CAIN tkain), (Heb. kah•yin, a lance).
1. The eldest son of Adam and Eve (Gen.
(1) Derivation. The derivation of this word is disputed. Most writers trace it to , or yin, Kelly .1cquisition (Gen. iv:1). Others derive it from a word meaning a spear, as indicative of the violence used by Cain, or from the Arabic Kap', a smith, in reference to the arts introduced by the Cainites; but sonic derive it from a verb signify ing to lament, and others from a verb of similar sound, signifying to envy. Both Eusebius and Chrysostom seem to support the last interpreta tion, hut the best I lebrew authorities are on the side of that first named.
Abounding as the Scriptures do with proofs of human guilt, and filled yet more as are the secu lar annals of the world with instances of crime, none impress the mind with a stronger feeling of horror than that of Cain.
(2) Sacrifice. It is easy to understand how the passion of envy or jealousy wrought in the heart of the offender, but sonic degree of mystery attends the immediate origin of his crime. Abel, it appears, brought two offerings, the one an obla tion, the other a sacrifice. Cain brought but the former—a mere acknowledgment, it is supposed, of the sovereignty of (sod; neglecting to offer the sacrifice which would have been a confession of fallen nature, and, typically, an atonement for sin. It was not• therefore, the mere difference of feel ing with which the two offerings were brought which constituted the virtue of the one or the guilt of the other brother. God's righteous indig nation against sin had been plainly revealed, and there can lie no doubt that the means of safety. of reconciliation and atonement, were as plainly made known to Adam and his offspring. The re fusal therefore, of the sacrifice was a virtual denial of God's right to condemn the sinner, and at the same time a proud rejection of the proffered means of grace.
(3) Murder and Punishment. The punish ment which attended the murder of his brother Abel was such as could only he indicted by an Almighty avenger. It admitted of no escape. scarcely of any conceivable alleviation. Cursed front the earth himself. the earth was doomed to a double barrenness wherever the offender should set his foot. Not like his father. sentenced
merely to gather his food from the unwilling ground, bearing herbs, thqugh thorns sprung lip along with them, for him it was not to yield its trength; it was to be as without life beneath him.
By the statement that 'Cain went out from the presence of the Lord' probability is given to the conjecture which represents him as abiding, till thus exiled, in some favored spot where the Al mighty still, by visible signs, manifested Himself to his fallen creatures. The expression of dread lest, as he wandered over the face of the earth, he might be recognized and slain, has an awful sound when falling from the mouth of a mur derer. But he was to be protected against the wrath of his fellow-men •, and of this God gave him assurance, not, says Shuckford, by setting a mark upon him, which is a false translation, but by appointing a sign or token which he himself might understand as a proof that he should not perish by the hand of another, as Abel had per ished by his.
The many problems raised by the narrative were a fertile theme for the Jewish rabbis. The tradition that Cain was slain by an arrow from the bow of Lamech, who mistook him for a wild beast, and thereafter killed his youthful son who had misled him, is a fanciful structure reared by the same hands on the foundation of Lainech's wild song.—WV. P. Paterson, Hastings' Bib. Diet.
(4) Land of Nod. It may be worthy of ob servation that especial mention is made of the fact that Cain, having traveled into the Land of Nod, there built a city ; and, further, that his descend ants were chiefly celebrated for their skill in the arts of social life. In both accounts may proba bly be discovered the powerful struggle with which Cain strove to overcome the difficulties which attended his position as one to whom the tillage of the ground was virtually prohibited.
(5) The New Testament References to Cain are Heh. xi :4. where it is recorded : 'By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain' (1 John iii :12; Jude II). (See ABEL.) 2. One of the cities in the low country of Judah, mentioned with Zanoah and Gibeah (Josh. xv:57).
3. The people mentioned in Balaam's prophecy as Kenite is in Hebrew called Kain, kah'yin, identical with Cain.