(1) The deluge destroyed paradise 243.

* Cain lived where Babylon was built later 244.

(2) The deluge gave the earth an entirely different form 244.

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)._

197. Here Moses seems to have fixed a cross for the grammarians and
the rabbins; for they crucify this passage in various ways. Lyra
recites the opinions of some who see in this passage an affirmation,
considering it to mean that in his despair Cain claimed his sin to be
greater than could be pardoned. This is our rendering. Augustine
likewise retained this view of the passage, for he says, "Thou liest,
Cain; for the mercy of God is greater than the misery of all the
sinners."

198. The rabbins, however, expound the passage as a denial in the form
of a question, as if he had said, "Is my iniquity greater than can be
remitted?" But if this rendering be the true one, Cain not only does
not acknowledge his sin, but excuses it and, in addition, insults God
for laying upon him a punishment greater than he deserves. In this way
the rabbins almost everywhere corrupt the sense of the Scriptures.
Consequently I begin to hate them, and I admonish all who read them,
to do so with careful discrimination. Although they did possess the
knowledge of some things by tradition from the fathers, they corrupted
them in various ways; and therefore they often deceived by those
corruptions even Jerome himself. Nor did the poets of old so fill the
world with their fables as the wicked Jews did the Scriptures with
their absurd opinions. A great task, therefore, is incumbent upon us
in endeavoring to keep the text free from their comments.

199. The occasion for all this error is the fact that some men are
competent to deal only with grammatical questions, but not with the
subject matter itself; that is, they are not theologians at the same
time. The inevitable result is mistakes and the crucifixion of
themselves as well as of the Scriptures. For how can any one explain
what he does not understand? Now the subject matter in the present
passage is that Cain is accused in his own conscience. And no one, not
only no wicked man, but not even the devil himself, can endure this
judgment; as James witnesses, "The devils also believe and tremble
before God," Jas 2, 19. Peter also says, "Whereas angels which are
gre