Jude 1:11

Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain We ask naturally what was the point of comparison. Probably in the case of those who were in the writer's thoughts, as in most others, "lust" was "hard by hate," and the false teachers were murderous and malignant, as well as sensual. The reference to Cain in 1 John 3:12 indicates that his name was used to point a moral as to the issue of the "evil works" in the spirit of hatred and of murder. Possibly, however, here also the writer may have had in his thoughts some of the Rabbinic legends which represented Cain as the offspring, not of Adam, but of Sammael, the Evil Spirit, and Eve, and as the parent of other evil spirits (Eisenmenger's Entdeckt. Judenthum, i. 832, ii. 428), and therefore as connected with the idea of foul and unnatural impurity.

ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward See notes on 2 Peter 2:15. Here, as there, the main thought connected with the name of Balaam is that of the sin of uncleanness into which the Israelites were led by him.

and perished in the gainsaying of Core i.e. by a gainsaying which was in its nature identical with that of Korah in Numbers 16. Completing the parallel thus suggested it is obvious that as the false teachers answer to Korah and his company, so the true apostles and prophets of the Church of Christ are thought of as occupying a position like that of Aaron or Moses. The Greek word for "gainsaying" is the LXX. equivalent for the "Meribah" of Numbers 20:13; Numbers 20:24. A strange Rabbinic legend, while it placed the souls of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in Gehenna, represented them as not tormented there (Eisenmenger, Entdeckt. Judenthum, ii. 342).