The names given by Eve to the two sons whose birth is recorded in the opening of

Gen. 4: provide a fair insight into the frame of mind, and the modifications wrought by

experience, of the first man and woman.

They had been expelled from the garden planted by God; the ground upon which they

stood, and from which they wrung a living by the sweat of the face, spoke to them

continually of the curse which had settled upon it. The sorrows of their new experiences,

however, were lustred by hope. Had not God said that the woman's seed should bruise

the serpent's head? Did He not set before them the wonderful symbol of a restored and

redeemed creation when He caused the cherubim to tabernacle at the east of the garden?

In view of this we can understand in measure the fulness of hope and desire that

possessed the breast of those first parents, and the reason why they named their infant son

Cain. Cain in the Hebrew language means "acquisition", the verbal form occurs in

Gen. 25: 10 and Exod. 15: 16 as "purchase"; in Gen. 33: 19, 39: 1 as "buy";

in Neh. 5: 8 it is "redeem",  in Isa. 11: 11 it is "recover", and in Gen. 4: 1 and

Prov. 4: 5 it is "get". It will be seen that the word, while indicating acquisition, does

not convey any idea as to how the acquisition is made; it may be as a gift, or as a

purchase, it may be by power or by redemption. Cain was looked upon by his parents as

an acquisition; the A.V. reads, "I have gotten a man from the Lord", the Hebrew `ish `eth

Jehovah, is literally, "a man, even Jehovah". This rendering suggests the reason why the

name Cain was given. Adam and Eve felt sure that this man-child born to them was none

other than the "seed of the woman" promised in the earlier chapter; how mistaken they

were events were to prove. Scripture indeed tells us that instead of being the promised

seed of the woman, Cain "was of that wicked one", in other words, he was rather "the

seed of the serpent". It is important to notice that the good, or the types of good, do not

come first. Cain comes before Abel, Ishmael before Isaac, Esau before Jacob, Reuben

and the others before Joseph, "that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is

natural, and afterwards that which is spiritual". Cain is one of the great foreshadowings

in this book of beginnings. Jude, writing of the last days, says, "Woe unto them! for they

have gone in the way of Cain". John in his first epistle likens Cain to the world, "we

should love one another, not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his

brother. . . . marvel not, my brethren if the world hate you". Not only so, a strong

division is made between the two seeds, Cain was "of that wicked one", "he that

committeth sin is of the devil", "in this are the children of God manifest, and the children

of the devil". In our Lord's day there were those who were "the offspring of vipers", and

all down the age, from Cain onwards, the two seeds have run their course together.

Satan, as the god of this age, and the prince of this world, by those who are his children,

persecutes and seeks to destroy those who are God's children. The Lord Himself has

ordained the "enmity" (Gen. 3: 15), therefore whosoever is a friend of the world

constitutes himself an enemy of God. The presence and purpose of Cain is repeated in