Cain—The
Mark of The Jew
Mr. Leslie S. Rainey, the editor’s uncle, presently serves the Lord in Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa.
The Book of Genesis is in large measure woven around the lives of seven great characters: Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. One of the main purposes of the opening book of the Bible is to reveal to us the origin and beginning of the Jewish nation. In the first 11 chapters we are shown the different steps by which Israel became a separate and chosen people. A good summary of the book is: (1) The Nations (Gen. 1:11-11); and, (2) The Nation (Gen. 12-50). In the chapter before us we have the beginning of family life, and we see in the first family, the first murderer and the first martyr. Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam are representative of men and in their characters they set forth the two streams of humanity, which traced back to their fountain head, empty themselves into heaven or hell. Our purpose is to note the similarity of the Jew in the life of Cain and the significance of the nation marked by God.
Spiritually
The lives of Cain and Abel illustrate for us two distinct classes of people. They typify the lost and the saved; the self-righteous and the humble; the professor and the possessor; will worship and faith worship; the man after the flesh and the man after the spirit; the religious man and the righteous man, the Jew and the Christian. Abel points to Christ, and his murder by Cain clearly foreshadows our Lord’s rejection and crucifixion at the hands of the Jews.
The life of Cain is marked by unbelief and the Scriptures warn all who follow the road of Cain (Jude 11). In the nation of the Jews today we observe the same nationalistic trait of unbelief. Not long ago I recall reading the words of a leading Rabbi concerning the religion of the Jews. The article commenced as follows: “The Jew had no single organized church. He has no priests. The concept of salvation is alien to his mind.” To anyone taught in the Old Testament surely here is a confession of departure and disbelief from Judaism. To admit that Judaism has no priests is to confess that Judaism has no altar, and therefore no blood sacrifice. All that the Book of Leviticus stands for and the sacred calling of Aaron is lost. To say that the concept of salvation by faith is alien to the Jewish mind, means that he has totally lost all that God gave to Abraham. Genesis 15:6, shows that Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. In Romans 4 this is quoted to emphasize the fact that God counted Abraham righteous at least 14 years before the rite of circumcision was established. Salvation by faith “was” taught of God first and foremost before any detailed ritual of the religion of the Jews.
To attend the synagogues of the Jews in our day is to witness a sad departure from the truth of God and the utter desolation of their system of theology. If we are going to deal with the Jews, then we must prove to them that God’s requirement is atonement for sin and this is only possible by a blood sacrifice for sin. Among the Jews of our generation religion counts for little and the synagogues of course are always crowded on the holy days and, especially, the Day of Atonement called by the Rabbis Yoma, “the Day.” However, at other times they are empty and frequented by many old women, our own observation in the modern State of Israel is that the vast majority of the people are Cain-like, having little regard for the regulations and practices of the synagogues. Vain unbelief still rests upon the hearts of the people and whether Zionist, Othodox or Secularist, departure from the living God stamps the nation as a whole.
Judicially
Cain as a tiller of the soil is linked with the land. Even so is the Jew linked with the Land which was given by God to a single nation for an unalienable and everlasting possession (Gen. 13:14-17; 15:18; 17:8). Cain had the unique privilege of ruling over his brother, but because of his sin he forfeited this privilege and being envious of his brother slew him. Had the nation of Israel walked in the truth of God she would have been the head of the nations instead of the tail (Deut. 28:13); the culmination of her sin in the death of Christ marked her national doom. The Jews slew Christ (Acts 5:30), and are charged with the crime. The blood of Christ rests on them (Matt. 27:25), and until this day the far reaching effect of their oath is manifested in their national witness over the globe (Jer. 24:9).
“And I will make them an object of disgust to every kingdom in the world, a derision, a byword, a taunt, and a curse.”
It is no wonder the nation is referred to as “the people of the weary heart,” for their history over the centuries is written in blood. Until this hour you can see in Paris an inscription erected in a prominent place: Dauchau, 10,000; Buchenwald, 10,000; Aushwitz, 140,000; Oranienburg, 10,000; Mauthausen, 9,600; Neuengamme, 13,500; Flossenburg, 4,771; Ravensbruck, 9,000; representative of the places where the great prison camps and extermination pits of Hitler were situated. The numbers are those of Jewish men and women, besides children, who were murdered between 1934 and 1944. The terrible massacre of almost 6,000,000 victims is known all over the world, and it is but the echo of the cry of Cain, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.” God will surely fulfill His word to them not only in relation to future glory and blessing, but also in respect of judgment down to the last jot and tittle. The face of God is turned from them (Hosea 1:9), and for nigh on 2000 years the hand of man has been against the Jew (Deut. 28:66), and no matter where he travels over the world, he is marked by God.
Materially
Another distinguishing feature of the Jew is his ambition to congregate in the large cities of the world. Away back in the days of the antediluvian world God had said that He would visit with a sevenfold judgment anyone slaying Cain. God’s special curse has always rested on those who have cursed the Jew (Gen. 12:3). It was after the murder of Abel that Cain left the presence of the Lord and built a city. The meaning of the city and the name of Cain is most revealing in the history of the Jew. Cain’s name means acquisition, and its root idea is buying. In modern Hebrew it is used every day in buying and selling. The name of the city suggests dedication, as seen in the word, Enoch. Thus the Jew has dedicated his powers of brain and brawn to possess or acquire wealth in the great commercial centres of our age. Think of cities like New York with its 2 ½ million Jews; Tel-Aviv 350,000, London 280,000, Paris 150,000, Bucharest 120,000, Budapest 100,000, Johannesburg 70,000, where Jews are the masters of commerce and cash. Today approximately one out of every seven Jews is in Palestine. There is only one major Jewish population in the world that is denied the right to return to the land of their forefathers, and that is Russia. Most of the Jews are outside the Promised Land and it could well be on account of their wealth and luxuriant living which is vastly different from the pioneering, difficult, austerity conditions of Israel.
Perhaps the time is not far distant when God will spew them out of every country and city where they are found and return them to the place of His appointment, the fertile crescent stretching from Egypt to Iraq (Ezekiel 20:33-39). Meantime as we have opportunity to move in and out amongst the lost sheep of the house of Israel may we manifest understanding, patience and love towards a people so marked. May God help us to remember the incalculable debt we owe to the Jew and seek in our generation to undo some of the awful damage done to Jews in so-called Christian nations. Surely the compassion and devotion of Paul is worthy of our emulation: “Brethren my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.”