John Calvin Commentary Genesis 4:17

"And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch." — Genesis 4:17 (ASV)

And Cain knew his wife. From the context, we can gather that Cain had married a wife before he killed his brother. Otherwise, Moses would now have related something concerning his marriage. For it would be a fact worthy of being recorded that any one of his sisters could be found who would not shrink with horror from committing herself to one whom she knew to be defiled with a brother’s blood; and that, while still having a free choice, she would rather spontaneously choose to follow an exile and a fugitive than to remain in her father’s family.

Moreover, he relates it as an astonishing thing that Cain, having shaken off the terror he had mentioned, would have thought of having children. For it is remarkable that he, who imagined himself to have as many enemies as there were people in the world, did not instead hide himself in some remote solitude.

It is also contrary to nature that he, being astounded with fear and feeling that God was opposed to him, could enjoy any pleasure. Indeed, it seems doubtful to me whether he had previously had any children. For there would be nothing absurd in saying that reference is here made especially to those who were born after the crime was committed—as a detestable seed who would fully share the bloodthirsty disposition and savage manners of their father.

However, it is beyond controversy that many people, both males and females, are omitted in this narrative, as it was Moses's design only to follow one line of Cain's progeny until he came to Lamech. The household of Cain, therefore, was more populous than Moses states. But because of the memorable history of Lamech, which he is about to add, he only refers to one line of descendants and passes over the rest in silence.

He built a city. This, at first sight, seems very contrary both to the judgment of God and to the preceding sentence. For Adam and the rest of his family, to whom God had assigned a fixed station, are living in hovels, or even under the open sky, and seek their precarious lodging under trees. But the exile Cain, whom God had commanded to wander as a fugitive, not content with a private house, builds himself a city.

It is, however, probable that the man, oppressed by an accusing conscience and not thinking himself safe within the walls of his own house, had contrived a new kind of defense. For Adam and the rest live dispersed throughout the fields for no other reason than that they are less afraid.

Therefore, it is a sign of an agitated and guilty mind that Cain thought of building a city to separate himself from the rest of humanity. Yet, that pride was mixed with his lack of confidence and anxiety is apparent from his having called the city after his son. Thus, different emotions often contend with each other in the hearts of the wicked.

Fear, the fruit of his iniquity, drives him within the walls of a city, so that he might fortify himself in a previously unknown manner. And, on the other hand, arrogant vanity breaks forth. Certainly, he ought rather to have chosen for his name to be buried forever. For how could his memory be transmitted, except to be held in execration?

Yet, ambition impels him to erect a monument to his lineage in the name of his city. What shall we say here, except that he had hardened himself against punishment, in order to hold out, in inflated obstinacy, against God?

Moreover, although it is lawful to defend our lives with the fortifications of cities and fortresses, yet their first origin is to be noted, because it is always profitable for us to see our faults in their very remedies.

When captious people sneeringly inquire from where Cain had brought his architects and workmen to build his city, and from where he summoned citizens to inhabit it, I, in return, ask them what authority they have for believing that the city was constructed of squared stones, with great skill, at much expense, and that its building was a work of long duration?

For nothing further can be gathered from the words of Moses than that Cain surrounded himself and his posterity with walls formed of the crudest materials. And as for the inhabitants, in that beginning of human fecundity, his offspring would have grown to such a great number by the time it reached his descendants of the fourth generation that it could easily form the population of one city.