Genesis 4

v1-7: Abel’s sacrifice was better than Cain’s in its nature. “Cain’s was only a sacrifice of acknowledgement offered to the Creator,” whereas “Abel brought a sacrifice of atonement, of which the blood was shed to gain forgiveness of sins.” It was better in quality, as “Cain brought…anything that was close at hand,” whereas “Abel was careful in the choice of his offering,” bringing “the best of the best.” But the greatest difference was “that Abel made his offering in faith,” acknowledging that he was a sinner, and depending upon “the promise of a Redeemer.”

v8-16: Having a hard heart will lead to being “more concerned about our sufferings than about our sins.” It will seek satisfaction in this life and not consider the curse that is coming of being “forever excluded from God’s love, care, and all hope of his grace.”

v17-24: “Worldly things are the only things that worldly people set their hearts on and are most ingenious and industrious about.” Cain was “a father of shepherds and a father of musicians, but not a father of the faithful.” His descendants discovered “how to be rich, and how to be mighty, and how to be merry,” but not how to know God. Let us not neglect to set our hearts and our minds on the things of the world to come.

v25-26: From the very beginning there has been a “distinction between those who professed faith in God and those who profaned it,” and it continues to this day. It will remain present “while the world exists.”

Genesis 5

v1-5: “Adam was made in the image of God; but, when he was fallen and corrupt, he had a son in his own image, sinful and defiled, frail, mortal, and miserable, like himself.” Everyone born since is like Adam in this way, a human “consisting of body and soul,” and also “a sinner… guilty… and corrupt.”

v6-20: The long life of these patriarchs helped to preserve “the knowledge of God and religion,” at a time when “there was no written word,” and “tradition being the only channel for its conveyance.” See the great “care of almighty God to preserve in his [people] the knowledge of his will and the purity of his worship.”

v21-24: “To walk with God is to set God always before us, and to act as those that are always under his eye. It is to live a life of fellowship with God both in worship of him and wisdom in our dealings with others. It is to make God’s word our rule and his glory our aim in all our actions. It is to make it our constant care and endeavour in everything to please God, and in nothing to offend him. It is to obey his will, to agree with his intentions, and to be workers together with him.”

v25-32: They all (apart from Enoch) died. “Even the one who lives the longest must eventually die.” This shows that death will come “to all without exception” as God said it would after sin entered the world.