CAIN, the eldest son of Adam and Eve. He was the first man who had been a child, and the first man born of woman. For his history, as connected with that of Abel, see [Abel]. The curse pronounced upon Cain, on account of his fratricide, is thus expressed: “And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is thy brother Abel? And he said, I know not: am I my brother’s keeper? And God said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand. When thou tillest it, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee its strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth,” meaning, probably, from his own native district, and from the presence of his kindred, “and from thy face shall I be hid;” by which he probably intended the divine glory, or Shekinah, whose appearance sanctified the place of primitive worship, and was the pledge of acceptance and protection. The mark set upon Cain “lest any one finding him should kill him,” has been variously interpreted. Some have supposed it a change in the colour of his skin, others a certain horror of countenance. The LXX. understood the passage to mean, that the Lord gave him a sign, to assure him that his life should be preserved. Whatever it was, its object was not to aggravate, but to mitigate, his punishment, which may intimate that Cain had manifested repentance. Cain, being thus banished from the presence of the Lord, retired into the land of Nod, lying east from the province of Eden. While he dwelt in this country, which is generally understood to be Susiana, or Chusistan, he had a son, whom he named Enoch, in memory of whom he built a city of the same name. This is all we learn from Scripture concerning Cain.
CAKE. See [Bread].
CALAH, a city of Assyria, built by Ashur, Gen. x, 12. From it the adjacent country, on the north-east of the Tigris, and south of the Gordian mountains of Armenia, was called Callachene, or Callacine.
CALAMUS, קנה. Exod. xxx, 23; Cantic. iv, 14; Isa. xliii, 24; Jer. vi, 20; Ezek. xxvii, 19. An aromatic reed, growing in moist places in Egypt, in Judea near lake Genezareth, and in several parts of Syria. It grows to about two feet in height; bearing from the root a knotted stalk, quite round, containing in its cavity a soft white pith. The whole is of an agreeable aromatic smell; and the plant is said to scent the air with a fragrance even while growing. When cut down, dried, and powdered, it makes an ingredient in the richest perfumes. It was used for this purpose by the Jews.
Calamus Scriptorius, a reed answering the purpose of a pen to write with. The ancients used styles, to write on tablets covered with wax; but reeds, to write on parchment or papyrus. The Psalmist says, “My tongue is the pen of a ready writer,” xlv, 1. The Hebrew signifies rather a style. The third book of Maccabees states, that the writers employed in making a list of the Jews in Egypt, produced their reeds quite worn out. Baruch wrote his prophecies with ink, Jer. xxxvi, 4; and, consequently, used reeds; for it does not appear that quills were then used to write with. In third John 13, the Apostle says, he did not design to write with pen (reed) and ink. The Arabians, Persians, Turks, Greeks, and Armenians, to this day, write with reeds or rushes.
CALEB, the son of Jephunneh, of the tribe of Judah, was one of those who accompanied Joshua, when he was deputed by Moses to view the land of Canaan, which the Lord had promised them for an inheritance, Num. xiii. The deputies sent on this occasion were twelve in number, selected one out of each of the tribes, and they performed their commission with great promptitude and skill; they traversed the country in every direction, bringing with them, on their return, some of its finest fruits for the inspection of their brethren. Some of them, however, after making the report of the beauty and goodness of the country, which they described to be a land flowing with milk and honey, added, that the inhabitants of it were remarkable for their strength, while its cities were large and enclosed with walls. These later particulars having excited a spirit of murmuring among the Israelites, Caleb endeavoured to animate their courage by dwelling upon the fertility of the country, and exhorting them to go boldly and take possession of it. Others, however, dissuaded the people from making the attempt, assuring them that they would never make themselves masters of it. We have seen giants there, said they, in comparison of whom we were as grasshoppers; on which the people declared against the project, and intimated their wish to return again into Egypt. Moses and Aaron no sooner heard this than they fell upon their faces before the whole congregation, and Joshua and Caleb rent their clothes, imploring them to take courage and march boldly on; since, if God were with them, they might easily make a conquest of the whole land. So exasperated, however, were the multitude, that they were proceeding to stone Caleb and Joshua, when the glory of the Lord appeared upon the tabernacle, and threatened their extermination. Moses, having fervently interceded for them, the Lord graciously heard his prayer; but though he was pleased not to destroy them immediately, he protested with an oath, that none of those who had murmured against him should see the land of Canaan, but that they should all die in the wilderness. “As for my servant Caleb,” it was added, “who hath faithfully followed me, him will I bring into the land, and he shall possess it, he and his children after him,” Num. xiv, 1–24. Joshua also obtained a similar exception, verses 30, 38. When Joshua had entered the promised land, and conquered a considerable part of it, Caleb, with the people of his tribe, came to meet him at Gilgal, and finding that he was about to divide the land among the twelve tribes, Caleb petitioned to have the country which was inhabited by the giants allotted to him, on which Joshua blessed him and granted his request. Assisted by a portion of his tribe, he marched against Hebron, and slew the children of Anak: thence he proceeded to Debir, and finding the place almost impregnable, he offered his daughter Achsah in marriage to the hero that should take it. This was done by his nephew Othniel, who in consequence obtained Achsah with a considerable portion also of territory. We are not informed of the particular time or manner of the death of Caleb; but by his three sons, Iru, Elah, and Naam, he had a numerous posterity, who maintained an honourable rank among their brethren. See Num. xiii, xiv, Josh. xiv, 6–15; xv, 13–19; Judges i, 9–15; 1 Chron. iv, 15–20. עגל
CALF, עגל. The young of the ox kind. There is frequent mention in Scripture of calves, because they were made use of commonly in sacrifices. The “fatted calf,” mentioned in several places, as in 1 Sam. xxviii, 24, and Luke xv, 23, was stall fed, with special reference to a particular festival or extraordinary sacrifice. The “calves of the lips,” mentioned by Hosea, xiv, 2, signify the sacrifices of praise which the captives of Babylon addressed to God, being no longer in a condition to offer sacrifices in his temple. The Septuagint render it the “fruit of the lips;” and their reading is followed by the Syriac, and by the Apostle to the Hebrews, xiii, 15. The “golden calf” was an idol set up and worshipped by the Israelites at the foot of mount Sinai in their passage through the wilderness to the land of Canaan. Having been conducted through the wilderness by a pillar of cloud and fire, which preceded them in their marches, while Moses was receiving the divine commands that cloud covered the mountain, and they probably imagined that it would no longer be their guide; and, therefore, applied to Aaron to make for them a sacred sign or symbol, as other nations had, which might visibly represent God. With this request, preferred tumultuously, and in a menacing manner, Aaron in a moment of weakness complied. The image thus formed is supposed to have been like the Egyptian deity, Apis, which was an ox, an animal used in agriculture, and so a symbol of the god who presided over their fields, or of the productive power of the Deity. The means by which Moses reduced the golden calf to powder, so that when mixed with water he made the people drink it, in contempt, has puzzled commentators. Some understand that he did this by a chymical process, then well known, but now a secret; others, that he beat it into gold leaf, and then separated this into parts so fine, as to be easily potable; others, that he reduced it by filing. The account says, that he took the calf, burned it to powder, and mixed the powder with water; from which it is probable, as several Jewish writers have thought, that the calf was not wholly made of gold, but of wood, covered with a profusion of gold ornaments cast and fashioned for the occasion. For this reason it obtained the epithet golden, as afterward some ornaments of the temple were called, which we know were only overlaid with gold. It would in that case be enough to reduce the wood to powder in the fire, which would also blacken and deface the golden ornaments; but there is no need to suppose they were also reduced to powder. It is plain from Aaron’s proclaiming a fast to Jehovah, Exod. xxxii, 4, and from the worship of Jeroboam’s calves being so expressly distinguished from that of Baal, 2 Kings x, 28–31, that both Aaron and Jeroboam meant the calves they formed and set up for worship to be emblems of Jehovah. Nevertheless, the inspired Psalmist speaks of Aaron’s calf with the utmost abhorrence, and declares that, by worshipping it, they forgat God their Saviour, (see 1 Cor. x, 9,) who had wrought so many miracles for them, and that for this crime God threatened to destroy them, Psalm cvi, 19–24; Exod. xxxii, 10; and St. Stephen calls it plainly εἴδωλον, an idol, Acts vii, 41. As for Jeroboam, after he had, for political reasons, 1 Kings xii, 27, &c, made a schism in the Jewish church, and set up two calves in Dan and Bethel, as objects of worship, he is scarcely ever mentioned in Scripture but with a particular stigma set upon him: “Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.”
CALL, to name a person or thing, Acts xi, 26; Rom. vii, 3. 2. To cry to another for help; and hence, to pray. The first passage in the Old Testament in which we meet with this phrase, is Gen. iv, 26, where we read, “Then began men to call on the name of the Lord,” or Jehovah; the meaning of which seems to be, that they then first began to worship him in public assemblies. In both the Old and New Testament, to call upon the name of the Lord, imports invoking the true God in prayer, with a confession that he is Jehovah, that is, with an acknowledgment of his essential and incommunicable attributes. In this view the phrase is applied to the worship of Christ.
CALLING, a term in theology, which is taken in a different sense by the advocates and the impugners of the Calvinistic doctrine of grace. By the former it is thus stated: In the golden chain of spiritual blessings which the Apostle enumerates in Rom. viii, 30, originating in the divine predestination, and terminating in the bestowment of eternal glory on the heirs of salvation, that of calling forms an important link. “Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also glorified.” Hence we read of “the called according to his purpose,” Rom. viii, 28. There is indeed a universal call of the Gospel to all men; for wherever it comes it is the voice of God to those who hear it, calling them to repent and believe the divine testimony unto the salvation of their souls; and it leaves them inexcusable in rejecting it, John iii, 14–19; but this universal call is not inseparably connected with salvation; for it is in reference to it that Christ says, “Many are called, but few are chosen,” Matt. xxii, 14. But the Scripture also speaks of a calling which is effectual, and which consequently is more than the outward ministry of the word; yea, more than some of its partial and temporary effects upon many who hear it, for it is always ascribed to God’s making his word effectual through the enlightening and sanctifying influences of his Holy Spirit. Thus it is said, “Paul may plant, and Apollos water, but God giveth the increase,” 1 Cor. iii, 6, 7. Again, he is said to have “opened the heart of Lydia, that she attended to the doctrine of Paul,” Acts xvi, 14. “No man can come unto Christ, except the Father draw him,” John vi, 44. Hence faith is said to be the gift of God, Eph. ii, 8; Phil. i, 29. The Spirit takes of the things of Christ and shows them to men, John xvi, 14; and thus opens their eyes, turning them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, Acts xxvi, 18. And so God saves his people, not by works of righteousness which they have done, but according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, Titus iii, 5. Thus they are saved, and called with a holy calling, not according to their works, but according to the divine purpose and grace which was given them in Christ Jesus before the world began, 2 Tim. i, 9.
2. To this it is replied, that this whole statement respecting a believer’s calling is without any support from the Scriptures, and is either a misunderstanding, or a misapplication of their sense. “To call” signifies to invite to the blessings of the Gospel, to offer salvation through Christ, either by God himself, or, under his appointment, by his servants; and in the parable of the marriage of the king’s son, Matt. xxii, 1–14, which appears to have given rise, in many instances, to the use of this term in the Epistles, we have three descriptions of “called” or invited persons. First, the disobedient, who would not come in at the call, but made light of it. Second, the class of persons represented by the man who, when the king came in to see his guests, had not on the wedding garment; and with respect to whom our Lord makes the general remark, “For many are called, but few are chosen;” so that the persons thus represented by this individual culprit were not only “called,” but actually came into the company. Third, the approved guests; those who were both called and chosen. As far as the simple calling or invitation is concerned, all these three classes stood upon equal ground--all were invited; and it depended upon their choice and conduct whether they embraced the invitation, and were admitted as guests. We have nothing here to countenance the notion of what is termed “effectual calling.” This implies an irresistible influence exerted upon all the approved guests, but withheld from the disobedient, who could not, therefore, be otherwise than disobedient; or at most could only come in without that wedding garment, which it was never put into their power to take out of the king’s wardrobe; and the want of which would necessarily exclude them, if not from the church on earth, yet from the church in heaven. The doctrine of Christ’s parables is in entire contradiction to this notion of irresistible influence; for they who refused, and they who complied but partially with the calling, are represented, not merely as being left without the benefit of the feast, but as incurring additional guilt and condemnation for refusing the invitation. It is to this offer of salvation by the Gospel, this invitation to spiritual and eternal benefits, that St. Peter appears to refer, when he says, “For the PROMISE is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall CALL,” Acts ii, 39; a passage which declares “the promise” to be as extensive as the “calling;” in other words, as the offer or invitation. To this also St. Paul refers, Rom. i, 5, 6: “By whom we have received grace and Apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name;” that is, to publish his Gospel, in order to bring all nations to the obedience of faith; “among whom are ye also the CALLED of Jesus Christ;” you at Rome have heard the Gospel, and have been invited to salvation in consequence of this design. This promulgation of the Gospel, by the personal ministry of the Apostle, under the name of calling, is also referred to in Gal. i, 6: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ,” obviously meaning, that it was he himself who had called them, by his preaching, to embrace the grace of Christ. So also in chap. v, 13: “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty.” Again: 1 Thess. ii, 12: “That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath CALLED you,” invited you, “to his kingdom and glory.”