The Mark of Cain

I made a little of research to find out who was to blame for the idealism going around stating that the jews killed Jesus.

In Genesis after Abel dies there is a truly remarkable exchange between God and Cain.

God did not sentence himto death for the crime but instead God sent him to vanishment and wonder alone in the dessert in the land of Nod

Still Cain had the tenacity of asking God for help. Cain said to the Lord "Today you are driving me to the land and I will be hidden from your presence, I will be a restless wonderer on the earth and whoever finds me will kill me" Genesis 4:13 and God agrees to give Cain an unexpected form of "protection"... "If anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengance 7 times over...and the Lord put a "Mark" on Cain so no one found him would kill him"Genesis 4:15

It was around the year 400 after the death of Jesus.
The Christian Father St. Augustine was an early example of a writer who leads Cain and his mark with the forces who crucified Jesus.
In that Era; St Augustine found himseld in the midst of a battle for the survival of the catholic church. To defend the church against his critics; Augustine tried to shift the blame for the evils of the world out to the Jewish people. Augustine believed that the Jews had descended from the murderous Cain, while the non-violent Abel had represented Jesus and the church.

He wrote: "I see Abel as a represention of Jesus and just as Cain killed Abel so the Jews Killed Jesus; and just as Cain was forced to leave and wonder and never be able to establish himself, that is the destination of the Jewish people"

Augustine wrote in his famous work "The City of God" .... "He was the type of the Jews who killed Christ pre-figured in the shepperd Abel"

The writing of Augustine did nothing to slow the growth of an anti-semitic movement that eventually spread across the world.

In 1215, the Fouth Lateran Council presided by Pope Innocent III echoed the views of Augustine of Cain and Abel and issued a Papal Order for all the Jews to distinguished themselves by their clothing and Canon 68 read like this: "Jews and Saracens [Muslims] of both sexes in every Christian province and at all times shall be marked off in the eyes of the public from other peoples through the character of their dress.

A century later in Spain Alphonso X issued a similar law "Any Jew who thou shall wear that identifying mark; and shall pay for each time he is found without it;... 10 coins of gold, and if he has not the means to do this, he shall receive 10 lashes for his offense."

But the question was not alone in using the mark of Cain to justify crimes against humanity.

In the 17th century, slavery was justified by many church going Englishman who believed many Africans were the bearers of the mark of Cain. A 100 years later in 1852 Brigham Young, president of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day Saints said this: ... "I believe that these people that are commonly called "Negroes" are the children of old Cain"

In the 20th century this twisting of Genesis took another aminous turn. In 1941the Nazi's ordered all German Jews to identify himself in public with a "Yellow Star" propaganda ministered by Dr. Paul Joseph Goebgell,one of German dictatorAdolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealousoratoryand anti-semitism,who wrote a newspaper editorial where he compared the "Yellow Star" to the mark of Cain and marked the Berlin Jews for attempting to cover it up.

"Each jew on the street or in the newspaper conceal the mark of Cain,Posters often could be found at the exit doors of apartments that warned Jews by stating: "Remember the Badge!" Have you already put on the Badge?" "The Badge!" "Attention, the Badge!" "Before leaving the building, put on the Badge!"..."But remembering to wear the yellow star was not their only fear. Wearing the badge meant that they were targets for attacks and that they could be grabbed for forced labor.

And after the anti-seminitc and racist interpretation of Cain and Abel lived on...in violent riots of one hate groups after another.

In supportive their views, they frequently repeated the crime that Cain's mark is actually "Black Skin" and Cain's descendants are black, and that Africans and Jews have both then cursed by God for the muder of Jesus.

But today most Christian and Jewish scholars agreed that the spiritual concepts behind the story of Cain and Abel have been hijacked and completely missed the deeper point.

The Mark was intended to shield Cain from Abel avengers and it doen't say guard his name from hundreds of years of slander and misinterpretations.