November 12, 2017
taught by Ken McGarvey
First Baptist Church of Tellico Village, Tennessee

After Cain killed his brother Abel God exiled him from his home and put a “mark” on him so than nobody would kill him. 1) What was the mark? 2) Who was there to kill him, now that Abel was dead? And, while answering that question I will also deal with the oft-asked question, “Where did Cain get his wife?”

     Actually, at this time likely the population of the world was much greater than three. Let’s look at the scripture: 3 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. 4 After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters. 5 So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died. (Genesis 5:3–5)

     How old was Adam when Cain and Abel were born? We don’t know, but certainly less than 130 years, since Seth was born after Cain had killed Abel. (Genesis 5:25) Therefore, Cain might well have been over 100 years old when he killed Abel.

     A few things to remember: Adam and Eve were not created as infants, but as fully functioning adult human beings. And the first command God gave to Adam and Eve was not a negative one, but a positive one, God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1:28)

     So let’s say Adam and Eve learned about having babies from God, from the sex drive, and from seeing the animal kingdom procreate, it’s hard to imagine them waiting very many decades before they began. We read that they had “sons and daughters,” no numbers given, it would be pretty smart to assume they had lots of children. Even if they had only one every couple of years, they could well have had fifty children before Cain killed Abel. Hence, Cain may have had dozens of sisters, cousins and nieces from whom to choose a wife.

     Now let’s not worry about this incest thing. The gene pool hadn’t had time enough to become corrupted with defective genes, as it is today. Since all humanity was one family, there was nothing unusual or abnormal about marrying within the family — it’s all there was. So there were probably a few hundred people at the annual family reunions. And when Cain was exiled by God, he was likely already married. It doesn’t say he met or found his wife, but rather it simply says he had intercourse with her and she became pregnant.

     Okay, about the mark God gave him. When Cain killed his brother, he was afraid someone would kill him. After all, everybody was of the same family, and the news would certainly travel, and they all saw it on Facebook or CNN. They all would have known both Cain and Abel, and had formed their opinions, their likes and dislikes. Some might not have liked Cain, and found Abel to be a good man, a friend. There are many reasons they might have wanted to kill Cain in return.

     So Cain expressed his fear to God that whoever finds him will kill him. (Genesis 4:14) God listened to Cain and responded: And the LORD said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.

     What was this “mark”? It is easy for us to imagine a tattoo or something similar. However, the Hebrew word used here is more general, meaning a “sign.” I don’t think he carried a sandwich board bearing that message. However, God gave him something that would indicate to others that he was protected by God, so do him no violence.

     Through the years many have speculated on what that mark might have been. Different people and groups have argued that the special sign God gave was a horn (either short or long), leprosy, a special symbol or letter, or a letter used in God’s name, a tattoo, dark skin (some feel he was turned black), His own name and even the rite of circumcision. Some think that God turned him into a giant! The truth is the Bible simply does not clearly tell us what the unique mark of Cain was. Any conjecture, therefore, regarding this issue is ultimately based on opinion and imagination, and not Scripture.

     Perhaps the most important thing for us to think about is not what the mark was, but why it was given. After all, God created Adam and Eve and they had two sons. One son murdered the other. God condemned the act, but gave the murderer a mark or sign to protect him from being killed out of ideas of retaliation or punishment. Why did God do that?

     When the first family was formed, there were no laws regarding their conduct, other than to leave the tree of knowledge of good and evil alone. And after Adam and Eve failed that test, they were evicted from the perfect garden. If they were given any other taboos, it was not revealed to us in the Bible. So there was no stated law against murder or other violence. Since any social group, and especially a family, must learn how to relate for the benefit of the group and all its members, it should be a given that Cain knew that what he was doing was not a good thing, and would get him in trouble with the rest of the family.

     Whether Cain intended to kill Abel or not we’ll never know. However, it appears that he intended to do great bodily harm. And for that he had to answer not only to Daddy Adam, but also to God himself. Interestingly, God was at the heart of why Cain was upset in the first place.

     Genesis 4:2–7 tells the story. Cain worked the fields while Abel raised livestock. At one point each brought to the Lord an offering from his work. Cain brought grain and Abel brought animal fat. God looked with favor upon Abel and his offering, but looked upon Cain’s offering without favor. Cain became very angry — at Abel? at God? It doesn’t say. However, God answers, If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it. (Genesis 4:7)

     We can speculate from other scriptures the whys of God’s refusal to accept Cain’s offering, but it’s still speculation. However, when God says, “If you do what is right,” we must make the assumption that God had stated to both men what they should offer to him and how. For whatever reasons, Cain had failed to follow instructions. Cain was probably angry with God; but Abel was a more ready target. So he took is brother out into the field and killed him.

     So now the question returns to us, “Since throughout the Bible murder was usually punished by death, why, in this case, does God go to extra lengths to protect the murderer from that consequence of his actions?

     Although the Bible has many instances of correction or punishment by God, it is largely a book of redemption. To punish Cain with death, or to allow someone else to do so, would be soon forgotten. But for the world (the family) to know the Cain had killed his brother and to see the mark, the sign, to protect him, would indicate how loathsome his deed had been, but how gracious God was, would give them a far better message about God.

     The message from the mark was that whoever took Cain’s life would suffer sevenfold — it would mean seven of his family/friends or whoever, would die because of his murder. That would get his attention. As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. (Ezekiel 33:11) Putting Cain to death would do nothing positive for God.

            To summarize, in the time of the murder of Abel, the population was greater than you may have thought. There were many people who might be inclined to try to avenge Abel’s death, and all of them were family. There is no indication from the Bible just what kind of sign or mark was given to Cain, but it would have been obvious to anybody close that God would avenge Cain’s death if someone would kill him. It was (and is) God’s will to show grace and effect redemption for people, encouraging them to trust in him.