Commonly Misunderstood Verses of the Bible

What They Really Mean

Van Voorst

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781532610288
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

Do believe that God wants you to be financially prosperous (Joshua 1:8)? Do you think that Christians must "forgive and forget" (Jeremiah 31:34)? Do you suppose that everything will work for your good (Romans 8:28), or wonder if God will ever give you more than you can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13)? If you do, best-selling author Robert Van Voorst will help you to reexamine these verses, and many others, to see what they really mean.This book treats twenty-four of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible. Each is given concise but careful treatment, including an explanation of how they are misunderstood, what their meaning is, and what this meaning says to us today. Each chapter has questions for reflection and discussion.Written especially for use in church classes and Bible study groups, but also suitable for individual reading, this book will stimulate your growth in the Christian faith and give you more confidence in understanding the Bible and applying it to your life.

1

What Is the Mark of Cain?

The Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him. (Genesis 4:15)

“The mark of Cain” has long been misunderstood as a part of God’s punishment of Cain for killing his brother Abel. Cain received this mark, and it has continued, or so people think, on other people through time until today. In the Middle Ages, Christians called the badges that Jews were forced to wear in public the “mark of Cain.” Nazi leaders serving prison sentences after World War II sometimes complained to prison chaplains that they bore the “mark of Cain.” Some convicts in Russian prisons today have called the tattoos that they give to each other in prison the “mark of Cain.”

One particular idea about the mark of Cain held that it is black skin. This seems obviously racist today, but until quite recently it was a widespread notion. From the 1600s well into the 1900s, many Americans and Europeans thought that Cain’s “mark” was black skin and that all black people are Cain’s spiritual descendants and still under a divine curse. For example, the tenth president of the Latter-day Saint church, Joseph Fielding Smith Jr., wrote in 1931, “It was well understood by the early elders of the [Mormon] Church that the mark which was placed on Cain and which his posterity inherited was black skin.”9 This belief was used by the LDS Church to deny their priesthood to African and African American men, a policy that lasted until 1978. Mormons were not alone in this faulty interpretation of the mark of Cain. It served as one of several rationalizations among Protestant and Catholic Christians for the enslavement of millions of Africans from the 1500s to the 1800s, and it continued into the 1900s as a factor in racial discrimination against African Americans.

The racist interpretation of “the mark of Cain” has largely disappeared in the last fifty years or so, but the expression “the mark of Cain” is still common. Today the “mark of Cain” is understood in a variety of dictionaries as a “curse,” a “sign of guilt,” a “stigma of shame,” and even “a person’s sinful nature.” Apart from the expression, negative connotations persist in our culture around the single word “Cain.” For example, “raising Cain” is a common expression today for bad behavior, especially by children and teenagers. A 2000 book about troubled boys in the United States was titled Raising Cain,10 as was a 2005 PBS-TV documentary based on it.

When we look at Genesis 4:15 in its context, the correct meaning of “the mark of Cain” becomes clear. Cain was the first child of Adam and Eve, born after their expulsion from the garden of Eden, and his brother Abel followed. Cain became a farmer, Abel a herder (Genesis 4:1–2), the two main occupations of Old Testament times. When God accepted Abel’s animal offering but rejected Cain’s offering of fruits, Cain was angry, and his anger festered (vv. 3–5). Despite God’s command to Cain to deal with his sin before it overwhelmed him (vv. 6–7), that sin in fact did overwhelm him. Cain murdered his brother (v. 8), the first death to occur in the world. He lied to God when God confronted him about Abel’s whereabouts: “I do not know,” and then added the words that have become infamous as a guilty evasion: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (v. 9). God punished Cain by making his efforts at farming a complete failure, and Cain realized that this would make him “a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth” (vv. 11–12). Adam and Eve had been exiled from the garden, but now Cain would be exiled even farther. When Cain complained that “anyone who meets me may kill me,” God replied: “Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold” (vv. 13–15). Then comes the misunderstood verse: “The Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him.” In a short time, Cain went from God to Nod: “Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden (v. 16). Cain and his wife had a child (v. 17). (This verse has prompted many a skeptic to ask, where did Cain’s wife come from?) The rest of Genesis 4 narrates briefly the contributions of Cain’s descendants to the beginnings of human civilization, as herders, musicians, and metalworkers.

When set in this context, it’s obvious what the “mark of Cain” means. It was not a punishment or a curse; it was a protection. Jewish interpreters have almost to a person seen this correctly, but Christians have not. Cain’s real punishment was divine rejection from the ground. God had punished Adam by making his farming difficult (Genesis 3:17–19), and now God punished Cain by making his farming impossible. This forced him to become a wanderer. The mark God put on him was to keep him alive, and to judge from the whole narrative of Genesis 4, it was effective in doing this.

Why did Cain need this protection? Likely because he was a murderer, and even at the beginning of human life (as today), murder was among the most serious of crimes and had to be punished. Cain worried aloud to God that he was especially vulnerable to a deadly attack that would avenge his killing of Abel. God’s protective mark on him was effective, and Cain lived a long life. He had descendants who made a significant contribution to the spread of human life in the world, even though they were prone to the violence that he brought to the world (4:17–24). The rest of the Bible sees Cain as a murderer and liar (1 John 3:12) and an example of someone who follows a godless way of life (Jude 1:11). Jewish writings from the first centuries BCE share these viewpoints, particularly Wisdom of Solomon 10:3: “But when the unrighteous man [Cain] went away from her [Wisdom] in his anger, he perished also in the fury with which he murdered his brother.” In 4 Maccabees 18:11 Cain is first in a line of those who persecute the righteous. In Jubilees 4:5 Cain is cursed to wander. None of these treatments of Cain outside of Genesis mentions Cain’s mark.

The practice of marking people for their protection can be found in other places in the Bible. God commanded that a mark be put on the foreheads of the people in Jerusalem who were repentant: “Go through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of those who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it” (Ezekiel 9:4). This mark will protect them from the coming destruction of the city. The book of Revelation features three episodes where people have a mark placed upon them. A special group of people, the 144,000 believers, receives a mark from God on their foreheads that guarantees their protection (Revelation 7:3). The mark in Ezekiel and the mark in Revelation 7 keep God’s people safe from impending judgment. In the book of Revelation we also find a sinister mark, the “mark of the beast.” The beast will mark all those who worship him with his name and number on their right hand or on their forehead (Revelation 13:16; see also 14:9, 11; 16:2; 19:20). The final example of marking in the Bible, the only mark to endure for eternity, is a happy one. At the final consummation of all things, all the redeemed will be marked with the name of Jesus Christ: “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads” (Revelation 22:4). This mark shows that they belong to Jesus.

Seen in the context of its passage in Genesis 4 and the wider biblical testimony about marking, the “mark of Cain” is clearly a protection. This mark, whatever it was, was not a curse on Cain but a rescue from the effects of his curse. Its purpose is to keep Cain from being killed by others. To judge from other biblical passages that feature marking, it was in all likelihood a mark on Cain’s body, not his clothing. It would have to be visible to others, such as on his forehead or one of his hands. Genesis gives no hint about what the mark looked like. It may have looked threatening in order to ward off harm, perhaps threatening the “sevenfold vengeance” that God promised to those who might kill Cain. However, some protective marks in the ancient Near East, such as the all-seeing eye of the Egyptian god Horus, did not look threatening. It may have been a mark that people saw as representing God or God’s name, as in Revelation 22:4. Obviously, we can’t be sure what the mark was. We can be certain of one thing: the mark serves a positive purpose, to keep Cain alive—the first killer is not killed—so that he can contribute despite his flaws to the growth and spread of humankind. Somehow this mark communicated to others that Cain was not to be harmed. If it was like other markings in the Bible discussed above, it may have shown that Cain belonged to God. Whatever the mark was, this positive purpose of the mark is so obvious in the text that one wonders how thinking about the mark itself as a punishment ever arose!

What might this misinterpretation of Genesis 4:15 get right? Very little, it’s sad to say. It does correctly recognize that Cain’s mark is put on him by God, but it confuses Cain’s punishment with his protection. It also fails to recognize that the “mark of Cain” was a one-time thing. There is no hint in Genesis that it continues among Cain’s descendants, or that anyone else today can get the “mark of Cain.”

What is the meaning of this verse in its context for us today? To see this, we will have to look beyond Cain as a murderer, and see in Genesis 4 how God handles this murderer. The first point for Christians today is this: Sin can “crouch at the door” waiting to pounce on us as well, as it did for Cain. Sin’s “desire is for you,” God warns Cain, “but you must master it” (v. 7). If we become sullen and frustrated over how we think God is treating us, as Cain did, the pounce may be especially close. Evil may not crouch and pounce on us as dramatically as it did with Cain, but it crouches nonetheless. The warning that God gave to Cain is typical of God’s warning to all his children who struggle with sin: Sin is looking to attack, and we must deal with it.

Here is a second, more positive point from the corrected understanding of this passage for Christians today. When God deals with sin in this life, either directly or indirectly, a part of God’s purpose is often protection of the sinner. This protection graciously gives “time for amendment of life,” an eloquent phrase from the prayer book of the Church of England. By the standards of justice in the Old Testament, Cain deserved to die for his crime of murder. God did punish Cain severely, so much that he complained, “My punishment is more than I can bear!” But God mercifully preserved his life so that Cain could make some contribution to human society. Of course, we shouldn’t presume on God’s mercy by thinking that God will always preserve us from serious consequences if we commit serious sins. That is not the correct conclusion to draw from the Cain story! Instead, we should look on any mercy God may show us as a part of God’s discipline for his people. God doesn’t automatically write off sinners, and maybe we shouldn’t either.

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

1. Before you began this section, what did you think that the mark of Cain was?

2. What is the significance of death entering the world by way of a brother murdering a brother?

3. How does the misunderstanding of Genesis 4:15 take this verse out of context?

4. How might you explain why, when the mark of Cain is so explicitly a protection in Genesis 4, it soon came to be understood by Christians from ancient times through today as a punishment?

5. What have been some of the consequences of perpetuating the idea that the mark of Cain is punishment and means being black? How is this is a sobering example of the danger of misinterpreting Scripture?

6. The image of “sin crouching at the door” like a predatory animal is a vivid one. Have you experienced temptation or sin in this way?

9. Smith, Way to Perfection, 107.

10. Kindlon and Thompson, Raising Cain.

2

Is “Mizpah” a Benediction?

Therefore the name of it was called . . . Mizpah; for Laban said, “The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one fro...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: What Is the Mark of Cain?
• Chapter 2: Is “Mizpah” a Benediction?
• Chapter 3: What Killing Does God Forbid?
• Chapter 4: Is “An Eye for an Eye” Vengeance?
• Chapter 5: How Prosperous Does God Want Us to Be?
• Chapter 6: How Do We Hide God’s Word in Our Hearts?
• Chapter 7: Is “Train Up a Child” a Promise?
• Chapter 8: The End of the World or the Beginning of a New World?
• Chapter 9: What Plans Does God Have for Us?
• Chapter 10: Should Christians Forgive and Forget?
• Chapter 11: Was Jesus Born in a Manger?
• Chapter 12: Don’t Judge at All?
• Chapter 13: If We Ask, Will We Really Receive?
• Chapter 14: Who Are “the Least of These”?
• Chapter 15: What Cross Must We Bear?
• Chapter 16: Is “The Poor You Have with You Always” a Directive?
• Chapter 17: Who Is a Good Samaritan?
• Chapter 18: How Did God Give His Only Son?
• Chapter 19: Should We Have All Possessions in Common?
• Chapter 20: How Do All Things Work Together for Good?
• Chapter 21: Will God Give Us More Than We Can Bear?
• Chapter 22: What Things Can I Do in Christ?
• Chapter 23: What Is the Root of All Evil?
• Chapter 24: Why Is Jesus Knocking at the Door?
• Bibliography