Genesis 4:15 … And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.What was this mark? I’ve heard lots of fanciful answers – usually based on which races the person answering didn’t like the most – but no BIBLE answers. But there should be one, don’t you think? I mean, I know lots of people who believe that it was at this point that God gave Cain a hook-nose to make him the classic Jew. Many others believe that God made Cain black, to begin the black race.
But let’s face it, they made that up because they didn’t like Jews or Blacks or whatever race it was they were bashing at the time. There is not one hint nor shred of proof in the Bible or any other text to show that Cain received a hook-nose or dark skin or any PHYSICAL characteristic as a “Mark”.
So what is the REAL mark of Cain? What is the BIBLICAL explanation of this “mark”? To answer that, you first have to understand the situation a little better…
Since Abel’s sacrifice was accepted and Cain’s wasn’t, it meant Abel was going to inherit the blessings of the “seed” of Genesis 3:15, and perhaps they even knew of the blessings God would later give to Abraham. Regardless, Abel was going to inherit them and Cain knew that, and resented it. And so Cain quarreled with him, perhaps about the birthright, and then killed him.
God then cursed Cain, and kicked him out of Eden into Nod, which was east of Eden – a reasonable assumption would be that he wandered in the area later to become Babylon. But as God was giving Cain his sentencing, Cain seemed genuinely frightened…
Genesis 4:13-14 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; 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.
Cain was worried that people would kill him! But why? The only reason people would kill him now who didn’t want to kill him before, was that he had killed Abel. So God allayed his fears…
Genesis 4:15 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.
Now, what could this mark possibly be? Surely putting a hook-nose or black skin wouldn’t keep Cain from being killed! Did God have an angel hold a flashing red sign with the words “Don’t kill this man!” over his head? Let’s be reasonable! What could it have been?
Who wanted Cain dead? The only people who were alive were sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. And only a righteous son of Adam and Eve would have wanted to see justice done on a murderer. So what “sign” could God have put upon Cain to keep a righteous son of Adam from killing him?
The answer is quite easy, if you only ask the right question! And that question is… what sign has God put on the drug dealer down your block to keep you from killing him? What keeps you from executing the divine judgment of God on every sinner, when you know that they which “commit such things are worthy of death” (Romans 1:32)?
The simple fact that IT ISN’T YOUR JOB. But why? What makes it not your job?
1 Corinthians 5:12-13 (Weymouth) For what business of mine is it to judge outsiders? Is it not for you to judge those who are within the Church while you leave to God’s judgement those who are outside? Remove the wicked man from among you.
God judges those who are OUTSIDE the church! It is not our job to police righteousness at the Baptist church! If they come to OUR church, then we must say “No, that’s not how God does things” – but there, it’s their world, their business, and we are not of this world!
So we leave their judgment in God’s hands! God has always been the same (Hebrews 13:8), and has always had the same set of rules for man. Abel had faith (Hebrews 11:4), and to have faith you have to trust God to deliver you from your enemies. God’s standards of faith for Abel could have been no different from his standards for you.
So if God expects YOU to leave the judgment of those who are “without the church” to Him, then God would have expected Abel, or Seth, or Enoch, or any other man of faith to have left the judgment of those “without the church” to God. So if God wanted to keep, say, Seth from avenging the death of Abel he had to kick Cain OUT of the church of God! He had to put him WITHOUT the camp so that Cain’s judgment would be clearly in God’s hands!
Remember, today those that are IN the church, we judge. Today, we don’t execute those judgments with death, but we do judge them – by forcing them to leave the church if necessary.
1 Corinthians 5:12-13 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
In Israel, they did stone those who were within the “church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38). And after the flood, they clearly were told to execute the death penalty on those who murdered (Genesis 9:5). Apparently, Cain feared that one of the righteous sons of Adam was going to do this to him. So God put a mark on him to keep those in the church of God from killing him – now what WAS that mark?
In Biblical symbolism, there was only ONE explanation for a “mark”. It was a mark in the hand, and in the head (Revelation 14:9). It was MARK, or a SIGN of the beast. A symbol which says “this man serves the Devil”. And God has his OWN mark!
Exodus 31:13, 17 …Verily my SABBATHS ye shall keep: for IT IS A SIGN between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. … It is a sign between me and the children of Israel FOR EVER …
This was to be the SIGN of God’s people; something that was unmistakable, that set them apart as different from the rest of the world. That they did not work on Saturday. This sign was to last FOREVER, and would ALWAYS be a sign of God’s people – the MARK of God.
Ezekiel 20:12, 20 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a SIGN between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them. And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.
But Satan also has a sign of his own; something that says you are HIS people. I won’t go through the proof again here, but that sign is observing Sunday as the “Lord’s Day”. That is the MARK of the Beast. That’s why the sign is in your hand – that is, it is when you stop working with your hands – and it is in your head, where it turns your thoughts ever so gradually from God’s day towards Satan’s counterfeit doctrines.
God had to draw a CLEAR line of distinction between the righteous sons of Adam and those like Cain to keep the obedient from judging – and executing – Cain. So He gave Cain a MARK. A mark to keep him and his followers separate from the TRUE church of God.
Jude 1:11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
That mark could not have been a physical characteristic, for nothing physical could have kept an obedient follower of God from exacting a well deserved vengeance against Cain! Only by putting Cain out of the church, delivering him unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, and reminding the Church of God that “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19), could have kept a righteous man from killing Cain!
The mark of Cain could ONLY have been the mark of religious deception, which God allowed Satan to bring upon him and which most likely began with Sunday worship. This is the way in which all sinful men have been hidden from the face of God!
Genesis 4:14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid…
And so God used this point to teach a lesson to the Church of God which existed even then, and told them that they were not to take vengeance on those that were without the camp of God.
Genesis 4:15 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.