Cain alone. They would have caused his sisters to go with him as companions, for some sisters he no doubt had. Or his parents themselves would have prevented by their presence and authority the perpetration of so great a wickedness. And as I said, the mind of Abel was perfectly free from all suspicion. For had he suspected evil at the hand of his brother in the least degree, he would doubtless have sought safety by flight. But after he had heard and seen, as he thought, that Cain bore the judgment of God patiently and did not envy his brother the high honor which God had bestowed upon him, he pursued his work in the field with all security.
What orator could describe with eloquence equal to its importance the real nature of that act of Cain, which Moses expresses in these few words? “And Cain rose up against his brother.” Many descriptions of awful cruelty exist in books on every side, but no description of cruelty could paint it in a more atrocious and execrable light than the picture drawn by the few words of Moses, when he simply says, Cain “rose up against” his brother Abel. As if he had said, Cain rose up against Abel, the only brother he had, with whom he had been brought up and with whom he had lived in the one only family upon earth up to that day; all which family communion he utterly forgot, and not only so, but he forgot their common parents also. The greatness of the grief which he would cause his parents by such a grave crime never entered his mind. He never thought that Abel was a brother, from whom he had never received any offense whatever. For Cain knew that the honor of the more acceptable sacrifice which Abel had offered, proceeded not from any intent or ambition in him, but from the will and doing of God himself. In a word Cain did not consider in what position he himself would be; that by this wicked deed, he who had hitherto stood in the highest favor with his parents would lose that favor altogether and would fall under their deepest indignation. It is recorded in history that when a painter, who was painting the story of Iphigenia, on the point of being sacrificed to Diana by her father, had given to each one of the surrounding spectators his appropriate countenance, with a latitude of art which might best express his pain and sorrow, he at length came to the father himself, who was also a spectator; but feeling convinced that no art of the painter could adequately represent his feelings and countenance, he covered his head with a mantle.
Moses I think does the same thing in the present passage, when he uses the verb YAKAM, “Rose up against.” What tragical pictures would the eloquence of Cicero or Livy have here drawn, while they were strikingly portraying the wrath of the one brother, and the dread, the cries, the prayers, the tears, the uplifted hands, and all the horrors of the other; applying to the description all the power of their mind and language? But such feelings cannot be fully described by all these powers of eloquence. Moses therefore writes most appropriately, when he sets forth things so inexpressible by mere dots, as it were, in order that by his few words the feelings of the reader may be engaged to meditate on the facts the more closely and deeply for himself. For the vain attraction of words is like paint applied to natural beauty; it only mars and spoils the force of the reality.
Of the same expressive character are the few words which he next adds, “And slew him.” He does not by those few words represent a common murder, such as we see committed by men in general; for they sometimes kindle quarrels from the most trifling causes and commit murders in the end. Such murderers however immediately after the murder is committed are filled with distress; they grieve for the deed they have done and acknowledge those delusions of the devil by which he blinded their minds. But Cain felt no distress; he expressed no grief, but denied the deed he had done. This satanic and insatiable hatred in hypocrites is described by Christ by saying, “When they kill you, they will think that they do God service,” John 16:2. So the priests and the kings filled Jerusalem with the blood of the prophets and gloried in what they did, as if their deeds were great and successful exploits; for they considered such murders as proofs of their zeal for the law and the house of God.
And the furious cruelty of the popes and the bishops in our day is just the same. They are not satisfied with having excommunicated us again and again, and with having shed our blood, but they wish to blot out our memory from the land of the living; according to the description of such hatred expressed in the words of the Psalm, “Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof,” Ps. 137:7. These instances of hatred are satanic, not human; for all forms of human hatred grow into mildness by time; and after we have avenged the offense and pain given, the hatred at length ceases. But these instances of pharisaic hatred increase in virulence day by day; and for this very reason, because they are justified under the cloak of religion and godly zeal. Cain therefore is the father of all murderers, who slaughter the saints and whose wrath knows no end, as long as there remains one saint for them to kill. All this is proved by the example even of the crucified Christ himself. For as to Cain, there is no doubt of his having hoped that by putting Abel to death, he should still hold the high honor of his first birth-right. And in the same way the ungodly always think that their cruelty will profit them in some way. But when they find that their hope is vain they at once fall like Cain into despair.