Where did Cain go after he was cast out?

Answer 1

One viewAccording to The Bible, Cain was a farmer, a tiller of the ground, and Abel was a shepherd. Genesis chapter 4 says that Cain killed Abel because Abel's offering found favour with God. Cain then became angry against Abel and killed him. God drove Cain out from the land, to live in the land of Nod, which was to the east of the garden of Eden. There, he built a city, which he called Enoch after his firstborn son.

Nothing further is recorded about events in Cain's life after his punishment for the murder of Abel. The only other place in the Bible where Cain, son of Adam, is mentioned is Hebrews 11:4; that verse contrasts him to Abel, who is included in what is called the Hall of Faith.

The Bible doesn't say anything about Cain being banished "to the earth" in terms of "to the ground" nor in terms of "to the planet Earth [from some other realm]." This assumes that the area where Adam and Eve lived after being banished themselves from the Garden of Eden is on Earth.

Another View

Interestingly, some scholars believe that the story of Cain and Abel may be a retelling of a Middle Eastern myth. S. H. Hooke (Middle Eastern Mythology) shows a clear parallel between the biblical account and a presumably older middle eastern myth in which Tammuz had to choose between the shepherd-god (whom we could liken to Abel) and the farmer-god (whom we could liken to Cain). According to this view, the story of Cain and Abel may simply be myths that are not meant to be understood literally or rationally. If this is so, we need not wonder where the land of Nod was.

Another View

Does anything really exist, or is it all in our minds? This is a long standing point of philosophical discussion. So Cain, the Bible and the other posters may not exist, except in your own mind, or perhaps mine.

Another View

The only thing that can be known at present about Cain is that we have a biblical account which indicates where he was banished to, although we are not able to specifically identify this place at present.

Over 5000 times the Bible has proven to be completely accurate in what it states by archaeological discoveries. These accuracies have been documented in a multi-volume work by Dr. Clifford Wilson. So, although there is no specific evidence relating to Cain at this present time does not indicate he was a mythical figure as is sometimes claimed. Many of the 5000 discoveries were also previously believed to be mythical but actually turned out to be fact.

Stating something is mythical is actually based on an invalid argument from silence. There is actually no evidence that Cain was a myth or that the story is meant to be taken any other way than literally. The genre of Hebrew in the account is one of historical narrative and so it is also obviously intended to be understood that Cain was both a real person and that he went to a real locality called Nod. Many other ancient places have previously remained unknown, such as the kingdom of the Hittites, until discovered by Archaeology and also in the process verifying the accuracy of the Bible.

In the case of Cain, especially in the light of the proven accuracy of the Bible, it is likely the scant details we have are true and correct as they stand. This is a matter of simple logic based on the track record of the Bible which according to archaeologists has never been refuted by one single piece of factual evidence. Thus it is quite likely that the skeptical views of 19th century scholars, of the same family from which ideas spring that Cain was either a myth or allegory, may well themselves be regarded as myth, since they have no evidence to support them, unlike the biblical record as a whole.

Dr Henry M Morris in The Genesis Record (pages 144-145) comments that Cain may have been defying God's sentence that he would be a wanderer upon the earth by building a city. Morris states that the name of Cain's firstborn Enoch means 'dedication or 'commencement' both signifying that he was here beginning a new life away from his former one near Eden. Morris also points out that the word 'Nod' itself means 'wandering', Cain thus in the name of the city either defying God's prophecy or else remembering by this name God's sentence upon him.

Morris also notes in connection with Cain's building a city, that this is one of the identifying features anthropologists use for the beginning of civilization. Thus Cain, in the very next generation after Adam demonstrated that he was fully human and fully civilized as Adam of course was, his murderous act upon Abel notwithstanding.

Answer:

There is a very small and strange passage in Genesis that may suggest that Cain was killed by a great-great grandson of his named "Lamech." (Gen.4:17-24)

Lamech confessed to his two wives that he killed "two men." In verse 24 he says: "...If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

He calls "two" curses upon himself for the two men he killed... one of them "seventy fold"... the other, the "sevenfoldcurse of Cain." Therefore, one of the two men Lamech killed would appear to be his great-great grandfather, "Cain."

Answer 2

The punishment of Cain is found in Genesis 4:11-12.

12 When you till the ground, it shall not from now on yield to you her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shall you be in the earth. 13 And Cain said to the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.

14 Behold, you have driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from your face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that finds me shall slay me. 15 And the LORD said to him, Therefore whoever slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark on Cain,

The discription of the mark put upon Cain is found not in the King James Bible but in another ancient manuscript.

This is confirmed by the Apocalypse of Elijah http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse_of_Elijah ;

Chr 3 vs 14,15, "For behold I will tell you his sign so that you might know him. He is a . . (words missing) . .of a skinny-legged young lad, having a tuft of gray hair at the front of his bald head."

The word translated as "mark" in Gen. 4:15 is 'owth, which could mean a sign, an omen, a warning, or a remembrance. In the Torah, the same word is used to describe the stars as signs or omens, the rainbow as the sign of the flood (Gen. 9:12), circumcision as a token of God's covenant with Abraham, and the miracles performed by Moses before the Pharaoh. Thus, the text of the Bible only explicitly describes how the mark was to function as a sign or warning.

Answer 3

The punishment would be that he would have a mark on his cheek, and he would be a wanderer.

Answer 4

He goes to the land of Nod

Answer 5

NOTHING