396. The meaning of Jehovah put a mark on Cain, that no one should strike him, as the fact that the Lord singled faith out in a special way in order to preserve it is established by the symbolism of a mark and of putting a mark on anyone as singling something out. In Ezekiel, for example:
Jehovah said, "Pass through the middle of the city, through the middle of Jerusalem, and you are to make a mark [that is, make a designation] 1 on the foreheads of the men who are groaning and sighing over all the abominations." (Ezekiel 9:4)
Marking their foreheads does not mean setting a mark or line on their foreheads but distinguishing them from others. Likewise in John:
... that they should harm the people who did not have God's mark on their foreheads. (Revelation 9:4)
Having a mark also stands for being singled out.
[2] The same author uses [a different word] 2 for a mark when he speaks of "putting a mark on their hand and on their foreheads" [Revelation 14:9]. The people of the Jewish religion represented the fact of this symbolism by the binding of the first and most important commandment onto their hand and forehead, as described in Moses:
Listen, Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah. You shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your powers. And you shall bind these [words] as a sign on your hand; and let them be as brow pieces between your eyes. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5, 8; 11:13, 18)
This represented the fact that they singled out the commandment concerning love above all the other commandments, which shows what the placement of marks on their hand and forehead symbolizes.
[3] In Isaiah:
[The time] to gather all nations and tongues is coming, and they will come and see my glory; and I will put a mark on them. (Isaiah 66:18-19)
And in David:
Turn to face me and have mercy on me; give your strength to your servant, and save the child of your serving maid. Make with me a mark of goodness, and let those who hate me see and be ashamed. (Psalms 86:16-17)
All this now establishes what a mark is. No one should suppose that any mark was actually placed on an individual named Cain, because the inner meaning of the Word involves themes completely different from those on the literal plane.
Footnotes:
1. The bracketed gloss here is Swedenborg's. [LHC]
2. The text here makes a distinction that is surprisingly difficult to convey in the translation itself. There are two words used for "mark" in the original Greek form of the Book of Revelation, σφραγίς (sphragís) and χάραγμα (cháragma). Swedenborg represents sphragís with the Latin word signum, and cháragma with the Latin word character. The Latin, then, literally says: "A mark is also called a character in the same author" (signum vocatur etiam character apud Eundem). In all other quotations from the Bible in this section, whether from Old or the New Testament, he uses the word signum, here translated with either "mark" or "sign." [LHC]
