Genesis 4:15 The Mark of Cain

[graceandglory]

Help! I’m a Catholic school teacher and a student asked me about the mark of Cain.

***And the Lord said to him: No, it shall not be so: but whosoever shall kill Cain, shall be punished sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, that whosoever found him should not kill him. ***

What was that mark, and who was around at that time who could have hurt him?

 

[Totterman]

Jesus,our Lords peace be with You.
Dear friend,and sorry for my bad english. This is the first time a teacher have ask for my advice so sorry if I enjoy this one.
The Mark of Cain is symbolic.

 

[COPLAND_3]

Theodoret of Cyrus says (Questions of on the Octateuch question XLII)

God’s judgment was itself a sign, which protected him from being killed. In addition, the shaking of his limbs was enough to mark him out. (Note: St. Chrysostom also takes the mark of Cain to consist in bodily tremors.)

St. Augustine says (Commentary on Ps 59)

Not without reason is there that Cain, on whom, when he had slain his brother, God set a mark in order that no one should slay him. This is the mark which the Jews have: they hold fast by the remnant of their law, they are circumcised, they keep Sabbaths, they sacrifice the Passover; they eat unleavened bread. These are therefore Jews, they have not been slain, they are necessary to believing nations. Why so? In order that He may show to us among our enemies His mercy.

St. Basil says (Letter CCLX)

But he put a mark upon him. This is the seventh punishment, that the punishment should not be hid, but that by a plain sign proclamation should be made to all, that this is the first doer of unholy deeds. To all who reason rightly the heaviest of punishments is shame. We have learned this also in the case of the judgments, when “some” shall rise “to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Dan 12:2

The Haydock Bibl says

Ver. 15. Set a mark, &c. The more common opinion of the interpreters of holy writ, supposes this mark to have been a trembling of the body; or a horror and consternation in his countenance. (Challoner)

 

[garysibio]

Help! I’m a Catholic school teacher and a student asked me about the mark of Cain.

***And the Lord said to him: No, it shall not be so: but whosoever shall kill Cain, shall be punished sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, that whosoever found him should not kill him. ***

What was that mark, and who was around at that time who could have hurt him?

We don’t know the details about the mark but it was clearly something visible or it wouldn’t have offered mu protection for Cain.

While Cain, Abel and Seth are the only children of Adam and Eve mentioned in the Bible, it is clear that there must have been others. I once saw an article in Scientific American that assuming sexual maturity at 14 or 15 and having one child a year, half boys and half girls, the Earth’s population could be over a million people in about a century. We don’t know how old Cain and Abel were at the time of this incident but considering the average person lived to be almost 1,000 years old, it’s not hard to see that there could be plenty of people around.

Yes, this means the very first sexual relations were incestuous. However, there was no moral law forbidding it at the time and the human gene pool was new and uncorrupted, this would not be a theological or biological issue.

 

[Vince1022]

Help! I’m a Catholic school teacher and a student asked me about the mark of Cain.

***And the Lord said to him: No, it shall not be so: but whosoever shall kill Cain, shall be punished sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, that whosoever found him should not kill him. ***

What was that mark, and who was around at that time who could have hurt him?

We don’t know what the mark was, and the point of the story is that God still protected and loved Cain, regardless of who or what might have tried to kill him.