Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets: And Other Old Testament Characters from Various SourcesBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Religion
Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets: And Other Old Testament Characters from Various Sources
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Bible. Old Testament -- Legends
According to some Rabbis, all good souls are derived from Abel and all
bad souls from Cain. Cain’s soul was derived from Satan, his body alone
was from Eve; for the Evil Spirit Sammael, according to some, Satan,
according to others, deceived Eve, and thus Cain was the son of the
Evil One.[124] All the children of Cain also became demons of darkness
and nightmares, and therefore it is, say the Cabbalists, that there is
no mention in Genesis of the death of any of Cain’s offspring.[125]
When Cain had slain his brother, we are told in Scripture that he fled.
Certain Rabbis give the reason:--He feared lest Satan should kill him:
now Satan has no power over any one whose face he does not see, thus he
had none over Lot’s wife till she turned her face towards Sodom, and he
could see it; and Cain fled, to keep his face from being seen by the
Evil One, and thus give him an opportunity of taking his life.[126]
With regard to the mark put upon Cain, there is great diverging of
opinion. Some say that his tongue turned white; others, that he was
given a peculiar dress; others, that his face became black; but the
most prevalent opinion is that he became covered with hair, and a horn
grew in the midst of his forehead.
The Little Genesis says, Cain was born when Adam was aged seventy, and
Abel when he was seventy-seven.
The book of the penitence of Adam gives us some curious details. When
Cain had killed his brother, he was filled with terror, for he saw the
earth quivering. He cast the body into a hole and covered it with dust,
but the earth threw the body out. Then he dug another hole and heaped
earth on his brother’s corpse, but again the earth rejected it.
When God appeared before him, Cain trembled in all his limbs, and God
said to him, “Thou tremblest and art in fear; this shall be thy sign.”
And from that moment he quaked with a perpetual ague.
The Rabbis give another mark as having been placed on Cain. They say
that a horn grew out of the midst of his forehead. He was killed by a
son of Lamech, who, being shortsighted, mistook him for a wild beast;
but in the Little Genesis it is said that he was killed by the fall of
his house, in the year 930, the same day that Adam died. According to
the same authority, Adam and Eve bewailed Abel twenty-eight years.
The Talmud relates the following beautiful incident.
God had cursed Cain, and he was doomed to a bitter punishment; but
moved, at last, by Cain’s contrition, he placed on his brow the symbol
of pardon.
Adam met Cain, and looked with wonder on the seal or token, and asked,--
“How hast thou turned away the wrath of the Almighty?”
“By confession of sin and repentance,” answered the fratricide.
“Woe is me!” cried Adam, smiting his brow; “is the virtue of repentance
so great, and I knew it not! And by repentance I might have altered my
lot!”[127]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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