a possession; a spear. (1.) The first-born son of Adam and Eve
(Gen. 4). He became a tiller of the ground, as his brother Abel
followed the pursuits of pastoral life. He was "a sullen,
self-willed, haughty, vindictive man; wanting the religious
element in his character, and defiant even in his attitude
towards God." It came to pass "in process of time" (marg. "at
the end of days"), i.e., probably on the Sabbath, that the two
brothers presented their offerings to the Lord. Abel's offering
was of the "firstlings of his flock and of the fat," while
Cain's was "of the fruit of the ground." Abel's sacrifice was
"more excellent" (Heb. 11:4) than Cain's, and was accepted by
God. On this account Cain was "very wroth," and cherished
feelings of murderous hatred against his brother, and was at
length guilty of the desperate outrage of putting him to death
(1 John 3:12). For this crime he was expelled from Eden, and
henceforth led the life of an exile, bearing upon him some mark
which God had set upon him in answer to his own cry for mercy,
so that thereby he might be protected from the wrath of his
fellow-men; or it may be that God only gave him some sign to
assure him that he would not be slain (Gen. 4:15). Doomed to be
a wanderer and a fugitive in the earth, he went forth into the
"land of Nod", i.e., the land of "exile", which is said to have
been in the "east of Eden," and there he built a city, the first
we read of, and called it after his son's name, Enoch. His
descendants are enumerated to the sixth generation. They
gradually degenerated in their moral and spiritual condition
till they became wholly corrupt before God. This corruption
prevailed, and at length the Deluge was sent by God to prevent
the final triumph of evil. (See ABEL T0000015.)
(2.) A town of the Kenites, a branch of the Midianites (Josh.
15:57), on the east edge of the mountain above Engedi; probably
the "nest in a rock" mentioned by Balaam (Num. 24:21). It is
identified with the modern Yekin, 3 miles south-east of Hebron.
Cain
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