THOMAS
There are several personalities in the biblical narrative whose names, having become common nouns, forever turned into synonyms for evil. Popular rumor traditionally calls a traitor Judas, a cruel and ruthless person - Herod, a rude and tactless person - Ham. And the first in this row is the name of the person who shed the blood of his brother. This name - Cain - gave rise to many neologisms: “Cain’s seed”, “Cain’s seal”. Who really was Cain and is his role in human history so clear?
Serpent Tempter
Christian tradition considers the snake to be the devil and Satan. This is true, but only partly. It was God who created this most cunning serpent , which became the first adversary to people.
“The serpent was more cunning than all the beasts of the field that the Lord God had made.” (Genesis 3:1)
The correct understanding of this serpent will be one that unites all the devilish traits, as, for example, St. John Chrysostom does, saying:
“following Scripture, one must reason in such a way that the words belonged to the devil, who was excited by envy for this deception (Wisdom 2:24), and used this animal (i.e., an ordinary serpent) as a convenient tool” (John Chrysostom).
The presence of the devil-tempter in this serpent is also confirmed in many other places of Holy Scripture .
In the Jewish tradition, one of the interpretations says that the serpent did nothing but climb the forbidden tree and eat forbidden fruits and nothing else.
It was then that Eva thought: “He can, but I can’t?” . I decided to try the fruit. Maybe so, but by and large the essence of the serpent is not so important.
God warned people, gave them a choice and gave them the opportunity to prove this choice - between obedience to God and a thirst for knowledge for Eve, and for Adam - between obedience to God and love for a woman.
Adam and Eve
The creation of the world is described in the Bible in the Book of Genesis . This is how we learn the story of the origin of Adam and Eve.
The first people lived in the Garden of Eden and did not need anything. The commandment about not eating the fruit from a certain tree, by the way, was given even before Eve appeared. God said to Adam:
“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou shalt eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat, for in the day that thou eatest of it thou shalt die.” (Genesis 2:16,17)
Cain
Eva gave birth to her first child and was very happy about this fact. Perhaps she was happy that she had finally fulfilled God’s commandment to “be fruitful and multiply . Perhaps she considered the child a sign of God’s forgiveness and blessing.
The name of the firstborn is Cain (translated from Hebrew as “acquisition”). But it is the first-born who will become the killer in the future... Why? Many exegetes have sought an answer to this question. For example, the theory of St. Philaret of Moscow is interesting.
He believed that too little time had passed after the Fall for the poison of sin to leave the soul. The hearts of Adam and Eve had not yet had time to bear fruit worthy of repentance. Accordingly, the child being born inherited a kind of spiritual defect.
However, it was predicted that Eve would give birth to a man who would bruise the head of the Serpent that started it all:
“...and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it will bruise your head, and you will bruise its heel.” (Genesis 3:15)
Actually, when their firstborn, Cain, was born, they thought that this was the fulfillment of the prophecy, that he would be the one who would defeat the serpent and lead Adam and Eve back to paradise.
“Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” (Genesis 4:1)
That is why the name of the firstborn means “acquired” or “produced.” Eve believed that he was the end of this whole story.
Abel
Abel was born , which in literal translation is “vapor”, “vague”, “vanity” (vanity in the sense when you fussed all day, but in the end you cannot say what specific thing you did, and not in the negative sense, as Ecclesiastes uses it).
This was perhaps just in time for Adam and Eve to purify themselves through repentance. In any case, we see that Abel was not convicted of those unkind qualities of the soul that were inherent in Cain.
A culture that destroys harmony
What did Cain, expelled from his native land, do? He built a city and named it after his son.
A significant fact in the history of mankind - the first city on Earth was built by a murderer.
For what? Yes, to create an artificial border between yourself and the rest of the world, to protect yourself from the environment. Today, when the conflict between urban civilization and nature has escalated to the limit, when around us there are polluted rivers, dying forests, and the city air itself is saturated with toxic exhausts, the very phrase “environment” sounds some kind of alienation, as if a person flew to Earth from another planet and painfully tries to master a world hostile to him.
It all started with the first “ecological disaster” in history, when Cain, having killed his brother, shed his blood on the ground. This is what the Bible says about this: “And the Lord said: What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries to Me from the earth; and now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened its mouth to receive the blood of thy brother at thy hand; when you cultivate the land, it will no longer give its strength to you; you will be an exile and a wanderer on earth.”
This is how Cain first upset the ecological balance. The world became alien to him, everything that surrounded him turned into a source of danger.
The psychology of the killer is clear: he is scared, anxious and always wants to hide. This is inherent in human nature - those who have committed evil fear the same retribution. But who did Cain want to protect himself from? After all, there were no other people on earth except members of his family. According to legend, after the murder was committed, wild animals began to hunt Cain (before that they had not attacked people). It was then that the Earth ceased to be a home for humans and turned into an “environment.” A person who commits a mortal sin breaks his connection not only with God, but with all of nature. The mechanism of this gap cannot be explained, but its consequences are obvious. By the way, in the history of the Church there are many examples when saints (that is, people who have restored this connection with God and the world He created) communicated with the most dangerous predators as with domestic animals.
Thus, the construction of the first city was a direct consequence of fratricide. All the coming wars, civil strife, the struggle for survival in a changing climate - the entire tragic history of mankind is prophetically depicted in the biblical story about the first man born on earth.
It was the descendants of Cain who laid the foundation for the phenomenon that we today call civilization. About one of them, Jubal, it is said that “he was the father of all those who play the harp and flute.” Another, his brother Tubalcain, “was a forger of all tools made of copper and iron,” the herald of the “Copper” and “Iron” Ages. Cain's descendants began to arm themselves - the first fratricide predetermined the inevitability of further wars. And the agricultural tools made by Tubalcain were needed to forcefully snatch from the earth those benefits that it had ceased to give to the people who had watered it with blood. And art helped to shield ourselves from the emptiness that invaded human life.
But, fortunately for us, Adam and Eve also had a third son - Seth.
The Bible says that it was his children who began to call on the name of God, that is, try to live on earth without breaking off relations with its Creator. It was the desire for God of the sons of Seth, intertwined with the artistic delights of the descendants of Cain, that led to the emergence of such art, thanks to which we even today feel that there is something greater in the world than ourselves and all our earthly affairs and concerns. And at the sound of the music of the famous church singer, Bach, you want to pray, even if you don’t know how to do it. Because such art has preserved the memory of the harmony of all things, so carelessly destroyed at the very beginning of our history.
Rejected sacrifice and fratricide
So, with the first son it is clear why he was born - this is the fulfillment of prophecy, but why was the second given to Adam and Eve? Obviously, this is exactly how they grew up, with the realization that Cain is the one who must save everyone, and Abel is an addendum.
The first people, as we know, had to earn bread by the “sweat of their brow,” that is, with their own labor. Thus, Cain became a farmer, and Abel tended sheep .
Even then, sacrifices were accepted - a sign that a person recognizes “everything that I received is a gift from God . And people expressed gratitude in exactly this way - they gave part of what they had to God. By the way, this is the best part!
Gustave Dore. Murder of Abel by Cain
So, when Cain and Abel brought their sacrifices, the Lord showed that he did not accept the sacrifices of the future murderer. Why did it happen so? It is quite possible that Abel, unlike his brother, chose the best sheep. While Cain could regret the best fruits that he grew.
And this reaction of God gives birth to a new sin in Cain’s heart - envy of his brother . Then he kills him, finding himself together in a field.
God curses the murderer and makes him a wanderer on earth. This is the lot of the sinner. However, God made a certain sign to Cain (Bible interpreters cannot agree on which one) so that no one could kill him.
“And the Lord [God] said to him: Therefore, whoever kills Cain will have sevenfold vengeance. And the Lord [God] made a sign for Cain, so that no one who met him would kill him.” (Genesis 4 13-15)
After his exile, Cain goes east from the Garden of Eden and settles in a land called Nod .
Version one - envy
When God accepted Abel's gift and rejected Cain's, Cain became jealous that he was not chosen. And he decides to take the most direct and obvious path: if there is no competitor, then God will have no choice but to choose Cain for the role of his messiah. Therefore, there is a lot involved here: envy, and grief that he is not the chosen one, and the desire to become famous (vanity), so much so that it is difficult to identify the dominant motive. But envy is considered the main one.
It can be summarized like this: Cain killed Abel out of envy in order to become the chosen one.
Version two (unofficial)
Brother Abel did not take care of his sheep, and they trampled all of Cain's harvest. What to feed the children, he asked his brother? The same one answered mockingly: “I’m not a shepherd to keep an eye on them .
It was not appropriate to answer your older brother like that. They say that it was precisely for this insolence that Abel paid.
And when God asked Cain where his brother was, he, like his parents once, lied that he didn’t know...
Just amazing stupidity of both...
How will the series “The Seal of Cain” end?
Dasha finds out that the real Daniel lives in California. She sends the link to her mother. Lisa calls Dasha and asks that she and Kostya not return home, but go to work with Valentin.
Danya is detained. He admits that he deceived Lisa and Valentin by taking his classmate's story, his birth certificate and photograph. He had sex with Asya, after which she laughed and he dropped her off on the road, but did not kill Asya. Kostya’s mother arrives and asks Valentin for permission to see her son. Danya is released. Captain Svetlana Anisimova finds the killer - this is a summer resident who did not like the impudent Asya.
Danya leaves money on a bench near Lisa and Valentin’s house.
Cain's seal
To begin with, let us remember that “...everyone who kills Cain will have sevenfold revenge. And the Lord [God] made a sign for Cain, so that no one who met him would kill him . (Genesis 15)
This is the interpretation of the book of Genesis given by St. John Chrysostom :
“And here you are shown the severity of sin, that he (Cain) committed not one sin, but seven sins, and for each sin he had to suffer great punishment. How can we list them?
If you calculate, then the first sin is that he envied his brother for God’s favor towards him: and this one sin was already enough to punish him with death; the second - that he (was jealous of) his own brother; the third - that he used cunning; the fourth - that he committed murder; the fifth - that he killed his brother; sixth - that the first committed murder; the seventh - that he lied to God. <…> So, God says to Cain, whoever attempts to kill you will be punished sevenfold. So don't be afraid of it. Behold, I am placing on you a sign by which everyone who meets you will recognize you. Your relaxation for the rest of your life will be useful for subsequent births, and what you did alone without witnesses will be known to everyone, seeing you groaning and shaking, and with this trembling of your body as if speaking and appealing to everyone like this: “No one dare to do such a thing.” what I did so as not to suffer the same punishment.”
Generation of Cain. 19th century engraving.
Tradition says that the sin of fratricide affected not only the soul of Cain, but also his appearance. His facial features were distorted, and the curse placed on him could be seen by every person and beast. the seal of Cain appeared in history .
A whole branch in the history of mankind will be named after Cain, the development of which will subsequently lead to a global flood and the destruction of humanity.
What merits of Cain led to such a sad outcome?
After the curse, Cain goes to the East and settles there with his wife. There his son Enoch .
Cain creates the first city and names it after his son Enoch.
Thus, he and his descendants, in fact, were the founders of progress. But progress turned out to be a machine that grinds its creators .
The sixth descendant of Cain, Lamech , was the first in human history to take two wives and became the founder of polygamy - a phenomenon that contradicted the original commandment of God:
“Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife; and the [two] shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2, 24)
Image of Tubal-Cain. 19th century engraving.
The sons of Lamech became inventors of crafts and arts.
• Jabal invented tents and was the first to live a nomadic life. • Jubal invented the harp and pipe. • Tubal-Cain created metal tools and weapons. • Tubal-Cain's sister Noema became the creator of sounds and songs.
It would seem that all this was for the benefit of humanity, but why the Cainites and their legacy a symbol of damnation for humanity?
Cainites became a symbol of human violence against nature and other people.
Their task is to take what is theirs by any means and take it not only in order to live, but beyond all measure. They have become a symbol of self-confidence and arrogance.
When Lamech saw the creations of his sons’ hands, he addressed the wives with the following speech:
“And Lamech said to his wives: Ada and Zillah! listen to my voice; the wives of Lamech! listen to my words: I killed a man for my wound and a boy for my wound; If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech is avenged seventy times seven.” (Genesis 4 23-24)
Thus, Lamech finally departs from the simple laws given by God to Adam and decides that now the weapon will give him everything he wants.
Since then, cities have become a symbol of sin and vice. They became a plague on the body of the earth, and the history of mankind turned into a history of violence and endless wars.
As for Cain, tradition has not preserved information about him.
It is not known whether he died during the flood or remained to wander the earth and wait for deliverance until the time of the Last Judgment .
Contents of the series “The Seal of Cain” (2018)
Lisa and Valentina, after the sad events that happened in their first marriages, found their happiness with each other, and peace and quiet reign in their home. The children also got along: Valentin’s son Kostya and Lisa’s daughter Dasha found a common language.
However, everything changes when the son of Lisa’s late husband Danya appears on the threshold of their friendly family’s home, showing him a birth certificate and childhood photographs with Valentin as proof of relationship. The guy, of course, is accepted into the family. But then Dasha’s classmate Asya is killed, and the peace in the family ends... It’s no secret that Asya was hated by many.
Dasha was jealous of Asya for her lover Sancho. Kostya was in love with Asya, but the girl rejected him and started an affair with Danya, which angered Kostya. As a result, it turns out that any of the three could have killed Asya. It is clear that Lisa is extremely alarmed, having first learned about her son’s love for Asya, and then about Dasha’s quarrel with the dead girl.
Having found Asya’s bloody earring from her daughter, Lisa completely loses her peace. At the same time, while Liza is tormented by painful suspicions, Dasha and Kostya think that Asya was killed by Danya.
Continuation of the family line
If one can put it this way, then “instead of” Abel, God gave Eve another righteous son, who was named Seth . As the Bible testifies, it was from Seth that a generation of people came who lived with dignity and virtue.
Besides Abel and Cain, Adam had many daughters and sons:
“Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and a son was born to him in his likeness, in his image, and he named him Seth. After the birth of Seth, Adam lived another eight hundred years, and during these years sons and daughters were born to him.” (Genesis 5:3-5)
The family continued because Adam had not only sons, but also daughters . Genesis 5:4 talks about this. Therefore, Cain and Seth took their sisters as wives. Since the first people were close to perfection, this was allowed. But such marriages were subsequently prohibited by the Law of Moses .
It was from Seth that the generation in which Jesus Christ .
Jesus Christ
As for the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham , it is worth bringing it in full, if only so that it is not distorted, like the guide in Edmond Keosayan’s film “The Elusive Avengers. Crown of the Russian Empire".
Genealogy of Jesus Christ. (Gospel of Matthew 1:1-17) - open spoiler
Abraham gave birth to Isaac; Isaac gave birth to Jacob; Jacob begat Judah and his brothers; Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar; Perez begat Hezrom; Hezrom begat Aram; Aram gave birth to Abminadab; Amminadab begat Nahshon; Nahshon begat Salmon; Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab; Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth; Obed begat Jesse; Jesse gave birth to King David.
David the king begot Solomon from Uriah; Solomon begat Rehoboam; Rehoboam gave birth to Abijah; Abijah begat Asa; Asa begat Jehoshaphat; Jehoshaphat begat Joram; Jehoram begat Uzziah; Uzziah begat Jotham; Jotham begat Ahaz; Ahaz begat Hezekiah; Hezekiah begat Manasseh; Manasseh begat Amon; Amon gave birth to Josiah; Josiah begat Joachim; Joachim gave birth to Jeconiah and his brothers before moving to Babylon.
After moving to Babylon, Jeconiah gave birth to Salathiel; Shealtiel begat Zerubbabel; Zerubbabel begat Abihu; Abihu begat Eliakim; Eliakim begat Azor; Azor begat Zadok; Zadok gave birth to Achim; Achim begat Eliud; Elihu begat Eleazar; Eleazar begat Matthan; Matthan gave birth to Jacob; Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
So, all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the migration to Babylon to Christ there are fourteen generations.
And finally, something about Jesus that most people don't even know.
Christ is not the surname or nickname of Jesus, it is His title (Greek Χριστός - “Anointed” from the verb χρίω - “to anoint”, this is a translation from Hebrew of the word Messiah מָשִׁיחַ . The priests were anointed with the sacred oil (Lev. 6:20), kings (1 Kings 16:12-13) and prophets (1 Kings 19:16). The Messiah combines the qualities of a King, a Priest and a Prophet , therefore, King David and the Prophet Abraham are indicated in His genealogy. As for the priesthood, this is discussed in detail written in the Epistle to the Hebrews, it all talks about why Jesus needed to come in human form and why He is the High Priest - “The main thing about what we are talking about is: we have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven ..." (Heb. 8:1).
