Cain

A possession; a spear. (1.) The first-born son of Adam and Eve "(Gen. 4). He became a tiller of the ground, as his brother Abel" "followed the pursuits of pastoral life. He was "a sullen," "self-willed, haughty, vindictive man; wanting the religious" "element in his character, and defiant even in his attitude" "towards God." It came to pass "in process of time" (marg. "at" "the end of days"), i.e., probably on the Sabbath, that the two" brothers presented their offerings to the Lord. Abel's offering "was of the "firstlings of his flock and of the fat," while" "Cain's was "of the fruit of the ground." Abel's sacrifice was" "more excellent (Heb. 11:4) than Cain's, and was accepted by" "God. On this account Cain was "very wroth," and cherished" "feelings of murderous hatred against his brother, and was at" length guilty of the desperate outrage of putting him to death "(1 John 3:12). For this crime he was expelled from Eden, and" "henceforth led the life of an exile, bearing upon him some mark" "which God had set upon him in answer to his own cry for mercy," so that thereby he might be protected from the wrath of his fellow-men; or it may be that God only gave him some sign to assure him that he would not be slain (Gen. 4:15). Doomed to be "a wanderer and a fugitive in the earth, he went forth into the" "land of Nod, i.e., the land of "exile", which is said to have" "been in the "east of Eden," and there he built a city, the first" "we read of, and called it after his son's name, Enoch. His" descendants are enumerated to the sixth generation. They gradually degenerated in their moral and spiritual condition till they became wholly corrupt before God. This corruption "prevailed, and at length the Deluge was sent by God to prevent" the final triumph of evil. (See [89]ABEL.) "(2.) A town of the Kenites, a branch of the Midianites (Josh. "15:57), on the east edge of the mountain above Engedi; probably" "the "nest in a rock" mentioned by Balaam (Num. 24:21). It is" "identified with the modern Yekin, 3 miles south-east of Hebron."

"Possession; smith. (1.) The fourth antediluvian patriarch, the" eldest son of Enos. He was 70 years old at the birth of his "eldest son Mahalaleel, after which he lived 840 years (Gen." "5:9-14), and was 910 years old when he died. He is also called" Kenan (1 Chr. 1:2). "(2.) The son of Arphaxad (Luke 3:36). He is nowhere named in the "Old Testament. He is usually called the "second Cainan."

Definition of Cain:
"possession, or possessed"