Curse and mark of Cain

In Christianity and Judaism, 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 of Adam and Eve, was cursed, and placed a mark upon him to warn others that killing Cain would provoke the vengeance of God. Cain's curse and mark have been interpreted in several ways. Following the literal Biblical text, most scholars today interpret the "curse" as Cain's inability to cultivate crops and the necessity that he 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, however, some Christians 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. Accepting the theory that God had cursed black people, racists have used the curse as a Biblical justification for racism. 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 supremacists and an older generation of whites, as well as a very small minority of Christian churches. This interpretation does not make any logical sense from a biblical perspective as the Noahic Flood would have killed any descendants of Cain carrying the "curse" of black skin.

The curse and mark of Cain in the Bible

The Bible refers to the curse of Cain in the fourth chapter of the Book of Genesis. This passage describes two brothers, Cain and Abel. Cain, the oldest, "was a tiller of the ground", while Abel "was a keeper of sheep". (Book of Genesis 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. 4:4.) When God accepted Abel's offering, but not Cain's, Cain's "countenance fell" (Gen. 4:5), and he attacked Abel and killed him in the field.(Gen. 4:8)

When God confronted Cain about Abel's death, God cursed him, stating:

"And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth." (Gen. 4:10-12.)

When Cain complained that the curse was too strong, and that anyone who found him would kill him, God responded, "Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.", and God "set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him." (Gen. 4:15).

Interpretations of the curse and mark of Cain

Modern scholarly interpretations

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 Kenite (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 Torah, the same word is used to describe the stars as signs or omens (Gen. 1:14), the rainbow as the sign of the flood (Gen. 9:12), circumcision as a token of God's covenant with Abraham (Gen. 17:11), and the miracles performed by Moses before Pharaoh. 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.

Zohar

The Zohar, a Jewish text, states that the mark of Cain was the letter vav.

Interpretations based on race

Early Christian interpretations

According to some scholars, some early interpretations of the Bible in Syriac Christianity combined the "curse" with the "mark", and interpreted the curse of Cain as black skin. (Goldenberg, p. 180). Relying on rabbinic texts, it is argued, the Syriacs interpreted a passage in the Book of Genesis 4:5 ("And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.") as implying that Cain underwent a permanent change in skin color. (Id.)

The curse as a justification for the African slave trade

The curse of Cain has been used as an explanation for the dark skin shades of people in various parts of Africa, and a justification for racism and slavery, and a ban in interracial marriage. These racial implications are closely linked to the related implications derived from the curse of Ham doctrine, which has a much longer history, and has often been combined (or some would say conflated) with the curse of Cain doctrine, as well as the "curse of Esau" doctrine.

An early American reference to the mark of Cain doctrine in the context of modern racial issues was in a poem by Phyllis Wheatley, herself a black slave, who wrote in 1773, "Remember Christians, Negroes black as Cain, May be refined and joined the angelic train".

Adoption of the doctrine by Protestant groups

The split between the Northern and Southern Baptist organizations was over slavery and education of slaves, and by the 18th century, about 40 percent of Southern Baptist preachers in South Carolina owned slaves. At the time of the split, the Southern Baptist group used the curse of Cain as justification of the practice. In fact, most 19th and early 20th century Southern Baptist congregations in the southern United States taught that there were two separate heavens; one for blacks, and one for whites. (Dictionary of African-American Slavery, 77)

The doctrine was used to support a ban on ordaining blacks to most Protestant clergies until the 1960s in the U.S. and Europe. It is significant to note that the Coptic, Ethiopian, Orthodox, Thomasite and the Catholic church did not recognize these interpretations and did not participate in the religious movement to support them. Certain Catholic Diocese in the Southern United States did adopt a policy of not ordaining blacks to oversee, administer 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. (Dictionary of African-American Slavery)

Baptists and other denominations including Pentecostals officially taught or practiced various forms of racial segregation well into the mid-to-late-20th century, though all races were accepted to worship services after the 1970s and 1980s when many official policies were changed. 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^{[citation needed]} or through the curse of Ham, and some churches practiced racial segregation as late as the 1990s, including Pentecostalism. Today, however, official acceptance and practice of the doctrine among Protestant ogranizations is limited almost exclusively to churches connected to white supremacy, such as the Aryan World Church and the New Christian Crusade Church.

The curse and mark of Cain in Mormonism

In Mormonism, the racial interpretation of the curse of Cain has taken a circuitous route. Statements concerning the curse of Cain are unclear in Latter Day Saint scripture, and though the interpretation had, at one time, found general support within some Latter Day Saint denominations, all major denominations of Mormonism now officially reject it. However, the doctrine is an important element of Mormon fundamentalism, which constitutes a very small branch of the faith.

The Latter Day Saint movement 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 Ham doctrine, which was even held by many abolitionists of the time. While Joseph Smith, Jr. indicated belief in the curse of Ham theory in a parenthetical reference as early as 1831 (Manuscript History 19 June 1831), the only early possible 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." (Moses 7:22 (for a side by side comparison of relevant sections of Joseph Smith's translation to the KJV, see Curse of Cain/Genesis))

Nevertheless, according to other parts of Smith's translation, the descendants of Cain were destroyed in the deluge.^{[citation needed]} This has led some to understand that the black people referred to by Smith were not the same as modern African peoples.

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 Noah. 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, son of Noah, 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 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" (History of the Church 4:501.)

The curse and mark of Cain in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The curse and mark of Cain

After the death of Joseph Smith, Jr., The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the largest of several organizations claiming succession from Smith's church. Brigham Young, the church's president, clearly believed that people of African ancestry were 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..." (Diary of Wilford Woodruff, January 16, 1852).

Throughout his ministry, Young maintained his view that black skin was part of the curse of Cain, and that black people were still under that curse. On February 5, 1852, Young stated:

"What is that mark? you will see it on the countenance of every African you ever did see upon the face of the earth, or ever will see.... I tell you, this people that are commonly called negroes are the children of old Cain." (Brigham Young Addresses, Ms d 1234, Box 48, folder 3, located in LDS Church Historical Dept.)

On October 9, 1859, he again addressed the curse of Cain, as well as an additional curse of slavery, known as the curse of Ham, stating:

"Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then another curse is pronounced upon the same race—that they should be the 'servant of servants;' and they will be, until that curse is removed; and the Abolitionists cannot help it, nor in the least alter that decree." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, p. 290-91.)

Similar doctrine was continued by Young's successors as President of the Church, such as John Taylor, who held the same belief of Phelps that Cain's descendants survived the flood via the wife of Ham. In 1881, Taylor stated:

"And after the flood we are told that the curse that had been pronounced upon Cain was continued through Ham’s wife, as he had married of that seed. And why did it pass through the flood? Because it was necessary that the devil should have a representation upon the earth as well as God." (Journal of Discourses 22:304)

Throughout the years, various church leaders and theologians spoke on the curse of Cain doctrine. Some of the ideas propounded in these sermons and writings included the following:

That Cain would not be allowed to enter God's presence, nor would he enjoy the companionship of any member of the Godhead
That Cain would be called Perdition and not be resurrected to a degree of glory; He would lose any chance of exaltation
That Cain would not taste of death (become a translated being)
That the earth would not "yield unto Cain her strength," (or in other words, he would be agriculturally cursed)
That a mark would be placed upon Cain so that others would not try to kill him
That this mark was "Black skin and a flat nose".
That Cain would have to live as "a vagabond" on the earth until the return of Christ as a translated being
That Cain would rule over Satan after the final judgement
That any mixing of Blacks with any others, would pass the curse upon any of their descendants.
The denial of the priesthood and temple ordinances to Cain and his descendants, those being of Black African descent (except in rare occasions), until after Abel's descendants had a chance to receive the gospel and hold the priesthood. No blessing would be denied these people after the resurrection, but it would be denied in this life.

Aspects of the curse lifted

The church has never stated that the racial curse of Cain doctrine was false, but in 1978, the church announced a revelation from God officially renouncing its policy of excluding blacks from the priesthood. The church position is that the time arrived, and the Lord himself, by revelation to his leaders, finally removed the the portion of the curse relative to priesthood ordination - in fulfillment of the statement above by Brigham Young (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, p. 290-91.) The church doctrine on revelation is illustrated in the following quote by Joseph Smith, Jr.:

"That which is wrong under one circumstance, may be, and often is, right under another. God said, "Thou shalt not kill;" at another time He said, "Thou shalt utterly destroy." This is the principle on which the government of heaven is conducted – by revelation adapted to the circumstances in which the children of the kingdom are placed. Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire. If we seek first the kingdom of God, all good things will be added. So with Solomon: first he asked wisdom, and God gave it him, and with it every desire of his heart, even things which might be considered abominable to all who understand the order of heaven only in part, but which in reality were right because God gave and sanctioned by special revelation." ("Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith", selected and arranged by Joseph Fielding Smith, p. 256)

Outside interpretation of church policy

Even though the church has never stated that the doctrine was not divine truth, many non-members who are not familiar with the LDS doctrine of revelation have seen the change in policy as a repudiation of the curse of Cain doctrine. Certain quotes are interpreted as supporting this point of view, such as when Apostle Bruce R. McConkie 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." ("All Are Alike Unto God", pp. 1-2).

Even though this quote can be interpreted by outsiders as a repudiation of the curse of Cain doctrine - from an LDS perspective, this quote is entirely consistent with the church view of continuing revelation from God. Even with urging from a number of black Mormons, there has never been an official and explicit church repudiation of the doctrine, or an admission that it was a mistake. In 1998, there was a report in the Los Angeles Times that the church leadership was considering an official repudiation of the curse of Cain and curse of Ham doctrines, to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1978 revelation. (Larry B. Stammer, "Mormons May Disavow Old View on Blacks", L.A. Times, May 18, 1998, p. A1). This, however, was quickly denied by the LDS spokesman Don LeFevre. (ABC News report, May 18, 1998). The Times later suggested that the publicity generated by its article may have caused the church to put an official disavowal on hold. (Stammer, "Mormon Plan to Disavow Racist Teachings Jeopardized by Publicity", L.A. Times, May 24, 1998).

Modern Christian reactions against racial interpretations

More recently, there has been a stronger Christian backlash against use of the curse of Cain doctrine in racial politics. Today, all of the mutually recognizeable Christian denominations flatly reject such a doctrine. Most Christians also point to Biblical references which refute the doctrine, including a reference in the Book of Numbers:

"And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. 9 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed. 10 And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous." (Numbers 12:1, 9, 10).

Other Christian arguments include the following:

That the passage in Genesis relating to Cain makes no mention of the effects on his descendants.
That 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.
That Moses' wife Tzipporah, Job, Queen of Sheba, Ebed-Melech, Tirharkah, and the Ethiopian Treasurer of Queen Candace, Hagar, 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.
That Christianity and the Bible was founded 2000 years ago, and early documents do not make any references to blacks being cursed, and no manuscripts have been found in the middle east by Christian leaders of those periods that support the exclusion or prejudice against Blacks, Ethiopians (Greek word for Black) or Kushites (Hebrew word for Black).
That the racist interpretations of scripture did not exist before European colonization. These interpretations were likely introduced by ethnocentric ideologies that were codified into the Western mindset. This ideology adversely influenced the Protestant reformation and enlightenment period.
That objectively making the idea of a Cain's mark into a change of skin color would require Biblical passages to equate the two, however, in the Book of Jeremiah 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?").
That 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 locale. 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 was used to justify black servitude to whites. The doctrine became part of the institution of slavery and reasoning of many racist white Christian institutions in the West.

Modern Baptist exegesis

Some Baptist denominations now 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'".[1] 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 Lamech who killed similarly 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 promulgated to their posterity.

Anti-Semitic interpretations

A growing following of the Christian Identity believe that Jews are descendants of Cain, and as such the Curse of Cain has been extended to them.

Other groups, such as the Stormfront.org White Nationalist Community, believe that Cain and his descendants, according to his curse, must wander without a permanent home. According to this interpretation, they believe that Esau and his descendants were also given this curse (See Genesis 27:38, 40), and had to wander without a homeland.

They believe that modern Jews also received this curse as consequence for the murder of Christ, resulting in the Diaspora. [2]

Use of the Mark of Cain in other literature

The characters, Grendel and Grendel's mother are identified as descendants of Cain (and therefore bearing the "mark of Cain") in the Old English heroic epic poem composed in the later Early Middle Ages (in the 8th, 9th or 10th century), Beowulf.
In the Red Dwarf novels, the H symbol on holograms is revealed to be a way of distinguishing between the deceased (holograms) and the living. It is also 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 refers to the H as the stigma "Not the mark of Cain, the murderer, but of Abel, the slain." Also, the immortality of Rimmer, as well as Kryten, and the wandering of the ship can draw some parallels to Cain's wandering. Also, in Rimmerworld he founds an empire mirroring Cain's city.
Hermann Hesse makes great use of the Mark of Cain as a motif in his novel Demian, where it symbolizes a person seeking his true self.
The Mark of Cain (film) is a British television film broadcast in 2007.
The murderer in Agatha Christie's novel And Then There Were None, says that the bullet would leave in one of the victim's forehead a red mark, similar to the mark of Cain.
In John Steinbeck's novel East of Eden, 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 as Cain does to Abel in the Bible. 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 Sandman includes the character Cain directly as well as Abel (who Cain repeatedly kills and who is in turn repeatedly resurrected) as inhabitants of the dream lords realm. Cain is sent as a messenger to hell in Season of Mists as Lucifer cannot kill him due to the mark, which is here a small black circle on his forehead. Apart from this it has no direct effect on Cain.

The Curse of Cain in popular culture

In White Wolf's role-playing game series Vampire: the Masquerade, the curse of Cain is that of vampirism. Here, Cain is spelled "Caine" and becomes the father of all vampires after being cursed by God.
The 1997 single, Barrel of a Gun by popular English Electronic band, Depeche Mode, 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.

References

Regina M. Schwartz (1997). The Curse of Cain: The Violent Legacy of Monotheism. Univ. of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-74199-0.
David M. Goldenberg (2003). The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern World). Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 0-691-11465-X., Chapter 13: "The Curse of Cain".
The Curse of Cain: The Untold Story of John Wilkes Booth (ISBN 1-58006-021-8)
Black Majority: Negroes in Colonial South Carolina from 1670 Through the Stono Rebellion, by Peter H. Wood
White Attitudes toward Black People (Ann Arbor, Michigan: Institute for Social Research, 1971), by Angus Campbell
Lester E. Bush, Jr. and Armand L. Mauss, eds. (1984). Neither White Nor Black: Mormon Scholars Confront the Race Issue in a Universal Church. Signature Books. ISBN 0-941214-22-2. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) [3]
"Saints, Slaves, and Blacks: The changing place of Black people within Mormonism," Greenwood Press, (1981), by Newell Bringhurst

External links