I’m sure this has been discussed before. A friend asked me recently what the mark was. I told him what I thought but told him I needed to look at it closer. See if you agree or disagree.
The Mark of Cain
A friend texted me the other day. He wanted to know about the mark associated with Cain mentioned in the Bible. It is often referred to it as the “mark of Cain” and he was was curious if it was something on the skin that could be seen by others. It had been a long time since I had studied this topic so I told him what I thought it wasn’t, and told him I would study the issue and get back with him. I came across a study on the 26 verses in Genesis 4 that totaled 186 pages. It was extremely thorough with an emphasis on the original Hebrew. Here is my summation.
I have never met any human being that didn’t have a bucket of issues. Everyone has their own pail they carry around, some may be bigger than others but they all contain personal scars or marks representing intimate issues that lie very near the surface of each of us. Most all of us wonder if those whom we know and love, or even strangers, can see these unresolved marks. Many are rooted in real past events that have attached themselves to some emotion while others are just as real, but imagined. Each mark poses it’s own restraint on both our thoughts and actions.
As I read the writings involved in what Caine’s mark actually was and what it represented I realized that the issue was not as simple as I had first thought.
Most good writing speaks to our whole being and how we fit into the larger schemes and there is no more powerful words than those posed in Scripture. It seems that what I once viewed as a visible physical mark was more likely a pledge or promise from God Himself to Cain that no one would kill him out of vengeance for carrying out the first murder. It can still be viewed as a curse but it is a much larger issue.
Time can be viewed as a gift or torment. To those with a degree of hope, time is their friend. Time can also be seen as an enemy that simply prolongs the misery some view themselves enveloped in. Cain’s life was spared in spite of the murder of his brother. His punishment was banishment from his Father and Mother and the land that he had so successfully farmed and to live the rest of his life wandering.
Cain seemed to take great pride in the produce he grew from the soil near his home. He thought the fruits of his labor would be good enough to impress God as an offering. Cain watched his younger brother bring his finest young lamb, free from any blemish, and offer it as a sacrifice to his God. He saw that his younger brother’s offering was accepted or approved by God but that the plants he had grown and offered to Him were not.
A standard can be defined as a set of behaviors that are acceptable to either ourselves or to others. It is not uncommon for an individual to have more than one standard and they can be derived from experience, culture and geography. Standards may be considered relative, to our situations, or absolute. The standards we use are determined by how we think. If we decide everything is relative then our standards will be very flexible and our thinking and behavior will mirror this. If we think and believe there is a truth that is absolute, and that we will be held accountable to that standard, then it will exert great influence.
Cain’s problem was that he decided that God’s standard was wrong. He decided to bring something as an offering that he was proud of, something that he had produced with his own hands and his own work. God had demonstrated His standard when humanity first sinned in the garden. He replaced the leaves that Adam & Eve had acquired (by their own effort) to hide their nakedness. He provided the skin of an innocent animal to meet His standards. Cain knew God’s standard and yet he thought that God would be impressed by what he could do with dirt and seeds.
Like most of us today Cain thought that God surely would at some point “go easy” on this thing called sin, and that He would eventually understand that we are mere mortals with good excuses. This standard that God established in the garden seems extreme and yet if God changed that standard then Satan would be correct, God is not perfect and therefore His judgements are flawed; specifically the one that condemned Satan to the lake of fire. God is unchanging as are His standards.
One of the hardest things for someone to admit is, that they are wrong. This prideful position makes the words “sorry” or “forgive me” extremely difficult to say. To admit to anyone that we have been wrong in our thinking requires humility. If our view of God considers that “anything“ we might do or think will impress or make us “worthy” to be in His presence or good favor, then we need to re-evaluate our relationship. Ourselves , minus our desire to impress, and with child like honesty is a good start. We either trust God or we do not, and to do any more than to “agree” with Him is to place trust in ourselves or something other than God.
Cain mistakenly thought his ability to produce the “fruit of the ground” would be an acceptable offering to God. When God pointed out Cain’s mistake He also offered him the solution for his mistake. Cain’s response was anger that turned into jealousy of his younger brother Able. The offering of Able was a young sheep from his flock. The Hebrew for the word offering involves the use of a knife for killing the sacrifice. It is likely that the very knife used by Able for his offering was also the instrument used by his brother to carry out the first earthly murder.
God always warns before He judges and He gives everyone a chance to admit their wrongs. In the garden He asked Adam where he was, and then asked what he had done. Instead of honesty Adam made excuses and actually blamed God for making the woman that tempted him. When God confronted Cain and asked him where Able was, he lied. God then proclaimed his punishment, “When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.” Cain then protested that the judgement was too harsh and that surely he would in turn be slain in vengeance. God then proclaimed to Cain that anyone who killed him would face a fate worse than death and that God would place a “mark” on him for his protection. God showed mercy by not only allowing Cain to live, but to live without having to worry about someone trying to take his life in vengeance.
The Hebrew word for mark is “ot”. This word can have a variety of meanings such as sign, signal, mark or miracle. The population at this time was likely rather small. Cain was the oldest child of Adam and Eve and not married. It would be an easy task for God to tell all the people at once that no one was to harm Cain. Since everyone knew who Cain was, it would make little sense to somehow place a distinctive emblem or mark his skin to identify him.
Though Cain was punished by having to leave home and never being able to successfully farm again, the mark God used was an act of mercy in protecting Cain from vengeance. God always offers mercy. Why is it when we are offended, we want justice? Justice is what we deserve, mercy is an undeserved gift!
Mercy is defined as compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm.
Micah 6:8 - He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly, with thy God?
The Mark of Cain
A friend texted me the other day. He wanted to know about the mark associated with Cain mentioned in the Bible. It is often referred to it as the “mark of Cain” and he was was curious if it was something on the skin that could be seen by others. It had been a long time since I had studied this topic so I told him what I thought it wasn’t, and told him I would study the issue and get back with him. I came across a study on the 26 verses in Genesis 4 that totaled 186 pages. It was extremely thorough with an emphasis on the original Hebrew. Here is my summation.
I have never met any human being that didn’t have a bucket of issues. Everyone has their own pail they carry around, some may be bigger than others but they all contain personal scars or marks representing intimate issues that lie very near the surface of each of us. Most all of us wonder if those whom we know and love, or even strangers, can see these unresolved marks. Many are rooted in real past events that have attached themselves to some emotion while others are just as real, but imagined. Each mark poses it’s own restraint on both our thoughts and actions.
As I read the writings involved in what Caine’s mark actually was and what it represented I realized that the issue was not as simple as I had first thought.
Most good writing speaks to our whole being and how we fit into the larger schemes and there is no more powerful words than those posed in Scripture. It seems that what I once viewed as a visible physical mark was more likely a pledge or promise from God Himself to Cain that no one would kill him out of vengeance for carrying out the first murder. It can still be viewed as a curse but it is a much larger issue.
Time can be viewed as a gift or torment. To those with a degree of hope, time is their friend. Time can also be seen as an enemy that simply prolongs the misery some view themselves enveloped in. Cain’s life was spared in spite of the murder of his brother. His punishment was banishment from his Father and Mother and the land that he had so successfully farmed and to live the rest of his life wandering.
Cain seemed to take great pride in the produce he grew from the soil near his home. He thought the fruits of his labor would be good enough to impress God as an offering. Cain watched his younger brother bring his finest young lamb, free from any blemish, and offer it as a sacrifice to his God. He saw that his younger brother’s offering was accepted or approved by God but that the plants he had grown and offered to Him were not.
A standard can be defined as a set of behaviors that are acceptable to either ourselves or to others. It is not uncommon for an individual to have more than one standard and they can be derived from experience, culture and geography. Standards may be considered relative, to our situations, or absolute. The standards we use are determined by how we think. If we decide everything is relative then our standards will be very flexible and our thinking and behavior will mirror this. If we think and believe there is a truth that is absolute, and that we will be held accountable to that standard, then it will exert great influence.
Cain’s problem was that he decided that God’s standard was wrong. He decided to bring something as an offering that he was proud of, something that he had produced with his own hands and his own work. God had demonstrated His standard when humanity first sinned in the garden. He replaced the leaves that Adam & Eve had acquired (by their own effort) to hide their nakedness. He provided the skin of an innocent animal to meet His standards. Cain knew God’s standard and yet he thought that God would be impressed by what he could do with dirt and seeds.
Like most of us today Cain thought that God surely would at some point “go easy” on this thing called sin, and that He would eventually understand that we are mere mortals with good excuses. This standard that God established in the garden seems extreme and yet if God changed that standard then Satan would be correct, God is not perfect and therefore His judgements are flawed; specifically the one that condemned Satan to the lake of fire. God is unchanging as are His standards.
One of the hardest things for someone to admit is, that they are wrong. This prideful position makes the words “sorry” or “forgive me” extremely difficult to say. To admit to anyone that we have been wrong in our thinking requires humility. If our view of God considers that “anything“ we might do or think will impress or make us “worthy” to be in His presence or good favor, then we need to re-evaluate our relationship. Ourselves , minus our desire to impress, and with child like honesty is a good start. We either trust God or we do not, and to do any more than to “agree” with Him is to place trust in ourselves or something other than God.
Cain mistakenly thought his ability to produce the “fruit of the ground” would be an acceptable offering to God. When God pointed out Cain’s mistake He also offered him the solution for his mistake. Cain’s response was anger that turned into jealousy of his younger brother Able. The offering of Able was a young sheep from his flock. The Hebrew for the word offering involves the use of a knife for killing the sacrifice. It is likely that the very knife used by Able for his offering was also the instrument used by his brother to carry out the first earthly murder.
God always warns before He judges and He gives everyone a chance to admit their wrongs. In the garden He asked Adam where he was, and then asked what he had done. Instead of honesty Adam made excuses and actually blamed God for making the woman that tempted him. When God confronted Cain and asked him where Able was, he lied. God then proclaimed his punishment, “When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.” Cain then protested that the judgement was too harsh and that surely he would in turn be slain in vengeance. God then proclaimed to Cain that anyone who killed him would face a fate worse than death and that God would place a “mark” on him for his protection. God showed mercy by not only allowing Cain to live, but to live without having to worry about someone trying to take his life in vengeance.
The Hebrew word for mark is “ot”. This word can have a variety of meanings such as sign, signal, mark or miracle. The population at this time was likely rather small. Cain was the oldest child of Adam and Eve and not married. It would be an easy task for God to tell all the people at once that no one was to harm Cain. Since everyone knew who Cain was, it would make little sense to somehow place a distinctive emblem or mark his skin to identify him.
Though Cain was punished by having to leave home and never being able to successfully farm again, the mark God used was an act of mercy in protecting Cain from vengeance. God always offers mercy. Why is it when we are offended, we want justice? Justice is what we deserve, mercy is an undeserved gift!
Mercy is defined as compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm.
Micah 6:8 - He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly, with thy God?
