- CAGE (Hebrews kelub’, Jeremiah 5:27, marg. “coop;” rendered “basket”
in Amos 8:1), a basket of wicker-work in which birds were placed after
being caught. In Revelation 18:2 it is the rendering of the Greek phulake,
properly a prison or place of confinement. - CAIAPHAS the Jewish high priest (A.D. 27-36) at the beginning of our
Lord’s public ministry, in the reign of Tiberius (Luke 3:2), and also at the
time of his condemnation and crucifixion (Matthew 26:3,57; John 11:49;
18:13, 14). He held this office during the whole of Pilate’s administration.
His wife was the daughter of Annas, who had formerly been high priest,
and was probably the vicar or deputy (Hebrews sagan) of Caiaphas. He
was of the sect of the Sadducees (Acts 5:17), and was a member of the
council when he gave his opinion that Jesus should be put to death “for
the people, and that the whole nation perish not” (John 11:50). In these
words he unconsciously uttered a prophecy. “Like Saul, he was a prophet
in spite of himself.” Caiaphas had no power to inflict the punishment of
death, and therefore Jesus was sent to Pilate, the Roman governor, that he
might duly pronounce the sentence against him (Matthew 27:2; John
18:28). At a later period his hostility to the gospel is still manifest (Acts
4:6). (See ANNAS.) - CAIN a possession; a spear. (1.) The first-born son of Adam and Eve
(Genesis 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” (Hebrews 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 (Genesis
4:15). Doomed to be a wanderer and a fugitive in the earth, he went forth
kiana
(Kiana)
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