e
me, but I must be a fugitive and a vagabond upon the earth; that is, I
shall have no certain dwelling place. In the same way fugitive
murderers among us are punished with exile. These words, accordingly,
cast additional light upon the utterance of Adam, "Cursed art thou
from the ground." They refer to Cain's banishment. This part of Cain's
punishment therefore is a civil punishment, and by it he is shut out
from civic association.

206. But that which Cain next adds, "From thy face shall I be hid," is
an ecclesiastical punishment and true excommunication. For, as the
priesthood and the kingdom rested with Adam, and Cain on account of
his sin was excommunicated from Adam, he was thereby also deprived of
the glory both of priesthood and kingdom. But why Adam adopted this
punishment is explained by the words, "When thou tillest the ground,
it shall not henceforth yield unto thee its strength;" as if he had
said, Thou art cursed and thy labors are cursed also. Therefore if
thou shalt remain with us upon earth it cannot be but that both
thyself and we likewise must perish with hunger. For thou hast stained
the earth with thy brother's blood, and wherever thou art, thou must
bear about the blood of thy brother, and even the earth itself shall
exact her penalties.

207. A similar sentence we find pronounced in 1 Kings 2, 29-33, where
Solomon gives commandment to Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, saying, "Fall
upon Joab, that thou mayest take away the blood, which Joab shed
without cause, from me and from my father's house. And Jehovah will
return his blood upon his own head. But unto David, and unto his seed,
and unto his house, and unto his throne, shall there be peace for ever
from Jehovah." As much as to say, If Joab suffer not this punishment
of his unjust murder, the whole kingdom must suffer that punishment
and be shaken by wars. The meaning of Adam then, in this passage is,
If thou shalt remain on the earth with us, God will bring punishment
upon us for thy sake, in that the earth shall not yield us her fruit.

208. But now let us reply to the question raised above. It was said to
Cain, "A fugitive and wanderer shalt thou be in the earth." And yet,
Cain was the first man who builds a city, and his posterity so
increased from that time that they debauched and oppressed the Church
of God, and so utterly overthrew it as not to leave more than eight
persons of the posterity of Seth. All of the remainder of mankind,
which peri