Cain

Cain is a figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He is the elder brother of Abel, and the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, the first couple within the Bible. He was a farmer who gave an offering of his crops to God. However, God was not pleased and favored Abel's offering over Cain's. Out of jealousy, Cain killed his brother, for which he was punished by God with the curse and mark of Cain. He had several descendants, starting with his son Enoch and including Lamech. Some deem the narrative unclear on God's reason for rejecting Cain's sacrifice. However, in the Christian understanding, 1 John 3:12 explains it was "Because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous", while Hebrews 11:4 teaches that Abel's was an offering of faith. His life represents a life of faith. Some traditional interpretations within Abrahamic religions consider Cain to be the originator of evil, violence, or greed.

Cain is a figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He is the elder brother of Abel, and the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, the first couple within the Bible. He was a farmer who gave an offering of his crops to God. However, God was not pleased and favored Abel's offering over Cain's. Out of jealousy, Cain killed his brother, for which he was punished by God with the curse and mark of Cain. He had several descendants, starting with his son Enoch and including Lamech. Some deem the narrative unclear on God's reason for rejecting Cain's sacrifice. However, in the Christian understanding, 1 John 3:12 explains it was "Because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous", while Hebrews 11:4 teaches that Abel's was an offering of faith. His life represents a life of faith. Some traditional interpretations within Abrahamic religions consider Cain to be the originator of evil, violence, or greed. ==Interpretations== ===Curse and mark=== According to , Cain treacherously murdered his brother, Abel, and then lied about the murder to God. As a result, Cain was cursed and marked for life. With the earth left cursed to drink Abel's blood, Cain could no longer farm the land. He becomes a "fugitive and wanderer" and receives a mark from God commonly referred to as the mark of Cain so that no one can enact vengeance on him. Exegesis of the Septuagint's narrative, "groaning and shaking upon the earth", has Cain suffering from body tremors. Interpretations extend Cain's curse to his descendants, where they all died in the Great Deluge as retribution for the loss of Abel's potential offspring. ===Islamic interpretation=== Cain's name in Islamic tradition is Qabil ( ). His story is mentioned in the Quran, though without a name, where he and his brother Abel offer sacrifices; Abel's sacrifice was accepted while Cain's was not. Cain gets angry and threatens to murder his brother, but Abel tries to console him, saying that God only accepts sacrifices from the God-fearing and that he would not try to harm Cain, and that killing Abel would damn Cain. In the end, Cain kills Abel. God sends a crow searching in the ground to show Cain how to hide the disgrace of his brother. In his shame, Cain began to curse himself and became full of guilt. Cain's shame is stated not to be for killing Abel, but for failing to cover up the body. ===Latter-day Saint interpretation=== The Book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price describes the seed of Cain as "black" (Moses 7:22), without explicitly stating whether this description is symbolic or literal. While some early church leaders interpreted this to imply that all people of African descent were descendants of Cain (for example, Brigham Young taught that The Mark of Cain could be seen "on the countenance of every African" and used this interpretation as part of the rationale to bar Black men from priesthood ordination in the 19th and 20th centuries ), the modern leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has formally disavowed such teachings. An official Church statement on race declares that the Church "disavows the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor or curse" and affirms that "all are alike unto God" (2 Nephi 26:33). ==Family==

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