LAND OF, the country to which Cain withdrew after the murder of
Abel. As the precise situation of this country cannot possibly be known,
so it has given rise to much ingenious speculation. All that we are told
of it is, that it was on the east of Eden,” or, as it may be rendered,
before Eden;” which very country of Eden is no sure guide for us, as the
situation of that also is disputed. But, be it on the higher or lower
Euphrates, (see _Eden_,) the land of Nod which stood before it with
respect to the place where Moses wrote, may still preserve the curse of
barrenness passed on it for Cain’s sake, namely, in the deserts of Syria
or Arabia. The Chaldee interpreters render the word Nod, not as the
proper name of a country, but as an appellative applied to Cain himself,
signifying a vagabond or fugitive, and read, He dwelt a fugitive in the
land.” But the Hebrew reads expressly, He dwelt in the land of Nod.”
Abel. As the precise situation of this country cannot possibly be known,
so it has given rise to much ingenious speculation. All that we are told
of it is, that it was on the east of Eden,” or, as it may be rendered,
before Eden;” which very country of Eden is no sure guide for us, as the
situation of that also is disputed. But, be it on the higher or lower
Euphrates, (see _Eden_,) the land of Nod which stood before it with
respect to the place where Moses wrote, may still preserve the curse of
barrenness passed on it for Cain’s sake, namely, in the deserts of Syria
or Arabia. The Chaldee interpreters render the word Nod, not as the
proper name of a country, but as an appellative applied to Cain himself,
signifying a vagabond or fugitive, and read, He dwelt a fugitive in the
land.” But the Hebrew reads expressly, He dwelt in the land of Nod.”