Cain and Abel
“Now Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let’s go out to the field.’ And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
“Then YAHUAH said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’
“‘I don’t know,’ he replied. ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’
“YAHUAH said, ‘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.’
“Cain said to YAHUAH, ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.’
“But YAHUAH said to him, ‘Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over. Then YAHUAH put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. So Cain went out from YAHUAH’s presence and lived in the land of Nod east of Eden” (Genesis 4:1-16).
The Lesson of Cain
Why is this historical story mentioned in the Scriptures? Why does the Word of YAHUAH ELOHIYM spend so much time on what some might regard as “just one murder”? Surely, our modern world sees thousands of murders every year — and if you count the numbers killed in war, millions of victims are claimed every century!
There is much more to the story of Cain and Abel than you probably think!
Josephus, the eminent Judahite historian of the first century, gives us much greater insight into this matter. In his Antiquities of the Jews he records:
“Adam and Eve had two sons. The elder of them was named Cain, which name, when it is interpreted, signifies a possession; the younger was Abel, which signifies sorrow. They had also daughters. Now, the two brothers were pleased with different courses of life; for Abel, the younger, was a lover of righteousness, and, believing that YAHUAH was present at all his actions, he excelled in virtue, and his employment was that of a shepherd. But Cain was not only very wicked in other respects, but was WHOLLY INTENT UPON GETTING [possessing], and he first contrived to plough the ground.
“He slew his brother on the occasion following: — They had resolved to sacrifice to YAHUAH. Now Cain brought the fruits of the earth, and of his husbandry; but Abel brought milk, and the first-fruits of his flocks; but YAHUAH was more delighted with the latter oblation, when he was honored with what grew naturally of its own accord, than he was with what was the invention of a covetous man, and gotten by forcing the ground; whence it was that Cain was very angry that Abel was preferred by YAHUAH before him; and he slew his brother, and hid his dead body, thinking to escape discovery.
“But YAHUAH, knowing what had been done, came to Cain, and asked him what was become of his brother, because he had not seen him of many days, whereas he used to observe them conversing together at other times. But Cain was in doubt with himself, and knew not what answer to give to YAHUAH. At first he said that he was himself at a loss about his brother’s disappearance; but when he was provoked by YAHUAH, who pressed him vehemently, as resolving to know what the matter was, he replied he was not his brother’s guardian or keeper, nor was he an observer of what he did.
“But in return, YAHUAH convicted Cain as having been the murderer of his brother; and said, “I wonder at thee, that thou knowest not what is become of a man whom thou thyself hast destroyed.’ YAHUAH therefore did not inflict the punishment [of death] upon him, on account of his offering sacrifice, and thereby making supplication to Him not to be extreme in His wrath to him; but He made him accursed, and threatened his posterity in the seventh generation.
“He also cast him, together with his wife, out of that land. And when he was afraid that in wandering about he should fall among wild beasts, and by that means perish, YAHUAH bid him not to entertain such a melancholy suspicion, and to go over all the earth without fear of what mischief he might suffer from wild beasts; and setting a mark upon him that he might be known, he commanded him to depart” (Ant., I, 2, 1).
Josephus goes on to tell us that after Cain travelled over many countries, he, “with his wife, built a city, named Nod, which is a place so called, and there he settled his abode; where also he had children. However, he did not accept his punishment in order to amendment, but to increase his wickedness; for he only aimed to procure everything that was for his own bodily pleasure, though it obliged him to be injurious to his neighbors. He augmented his household substance with much wealth, by rapine and violence; he excited his acquaintance to procure pleasures and spoils by robbery, and became a GREAT LEADER OF MEN INTO WICKED COURSES.
“He also introduced a change in that way of simplicity wherein men lived before; and was the author of measures and weights. And whereas they lived innocently and generously while they knew nothing of such arts, HE CHANGED THE WORLD INTO CUNNING CRAFTINESS. He first of all set boundaries about lands; he built a city, and fortified it with walls, and he compelled his family to come together to it; and called that city Enoch, after the name of his eldest son Enoch.”
By the fifth generation after Cain, his great-great grandson Lamech had three notable sons — Jabal, who erected tents and loved the life of a shepherd; Jubal, his brother, who loved music, and invented the psaltery and harp. His name probably is that from which came “jobel,” the trumpet of jobel or jubilee. His half-brother was Tubal, who “exceeded all men in strength, and was very expert and famous in martial performances. He procured what tended to the pleasures of the body by that method [war]; and first of all invented the art of making brass.”
Lamech, his father, was “so skillful in matters of divine revelation” — probably consulted demons through witchcraft, the occult, and pagan methods of divination — “that he knew he was to be punished for Cain’s murder of his brother, he made that known to his wives. Nay, even while Adam was alive, it came to pass that the posterity of Cain became exceedingly wicked, every one successively dying one after another, more wicked than the former. They were intolerable in war, and vehement in robberies; and if any one were slow to murder people, yet was he bold in his profligate behavior, in acting unjustly, and doing injury for gain.”
Thus, when we combine the Biblical account, with the account of Josephus, we find that Cain was the first man to build cities, and to place people inside them — obviously so he could more easily “control” them. He became the world’s first “tyrant.” He was the first political dictator, and founded a society in distinct rebellion against the laws of YAHUAH ELOHIYM. Those laws meant nothing whatsoever to Cain and his followers and his children. The laws of YAHUAH ELOHIYM were considered to be for the weak and foolish, not intended for the intellectual elite of Cain and his leadership.
No doubt, also, that Cain began the world’s system of taxation, to compel those in his cities to “pay” for their city services, “protection,” and “government,” and he and his cronies and aides lived very well of the spoils of the conquests, and the “taxes” they extorted from their followers and slaves. All this, no doubt, in the “name” of Cain, the world’s first “benefactor.” Thus this whole worldly “Babylonish” system really began with none other than Cain, the son of Adam, who murdered his brother Abel out of a fit of jealous rage!
It was Cain and those following in his steps that YAHUSHA the Messiah was actually referring to when he said to his disciples: “You know that the RULERS of the Gentiles LORD IT OVER THEM, and their high officials EXERCISE AUTHORITY over them [and love to do so!]. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave — just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25-28).
The Messiah added, “The KINGS of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves BENEFACTORS. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves” (Luke 22:25-26).
Cain was the first “overlord,” the first “benefactor.” No doubt that is what he claimed to be, although it was all a charade, a cover-up, a pretense. No doubt he compelled men to virtually “worship” before him, like pagan kings have done for millennia, and professed himself to be a “god.” In fact, there is evidence that he considered himself to be the “promised Messiah,” and that is one of the reasons he was so outraged when YAHUAH ELOHIYM rejected his offering, but accepted that of his “weakling” brother Abel, who did not have the sheer drive, force, and cunning that Cain did. Cain was ambitious — and he could not tolerate “loss of face” before his brother and family. He was proud, arrogant, and stubborn. He would not allow YAHUAH ELOHIYM to treat him the way he did; so he rose up and slew Abel, his “competitor” in the sight of the world. Thus he put an end to his “competition,” once and for all.
Excerpt From
The Mysterious “Mark of Cain” The Mark of Cain?
https://truthersjournal.com/2023/03/16/the-mysterious-mark-of-cain-the-mark-of-cain/
