 מצאו׃ 4672
