Omaha daily bee., 1914-07-05


be fugitive and a vagabond, and a marx
was placed upon him, so the fifteenth verse;
declares, but straightway the sixteenth
verse asserts, rather contrarily, that he
went and dwelt in the Land of Nod, and
the seventeenth that his wife "bare Enoch,
and he builded city and called the name
of the city after the name Of
his son, Enoch."
Now, who could have been
:: ] ] ! ! ! J. !. ! !. !. {. !: ] ] ;
the wife of Cain?
Whence the people to popu- -
late the city of Enoch? n>
Who were the Inhabitants k
of the Land of Nod?
Questions as old as civillza-
ton, all, and varying have
J: !: ! : !. : =: :: !. = ! !: ; !: !.
been the attempted answers. -
have been the attempted an
swers. y
Gains wife enters the mar
rative somewhat obstrusely,
it is noted. She is the sec
ond woman mentioned in the
Bible, the first after Eve.
The story is explicit enough
as to Ewes origin, but seems to leave us
in the dark as to when, where and how
Gains wife came into being. AS Abel had
been killed, the birth Of Seth not yet re-
corded, and no mention so far made of
other "sons and daughters" 1t would be
supposed that there were only three people
in the world up to this time-Adam, Eve
an. Hence, unless there were other pro-
genitors of the human race, there could
have been no woman for Cain to marry.
After the mention of Gains wife, the Land
of Nod and the founding of the city OF
Enoch this same salient fourth chapter, in
the twenty-ffth verse, reports the birth of
Seth. And in the twenty-sixth and last
verse we are confronted with another prob
lem in the birth of son to Seth
S"Io explain all this as literal history.
nerfa ntk kNt thWNtn
other perfection to the Deity than infinite
power, spirituality and wisdom"
So great are the difficulties that the Church
of England does not demand a literal un-
derstanding. Yet Augustine and the Re-
formers hold out for the literal as do many
other authorities. The style of the nara
tive gives no indication that any other in
depreciation was intended, but all efforts to
this end fall wide the mark Of consistency,
making the text literal at times and then
fgurative as necessity demands.
Coleridge argues that 1t is an allegory. In
the same light it is viewed by Ambrose,
Origen. and the Greek Fathers of Alexan-
dria. Philo allegorizes it in a purely spirit.
ual sense.
But, as DR.. Samuel Davidson asserts,
there is not the slightest indication that an
allegory was intended.
"Had this been the case," he says, "the
truths meant to be conveyed would have
been easily discovered. The embarrassment
and caprictousness OF the allegortcal inter-
prefers prove that they are following a
wrong method"
Cain-worshipping religions in their vile
interpretations actually reversed the con-
ventional concept of morality Such we're
the Cainites who paid obeisance to all the
evil characters of the Old Testament, in
cluding Potiphars wife, Esau, Korah, Jeze-
bel and Delilah; the Adamites who appeared
naked at their ASSEMBLIES and rejected the
marriage form an outgrowth of sin; the
Ophites who inculcated indifference to all
actions and held that nothing was really
evil by nature; and the followers of Car
pocrates, Epiphanes and Cyranus. All iden-
titled the serpent with the Redeeming
World and tried to transform the Power
of Evil into the Ideal of Good.
Thus they have gone on interpreting the
story in all manner OF ways and making il
the basis of all manner of beliefs. And with
these and all the manifold explanations by
scholars and creeds, the perpetual crux of
the Story of Cain, beginning with the Crea-
tion and made the topic of the newest
opera TO entertain society, comes down to
us through the ages. And shall we say II
is nc nearer solution to-day than at the
beginning?
No! For this is the age Of science Since
science has worked out so many other puz-
zles, we have turned its light on the Story
OF Cain, and, 10! we find solution.