The Mark of Cain. What Is It? Has It Been Revealed?

11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;

12 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.

13 And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear.

14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.

15 And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

16 And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

www.biblegateway.com...

The Mark of Cain, what was it? Origen claimed that the descendants of Cain had all died in the flood. No one seems to have listened to him, though, as the debate as to what the mark may have been persists to this day. It is written that God told Cain that he would be marked with a sign that would keep others from killing he or his descendants, but why does it seem that God did not make it obvious to everyone.

Abba Arika, a 3rd century Talmudic Rabbi and scholar, said that, God gave Cain a dog, making him an example to murderers. Cain and his descendants are also variously considered to have had a horn, or horns growing somewhere on their bodies, as was suggested by Abba Jose ben Hanan in the 1st century.

Various groups of Christians have also believed that The Mark of Cain had to do with skin color. The belief can be found in Syriac Christianity and in a book of Adam found in a sect of Eastern Christianity. The belief that The Mark of Cain had to do with one's skin being black was also held by The Church of Latter day Saints as well.

I have personally been fascinated with the possibility that the descendants of Cain were the Roma or Romani people, also known as the Gypsies.

I would like to quote and source a great research paper by Professor Prof. Walter Moberly of Durham University entitled, The Mark Of Cain-Revealed At Last? which was published by Cambridge University Press in ”Harvard Theological Review in 2007. Prof. Moberly quotes Walter Brueggemann as saying

While it (ed. The Mark of Cain) may originally have referred to a visible mark as a tattoo, it must now be understood in terms of its function in the narrative.

That function is two-edged. On the one hand, it announces the guilt of Cain. On the other, it marks Cain as safe in Gods protection. In such a simple way, the narrative articulates the two-sidedness of human life, in jeopardy for disobedience and yet kept safe”

dro.dur.ac.uk...

If it was meant to announce Cain's guilt, one might think it would have been put somewhere obvious, and in his paper, Prof. Moberly suggests that it is in plain sight.

It is the saying in the text, "Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." that is itself the non-corporeal sign, the 'warning, which serves to prevent Cain from being killed. YHWH'S words to Cain and the sign are not two different things, however closely related but one and the same thing; YHWH'S words are first spoken to Cain and are then redescribed as a protective sign.

dro.dur.ac.uk...

If that were the case, might there be examples out there somewhere that might give a clue as to whom Cain and his descendants were?

Thanks for reading ATS.



The mark of Cain - revealed at last ? Moberly, R. W. L. (2007)

en.wikipedia.org...

S+F for your research.

Ive always kinda wondered about this as well. I was taught that he died in the flood... but I always thought it would be interesting if cain carried some genes that manifest themselves as sociopathy. Not a physical mark, but something about his DNA.

But I guess theologically that could be considered an easy out to deal with evil in the world.

Who knows? I would be interested to hear peoples thoughts on this.

nice thread mate..i enjoyed reading it

didnt Ham take the knowledge onto noahs boat
ham was also black...known as the cursed one for some reason...aparently ham saw noah naked...

hey...you think noah carried the mark?????...which is why noah called him the cursed one?

wow just thought of it

you opened a can of worms ..lolol
i`ll check it out


peace

Maybe God afflicted Cain with leprosy or a similar skin-lesion disease. It'd make a good punishment, and who would want to get close enough to him to slay him?

found some interesting things

"God set a mark upon Cain. Let's look at this mark. The word mark is the Hebrew word OWTH. This word is only translated as mark once. It was translated as the word sign sixty times. So it was not a physical mark that God placed upon Cain, it was a sign"

"Who, on the ark, carried the Mark of Cain through the flood?" Well, the answer is clear if you consider the acts of Ham, Noah's second son. Moses recorded:

"And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.

And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard. And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent." Genesis 9:18, 20 & 21"


im thinking he saw the mark on noah...?....

"And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." Genesis 9:24-25"



www.newfoundationspubl.org...

hey

some people have interpreted the mark of cain as black skin

namely the Mormons

now

wasnt Romney a Mormon.... so he thought obama is cursed with the mark of cain...a cain descendant...

tut tut...they always advertised he was a mormon...but i never knew it meant this!!!!!!!!!



also... im saying noah had the mark...

Acts 10 Skin color nor religious platitudes makes you superior to another. So my guess is leprosy too.

The Mark of Cain was placed upon him so that he would be recognized by the "people" and he (and his kind) would not be harmed

The progress of digital camera technology has revealed this mark which is being collected as a biometric marker with other identifiers that can be recorded with technology and software

The following video reveals that the marks of mankind exist, and the project is planning to release instructions on how cell phones can be used to view, and record these marks, including the mark of cain

youtu.be...

coset

Okay, well if their was a flood and an ark to protect Gods people, why wouldn't the Devil have figured this out and build his own ark to protect all the "bad" people? Like two arks? We just don't hear about the other one.

Not that I believe in that story much anymore anyway. I have this burning question...

Why would the all powerful God of the Universe who made the world and trees and rabbits and people like poof in 7 days have to "build an ark" anyway? Why not just poof the bad away and make it all better? Why have a man and his family build a boat on dry land that is big enough for twenty million species of two by two...

Wait... twenty million species? From all over the world across oceans and mountains? And all the food to feed them too for months on end for... for...

Aww, nevermind.

Fairy tales.

reply to post by intrptr

Many of the people, like Satan, blasphemed God, and if they could have carried out their rebellion, would have torn him from the throne of justice. While many were blaspheming and cursing their Creator, others were frantic with fear, stretching their hands toward the ark, pleading for admittance. But this was impossible. God had closed the door, the only entrance, and shut Noah in and the ungodly out.

Im sure the devil tried to enter the Ark.

The ark was severely rocked and tossed about. The beasts within expressed by their varied noises the wildest terror, yet amid all the warring of the elements, the surging of the waters, and the hurling about of trees and rocks, the ark rode safely. Angels that excel in strength guided the ark and preserved it from harm. Every moment during that frightful storm of forty days and forty nights the preservation of the ark was a miracle of almighty power."

If angels guided the ship Im sure they could feed/control animals..
Both from Spiritual Gifts. Volume 3

You can also ask how Adam and Noah lived over 900 years..

Wickedness in the World
6 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with[a] humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” Genesis 5:32

As sin increased life span decreased..

He placed a mark (sign) on Cain so those who found him wouldn't kill him.
John 3 states that the children of God are those who do what is right, and that the children of the devil do not:

7Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

11This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. 13Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. 14We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 1John 3:

Cain not only murdered his brother, but refuted that he was his brother's keeper. The mark (sign) given to Cain was to prevent him from being killed by those who found him. Those who found him must therefore have not only accepted him but loved him. He would fit in with the world and offer the things that the world would love, music, metalworking, the building of cities etc through his descendants. All of which are things that the hands of men create. In contrast, Jesus said that the children of God would be hated by the world, persecuted and even killed, because of His name...why? The things which the children of the devil love are those very things which the children of God come to reject and shun and refuse to worship like those in the world. In essence, God's children do not compromise with the world, do not accept how the world chooses to redefine its principals and morals and to keep what Our Father says is love for Him - obedience to His commands.

Cain creates his world and loves the creation of his hands, the "builders" of religions which bind men to ridiculous religious rituals despite Our Creator declaring that His will is that we simply believe in the One whom He sent. The children of God come to understand that everything in the world was created by their Creator and therefore worship the Creator and not the created. A world entrenched in self love, self worship and worship of the created despise people who refuse to go along with what the world has declared is good. I am rejecting what they have deemed "good", and therefore in their minds I am rejecting them.

Think of the Pharisees who had created this elaborate twisted religion which exalted the traditions of the elders above the law of God, and their love of praise from fellow men. They actively sought the praise of man instead of the praise of God. Jesus stated that their father was the devil just as John above states that Cain was of the evil one. Just as Cain, they didn't love their brother but instead tied heavy burdens upon the shoulders of their converts and wouldn't lift one finger to ease their captives burdens, keeping them from salvation thus murdering their brother....

The mark (sign) of Cain therefore is, in essence according to my understanding, MAN'S created religions and religious rituals/practices that keep men focused on loving this world, keep men bound to serving men instead of serving God, and keep men under the delusions that all of these are "musts" in order to save yourself. In doing so, the world loves man and what man creates and says.

reply to post by Bybyots


I don't think the descendants of Cain were all killed off. There are direct references of descendants of Cain in the line of Merovingan Kings through Pharamond. There are also quite a few references to him throughout Irish and Scottish genealogical records. In particular, the family Harkin previously known as O hEarcain literally meaning descendants of Cain.

reply to post by cass1dy09

Angels that excel in strength guided the ark and preserved it from harm. Every moment during that frightful storm of forty days and forty nights the preservation of the ark was a miracle of almighty power."

Yah, "poof" again. Look, I am not against the idea of an ark. It is tale that shows us two things. The Universe is vast and travel time is long. If the world needed a flush and "God" couldn't be there then the next best thing was to get man to preserve life. Otherwise God could just put a magic bubble around all natural life to preserve it. God and the angels couldn't build an ark either? Why a boat even? Just magic wand again and make a huge dome or something. But no...

The same way life got here to the original garden from deep space. Seeds and embryos in an "ark". That is the lesson we are to learn from the story of Noah. Not how he saved the world, but how life is spread from world to world.

reply to post by Invariance

I don't think the descendants of Cain were all killed off.

Neither do I. What do you suppose the chances are that Ireland was the legendary Land of Nod, that Cain and his family went to live in.

Thanks for posting.

reply to post by WhoKnows100


I agree with most of your post.

As for more specifics...

He placed a mark (sign) on Cain so those who found him wouldn't kill him.

I believe that God kept other people from killing Cain in order for him to keep multiplying and for his descendants to help carry out the rest of God's plan as a whole.

I have read the Book of Jasher and I remember a story that Lamech; being short-sighted went hunting with his son in a wheat field. Lamech shot the arrow at what he thought was a horned animal. But his son said you have shot Cain.
So I think Cain's mark was two horns and that is why the statue of Moses has two horns. They say it is because rays and horns are the same in Hebrew and Michaelangelo just happened to get it mixed up.
YEAH RIGHT!

This forum asks Who did Lamech kill?
nazarenespace.com...

Cain was human-angel hybrid. You can't kill an angel but the human part of Cain obviously could be.
I believe that Cain is coming back as a Raphaim; reincarnated souls that just won't keep dead.

This is why there is a code; 7 times with Cain and 77 times with Lamech. Revelation's gematria is 777; Cain is going to be killed again for the last time.
Oh yeah and Tubal-Cain was Cain taking over that son's body.


So my guess is HORNS, coming out of his forehead.

And there are people who have had horns there, and there is that really weird photo of a so-called alien in a grave that has horns coming out of its head.
In Revelation the dragons locusts in chapter 7 (?) have horns that look like crowns.


And it is definitely NOT Roma gypsies, in fact they are one of the lost tribes of Israel. The old ways of Roma are too much like the hygiene laws of Jewish law. They went through India and picked up the local traditions and mixed their ways up.

Originally posted by coset
The Mark of Cain was placed upon him so that he would be recognized by the "people" and he (and his kind) would not be harmed

The progress of digital camera technology has revealed this mark which is being collected as a biometric marker with other identifiers that can be recorded with technology and software

The following video reveals that the marks of mankind exist, and the project is planning to release instructions on how cell phones can be used to view, and record these marks, including the mark of cain

youtu.be...

coset

edit on 17-2-2013 by coset because: Syntax in the sentence was wrong and required clarity by editing the sentence

i just wanted to say

im going to click your link in high hopes

if its far fetched BS....we are going to have a problem

back in a sec...

iv got to say...
hitler thought the same thing
i heard that they thought the rays of the black star...can see the mark...and your soul

Well, the bird on the head was considered the mark of god in a part of the religions that predated Judaism. The triple serpent was the other god. Neither would apply to Cain though, I doubt if god would put his mark or the mark of the serpent on Cain. This mark could still exist today and the descendants of Cain could have just conditioned us to believe it is normal over many generations saying that many people with it just look different. Generational conditioning has been used a lot in our history. I actually studied this a lot myself, there are hundreds of articles about this mark out there. S&F

The detail that always puzzled me the most was where his wife came from. I know there are several theories ranging from sisters to apes to "Adam and Eve" being a race of people instead of distinct individuals, but no idea when one may be correct.

As far as the mark goes I've heard many explanations as well. From black skin to freckles to red hair to birthmarks.. the most interesting one has been the suggestion of the rounded skull as opposed to an elongated one which was actually the norm. Perhaps the reason for the changes in skull shapes as well as many various examples given over time.

Some good questions OP, I look forward to what comes of it.