Cain's Mark

The mark of Cain or the sign of Cain is a sign given by God to the fratricide Cain in the Old Testament of Christian tradition . The Hebrew phrase "le-kajin ot" ( 'ot , אות, "sign") in the Jewish Torah was translated as "[God made] kajin a sign" and "a sign to kajin".

Bible report

Cain slew his brother Abel after a divine sacrifice . So that he would not be killed himself as a fratricide , God made a sign to Cain to give him a chance for a life free of violence. The mark of Cain is therefore both the identification mark of the murderer and a protective symbol that protects him from a violent death.

Excerpt from 1. Book of Moses / Genesis 4:

“Then Cain said to his brother Abel: Let's go to the field! When they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. […] The Lord said: What have you done? The blood of your brother cries to me from the ground. So you are cursed, banished from the field, which opened its mouth to take your brother's blood from your hand. If you till the arable land, it will no longer bring you any yield. You will be restless and restless on earth. Cain replied to the Lord: My debt is too great to bear. You chased me from the farmland today and I must hide from your face; restless and restless I will be on earth and whoever finds me will kill me. And the Lord said to him, Therefore whoever kills Cain shall have sevenfold vengeance. Thereupon the Lord made a sign to Cain that no one would kill him if he could find him. ”(Gen 4: 8-15, standard translation )

“Kajin said to the Eternal: 'My punishment is too great to bear. See, you have driven me from this earth. I should hide from your face. If I am restless and volatile on earth, everyone who finds me will kill me. ' Then the Eternal said to him: 'Nobody dare to kill Kajin! He is to be avenged sevenfold! ' The Eternal made a sign to the kajin that not everyone who finds him will kill him. ”(Gen 4: 13-15, The Torah in Jewish interpretation )

Christian Middle Ages

In the European Middle Ages , which emerged from the Dark Ages , the Old Testament interpretation of the "Cain's sign" was misused as a justification for the stigmatic badge for Jews, the yellow Jewish ring .

Jewish interpretation

In the Hebrew language of the Jewish Torah, the word 'ot (אות, "sign") is often a divine sign. In the 2nd book of Moses (Ex 4.1-9) a (miracle) sign supports the credibility of Moses before the Pharaoh. The mark of Kajin is not an eyesore; as such it protects him from blood revenge . At the same time, the “first murderer” Kajin and himself become a warning to other people of the crime of murder .

Rashi comments that YHWH carved a letter of his name on Kajin's forehead (: וישם ה 'לקין אות: חקק לו אות משמו במצחו).

Phrase

Nowadays the Old Testament "Cains mark" in the Christian-Occidental German-speaking area has generalized the meaning of a sign of guilt ; a feature that gives you away. Often afflicted negatively, however, it does not have to be a “just punishment” in the biblical sense. The mark of Cain is the stamp that society puts on others in order to nail them to what it has made of them as a picture. So whoever bears the Cain's mark is not necessarily “doomed”. Biblically, the mark of Cain is not a mark of shame, but a protective symbol.

literature

Christoph Türcke : From the sign of Cain to the genetic code. Critical Theory of Scripture . CH Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-53472-4 .

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d W. Gunther Plaut (Ed.): The Torah in a Jewish interpretation. Translated and edited by Annette Böckler. 3rd edition, special edition. Kaiser / Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2008, ISBN 978-3-579-05492-6 , p. 103 ff.
^ ^A ^b Francis Brown, Samuel Rolles Driver , Charles Augustus Briggs : The Brown Driver Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon: with an appendix containing the Biblical Aramaic; coded with the numbering system from "Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible". 7th edition. Hendrickson, Peabody 1997, ISBN 9781565632066 , p. 16 f.
↑ Standard translation online . Katholisches Bibelwerk Stuttgart, Katholisches Bibelwerk e. V .. Retrieved November 18, 2015.
^ The Complete Jewish Bible with Rashi's Commentary - Judaica Press (JPR) . The Judaica Press, Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center. Retrieved November 18, 2015.

[Plaut-Kajin-Zeichen-1] W. Gunther Plaut (Ed.): The Torah in a Jewish interpretation. Translated and edited by Annette Böckler. 3rd edition, special edition. Kaiser / Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2008, ISBN 978-3-579-05492-6 , p. 103 ff.

[BDB-2] A ^b Francis Brown, Samuel Rolles Driver , Charles Augustus Briggs : The Brown Driver Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon: with an appendix containing the Biblical Aramaic; coded with the numbering system from "Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible". 7th edition. Hendrickson, Peabody 1997, ISBN 9781565632066 , p. 16 f.

[3] Standard translation online . Katholisches Bibelwerk Stuttgart, Katholisches Bibelwerk e. V .. Retrieved November 18, 2015.

[4] The Complete Jewish Bible with Rashi's Commentary - Judaica Press (JPR) . The Judaica Press, Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center. Retrieved November 18, 2015.