Good point.
Maybe it was the Monopoly “Get Out of Jail Free” card, but on a stone tablet.
Regards,
Shodan
Or the sons of Adam and Eve might have mated with other humans who were created ex nihilo by God, but after He created Adam and Eve.
Or maybe Adam and Eve were the first Hebrews, and the rest of humanity was part of the “cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth” created on the sixth day.
Abel was a shepherd. Maybe the Deity notched Cain’s ears?
No. Nothing in the Bible implies this in any way.
Since mitochondrial DNA is inherited from the mother and it does not mutate, I often ask how come everybody doesn’t have the same such DNA, since we’re all descended from Eve. Of course, the standard answer is “God changed it.”
There obviously has to be a “mitochondrial Eve”, though. Not sure what is controversial about that.
My understanding is that it does indeed! How else come that there are different varieties present today?
(Not that it makes the story more probable to be a historical account of things that *really *happened!)
Wiki says one study reports a mutation rate of one per 8000 years.
And Bible literalists think the world is only 6000 years old.
HA - ha!
In fact how fast the DNA mutates (how many changes over time) is used to determine how separate different ethnic groups are, how far back is the common ancestor.
Yes, if it did not change, everyone would have all the same DNA, give or take an X or Y.
I’m not asking about all DNA, I’m only discussing mitochondrial DNA. It is passed from mother to child and mutations are extremely rare, practically non-existent.
There’s a difference between “rare” and “nonexistent”. If mDNA truly never mutated, but we still saw variety in it, creationism would have a lot easier time explaining that than science would.
It is not so much the mark of Cain, but a mark placed by God on Cain. It has the purpose as not to have anyone kill him. Job also seems to have this type of protection, however the method God uses (beyond telling Satan ‘don’t kill him’) is not specified, if any. We also have other times ‘marking’ is used, for instance in Revelation a mark is used and applied by angels, on the believers to offer a form of protection, and the mark of the beast is also mentioned. Also the Israelites received a mark in IIRC Exodus, in these 3 places the location of such a mark is specified, but the form of such a mark is not.
My own take is such a mark is probably spiritual, not physical. It is something that would go unseen, however it would have such a effect. If one was not clued in by God as to this mark, it would be one of those ‘why do those things keep happening to me’ type of of question.
There are several thoughts in Jewish oral tradition (Talmud and Midrash) as to exactly what the “mark of Cain” was. The ones I’m familiar with are:
[ul]
[li]A letter of G-d’s holy name on his forehead[/li][li]The sun rising prematurely when he is threatened by predators in the night[/li][li]Tzaraas (the Biblical skin disease often translated as “leprosy”) all over his body[/li][li]A dog to accompany him that will protect him[/li][/ul]
There is also a Midrash that says that Cain had a horn or horns on his head, but that is part of a separate narrative, and does not appear to be what anyone says was the “mark”.
Who standardized these marks, and how are random people expected to see them and know the meaning? In a pre-literate society, at that.
Maybe it was just a cardboard around his neck with the words “Don’t kill this guy”.
Is it still fanwank if it’s theology?
Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel. Their wives? Plothole. Deal with it.
On the day that I was born
Daddy sat down and cried
I had the mark, just as plain as day,
Could not be denied
They say that Cain caught Abel
Rollin’ loaded dice
Ace of spades behind his ear,
And him not thinking twice.
— “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodle-oo,” — Robert Hunter/Jerry Garcia, 1972
I don’t believe there was an historical Cain. I don’t believe any of the of the Bible literally. I was offering a guess like everyone else in this thread. That said, the story probably came from some event.
I didn’t mean to suggest I thought the mark was racially motivated. In fact I was just passing along what I had read. It’s been many years since I read Ishmael and I don’t recall all of the details. But I think the gist of it was that the agriculture group (who just happened to be light skinned) used up all the land for crops thus denying the pastoralists.