What was the ‘Sign’ of Cain?

Hi ​Mike,

I think you are doing well Thanks to the Lord, without forgetting the whole team who works continuously for the Kingdom so that many people may be given at the right time the eyes to see, the ears to hear, and a heart to understand, comparing spiritual things to those that are spiritual (Eph 2:13c).

I would like to express my gratitude to the Lord for the grace He has given you to understand the gospel and which you make available to us on your site for the salvation of many. May the Uncreated Sovereign Creator multiply his Grace in your life through the knowledge of the Lord Jesus the Christ.

I would like to ask you a question to have your look by the grace of the Lord who works effectively in you. I looked for this question in the search module of the faqs, but I couldn’t find it.

What was the sign that the Lord had put on Cain to protect him?

What is the meaning of sign, its scope and applicability?

Before you provide answers, I would like to present what was given to me to understand of this sign by the Grace of God.

Gen 4:6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou angry, and why is thy face downcast?
​Gen 4:7 Surely, if you do well, you will lift up your face, and if you do badly, sin lies down at the door, and its desires are for you: but you rule over it.
​Gen 4:8 Cain, however, spoke to his brother Abel; but as they were in the field, Cain fell on his brother Abel and killed him.
​Gen 4:9 The LORD said to Cain, Where is your brother Abel? He replied: I do not know; am i my brother’s keeper?
Gen 4:10 And God said, What have you done? the voice of your brother’s blood cries from the earth to me.
​Gen 4:11 Now you will be cursed from the land which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
​Gen 4:12 When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer give you its wealth. You will be wandering and wandering on the earth.
Gen 4:13 Cain said to the Lord, My punishment is too great to bear.
Gen 4:14 Behold, you are driving me out of this earth today; I will be hidden far from your face, I will be wandering and wandering on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.
​Gen 4:15 The LORD said unto him, If any man kill Cain, Cain shall be avenged sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark on Cain, that whoever found him should not kill him.

I believe the sign put on Cain had to do with the promise of the coming of Jesus Christ and ​His redemptive work for the salvation of Cain.

And the reasons why Cain was afraid that someone would kill him were:

1. Because the blood of Abel cried out for vengeance against him.

(BDS) Gen 4:10 God said to him, What have you done? I hear your brother’s blood crying out for vengeance from the earth to me.

2. Because God forbade the shedding of blood/taking of life. That if someone takes a man’s life, the murderer will answer to God.

That is to say, my murderer will be exposed to the judgment of God.

(BDS) Gen 9:5 As for your blood, I will claim it for your life. Whoever spreads it, be it an animal or a human being, I will hold him to account. I will hold every man accountable for the life of his fellow man.
​Gen 9:>6 Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human, will have his blood shed. For man was made to be the image of God.”

3. Because at the time of the Law of Moses, the Lord had specified that “the avenger of blood could kill the murderer who came out of the city of refuge.

(BM) Num 35:26 But if the murderer go out by any means beyond the bounds of the city of his refuge, whither he had fled;
​Num 35:27 And let him who is entitled to take vengeance for blood find him outside the bounds of the city of his refuge, and let him kill the murderer, he shall not be guilty of murder.”

He [the murderer] had to stay in the city of refuge all his life without going out or else he had to be killed by the blood avenger.

The murderer was only allowed to leave the city of refuge unslain when a new high priest was to be established. thus, he was free and had to return home without being killed by anyone according to Numbers 35.

Numbers 35:6 Among the cities which you will give to the Levites, there will be six cities of refuge where the murderer can flee, and forty-two other cities.

​Num 35:11 You will establish cities for yourselves, cities of refuge for you, where the murderer can flee who kills someone unintentionally.
​Num 35:12 These cities will be your refuge from the avenger of blood, so that the murderer will not be put to death until he has appeared before the congregation to be judged.
​Num 35:13 Of the cities you give, six will be cities of refuge for you.
​Num 35:14 You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and you shall give three cities in the land of Canaan: they shall be cities of refuge.
​Num 35:15 These six cities will serve as a refuge for the children of Israel, both for the stranger and for those who dwell among you; there all who kill anyone unintentionally can flee.
N​um 35:16 If a man strikes his neighbor with an instrument of iron, and death ensues, he is a murderer: the murderer shall be punished with death.
​Num 35:17 If he strikes him, holding in his hand a stone that can cause death, and death follows, he is a murderer: the murderer will be punished with death.
​Num 35:18 If he strikes him, holding in his hand a wooden instrument that can cause death, and death follows, he is a murderer: the murderer will be punished with death.
​Num 35:19 The avenger of blood will kill the murderer; when he meets him, he will kill him.
​Num 35:20 If a man pushes his neighbor with a movement of hatred, or if he throws something at him with premeditation, and death ensues,
​Num 35:21 or if he strikes him with his hand in enmity, and death follows, he who strikes shall be punished with death, he is a murderer: the avenger of blood shall kill the murderer when he meets him.
Num 35:22 But if a man pushes his neighbor suddenly and not out of enmity, or if he throws something at him without premeditation,

2] or if he inadvertently causes a stone to fall on him that could cause death, and death ensues, without he hating him and seeking harm from him,

​Num 35:24 These are the laws by which the congregation shall judge between the smiter and the avenger of blood.
​Num 35:25 The congregation shall deliver the murderer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and bring him back to the city of refuge where he fled. He will remain there until the death of the high priest who has been anointed with holy oil.
Num 35:26 If the murderer leaves the territory of the city of refuge where he fled,
​Num 35:27 And if the avenger of blood meets him outside the territory of the city of refuge and kills the murderer, he shall not be guilty of murder.
​Num 35:28 For the murderer must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest; and after the death of the high priest he may return to his property.

If the murderer came out of the city of refuge during the lifetime of the former high priest, the blood avenger had the right to kill h​im.

The ancient high priest speaks of the Levitical or Aaronic priesthood established in the dispensation of the law, where the law commanded, “eye for eye, tooth for tooth, blow for blow, foot for foot.”

The new high priest refers to the priesthood of Christ which is superior and established by grace/this is the new covenant.

It is Christ who was to come to free the murderer by justifying and freeing him by grace.

But before the arrival of the new high priest, the murderer (the sinner) had to be kept in the city of refuge which refers to the promise of the coming of Jesus the Christ and his redemptive work.

I see here a connection between “the murderer who was to remain in the city of refuge without being killed” with the sign that God had put on Cain after he had committed the murder.

This sign protected Cain from revenge for the murder he had committed.

In the same way the murderer was preserved/safe in the city of refuge awaiting release on the day of the coming of the new high priest established after the death of the old.

There is also a link between:

1. Stay safe in the city of refuge
2. With the mark/sign that the Lord had put on Cain
3. With the sign that the Lord had given to the Children of Israel in Egypt
4. With the sign that the explorers of Jericho had given to Rahab the harlot and her family

We find the same lesson and the same details as to the instructions given by the Lord on this sign in other texts.

Exo 12:12 That night I will pass through the land of Egypt, and I will smite all the firstborn of the land of Egypt, both men and animals, and I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. I am the Eternal.
​Exo 12:13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; I will see the blood, and I will pass over you, and there will be no plague to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

​Exo 12:22 Then you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that will be in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two posts of the gate with the blood that will be in the basin. None of you will leave your house until morning.
​Exo 12:23 When the LORD passes by to strike Egypt, and sees the blood on the lintel and on the two posts, the LORD will pass over the gate, and he will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike.

Jos 2:13 Give me the assurance that you will let my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that belong to them live, and that you will save us from death.
​Jos 2:14 These men answered him, We are ready to die for you, if you do not divulge what concerns us; and when the Lord gives us the land, we will deal with you with kindness and faithfulness.

​Jos 2:17 These men said unto him, This is how we shall be freed from the oath which thou hast made us swear.
Jos 2:18 When we enter the land, tie this cord of scarlet thread to the window through which you are bringing us down, and gather to you in the house your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s family.
Jos 2:19 If any of them go out of the door of your house to go outside, his blood will be on his head, and we shall be innocent of it; but if any of those who are with you in the house are laid hands on, their blood will be on our heads.
​Jos 2:20 And if you disclose what concerns us, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.
​Jos 2:21 She answered, Let it be according to your words. She thus took leave of them, and they departed. And she tied the crimson cord to the window.

Jos 6:17 The city shall be devoted to the LORD by interdict, it and all that is in it; but Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house will be left alive, because she hid the messengers whom we sent.
Jos 6:18 Beware only of what will be devoted by prohibition; for if you take from what you have dedicated by interdict, you would put the camp of Israel under interdict and you would cause trouble there.

The link of these four stories and cases:

The sign/mark that the Lord had put on Cain to protect him from revenge/death

(BDS) Gen 4:15 The Lord said to him, Well! If we kill Cain, he will be avenged seven times over. And the Lord marked Cain with a sign so that he would not be killed by anyone who met him.

​Gen 4:24 Cain will be avenged seven times and Lamech seventy-seven times.

The city of refuge given as a place and a sign for the safety of the murderer who was to remain there as long as the former high priest was alive.

(KJV) Num 35:11You will establish cities for yourselves, cities of refuge for you, where the murderer can flee who kills someone unintentionally.

​Num 35:15 These six cities will serve as a refuge for the children of Israel, both for the stranger and for those who dwell among you; there all who kill anyone unintentionally can flee.

​Num 35:25 The congregation shall deliver the murderer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and bring him back to the city of refuge where he fled. He will remain there until the death of the high priest who has been anointed with holy oil.

​Num 35:28 For the murderer must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest; and after the death of the high priest he may return to his property.

The sign that the Lord had given to the Children of Israel in Egypt to preserve them from death/judgment

(BDS) Exo 12:12 I will go through Egypt that night and I will smite every firstborn in the land, man and beast, and so I will exercise my judgments against all the gods of Egypt; I am the Lord.
​Exo 12:13 The blood will be a sign to you on the houses where you are; I will see the blood, I will pass over you. So the destructive scourge will not reach you when I strike Egypt.

​Exo 12:22 Then you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the basin containing the blood of the animal, and cover the lintel and the two posts of your doors with it. None of you will pass the door of your house to go out until morning.
​Exo 12:23 The LORD will go through Egypt to strike it down. When he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two jambs of your doors, he will jump over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your house to deal his blows.

The crimson/scarlet/red thread sign/cord given to Rahab and her family for their protection by the envoys tasked with destroying Jericho

(KJV) Jos 2:12 And now please swear to me by the LORD that you will show my father’s house the same kindness that I have shown you.
Jos 2:13 Assure me that you will let my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that belong to them live, and that you will save us from death.
Jos 2:14 These men answered him, We are ready to die for you, if you do not divulge what concerns us; and when the Lord gives us the land, we will deal with you with kindness and faithfulness.

​Jos 2:17 These men said unto him, This is how we shall be freed from the oath which thou hast made us swear.
Jos 2:18 When we enter the land, tie this cord of scarlet thread to the window through which you are bringing us down, and gather to you in the house your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s family.
Jos 2:19 If any of them go out of the door of your house to go outside, his blood will be on his head, and we shall be innocent of it; but if any of those who are with you in the house are laid hands on, their blood will be on our heads.

I believe as much as there was a connection between what the Lord said about Cain’s vengeance, the prophetic vision of the 70 weeks seen by Daniel with the question Peter asked Jesus in Matthew 18 about the number many times do we have to forgive?

(BV) Gen 4:15 The Lord answered him, Nay, it shall not be; but whoever kills Cain will be punished for it seven times. And the Lord put a mark on Cain, that those who found him should not kill him.

​Gen 4:24 The death of Cain shall be avenged seven times, and that of Lamech seventy (seventy) times seven times.

(SBF) Gen 4:15 The Lord answered him, Nay, it shall not; but whoever kills Cain will be punished for it seven times. and the Lord put a mark on Cain, that those who found him should not kill him.

​Gen 4:24 The death of Cain shall be avenged seven times, and that of Lamech seventy times seven times.

(KJV) Dan 9:25 Know this, then, and understand! from the time when the word announced that Jerusalem will be rebuilt until the Anointed One, the Leader, seven weeks and sixty-two weeks ago, the places and the ditches will be restored, but in bad times.
​Dan 9:26 After the sixty-two weeks, an Anointed will be cut off, and he will have no successor. The people of a coming ruler will destroy the city and the sanctuary, and their end will come as by a flood; it is decreed that the devastations will last until the end of the war.
​Dan 9:27 He will make a strong covenant with many for a week, and half the week he will cause sacrifice and oblation to cease; the devastator will do the most abominable things, until ruin and what has been resolved fall on the devastator.

In Genesis we speak of Cain who will be avenged 7 times. And of Lémec who will be avenged 70 × 7 times or 70 and 7 times according to other versions.

7×1 = 7 ; 70×1=70 ; 70×7 = 490

In Daniel we are told of 70 weeks divided into 3:

1. 62 weeks
2. 7 weeks
3. 1 week

What interests us is the last week.

When we do 70 weeks × 7= 490, if we take according to the prophetic order a day for a year according to:

Num 14:34 Just as you have taken forty days to explore the land, you will bear the penalty for your iniquities forty years, one year for each day; and you will know what it is to be deprived of my presence.

And according to:

Ezekiel 4:6 When you have finished these days, lie down on your right side, and you will bear the iniquity of the house of Judah for forty days; I impose on you one day for each year.

70 weeks of Daniel × 7 = 490 years

We will find the same number in Matthew 18.

This is just an overview of all that has been said above. Genesis 4 told us about the number 7 for Cain’s vengeance and 70 for Lamech’s.

In the prophetic vision of Daniel 9, we are told of 70 weeks, which were determined for the vision to be fully realized.

In the following, in a developed way, we are described in a progressive way how this will be done. Specifically in the unfolding of events, there will be 7 weeks preceding another 62 weeks.

Which makes a total of 69 weeks (7 + 62= 69 weeks).

And the Messiah/Christ will enter this universe at the end of the 69th week, that is to say or during the end of the 62nd week which is the continuation of the 7 weeks mentioned in Daniel’s vision.

In Matthew 18 we find once again 70 times 7 times demanding by Christ having to do with forgiveness/alluding to forgiveness.

(BDV) Mat 18:21 Then Peter approaches Jesus and asks him, “Lord, when my brother hurts me, how many times should I forgive him? up to 7 times?
​Mat 18:22 Jesus answered him, “I am not telling you up to 7 times, but up to 70 times 7 times.

Following the question that Peter posed to Christ in Matthew 18, as to how many times should one forgive his brother/his fellow man/neighbour:

Peter believed it was hardly permissible to forgive more than 70 times when one is offended, but Jesus the Christ will instruct Peter and us on how many times Peter/others and we are called to forgive, saying 70 times 7 (70 X 7= 490).

There we get the same number that we got in Genesis 4 and in Daniel 9.

Jesus the Christ commands to forgive 70 times 7 times (70 X 7= 490).

It refers to the perfect and eternal fulfillment, since this prophecy was to find its full fulfillment through the work of the cross of Christ, which would not only put an end to sin and avenge all blood innocent who had been shed.

The Lord Jesus challenges Peter and us to eternal forgiveness/to forgiveness without fail/ to forgiveness outside of space time whose memory of wrongs or sins is erased / even non-existent this, because the sign given by the Uncreated Sovereign Creator has manifested and fully accomplished the will of the Father Celestial.

The sign put on Cain therefore had to do with eternal redemption, eternal forgiveness of sins, eternal salvation.

And all of this took place on the cross through the perfectly finished work of Jesus the Christ.

This is briefly what I understand of this sign. Thank you in advance for your answer.

Your brother in Christ,

E_____

Hi E____,

Thank you for sharing your God-given insights with me. I especially appreciated these very revealing words:

“The ancient high priest speaks of the Levitical or Aaronic priesthood established in the dispensation of the law, where the law commanded, “eye for eye, tooth for tooth, blow for blow, foot for foot.”

“The new high priest refers to the priesthood of Christ which is superior and established by grace/this is the new covenant.

“It is Christ who was to come to free the murderer by justifying and freeing him by grace.

“But before the arrival of the new high priest, the murderer (the sinner) had to be kept in the city of refuge which refers to the promise of the coming of Jesus the Christ and his redemptive work.” (End Quote)

“All that is in the world” is within the flesh of every man. The only reason we are not all literal murderers and literal thieves and literal adulterers, whores and whoremongers is that the Lord simply has not let us become such. He hasn’t written those things in the lives of some, while doing so in the lives of others.

Psa 139:16  Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them. (ASV)

You ask:

“What was the sign that the Lord had put on Cain to protect him?

“What is the meaning of sign, its scope and applicability?” (End Quote)

Frankly​, I think you have done a very good job of answering your own questions.

I will add just a couple more facts for your consideration.

First is the fact that the Hebrew word translated as ‘sign’ is often used in reference to miraculous ‘signs’, several of which you referenced in this email.

Here is Strong’s definition of this Hebrew word:

H226
אוֹת
‘ôth
oth
Probably from H225 (in the sense of appearing); a signal (literally or figuratively), as a flag, beacon, monument, omen, prodigy, evidence, etc.: – mark, miracle, (en-) sign, token.
Total KJV occurrences: 79

For example, every time the word ‘sign’ or ‘signs’ is used in Exodus 4​, it refers to miracles the Lord gave Moses to perform:

Exo 4:8  And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign [miracle], that they will believe the voice of the latter sign [miracle].
Exo 4:9  And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs [miracles], neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.<

Exo 4:17  And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs [miracles].

Exo 4:28  And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD who had sent him, and all the signs [miracles] which he had commanded him.

Exo 4:30  And Aaron spake all the words which the LORD had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs [miracles] in the sight of the people.

This Hebrew word, H226 ‘oth‘, is even twice translated as ‘miracles’:

Num 14:22  Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles [H226, ‘oth‘], which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;

Deu 11:3  And his miracles [H226: ‘oth‘], and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land;

When Jacob’s two sons murdered all the men of Shechem, Jacob feared for his life just as Cain feared that everyone he met would want to kill him for his murder of his own brother, Abel.

Gen 34:30  And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.

Gen 35:5  And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.

God performed the ‘oth‘, the miracle of instilling fear into all who knew what Jacob’s sons had done, and He miraculously preserved their lives in spite of their many murders. They had not only murdered, they had lied to and deceived and defrauded all the men of Shechem, and yet the Lord preserved their lives, demonstrating, as He did with Cain and with King David when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and then murdered her husband, a great captain in his own army, Uriah, that the most egregious sins can be and are covered by the blood of Christ.

This Hebrew word ‘oth‘ is properly translated as ‘sign’, but it also carries with it the deeper meaning of ‘miraculous sign’.

Thank you for sharing your insights with me.  I will share this exchange and have Sandi post it in the FAQ’s.

Your grateful brother and fellow servant, Mike