But Cain had a mark set upon him. The word translated _mark_ is א֔וֹת
_oth_: it means a mark of a miraculous nature, whereby some future thing
is of a certainty known, and may be something done or only said.
Whatever it may have been, the object was to prevent him from being
slain by any one meeting him, by its proclamation of the burden of the
curses under which he laboured. It was, therefore, absolutely the mark
of sin, sealing upon him and his race this secondary degree of slavery.
The mark distinguished them as low and servile as well as wicked, and
hence its protective influence.
But what was the mark of sin? What is it now? and what has it ever been?
If one is accused of some vile offence, a little presumptive evidence
will make us say, It is a very dark crime; it makes him look very black.
This figure, if it be one, now so often applied, is so strongly used in
Scripture, and in fact by all in every age, that the idea seems well
warranted that the downward, humiliating course of sin has a direct
tendency, by the Divine law, to even physically degrade, perhaps blacken
and disbeautify, the animal man.
A similar doctrine was well known to the Greeks. Demosthenes says to the
Athenians, “It is impossible for him who commits low, dishonourable, and
wicked acts, not to possess a low, dirty intellect; for, as the person
of a man receives, as it were, a colouring from his conduct, so does the
mind take upon itself a clothing from the same acts.” See Second
Olynthiac. So the Arabians: “God invited unto the dwelling of peace, and
directed whom he pleaseth into the right way. They who do right shall
receive a most excellent reward, and a superabundant addition; neither
blackness nor shame shall cover their faces.” _Koran_, chap. x.
“On the day of the resurrection, thou shalt see the faces of those who
have uttered lies concerning God, become black.” _Koran_, chap. xxxix.
So, the Mohammedan belief is that a man who has some good qualities may
die; but, on the account of his wickedness, he will be sent to hell, and
there tormented until his skin is black; but that if he shall ever be
taken thence, by the mercy of God, he will be immersed in the river of
life, and his skin become whiter than pearls; see _Pocock, notis in
part. Moris_, p. 289 and 292; but that the faces of the wicked will ever
remain black. See _Yalkut Shemuni_, part ii. fol. 86; also _Sale,
Prelim. Disc._ p. 104, 105.
So the Mohammedan tradition, that the bad spirits, Monker and Nakir,
who, upon the death of a man, come to examine him, are awful and black.
See _Prelim. Disc._ p. 90. And hence the belief is that the wicked, even
before judgment, will stand looking up to God with their faces obscured
by blackness and disfigured by all the marks of sorrow and deformity.
_Idem_, p. 99.
So also the fable, that a precious stone of paradise fell down to the
earth to Adam, whiter than milk, but turned black by the touch of a
wicked woman, or, as others say, by wickedness of mankind generally; but
the story is that its blackness is only skin-deep, and hence the
Arabians carefully preserved it in the Caaba at Mecca. _Idem_, p. 125.
Also, _Al Zamakh_, &c. _in Koran_; and _Ahmed Ebĕn Yusef_; and _Pocock,
Spec._ p. 117.
Similar traditions and quotations may be gathered from all quarters of
the world, and from all portions of time; but let us turn to the book
that never lies nor misleads. “Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord
of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will show
the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.” _Nahum_, iii. 5.
The word here translated skirts, is שׁוּלַיִךְ _shulaik_. We believe
that all scholars agree the Hebrew root of this word is borrowed from
the Arabic شَيلࣨ, of which the meaning is _postremum cujusque rei_; and,
hence the idea _skirt_, the extreme of something hanging down, tending
downward.
And from the same source we have the Hebrew word שׁוֹלָל _sholal_, a
captive, a thing captured, &c., because the captive is in an extreme
condition; and thus שוּל _shūl_ is made to mean a hem or skirt, from its
cognate and Arabic root, the extreme of something tending downwards.
Thus شَلَل _shaal_, _to be loose_, _to hang down_. From these
considerations, the word was often used to mean a prisoner, a captive.
Thus, _Job_ xii. 19: “He leadeth princes away spoiled,” שׁוֹלָ֑ל
_sholal_, _captive_, _reduced to the lowest extremity_, &c.
Therefore, although perhaps not as literal, the idea of the prophet
would have been more exactly conveyed had it been translated, “_And I
will discover the low extremity of your condition upon your face_;” and
in this same sense the word is used in _Jer._ xiii. 22: “If thou say in
thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of
thine iniquity are thy skirts (שׁוּלַ֖יִךְ _shulaik_) discovered, and
thy heels made bare.” Evidently proclaiming the doctrine, that a course
of sin, through the Divine providence, will leave its mark.
“She is empty, and void, and waste, and the heart melteth, and the knees
smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all
gather blackness. Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord.” _Nah._ ii.
10, 13.
“At Tehaphnehes also the day shall be darkened, when I shall break there
the yokes of Egypt; and the pomp of her strength shall cease in her: as
for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into
captivity. Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know
that I am the Lord.” _Ezek._ xxx. 18, 19.
“Our necks are under persecution: we labour and have no rest. We have
given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied
with bread. Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne
their iniquities. _Servants_ (עֲבָדִים֙ _abadim_, _slaves_) have ruled
over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand. We get
our bread with the peril of our lives, because of the sword of the
wilderness. Our skin is black like an oven, because of the terrible
famine.” _Lam._ v. 5–10.
“For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt; I am black;
astonishment hath taken hold on me.” _Jer._ viii. 21.
“Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the
ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.” _Jer._ xiv. 2.
“Her Nazarites were purer than snow; they were whiter than milk; they
were more ruddy in body than rubies; their polishing was of sapphire.
Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets.”
_Lam._ iv. 7, 8.
“For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that
burned with fire; nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest.” _Heb._
xii. 18.
“Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars,
to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.” _Jude_ 13.
“For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet
thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God.” _Jer._ ii. 22.
“The show of their countenance doth witness against them.” _Isa._ iii.
9.
------------------