In
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
and
JudaismJudaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts...
, the
curse of Cain and the
mark of Cain refer to the Biblical passages in the Book of Genesis chapter 4, where God declared that Cain, the firstborn son of
Adam and EveAdam and Eve were, according to the Book of Genesis of the Bible, the first man and woman created by God...
, was cursed, and placed a mark upon him to warn others that killing Cain would provoke the vengeance of God.
Biblical reference
The Bible refers to the curse of Cain in the fourth chapter of the Book of Genesis. This passage describes two brothers,
Cain and AbelCain and Abel have long been understood as the first and second sons of Adam and Eve in the religions of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Their story is told in the Bible and Torah at and the Qur'an at 5:26-32. However the Greek New Testament says of Cain that "he was from the wicked one"...
. Cain, the older, "was a tiller of the ground", while Abel "was a keeper of sheep" (Gen. 4:2). Eventually, each of the brothers performed a sacrifice to God; Cain sacrificed some of his crops to God, while Abel sacrificed "of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof" (Gen. 4:3–4). When God accepted Abel's offering, but not Cain's, Cain's "countenance fell" (Gen. 4:5), and he "rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him" (Gen. 4:8).
When God confronted Cain about Abel's death, God cursed him, saying:
- "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth." (Gen. 4:10–12)
As an act of irony, the curse by God focused strictly on neutralizing the benefits of Cain's primary skill, cultivating crops. When Cain complained that the curse was too strong, and that anyone who found him would kill him, God responded, "Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over", and God "set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him" (Gen. 4:15).
Modern
There is no scholarly consensus as to the original meaning and significance of the curse and mark of Cain. Because the name Cain (or
qayin in Hebrew, meaning
spear), is identical with the name
KeniteAccording to the Hebrew Bible, the Kenites were a nomadic clan in the ancient Levant, sent under Jethro a priest in the land of Midian. They played an important role in the history of ancient Israel. The Kenites were coppersmiths and metalworkers. Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, was a shepherd and...
(also
qayin in Hebrew), some scholars speculate that the curse of Cain may have arisen as a condemnation of the Kenites. In the Bible, however, the Kenites are generally described favorably, and may have had an important influence on the early Hebrew religion.
There is also no clear consensus as to what Cain's mark would be. The word translated as "mark" in Gen. 4:15 is
'owth, which could mean a sign, an omen, a warning, or a remembrance. In the
TorahThe term "Torah" , refers either to the Five Books of Moses or to the entirety of Judaism's founding legal and ethical religious texts...
, the same word is used to describe the stars as signs or omens, the rainbow as the sign of the flood (Gen. 9:12),
circumcisionMale circumcision is the removal of some or all of the foreskin from the penis. The word "circumcision" comes from Latin and ....
as a token of God's covenant with
AbrahamAbraham is the founding patriarch of the Israelites, Ishmaelites, Midianites and Edomite peoples, as described in the book of Genesis. He is widely regarded as the patriarch of Jews, Christians, and Muslims....
, and the miracles performed by
MosesMoses was, according to biblical texts, a religious leader, lawgiver, and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed. Also called Moshe Rabbeinu in Hebrew Moses was, according to biblical texts, a...
before the
PharaohPharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. In antiquity this title began to be used for the ruler who was the religious and political leader of united ancient Egypt. This was true only during the New Kingdom, specifically during the middle of...
. Thus, the text of the
Bible only explicitly describes how the mark was to function as a sign or warning, not what form the mark took.
Cain's curse and mark have been interpreted in several ways. Following the literal Biblical text, most scholars interpret the "curse" as Cain's inability to cultivate crops and his necessity to lead a nomadic lifestyle. They interpret the "mark" as a warning to others, but are unable to determine the form of the mark from the Biblical text.
Historically, some
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
s have interpreted the Biblical passages so that the "mark" is thought to be part of the "curse". In 18th century America and Europe, it was commonly assumed that Cain's "mark" was black skin, and that Cain's descendants were black and still under Cain's curse. While the majority of Cain's descendants were killed in the great flood, but Latter Day Saints from the late 19th to mid 20th century believed that Cain's bloodline was preserved on the ark through Egyptus. Egyptus was a Cainite married to Noah's son Ham. While this was an almost universally held view amongst the LDS it was not canonized doctrine.
Accepting the theory that God had cursed black people, some have used the curse as a Biblical justification for
racismRacism is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. In the case of institutional racism, certain racial groups may be denied rights or benefits, or get preferential treatment...
. These racial and ethnic interpretations of the curse and the mark have been largely abandoned even by the most conservative theologians since the mid-20th century, although the theory still has some following among
white supremacistsWhite supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance of whites....
and an older generation of whites, as well as a very small minority of Protestant churches.
Zohar
The
ZoharThe Zohar is widely considered the most important work of Kabbalah, or . It is a mystical commentary on the Torah , written in medieval Aramaic...
, a
KabbalisticKabbalah is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the mystical aspect of Judaism. It is a set of esoteric teachings that is meant to explain the relationship between an infinite, eternal and essentially unknowable Creator with the finite and mortal universe of His creation...
text, states that the mark of Cain was one of the twenty-two
Hebrew lettersThe Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, and because of its place of origin, the Assyrian script is the better-known of two script standards used to write the...
of the
TorahThe term "Torah" , refers either to the Five Books of Moses or to the entirety of Judaism's founding legal and ethical religious texts...
although the Zohar's native
AramaicAramaic is a Semitic language with a 3,000-year history. It has been the language of administration of empires and the language of divine worship...
doesn't actually tell us which of the letters it was..
Some commentators suggest that the mark of Cain was the letter
vavWaw is the sixth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic...
such as
Rabbi Michael BergMichael Berg is an , Kabbalah scholar, and . He edited the first unabridged English translation of The Zohar and is currently Co-Director of the Kabbalah Centre alongside his mother Karen Berg and older brother Yehuda Berg...
in his English commentary on the Zohar.
Early and modern Christian
According to some scholars, some early interpretations of the Bible in
Syriac ChristianitySyriac Christianity is an ancient near Eastern Christian group represented by denominations primarily in the Middle East and in Kerala, India. Particularly notable is the liturgical use of ancient Syriac, a dialect related to the Aramaic of Jesus.-History:...
combined the "curse" with the "mark", and interpreted the curse of Cain as black skin. Relying on rabbinic texts, it is argued, the Syriacs interpreted a passage in the Book of Genesis ("And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell") as implying that Cain underwent a permanent change in skin color.
Ephrem the SyrianEphrem the Syrian was a Syriac deacon and a prolific Syriac-language hymnographer and theologian of the 4th century...
(306-378): “Abel was bright as the light, / but the murderer (Cain) was dark as the darkness".
In an Eastern Christian (Armenian) Adam-book (5th or 6th century) it is written: “And the Lord was wroth with Cain. . . He beat Cain’s face with hail, which blackened like coal, and thus he remained with a black face".
The Irish Saltair na Rann (The Versified Psalter, AD 988), records Gabriel announcing to Adam: "Dark rough senseless Cain is going to kill Abel".
According to
Anne Catherine EmmerichBlessed Anne Catherine Emmerich was a Roman Catholic Augustinian nun, stigmatic, mystic, visionary and ecstatic. She was born in Flamschen, a farming community at Coesfeld, in the Diocese of Münster, Westphalia, Germany and died in Dülmen, aged 49. She was beatified on October 3 2004, by Pope John...
,
"Cain's posterity gradually became colored. Ham's children also were browner than those of Shem. The nobler races were always of a lighter color. They who were distinguished by a particular mark engendered children of the same stamp; and as corruption increased, the mark also increased until at last it covered the whole body, and people became darker and darker. But yet in the beginning there were no people perfectly black; they became so only by degrees" .
Adoption by Protestant groups
The split between the Northern and Southern Baptist organizations was over slavery and the education of slaves. At the time of the split, the Southern Baptist group used the curse of Cain as a justification for the practice. In fact, most 19th and early 20th century
Southern BaptistThe Southern Baptist Convention is a United States-based, mostly conservative Christian denomination. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the US with over 16 million members and more than 42,000 churches.The word Southern in Southern Baptist Convention...
congregations in the southern
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
taught that there were two separate heavens; one for blacks, and one for whites.
The doctrine was used to support a ban on ordaining blacks to most Protestant clergies until the 1960s in the U.S. and Europe. The majority of Christian Churches in the world, the ancient churches, including the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox churches, Anglican churches, and Oriental Orthodox churches, did not recognize these interpretations and did not participate in the religious movement to support them. Certain Catholic
DioceseIn some forms of Christianity, a diocese is an administrative territorial unit administered by a bishop. It is also referred to as a bishopric or Episcopal Area or episcopal see, though strictly the term episcopal see refers to the domain of ecclesiastical authority officially held by the bishop,...
in the Southern United States did adopt a policy of not ordaining blacks to oversee, administer the Sacraments to, or accept confessions from white parishioners. This policy was not based on a Curse of Cain teaching, but was justified by any possible perceptions of having slaves rule over their masters. However, this was not approved of by the
PopeThe pope is the Bishop of Rome and, as such, is leader of the worldwide Catholic Church...
or any papal teaching.
BaptistA Baptist is a Christian who subscribes to a theology and may belong to a church that, among other things, is committed to believer's baptism and, with respect to church polity, favors the congregational model...
s and other denominations including
PentecostalsPentecostalism is a renewal movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit which is evidenced by speaking in tongues. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, a Greek term describing the Jewish Feast of...
officially taught or practiced various forms of racial segregation well into the mid-to-late-20th century, though members of all races were accepted at worship services after the 1970s and 1980s when many official policies were changed. In fact, it was not until 1995 that the Southern Baptist Convention officially renounced its "racist roots." Nearly all Protestant groups in America had supported the notion that black slavery, oppression, and African colonization was the result of God's curse on people with black skin or of African descent through Cain or through the curse of Ham, and some churches practiced racial segregation as late as the 1990s. Today, however, official acceptance and practice of the doctrine among Protestant organizations is limited almost exclusively to churches connected to white supremacy, such as the Aryan World Church and the New Christian Crusade Church.
Mormonism
The Mormon interpretation of "the curse of Cain", or the curse of black skin that befell Cain's descendent's, is not the same as the "mark of Cain" set upon Cain himself by God.
According to
Moses 7:5-8
- And the Lord said unto me: Prophesy; and I prophesied, saying: Behold the people of Canaan, which are numerous, shall go forth in battle array against the people of Shum, and shall slay them that they shall utterly be destroyed; and the people of Canaan shall divide themselves in the land, and the land shall be barren and unfruitful, and none other people shall dwell there but the people of Canaan;
- For behold, the Lord shall curse the land with much heat, and the barrenness thereof shall go forth forever; and there was a blackness came upon all the children of Canaan, that they were despised among all people.
This particular teaching—that the curse of dark skin came upon the children of Cain because they practiced genocide on the people of Shum, rather than it being the result of the mark placed upon Cain by God—was radically different than the views widely held by most Evangelical Protestant groups in the U.S. during and before the life of Joseph Smith.
Statements concerning the curse of Cain clearly identify both the mark and curse with the "Negro" race, in
Latter Day SaintA Latter Day Saint is an adherent of the Latter Day Saint movement, a group of denominations tracing their heritage to the teachings of Joseph Smith, Jr. and the Church of Christ he organized in 1830...
writings and lectures. Joseph Smith and Brigham Young both identify the Black people of African descent as descendants of Cain. The
Latter Day Saint movementThe Latter Day Saint movement is a group of Restorationist religious denominations and adherents who follow at least some of the teachings and revelations of Joseph Smith, Jr., publisher of the Book of Mormon in 1830...
was founded during the height of white Protestant acceptance of the curse of Cain doctrine in America, as well as the even more popular
curse of HamThe Curse of Ham refers to the curse that Ham's father Noah placed upon Ham's son Canaan, after Ham "saw his father's nakedness" because of drunkenness in Noah's tent...
doctrine, which was even held by many
abolitionistsAbolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and emancipate slaves in western Europe and the Americas. The slave system aroused little protest until the 18th century, when rationalist thinkers of the Enlightenment criticized it for violating the rights of man, and Quaker and other evangelical...
of the time. While
Joseph Smith, Jr.Joseph Smith, Jr. was the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, also known as Mormonism, and an important religious and political figure during the 1830s and 1840s...
indicated his belief in the curse of Ham theory in a parenthetical reference as early as 1831 (Manuscript History 19 June 1831), the only early reference to the curse or mark of Cain was in his translation of the
Bible, which included the following statement:
- And Enoch also beheld the residue of the people which were the sons of Adam; and they were a mixture of all the seed of Adam save it was the seed of Cain, for the seed of Cain were black, and had not place among them.
Despite Smith’s idea that the descendants of Cain did not “mix” with the descendants of Adam, one of Smith’s associates later argued that Cain’s descendants did indeed survive the flood via the wife of
Ham, son of NoahHam , according to the Table of Nations in the Book of Genesis, was a son of Noah and the father of Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan.- Ham in the Bible :The story of Ham is related in...
. On February 6, 1835, Smith's associate William Wines Phelps wrote a letter theorizing that the curse of Cain might have survived the deluge by passing through the wife of Ham, who according to Phelps must have been a descendant of Cain. (Messenger and Advocate 1:82) In effect, Phelps was attempting to provide a rational link between the curse of Cain and the curse of Ham. There is no clear indication that Smith agreed with Phelps on this idea; in 1842, however, he did write parenthetically in his notes the following:
- In the evening debated with John C. Bennett
John Cook Bennett was an American physician and a ranking and influential—but short-lived—leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, who acted as second in command to Joseph Smith, Jr...
and others to show that the Indians have greater cause to complain of the treatment of the whites, than the negroes or sons of Cain.
Although Phelps's interpretation found substantial general support within some Latter Day Saint denominations, none of the major denominations of Mormonism embrace the idea or consider it relevant. There is evidence that Joseph Smith did not consider the restriction between blacks and the priesthood to be relevant in modern times, as he himself (and other Church leaders close to him) did ordain black men to the priesthood. However, the doctrine is an important element of Mormon fundamentalism, which constitutes a small percentage of the overall Latter-day Saint movement.
Nevertheless, the lack of formal repudiation of LDS teachings regarding the Children of Cain, and the continual association with curses and marks with black skin, has continued to recall Mormonism's unique doctrines concerning race.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
After the death of
Joseph Smith, Jr.Joseph Smith, Jr. was the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, also known as Mormonism, and an important religious and political figure during the 1830s and 1840s...
, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the largest of several organizations claiming succession from Smith’s church.
Brigham YoungBrigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the western United States. He was the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death and was the founder of Salt Lake City and the first governor of Utah Territory,...
, the second
President of the ChurchIn the Latter Day Saint movement, the President of the Church is generally considered to be the highest office of the church. It is the office held by Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the movement, and the office assumed by many of Smith's claimed successors, such as Brigham Young, Joseph Smith III,...
believed that people of African ancestry were generally under the curse of Cain. In 1852, he reportedly stated:
- [A]ny man having one drop of the seed of [Cain] … in him cannot hold the priesthood and if no other Prophet ever spake it before I will say it now in the name of Jesus Christ….
These beliefs were used to justify a ban on ordaining Blacks to the LDS priesthood, although founder
Joseph Smith, Jr.Joseph Smith, Jr. was the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, also known as Mormonism, and an important religious and political figure during the 1830s and 1840s...
did himself
ordain Blacks to the priesthoodFrom 1849 to 1978, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had a policy against ordaining black men of African descent to the priesthood. Under the same policy, black men and women of African descent were prohibited from participating in the temple Endowment and sealings, ordinances that...
. However, this belief was never used as a reason for segregation of or within congregations. Segregation of congregations was common in churches in the southern United States during this time period.
Similar beliefs were taught by Young’s successors until the 1978 revelation from
President of the ChurchIn the Latter Day Saint movement, the President of the Church is generally considered to be the highest office of the church. It is the office held by Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the movement, and the office assumed by many of Smith's claimed successors, such as Brigham Young, Joseph Smith III,...
Spencer W KimballSpencer Woolley Kimball was the twelfth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1973 until his death.-Ancestry:...
, however, it was never canonized doctrine being a widely held and widely taught belief.
In 1954, Church President
David O. McKayDavid Oman McKay was the ninth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , serving from 1951 until his death...
taught: “There is not now, and there never has been a doctrine in this church that the negroes are under a divine curse. There is no doctrine in the church of any kind pertaining to the negro. ‘We believe’ that we have a scriptural precedent for withholding the priesthood from the negro. It is a practice, not a doctrine, and the practice someday will be changed. And that’s all there is to it.”
Racial restriction policy ended
In 1978, the church announced a
revelationThe 1978 Revelation on Priesthood was a revelation the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claimed to have received which reversed a long-standing policy excluding men of black African descent from the church priesthood....
from God officially ending its policy of excluding
HamitesHamites is a genus of heteromorph ammonite that evolved late in the Aptian stage of the Early Cretaceous and lasted into the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. The genus is almost certainly paraphyletic but remains in wide use as a "catch all" for heteromorph ammonites of the superfamily...
from the priesthood.
Full repudiation requested
Despite urging from a number of black Mormons, there has neither been an official and explicit church repudiation of the doctrine nor an admission that it was a mistake. In 1998, there was a report in the
Los Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California since 1881. It is distributed throughout the Western United States. It is the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States and the fourth-most widely distributed newspaper in the United States...
that the church leadership was considering an official repudiation of the curse of Cain and
curse of HamThe Curse of Ham refers to the curse that Ham's father Noah placed upon Ham's son Canaan, after Ham "saw his father's nakedness" because of drunkenness in Noah's tent...
doctrines, to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1978 revelation.. This, however, was quickly denied by the LDS spokesman Don LeFevre. The
Times later suggested that the publicity generated by its article may have caused the Church to put an official disavowal on hold.
Elder
Bruce R. McConkieBruce Redd McConkie was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1972 until his death...
of the
Quorum of the Twelve ApostlesIn The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is one of the governing bodies in the church hierarchy...
stated:
- There are statements in our literature by the early Brethren that we have interpreted to mean that the Negroes would not receive the priesthood in mortality. I have said the same things, and people write me letters and say, “You said such and such, and how is it now that we do such and such?” All I can say is that it is time disbelieving people repented and got in line and believed in a living, modern prophet. Forget everything that I have said, or what President Brigham Young or George Q. Cannon or whoever has said in days past that is contrary to the present revelation. We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that now has come into the world. It doesn’t make a particle of difference what anybody ever said about the Negro matter before the first day of June 1978. It is a new day and a new arrangement, and the Lord has now given the revelation that sheds light out into the world on this subject. As to any slivers of light or any particles of darkness of the past, we forget about them. We now do what meridian Israel did when the Lord said the gospel should go to the Gentiles. We forget all the statements that limited the gospel to the house of Israel, and we start going to the Gentiles..
Modern opinion on racial interpretations
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, a Christian backlash arose against use of the curse of Cain doctrine in racial politics, with the primary Christian denominations flatly rejecting it. Most Christians also point to Biblical references which refute the doctrine, including a reference in the
Book of NumbersThe Book of Numbers or Bəmidbar is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible/Christian Old Testament, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah or Pentateuch.This book may be divided into three parts:#The numbering of the people at Sinai, and preparations for resuming their march...
:
Other Christian arguments include the following:
- The passage in Genesis relating to Cain makes no mention of the effects on his descendants.
- The effect of parts of the curse on the land could have only applied to Cain - and not blacks - who, historically, were unaffected (like all other surviving people) in their ability to cultivate land. If this interpretation held true, then 19th century Americans would not have enslaved them to do agricultural work in the United States.
- Moses' wife Tzipporah, Job, the Queen of Sheba, Ebed-Melech, Tirharkah, the Ethiopian Treasurer of Queen Candace, Hagar, some Egyptians, and other black people in the Bible were not mentioned as being partakers of the curse. Had the curse affected black people, at least one instance of it would have been mentioned in the Bible in that context to these people.
- Christianity was founded 2000 years ago; early documents do not make any references to blacks being cursed, and no manuscripts have been found in the middle east that were written by Christian leaders of the period which support the exclusion or prejudice against blacks, Ethiopians (Greek word for Black) or Kushites (Hebrew word for Black).
- The name "Pa-nehesi
The Egyptian noble Panehesy was the 'Chief servitor of the Aten in the temple of Aten in Akhetaten' . He was also 'Seal-bearer of Lower Egypt' . These titles show how powerful he must have been during the Amarna Period.His house has been located in the ruins of Amarna , lying in the main city back...
", a common name for "Nubian" among the Ancient Egyptians during the time of Moses. This name is also given to the third High Priest of Israel, Phinehas-Biblical figures:*Phinehas, son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the High Priest*Phinehas, son of the High Priest Eli. He was a priest at Shiloh, and died when the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant-Other :*Pinchas, the 41st weekly Torah portion....
, who was the grandson of Aaron. Therefore it is impossible for the Curse of Cain to have any meaning in relation to Black people. At the very least, it makes no sense for the High Priest to have been given a name equivalent to the accursed, in the midst of an era where the book of Genesis and Exodus were being compiled. The Nubians were a Kushitic people, and therefore were black. They were represented as black people in Ancient Egyptian paintings and multiple people named Pa-Nehesi were high priests during the 18th dynasty of Egyptian history, just prior to the Exodus.
- The racist interpretations of scripture did not exist before European colonization. These interpretations were most likely introduced by adherents of ethnocentric ideologies that were codified into the Western mindset. These ideologies adversely influenced the Protestant reformation and enlightenment periods.
- Objectively interpreting the idea of a mark of Cain to mean a change of skin color would require the existence of Biblical passages to equate the two. In Jeremiah
The Book of Jeremiah, or Jeremiah , is part of the Hebrew Bible, Judaism's Tanakh, and later became a part of Christianity's Old Testament...
13:23 there is a distinction made between skin color and marks on the skin, which all but refutes the idea that Cain's mark was black skin: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?".
- One effect of the curse was for Cain to struggle agriculturally, to be "driven" from the face of the Lord and that Cain would not settle in any specific place. For Canaan's curse it was to serve the people of Shem's line. Making the curse a racially-based issue ignored the primary issues of the curse and the racial interpretation of the curse was used to justify black servitude to whites. The doctrine became part of the institution of slavery and it also influenced the reasoning of many racist white Christian institutions in the West.
Modern Baptist exegesis
Some Baptist denominations deny that Cain was cursed by God, but rather Cain brought the cursing on himself. "God does not say, 'Now I curse you.' He simply states the truth, 'Now you are cursed'". In this way, Cain's aggression was the curse, and the outcome was the death of Abel. Because of continued problems with anger and aggression, the curse was handed down to Cain's posterity and even to
LamechLamech is the name of two men in the genealogies of Adam in the Book of Genesis. One is the seventh generation descendant of Cain ; his father was named Methusael and he was responsible for the "Song of the Sword." He is also noted as the first polygamist mentioned in the Bible, taking two...
who killed in a manner similar to Cain.
In the same way, the teaching goes that Born Again believers are often cursed because of some of their struggles or sins, and should work to overcome them, or they will be passed on to their children or descendants. If they do so, their curses will not be propagated to their posterity.
In other literature
- In the Old English
Old English , also called Anglo-Saxon, is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century. What survives through writing represents primarily the literary...
heroic epic poem BeowulfBeowulf is an Old English heroic epic poem of unknown authorship, dating as recorded in the Nowell Codex manuscript from between the 8th and the early 11th century, set in Denmark and Sweden...
, GrendelGrendel is one of three antagonists, along with Grendel's mother and the dragon, in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf . In the poem, Grendel is feared by all but Beowulf.-Story:The poem Beowulf is contained in the Nowell Codex...
and Grendel's motherGrendel's mother is one of three antagonists in the work of Old English literature of anonymous authorship, Beowulf . She is given the name "Enchidna" in some texts....
are identified as descendants of Cain (and therefore bearing the "mark of Cain").
- In Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf is a British television situation comedy franchise, primarily comprising eight series of a television sitcom that ran on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999 and gained a cult following. It was created by, and the first six series were written by, Rob Grant and Doug Naylor...
, holograms — projected simulations of recently dead people — wear the letter H on their forehead to enable them to be distinguished from living people. In the novels, it is shown that so-called "dirty deadies" are discriminated against by the living due to the prohibitive costs meaning only the richest can afford to be simulated. Rimmer (the series' main hologram character) refers to the H as the stigma: "Not the mark of Cain, the murderer, but of Abel, the slain."
- Hermann Hesse
Hermann Hesse was a German Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. In 1946 he received the Nobel Prize in Literature...
uses the Mark of Cain as a motif in his novel DemianDemian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth is a bildungsroman by Hermann Hesse, first published in 1919; a prologue was added in 1960. Demian was first published under the pseudonym "Emil Sinclair", the name of the narrator of the story, but Hesse was later revealed to be the author...
, where it symbolizes a person seeking his true self.
- The Mark of Cain is a British television film broadcast in 2007.
- The murderer in Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE , was an English crime writer of novels, short stories and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but is best remembered for her 80 detective novels and her successful West End theatre plays...
's novel And Then There Were NoneAnd Then There Were None is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November 1939 under the title Ten Little Niggers and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company in January 1940 under the title And Then There Were None...
says that the bullet would leave in one of the victims' foreheads a red mark, similar to the mark of Cain. A similar reference can be found in CurtainCurtain: Poirot's Last Case is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in September 1975 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year...
.
- In John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and the novella Of Mice and Men . He wrote a total of twenty-seven books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and five collections of short stories...
's novel East of EdenEast of Eden is a novel by Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck, published in September 1952.Often described as Steinbeck's most ambitious novel, East of Eden brings to life the intricate details of two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, and their interwoven stories. The novel was originally...
, Charles and Adam are representative of Cain and Abel as are Adam's sons Caleb and Aron. Charles' scar on his forehead is allegorical of the "mark of Cain" and Adam and Charles' father Cyrus prefers Adam's gift over Charles' which leads to Charles beating Adam up (although not murdering him, in contrast to the Biblical story). In the next generation, Caleb is horrible to his brother Aron, which leads to Aron enlisting himself in the army and ultimately to his death in World War One.
- Neil Gaiman's The Sandman includes the character Cain directly as well as Abel (whom Cain repeatedly kills and who is in turn repeatedly resurrected) as inhabitants of the dream lord's realm. Cain is sent as a messenger to hell in Season of Mists as Lucifer will not kill him due to the mark, which is here a small black circle on his forehead, lest he suffers God's punishment. Despite the mark, Lucifer has no compunctions against torturing Cain. Apart from this it has no direct effect on Cain.
- In the Final Crisis
Final Crisis is a seven-issue comic book limited series published by DC Comics in 2008 and written by Grant Morrison. Originally DC announced the project as being illustrated solely by J. G. Jones; artists Carlos Pacheco, Marco Rudy and Doug Mahnke later provided art for the series...
event, in the Final Crisis: RevelationsFinal Crisis: Revelations is a five-issue comic book limited series written by Greg Rucka, with art by Philip Tan, Jeff De Los Santos, and Jonathan Glapion.-Outline:...
spin-off Cain is "reborn" on Earth in the body of the immortal villain Vandal SavageVandal Savage is a fictional character, a supervillain published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Green Lantern vol. 1 #10 , and was created by Alfred Bester and Martin Nodell....
. Sporting a tattooA tattoo is a marking made by inserting ink into the layers of skin to change the pigment for decorative or other reasons. Tattoos on humans are a type of decorative body modification, while tattoos on animals are most commonly used for identification or branding.Tattooing has been practiced...
-like mark covering his whole face, Cain sets off to take his vengeance of the being who imposed the mark on him: not directly God, but his angel of retributionThe Spectre is a fictional cosmic entity and superhero who has appeared in numerous comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in a next issue ad in More Fun Comics #51 and received his first story the next month, #52...
. After his vengeance attempt, the Spectre modifies again the terms of his curse, rendering him unable to disguise the mark at all.
- In the Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer and editor Stan Lee and artist and co-plotter Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
comics, KaineKaine is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics villain or anti-hero and enemy of Spider-Man. The character first appeared in Web of Spider-Man #119, and is the Jackal's first failed attempt at cloning Peter Parker...
, a flawed clone of Peter Parker, can burn others with the palm of his hand, leaving what is dubbed the Mark of Kaine.
- In an ironic twist, Daniel Quinn
Daniel Quinn is an American writer described as environmentalist. He is best known for his book Ishmael , which won the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship Award in 1991....
's book IshmaelIshmael is a 1992 philosophical novel by Daniel Quinn. It examines mythology, its effect on ethics, and how that relates to sustainability. The novel uses a style of Socratic dialogue to deconstruct the notion that humans are the end product, the pinnacle of biological evolution...
identifies the story of the farmer Cain killing the herder Abel as an allegory for the Agricultural RevolutionAgricultural revolution can refer to :*Neolithic Revolution the 'First Agricultural Revolution' , which formed the basis for human civilization to develop...
and the murderer Cain as symbolic of the rapacious destruction of "primitive" peoples by Western civilization. The "mark of Cain" therefore becomes white skin.
- In his 2008 book, "The Book of Lies", author Brad Meltzer uses the Mark of Cain as a centerpiece. In this story, the Book of Lies holds the secret to the Mark of Cain and possibly the world's first murder weapon.
- In The Return of the Native
The Return of the Native is Thomas Hardy's sixth published novel. It first appeared in the magazine Belgravia, a publication known for its sensationalism, and was presented in twelve monthly installments from January to December 1878...
by Thomas HardyThomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet of the naturalist movement, although in several poems he displays elements of the previous romantic and enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural. He regarded himself primarily as a poet and composed novels...
, the Mark of Cain is mentioned briefly.
In popular culture
- The song Chapter Four by Heavy Metal
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in England and the United States...
band Avenged SevenfoldAvenged Sevenfold is an American rock band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1999. The band has achieved mainstream success with their 2005 album City of Evil, which included singles such as "Burn It Down", "Bat Country," "Beast and the Harlot" and "Seize the Day." The band's success...
is about Cain betraying Abel.
- In White Wolf
White Wolf, Inc. is an American gaming company and book publisher, most famous for the Vampire: The Masquerade roleplaying game. The company began in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant and White Wolf Magazine, and was led by Mark Rein·Hagen of Lion Rampant and Steve and Stewart Wieck from the...
's role-playing game series Vampire: the MasqueradeCreated by Mark Rein·Hagen, Vampire: The Masquerade was the first of White Wolf Game Studio's World of Darkness live-action and role-playing games, based on the Storyteller System and centered around vampires in a modern Gothic-Punk world....
, the curse of Cain (spelled Caine) is that of vampirism. Caine becomes the father of all vampires after being cursed by God.
- The 1997 single "Barrel of a Gun" by English electronic band Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic band who formed in 1980, in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andrew Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
references "the mark of Cain" in its second verse in relation to "a beating in my brain", analogous to beating of Abel in the biblical story.
- In episode 17 of HBO's series Big Love
Big Love is an American television drama on HBO about a fictional fundamentalist Mormon family in Utah that practices polygamy. Big Love stars Bill Paxton, Chloë Sevigny, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Ginnifer Goodwin, Harry Dean Stanton, Amanda Seyfried, Douglas Smith, Grace Zabriskie, and Matt Ross.The...
, fundamentalist Mormon Rhonda views a poster of Jimi HendrixJames Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter...
in Jordan's apartment and remarks that he bears "the mark of Cain".
- In the fifth installment of Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American writer of contemporary horror fiction, science fiction, fantasy literature, and screenplays. An estimated 300–350 million copies of King's novels and short story collections have been sold, and many of his stories have been adapted for film, television, and...
's Dark Tower series, Wolves of the CallaWolves of the Calla is the fifth book in Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. This book continues the story of Roland Deschain, Eddie Dean, Susannah Dean, Jake Chambers, and Oy as they make their way toward the Dark Tower...
, a priest named Callahan has the Mark of Cain cut into his forehead.
- In the Season Two episode of House M.D. entitled "House vs. God
"House vs. God" is the nineteenth episode of the second season of House, which premiered on the FOX network on April 25, 2006.-Plot:Boyd, a young faith healer, is giving a service in a church and "heals" a woman, allowing her to walk...
", House mentions to Wilson when convinced that a person has herpes that "You can't argue with the Mark of Cain".
- In Kaori Yuki
is a female Japanese manga artist best known for her gothic comics such as Earl Cain, its sequel Godchild, and Angel Sanctuary. Yuki debuted in 1987 with which ran in the manga anthology Bessatsu Hana to Yume published by Hakusensha...
's Godchild, also known as Count Cain, is a gothic manga series written and illustrated by Kaori Yuki. Earl Cain consists of five parts or "Series": , , , , and the sequel series ....
, the main character, Cain, has been whipped by his father on the back like Cain in the bible. Cain's father later goes on to say that only he and God can hurt Cain.
- In William T. Vollmann's 2000 novel, The Royal Family, the character Henry Tyler is repeatedly referred to as bearing the mark of Cain.
- In the song "Extinct" by LA Speed Metal band Agent Steel, the chorus says "We turn our backs to the Gods. We bear the mark of Cain."
- In Cassandra Clare's "The Mortal Instruments" series, the character Simon is noted to be bearing a rune referred to as the Mark of Cain.
- In HBOs series True Blood
True Blood is an American television drama series created and produced by Alan Ball. It is based on the The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris. The show is broadcast on the premium cable network HBO in the United States. It is produced by HBO in association with Ball's...
, Cain is mentioned as the creator of all vampires.
External links