GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
GENESIS 4:15
15 Then the LORD said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD put a mark on Cain, so that anyone who found him would not kill him.
Cain was afraid he would be killed by anyone, but the Lord shows that he could and did prevent this from happening, first with the promise, and then with a sign or mark. And if we keep this in mind, we see that God often uses this pattern for his gracious interactions with mankind, both for blessings and for punishments. First the promise, then the sign.
For Cain, the promise was that he would not be killed out of revenge. Then the sign was given, which was the mark God placed upon him. When the flood finally ended, God promised not to destroy all life with the waters of a flood ever again, and then he gave the sign of the rainbow (Genesis 9:11-12). Abraham was promised that his would be the special family of God and inherit the whole land of Canaan, and the sign was the covenant of circumcision (Genesis 17:7-11). There are many more such signs, but let’s remember the most glorious, that the birth of the Savior, Christ the Lord, was announced to the shepherds of Bethlehem, and the sign was that they would find him, not in a palace, or a home, or even in a hospital, but lying in a manger (Luke 2:11-12).
The Mark of Cain
What was the mark? The opinions of commentators and preachers vary greatly on this point, since Scripture, neither the Old nor New Testament, has anything to say about it. John Chrysostom (347-407) thought it was a physical tremor: “God let him live a long time with that bodily tremor of his. The sight of Cain’s palsied limbs was a lesson for all he met. It served to teach all men and exhort them never to dare do what he had done, so that they might not suffer the same punishment.” Cyril of Jerusalem (313-386) thought something similar, based on the Greek translation (στένων καὶ τρέμων), “groaning and trembling.”
One Jewish scholar (Abba Aika, or “Rav”) thought that God gave Cain a dog (dogs did not have a good reputation in ancient times, Exodus 22:31). Another, Abba Jose ben Hanan thought that God made a horn grow out of Cain. Others think that it was some form of a tattoo, with perhaps the Hebrew name of God, the letter “waw,” or the letter “taw.” The last possibility would look like an X or †, suggesting the cross of Christ.
In the nineteenth century, some American Christians in certain Protestant denominations and some among the LdS movement under Brigham Young taught that Cain’s mark was black skin, and this was applied in various ways either to promote or to oppose slavery. However, Cain’s mark was given to Cain, not to his descendants. This interpretation has brought nothing but confusion to Christians. In the same way that any mark, tattoo, birthmark, stork bite, or scar, or palsy, does not transfer from parent to child, so also we should not look for the mark of Cain, a murderer, on his descendants, many of whom are characterized as tent-dwelling shepherds, harpists, flute-players, blacksmiths and bronze workers.
Luther deftly sets aside most opinions about the mark of Cain and says that “it is not likely that God either changed or mutilated any limb on his body, but that he left his body the way it had been created and merely added and outward sign that was very noticeable, such as a tremor… but it could have been a different sign” (LW 1:307).
Whatever the sign or mark was, it was at the same time a punishment that Cain had to bear for the rest of his life, marking him as a murderer, and also a sign of grace, through which God preserved his life. For he was allowed to live, but was driven away from his parents and sent into exile.
There is another degree of protection that God gives here. In verse 14, Cain is afraid that anyone would kill him (harag). Here in verse 15, God promises that no one could kill him without incurring seven times the revenge, but then God gives the sign so that no one would even “strike” Cain (nakah). So God gives Cain security both from death and also from harm and similar danger– although there is no promise that someone would disobey this protection from God, and a murderer must live with the possibility of being murdered for revenge even when the laws of God and man give him some protection. “Nevertheless, it is better for Cain to have this promise of the Law than to be without any promise at all.”
So after Cain received the mark, he still could not avoid death. A sinner is always a slave to fear, a slave to desire, a slave to greed, a slave to lust, a slave to sin, and a slave to anger. He might think that he is free, but he is under the thumb of the devil himself, who is worse than any human tyrant. Once a sinner has freely embraced a sin, he will find that he is the one who is locked in its embrace and not the other way around; he is its servant forever. It will tempt him with a fierce grip, and it will terrify him always that he will be found out, caught, mocked, marked, and driven away like Cain.
What comfort does the Christian take from this passage? First, the comfort of God’s promises and the signs that accompany them. For if he gave to the murderer Cain a sign for all mankind to see and attached it to a promise, then we see the truth and beauty of the many promises he has given to us, his dear children, and he deepens our trust in those promises and the signs that accompany them. Most especially this applies to the resurrection of our bodies on the Day of Judgment, since Christ’s resurrection was the sign that we too, will rise in forgiveness and glory, since he is the firstfruits of the resurrection of all the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20).
Second, there is the specific comfort of knowing that God cherishes all human life, even the life of Cain, and that he desires to turn sinners from their sin through repentance to faith and forgiveness.
Third, by offering to draw Cain back into the body of believers, which in those days was simply his family and his father Adam’s preaching and teaching, God shows us that he wants us to learn more about him, and our Savior, day by day.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Genesis 4:15 The mark of Cain