John Calvin Commentary Genesis 4:13

"And Cain said unto Jehovah, My punishment is greater than I can bear." — Genesis 4:13 (ASV)

My punishment is greater, etc. Nearly all commentators agree that this is the language of desperation, because Cain, confounded by the judgment of God, had no remaining hope of pardon. And this, indeed, is true: the reprobate are never conscious of their evils until a ruin, from which they cannot escape, overtakes them. Yes, truly, when the sinner, obstinate to the last, mocks the patience of God, this is the due reward of his late repentance: that he feels a horrible torment for which there is no remedy—if, indeed, that blind and astonished dread of punishments, which is without any hatred of sin or any desire to return to God, can truly be called repentance—so even Judas confesses his sin but, overwhelmed with fear, flees as far as possible from the presence of God.

And it is certainly true that the reprobate have no middle course; as long as any relaxation is allowed them, they slumber securely. But when the anger of God presses upon them, they are broken rather than corrected. Therefore, their fear stuns them, so that they can think of nothing but hell and eternal destruction.

However, I do not doubt that the words have another meaning. For I rather take the term עון aoon in its proper sense, and the word נשא nasa, I interpret by the word to bear. A greater punishment (he says) is imposed upon me than I can bear. In this manner, Cain, although he does not excuse his sin, having been driven from every evasion, yet complains of the intolerable severity of his judgment.

So also the devils, although they feel that they are justly tormented, yet do not cease to rage against God their judge and to charge him with cruelty. And immediately follows the explanation of these words: Behold, you have driven me from the face of the earth, and I am hidden from your face. In this expression, he openly expostulates with God that he is treated more harshly than is just, no clemency or moderation being shown him.

For it is precisely as if he had said, ‘If a safe dwelling is denied me in the world, and you do not deign to care for me, what do you leave me? Would it not be better to die at once than to be constantly exposed to a thousand deaths?’ From this we infer that the reprobate, however clearly they may be convicted, make no end of storming, so much that through their impatience and fury, they seize on occasions of contest, as if they were able to excite enmity against God on account of the severity of their own sufferings.

This passage also clearly teaches what was the nature of that wandering condition, or exile, which Moses had just mentioned: namely, that no corner of the earth would be left him by God in which he might quietly repose. For, being excluded from the common rights of mankind, so as to be no more reckoned among the legitimate inhabitants of the earth, he declares that he is cast out from the face of the earth and therefore will become a fugitive, because the earth will deny him a dwelling. Thus, it would be necessary that he should occupy as a robber what he did not possess by right.

To be hidden from the face of God is to be not regarded by God, or not protected by his guardian care.

This confession also, which God extorted from the impious murderer, is a proof that there is no peace for men unless they acquiesce in the providence of God and are persuaded that their lives are the object of his care. It is also a proof that they can only quietly enjoy any of God’s benefits as long as they regard themselves as placed in the world on this condition: that they pass their lives under his government.

How wretched then is the instability of the wicked, who know that not a foot of earth is granted to them by God!