Genesis 4:2
| 156 | Added to Bear, because not yet born above. she adds to beget. An infinitive verb is used, to beget for Abel as though she hadn’t yet given birth. The Hebrew verb to add is in the Hiph’il form meaning it is causative: to increase through addition. Contrast this with Cain whom “she begets” presently as the "first born." The Hebrew “tense” contrasts between them in verse 2 as well. Strong’s #3254, yasaph. To add. This is a verb. To increase through addition. It is often translated as “again” but “again” is not a verb but an adverb. Compare with Jesus’ use of the word “add” in the New Testament and Genesis 4:12. In the Proverbs the word is used, “For by me do your days abound, And added to thee are duplications of double-life [chayyim]” Prov. 9:11. The name of Joseph, a figure of Jesus, is from the same root and means “he increases”. |