Collected Works of Martin Luther

by Martin Luther

  Why should we ever doubt therefore that God ponders and numbers in his heart the afflictions of his people, and that he measures our tears and inscribes them all on adamantine tablets? These tears the enemies of the Church of Christ can never erase by any device of theirs, but by their repentance alone for what they have done to his saints. Manasses was a terrible tyrant and a most inhuman persecutor of the godly. And his banishment and captivity would never have sufficed to have blotted out these sins. But when he acknowledged his sin and repented in truth, then the Lord showed him mercy.

  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. But as they do not this God will surely require at their hands in his fury the blood of the godly. Let no one be doubtful of this. So here Abel is dead, but Cain is still alive. But O! good God! what a life of misery does he live! For his wishes are that he had never been born. Because he ever hears the voice of his excommunication and expects every moment death and the vengeance of God upon his sin. And the awful case of our adversaries and of the Church’s tyrants shall in its time be exactly the same.

  II. V. 11. And now cursed art thou from the ground, which hath opened its mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand;

  Thus far have we heard how the sin of Cain was revealed by the crying blood of his brother Abel; and that he was hereby convicted of the murder by his father Adam, and that the judgment of God concerning the two brothers was, that the one should not only be justified but canonized, as we say, and declared to be a saint, and the first fruits as it were of this blessed Seed of the righteous, but that the other brother the first-born should be condemned and excommunicated or cast out as the following sacred narrative now shows. For Moses now proceeds to record the punishments which were inflicted of God on this fratricide.

  And here in the first place the carefulness and discrimination of the Holy Spirit, even “from the beginning,” is most worthy of our observation. For above, when the punishment was inflicted on Adam for his sin, the person of Adam was not cursed, but the earth only. And even the earth was not cursed absolutely in itself, but a certain excuse, as it were, was made for it. For the curse was pronounced thus: “Cursed is the ground for thy sake,” Gen. 3:17. Hence it is that Paul says, Rom. 8:20, “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly,” that is, not of its own will or fault. But because the earth instrumentally caused man to become a sinner; therefore also the earth was compelled to bear the curse as the instrument, in the same manner as gold, the sword, etc., are cursed, not in themselves, but because men sin by their means. This is a most beautiful reasoning as it were in the Holy Spirit, when he thus distinguishes between the earth and Adam. He makes the curse fall on the earth, but preserves the person of Adam.

  But in the instance before us the Holy Spirit speaks of Cain otherwise. He curses the person of Cain. And why is this? Is it because the sin of Cain, as a murderer, was greater than the sin of Adam and Eve? Not so. But because Adam was that root from whose flesh and loins Christ, that blessed Seed, should be born. This Seed therefore is that which was spared. For the sake of this blessed Seed, the fruit of the loins of Adam, the curse is transferred from the person of Adam to the earth, the very instrument. So that Adam bears the curse of the earth, but his person is not cursed; because from his posterity Christ was to be born.

  But because Cain by his sin fell from this glory of being the root of the blessed Seed; therefore his person is cursed. And the Holy Spirit says to him, “Cursed art thou,” that we might understand that he was cut off from the glory of the promised Seed and was condemned never to have in his posterity such a seed as that Seed, through which the blessing should come. This was Cain’s rejection from all that stupendous glory of the promised Seed. For Abel was now slain; therefore there could now be no posterity from him. But Adam was appointed still to serve God by his generating children. In Adam alone therefore, Abel being slain, and Cain being accursed and rejected, the hope of the blessed Seed rested until Seth was born unto him.

  The words of the Holy Spirit here are indeed few, when he says to Cain, “Cursed art thou.” But they are words worthy the deepest and most diligent consideration. The words are in their import, as if the Holy Spirit had said to Cain, “Thou art no longer he from whom the blessed Seed can be hoped for.” By these few words therefore Cain is rejected forever and is cut off as a branch from its stem; so that he can no longer hope for that glory which he so much strove to hold fast. For Cain’s great desire was that the glory of this future blessing should be propagated from his loins and proceed from his posterity. But the more he strove to secure this glory, the further he was from obtaining it. And just so it is with all the wicked; for the more they labor to accomplish their purposes, the more surely they fail and fall.

  And here begin, as we observed on the offerings of Cain and Abel, the two churches, which are ever at perfect enmity with each other; the Church of Adam and the godly which possesses the hope and promise of the blessed Seed; and the church of Cain, which lost this hope and promise by sin and never could recover it. For in the Deluge the whole posterity of Cain was utterly destroyed, so that no prophet nor saint, nor any head of a church of the posterity of Cain was left in existence; so utterly were all things denied to Cain and taken from him by this one word, when the Holy Spirit said to him, “Cursed art thou.”

  But the expression “From the earth” is added. This is as it were a tempering of the awful wrath of God upon Cain. For if the Holy Spirit had said “From heaven,” it would have taken away the hope of salvation from the whole posterity of Cain forever. But since the expression is, “From the earth,” the fall of Cain’s posterity from the promise and glory of the blessed Seed is threatened and determined; and yet a door was left open by which it might come to pass that some private persons of the generation of Cain might, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, join themselves to the posterity and Church of Adam, and be saved; as indeed in after ages it came to pass. For although the Jews alone retained the glory of giving birth to this blessed Seed and possessed the promise which was in him, according to the Psalm, “He hath not dealt so with any nation, and as for his ordinances, they have not known them,” Ps. 147:20; yet the Gentiles had the right of beggars, if I may so express it; and by begging they obtained the same blessing through the divine mercy, which the Jews possessed through the true posterity of Adam or the promise of God.

  In like manner also all rule in the Church was absolutely denied to the Moabites and Amorites, and yet many private individuals among them embraced the religion of the Jews. It was thus also that all right in the Church was taken away from Cain and his posterity absolutely. Yet so that permission was left them to beg as it were for this grace. This right of being beggars was not taken from them. For Cain, because of his sin, was cast out from the right of sitting at the family table of Adam. But the right was left him in his posterity to beg and gather up as dogs the crumbs that fell from his father’s table, Math. 15:26, 27. This is signified by the Hebrew expression, MIN HAADAMA, “From the earth.”

  I make these observations because there is a great probability that many of the posterity of Cain, in the earliest ages of the world, joined themselves to the holy patriarchs. But they abode in the Church as private persons only and without any office in it, as those who had utterly lost the promise of the blessed Seed being born from their body and posterity. And the loss of this promise was a serious matter to them. And yet this great curse was so mitigated toward them, that there was granted to them, as we have said, the right of being beggars for it as it were. Heaven was not absolutely denied them, provided they would join the true Church; as it is written, and particularly described in Is. 56:3-8.

  But this joining the true Church among his posterity Cain strove to hinder in various ways. For he set up new forms of worship and invented numerous ceremonies; that thereby he also might appear to be the Church. Those however who departed from hi
m and joined the true Church were saved; although they were compelled to despair of the glory of Christ being born from their body or posterity. But let us now return to the sacred text.

  Moses here uses a very striking personification. He represents the earth as being a dreaded beast, when he speaks of her as having opened her mouth and swallowed the innocent blood of Abel. But why does he speak of the earth in terms so terrible, when all these horrid things were transacted without her will or knowledge? Nay, since the earth is a good creature of God and these things were done against her will, and her struggle to prevent them? For Paul, as we have just observed, says, “The creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly,” etc., Rom. 8:20. My reply is, this was done, and the Spirit thus spoke, according to Moses, as a terror to Adam and to all his posterity, that they might live in the fear of God and dread the sin of murder. For the words of Adam mean and are as if he had said, “Behold the earth hath opened her mouth and swallowed the blood of thy brother; but she ought to have swallowed thee, the murderer. The earth indeed is a good creature, and is good to the good and the godly; but to the wicked she is full of yawnings and loud cries.” It is to this end that Moses records the Holy Spirit as having used these terrible expressions in reference to the earth through the mouth of Adam. It was to strike terror and confusion into murderers. Nor is there any doubt that Cain, after he heard these things from the mouth of his angry father, was terror-struck in his soul like Judas and overwhelmed with confusion, so that he knew not which way to turn. The expressions, “Which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand,” are indeed full of terror; and they point out the awfulness of this murder, in deeper colors than any pictures could represent it.

  V. 12a. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee its strength.

  The Lord above said unto Adam, “Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.” But here the Holy Spirit speaks to Cain otherwise. His words before us are as if he had said, “Thou hast watered and manured the earth, not with enriching dung and reviving rain, but with thy brother’s blood. Therefore the earth shall be to thee less productive than to others. For the blood which thou hast shed shall hinder the strength and the fruitfulness of the earth to thee.” And this is the second part of the punishment; namely, the bodily curse on Cain: that, although the earth should be just alike cultivated by Adam and by Cain, yet it should be more fruitful to Adam than to Cain, and should yield its return to the former for his labors; but that to the labors of Cain it should not yield any such returns of fruitfulness on account of the blood shed; which should hinder it, though by nature desirous to return her fruitfulness and strength for all labors of men.

  But here also we must offer a remark concerning the grammatical peculiarity of the original language. In the present passage, Moses terms the earth, HAADAMA. But in the passage which follows, “A fugitive and a wanderer shalt thou be in the earth,” he uses the term AREZ. Now ADAMA signifies, according to grammatical interpreters, “that part of the earth which is cultivated,” in which trees grow and other fruits of the earth which are adapted for food. But AREZ signifies “the whole earth,” whether cultivated or uncultivated. This curse of God therefore properly has reference to that part of the earth which is cultivated for food. And the curse implies that where one ear of wheat should bring forth three hundred grains for Adam, it should bring forth scarcely ten grains for Cain the murderer; and for the end, that Cain might behold on every side of him proofs that God hates and punishes the shedding of blood.

  V. 12b. A fugitive and a wanderer (vagabond) shalt thou be in the earth.

  And this was a third punishment contained in the divine curse on Cain, which continues to rest on murderers to this day. For unless they find reconciliation they wander about, having no fixed abode or certain dwelling-place.

  We have here two original terms, NO VANOD, “a vagabond,” and “a fugitive,” but my manner is to distinguish them thus. I consider NO to signify, “the uncertainty of the place in which you are or dwell;” that is, how long you can remain there. In the same manner as the Jews at this day are “vagabonds” or wanderers; because they have no certain or fixed dwelling-place and are in hourly fear lest they should be compelled to go forth from where they may be dwelling. But NOD signifies, the “uncertainty of the place to which you can go;” that is, the not knowing where to go; so that, while on the one hand you have no certain place in which to dwell, to that misery is added the further misery, that when you must leave your present uncertain place of abode, you know not whither to go. The original NO VANOD therefore contains in it a double punishment: the not being able to remain with any certainty in any place, and the not knowing whither to go, when you are driven from your present uncertain place of abode; as we find it also in Psalm 109:10, “Let his children be continually vagabonds.” VENOA IANUU BANAV, that is “let them, by wandering, wander;” or, “let them be wanderers indeed, or utter wanderers;” that is, let them never find a place in which they can dwell with certainty or safety. If they are this year in Greece let them be compelled the next year to wander into Italy; and so on perpetually.

  Just such is evidently the miserable state of the Jews at the present day. They can fix their dwelling-place nowhere permanently. And to this calamity of the Jews of the present day God adds another misery in the case of Cain that, when he is driven from one place of abode, he should not know where to find another, and thus should live suspended as it were between heaven and earth, not knowing where to stop nor where to find any continuing place of rest or refuge. And in this manner was the sin of Cain visited with a threefold punishment. In the first place he is deprived of all spiritual or Church glory, for the promise concerning the blessed Seed being born from his posterity is taken away from him. In the second place the earth is cursed to him in her fruitfulness, which is a domestic punishment reaching to all his provision for this life. And thirdly the punishment of a political or civil calamity is inflicted on him, in his being made a vagabond and never able to find any certain place of abode or rest.

  But still a way of joining the true Church is left him, but without the promise! For as I have said, if any of Cain’s posterity did join themselves to the true Church and to the holy fathers they were saved. And thus there was left them the domestic privilege, but without the blessing. And so the political privilege was preserved to them that they might build a city and dwell there, but for how long was still left uncertain. Cain therefore in his posterity is still a beggar as it were in the Church, in the domestic household, and in the civil state.

  And moreover with these punishments of Cain there was joined as an alleviation that he should not be slain immediately on account of the murder which he had committed; as also afterwards a like Levitical law was ordained concerning man-slayers. But Cain was preserved alive as an example to others that they might fear God and flee from the sins of murder. Let these observations suffice therefore concerning the sin of Cain and the judgment and vengeance of God on the same.

  But there are some who here reply and indeed the saints themselves often so argue to themselves that the godly also sometimes endure these same curses, while the wicked on the contrary are free from them. They look at the Apostle Paul as an instance, where he says that he also “wandered about and had no certain dwelling-place.” And verily our own condition is precisely the same at the present day. We preach to the Churches and have either no certain dwelling-places at all or are driven into banishment or are in fear of banishment every hour. And the same was the condition of Christ, of his apostles and prophets, and of the patriarchs of old.

  In the same manner the Scriptures say concerning Jacob, “The elder shall serve the younger,” Gen. 25:23. But does not Jacob become a servant when we see him a most distressed supplicant? Does he not from fear of his brother haste away into exile? Does he not on his return home supplicate his brother and fall on his knees before him? Is not Isaac also seen to be a most miserable beggar? Gen. 6:
1-35. Abraham his father also goes into exile among the nations and possesses not in all the world a place to set his foot, as Stephen says, Acts 7:1-5. On the other hand, the mocking and wicked Ishmael is a king and from him are born the dukes of the land of Midian, Gen. 25:16, before Israel entered into the land of promise. In the same manner it will be seen in the 17th verse of the present chapter that Cain first built the city Enoch, and from him were born shepherds, workers in metals, and inventors of music. All these things seem to the world to prove that the curses of God are wrongly confined to Cain and his posterity, seeing that these same curses frequently rest on the true Church; while on the contrary it is well with the wicked, and they flourish.

  These things are often a stumbling block, not to the world only, but to the saints themselves as the Psalms in many places testify. And the prophets also are frequently found to grow indignant, as does Jeremiah, when they see the wicked possess freedom as it were from the evils of life, while they are oppressed and afflicted in various ways. Men may therefore naturally inquire, Where is the curse of the wicked? Where is the blessing of the godly? Is not rather the contrary the truth? Cain is a vagabond and settled nowhere; and yet Cain is the first man that builds a city and has a certain place to dwell in. But we will reply to these inquiries more fully hereafter. We will now proceed with the text of Moses.

  PART VI. CAIN’S CONDUCT UPON BEING PUNISHED.

  V. 13. AND Cain said unto Jehovah, My punishment (iniquity) is greater than I can bear (than can be remitted).