Transient

Why would anyone dare to question the motives of the almighty Yahweh, the god that releases murderers on the general population, murders guys for picking up a few sticks on the sabbath, murders little kids who never heard of him in Canaan.
Yep he sure is a real nice god.
He created a monster of a natural world where almost everything eats some other poor organism - it's dog eat dog out there - not real nice.
Yep he's a real loving sort of god.
Looks funny now looking back at it all from the twenty first century because of course it's all total crap, well at least I hope it is because I would hate to actually meet such a monster of a god.

Analyst

If Cain is Tubal-Cain and thus a metalworker / town dweller, what 'mark' would he have? How would he differ from Abel / Aphel, a nomad? Or is this theory bunk too?

Iskander

The Qayin and Hebel story in a book called Torah

Qayin complains about the punishment, that he will be removed from G-d’s presence, become a nomad in the land and be a target for retaliation, as someone may kill him avenging Hebel. Hashem, mercifully, acquiesces to his request and declares that if someone kills Qayin, sevenfold vengeance will be taken upon him. He also established a sign for Qayin to protect him from retaliation. Qayin exits Hashem’s presence to dwell east of Eden, engages in procreation, builds a city and calls it according to his son’s name, Hanokh and no more is heard of him in the Torah’s narrative.

Who are all those people that Qayin fears? Where did his wife come from? For whom did he build a city? Obviously, the Torah is not providing a literal account of human origins. The story is set in a primordial context at the beginning of the Torah so readers can appreciate its importance and focus on the universal lessons being transmitted.

G-d’s protection may be viewed as a protest against the ancient system of blood-vengeance. History has shown that one retaliatory act often begets another. The Torah insisted on the official court system being exclusively in charge of all cases of those accused of murder.

Joan of Bark

There's a problem with the chronology, but Adam and Eve had more children. This is where believers claim Cain's wife and potential killers came from.

Transient

Hogwash.
Just how quickly do think populations can build up, accepting that they lived to 600 years or whatever?

Cesc

Isn't it the Book of Jubilees that tries to answer the question of "the other people"? Something with the evil woman Lilith having children with Adam before Eve.

AFAIK, "marks" of every sort were not uncommon in the ancient world. You would put marks upon your forehead or hands to have good luck, divine favor or as a sign of something. IIRC, I read somewhere that the Greeks put a Delta on the foreheads if they'd survived a shipwreck for example. But there are several examples of "marks" - good or bad - in the Bible.

Doug Shaver

Any theory that presupposes a factual basis for anything in Genesis is bunk.

Joan of Bark

Why is the speed of population growth relevant to this myth?

Transient

Because you have to show that there were going to be people around that would not have known what happened and might have otherwise killed him.
It would seem to me from reading genesis that there would not have been many people in the world at that stage to put it mildly.

premjan

I'm guessing the story is about conflicts between herders and farmers (possibly over use of land). Apparently the farmers were cursed by God (the God of the herders?) for some reason, decreeing that their efforts would not yield fruit whereas the children of the herders would always do well. Is this born out by history? The mark of Abel could be circumcision, but as far as I know there is no mark exclusively on farmers? Perhaps God made farmers more stupid than herders or something like that? Or less conservative at any rate.

The only partial consensus is that farmers get sunburnt because they have to spend more hours outdoors, so maybe the mark of Cain is just dark skin. It could also refer to having to work many more hours than herders, who just have to tend animals.

Since there is no curse on killing herders, I guess that's why some conflicts like Israel-Palestine are intractable, being fought between the cultural descendants of various herding populations. The violence is a gift by God. God made it and it was good. We should revel in it.

Actually, considering the conflict between the Tutsi (herders) and the Hutu (farmers) my guess is that herding permits a smaller population to survive at a better nutritional level. Whereas farmers are more numerous and have poorer nutrition. Maybe more fractious and less conservative cultures as well. So the mark of Cain could just be being physically puny.