Where did the woman that Cain married come from?
Where did the woman come from that Cain married? If Cain was the third person on the earth a son of Adam and Eve where did other people come from?
Genesis 4:1 - 26
ESV - 1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord. 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.
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Asked April 11 2013
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Barry Rempel
Community answers are sorted based on votes. The higher the vote, the further up an answer is.
Colin Wong
Supporter
Adam and Eve had many children. The Bible does not tell us how many. However, given that Adam alone lived to 930 years (Genesis 5:5) it is most likely that he fathered many children (Genesis 1:28). Adam was 130 years old when he begat Seth (Genesis 5:4) and lived for another 800 years. Thus very likely had many, many children before and after Seth. While some argue that Cain may have married other "beings" or God may have created more humans, the simpler explanation is that Cain married one of his sisters. But isn't it against the law to marry one's siblings? Not at that time. The law against sibling intermarriage was not recognized until the period of Moses (Leviticus 18 through 20). All men and women are descendants of Adam and Eve. So we are all "related" by blood anyway, whether sibling or not. By the time of Moses, because of our sin and our fallen nature, genetics have made it more harmful to inter-marry and thus a new law was given to stop sibling inter-marriage. Adam and Eve, on the other hand, did not "accumulate" genetic defects. They were physically perfect when God created them. But many generations down, because of sin, this "perfection" diluted.
Singapore Moses
Woman Hebrew ’ishshah (H802), feminine of ’iysh (H376), man. Literally, "womb-man" or "female-man", because she was taken out of man (1Cor. 11:3-12; 1Tim. 2:9-15). Woman is said not to have been taken out of man’s head to be lorded over by him, nor from his feet to be trampled on by him, but from his side to be equal with him, from under his arm to be protected by him, and from near his heart to be loved by him. ► Three Commands regarding reproduction or procreation: 1. Be fruitful (Gen. 1:28). 2. Multiply (Gen. 1:28). 3. Replenish (Gen. 1:28; cf. Gen. 9:1-2). Adam and Eve were the only people on earth immediately after the six days’ work of re-creation. They were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth (Gen. 1:26-28), and they had sons and daughters (Gen. 4:1; 5:4; 6:1). The first marriages had to be between brothers and sisters in order to get the race started. Later, marrying close relatives was forbidden (Lev. 18). Regarding Cain, he was over 100 years old when he took his wife and started his family in the land of Nod where enough people already lived to build a city (Gen. 4:16-26). Gen. 3:20 says Eve was "the mother of all living"--proof enough that she was responsible for both Cain and his wife.
Jim Riddle
Not as a bragging point but a technical point - I do have a PhD in Science and Engineering, and I also have a master's degree in Education - Parish Education and Administration. I am very technical, so I approached this as a creation science question. (1) We do not know how many children Adam and Eve had, but they had more than Cain and Abel and Seth. That is written in God's Word. (2) Although we shudder today at the thought of intermarriage, realize/remember that Adam and Eve were genetically pure - their DNA had not been modified by adaptation or mutation or disease. (3) Also realize that, prior to the flood, there was a vapor barrier. The vapor barrier is an important concept. A mist would rise from the ground, as is written in God's Word. The vapor barrier comprised this mist and a massive amount of water vapor as, by many suggested variations of the vapor barrier theory, during the time of Noah, the flood volume from the vapor cloud miles thick that would later fill oceans and completely cover land. (4) The vapor barrier was like, in a scientific perspective, making the Earth a greenhouse, much land mass, perfect humidity for growing things, [great for the complexion - sorry, could not resist that], and most important scientifically served as a layer filtering sunlight and other space radiations. The filter was very strong against ultraviolet. We know that from studying the [incorrectly concluded in my opinion, but studied nevertheless] phenomenon called global warming. (5) The Earth was warmer, humid but with more ground area to cultivate and for animals to roam, shielded from radiation that would later prove harmful when the barrier was missing. The people, Adam, Eve, their children, started with no genetic variations. So, people, we know, lived at least close to 1,000 years after Adam and Eve, because it is written in God's Word, and the Word does not say that others did not live much longer. (6) Finally, a really good answer agreeing with most of the others but based on Creation Science: All human life started with Adam and Eve, Eve as the mother of humanity, so all life came from them and their children. That means that Seth and Cain intermarried with their sisters. That's fine at that time - genetically identical / pure means no inbreeding as we recognize it scientifically today, so it was OK, anthropologically, for sibling marriage, cousin marriage, etc... to occur. If Adam and Eve only had Seth, Cain and Abel and 3 girls (but probably more) that would make a first generation family of 6, minus Abel, leaving 3 women. Nothing says that Cain and Seth had to stop at one wife - there was no law yet laid down. So consider a second generation of 3x6, or 18 people, coming from the 3 daughters of Eve. Make the generation timing, on average, 100 years, although today we know it to be far less. Give this two millennia, 2,000 years, 20 generations. You end up with 3²² (actually to the 21st, but there's no superscript 21 readily available) or a grand total of 10,460,353,203 that's ten billion + people at the end of two thousand years. Then we complicate it with THE FLOOD, the date of which is placed at 2,304 B.C. Could there have been ten billion men and women then? Sure, why not, big earth, vapor barrier, much vegetation, smaller seas, walk anywhere. No problem. Then the flood, and we come back to Noah's family, he, his wife, his sons and daughters. You get to go through the whole generational progression calculation again with fewer years and different "new first generation numbers". But, geometric progression in population expansion is real, and you can build a large number of people in a relatively short time. A final, whimsical note: consider rabbits...
Randolph Batcho
It is so simple to understand. Adam and Eve were the first humans to be created by God. And they had children. Since there was Jo law given at that time, it was not wrong in their sight to marry their own siblings, therefore Cain would have married one of his sisters. Don't add other books into the Bible and don't make up stories.
Danny Hickman
Supporter
I believe the woman Cain married was a descendant of Adam and Eve just like the rest of humanity. The head scratching over Cain's wife is probably due to a tendency to view the Bible as a round-for-round, blow-by-blow chronological account of the human/God story, and it isn't. Genesis 4:1,2 tells of Adam and Eve having sexual relations and giving birth to two sons, all in a matter of two verses. How far apart were the boy's births? If you're not careful with your thoughts, you'll think it all played out over the course of a 3 day weekend. What it does not say is that it was the first time they had relations or that it was the first birth of a child to them. We do know that at the age of 130 years Seth was born to Adam (Gen 5:3). We don't know how old Eve was, not being told how long Adam was around before God created Eve. When Seth was born Eve proclaimed that God had given her "another son in place of Abel whom Cain killed." It doesn't say there were no births until the birth of Seth, it says she saw Seth as a "REPLACEMENT" for Abel. That could mean a lot in spiritual language. To a Bible believer, there's NO doubt where Mrs. Cain came from. The Bible just has to be studied with a faith filled open mind. The story of man's beginning hurries along to get to Cain and Abel but it does not say that they were the first two children born to Adam and Eve and probably were not. The murder of one brother by the other is the beginning of the story of the great harm that sin causes. It isn't a replay of the whole game only the highlights.
Chris Pace
In the book of Jubilees, chapter four 9. And Cain took ’Âwân his sister to be his wife and she bare him Enoch.. BTW how come everybody asks where Cain got his wife, and nobody askes about where Seth got his? Same place.
Catherine Patterson
It is my understanding that God created Adam as the first human and from him He created Eve. This is stated in Genisis 1:26-31and is reiterated in chapter two. They are not seperate occurrences. Also, the Jewish bloodline began with Abraham and his covenant with The Lord.
Anonymous
In Genesis 1:26-31, God created man in is own image before he created Adam and Eve. So for my understanding he created other people before his chosen people Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve started the jewish bloodline but he also created the gentiles to follow along. That what i'm getting out of the NIV.
Christa Beaver
We have no idea how long Adam and Eve lived in Eden before being cast out, is it possible that it was thousands perhaps millions of years? And that "evolution" was occuring during this time? That science and religion are not so far apart as one might think...what are the thoughts on this???
Anthony Clinton
Here is a thought that I have entertained: When Adam and Eve were given the command to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, It is possible that before the temptation there were already many children and when they sinned death passed to all of them. Though it isn't mentioned It is a possibility.
Michael Pierson Sr
Although it is true that Adam, Eve, Cain or Abel could have chosen close family members to reproduce with, I don't understand the need to think that. When Seth was born Adam was 130 years old. Adam and Eve could have had a lot of other children the Lord did not mention in his word. Since Adam lived another 800 years, and Seth himself lived to be 912 years old, it just stands to reason that they could have chosen even the great-granddaughters. I don't believe there's any reason to think on it as we do today. For example, Noah married his wife when she was over 500 years old, so who knows how far removed the wives of Adam or Seth could have been, or how far removed from their children's children? And their children could be those they chose to be reproductive with. Genghis Khan had somewhere between 1000 and 2000 children in his much shorter life, King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines, I wonder how many children that would have produced? It really isn't too far out for us to dismiss the children of Adam and Eve being with Adam and Eve, now is it?
Anonymous
The clue in Gen 4:16 'dwelt in the land of Nod'. Were you never told by your parents "up to bed to the land of Nod"? God's thought on the matter is contained in Gen 2:18. As a deep sleep was placed upon Adam the same was more than likely to happen to Cain and Seth.
Mpunga Steven
In genesis God created Adam and Eve as the first people living on earth. We cannot add or subtract to the word. Scripture does not tell everything that happened in the beginning, but only those things that are beneficial to us, because this bible would have been a very big book if they had written everything that happened. For example, if we follow the bible properly we will find that woman were not always mentioned. If God was specifically using her then you will find her name in the bible. Adam and Eve had other children after God chased them from Eden.
Jack Gutknecht
Great question, Barry Rempel! Admittedly, this is a "problem," Barry. There were no women for Cain to marry. There was only Adam, Eve (Genesis 4:1), and his dead brother Abel (Genesis 4:8). Yet the Bible says Cain married and had children. Cain married his sister (or possibly a niece). The Bible says Adam “begot sons and daughters’’ (Gen. 5:4). Cain could have married 1 of his many sisters, or even a niece if he married after his brothers or sisters had grown daughters. Of course, 1 of his brothers would have married a sister in that case. Geisler & Howe In conclusion, since we are “one blood” descended from Adam and Eve, the only person Cain could have married would have been a sister or a niece. --answersingenesis
Kenneth Heck
There is a somewhat circular argument with the words 'Adam' and 'adam' translated into English as 'man.' 'Man' in English refers to anyone with human characteristics. But Adam was created as a living soul, Gen 2:17. This doesn't imply that all human-like creations ('man' or 'adam', Gen 1:26) on the earth at that time had living souls. Cain could have married a female without a living soul. Since he married after his sin, his living soul was blemished and a sister without sin would not be appropriate for him. 'Living' means a direct connection or full access to the LORD God, something we do not have since the Fall.
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