Where did Cain's wife come from?

[psalms109:31]

Genesis 4:
9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"
"I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"

10 The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth."

13 Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."

15 But the LORD said to him, "Not so [ Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew Very well ] ; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the LORD's presence and lived in the land of Nod, [Nod means wandering (see verses 12 and 14). ] east of Eden.

17 Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch.

 

[Steven2006]

Wouldn't she most likely be either a sister or a niece?

 

[RAdam]

Genesis 3:20 - "And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living."

Cain's wife was a daughter of Eve, and by necessity, Adam.

 

[Steven2006]

Genesis 3:20 - "And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living."

Cain's wife was a daughter of Eve, and by necessity, Adam.

There is no time given. It could have been a sister or a niece.

 

[RAdam]

I guess I should have said a descendant.

 

[Winman]

Yes, Adam and Eve may have had dozens or even hundreds of children. I mean, think about it, Adam lived 930 years. When Seth was born he was 130. That sounds very old, but only about 1/7th of how long he lived. Men today live 70-80 years, 1/7th of that would be 10-11 years old.

I don't know for certain, but when Adam was 500 years old he was in the prime of life, like a 30 year old man today.

So, just because scripture doesn't mention it, it would be difficult to believe that Adam and Eve did not have many children, and they in turn had many children as all men lived very long ages at that time. So, they quickly populated the earth.

 

[Tom Bryant]

What's the old joke in answer to this question, "You won't be the first person who went to ____ worrying about another man's wife" :laugh:

 

[preachinjesus]

Eve

Adam & Eve = Duggars...probably explains it best

 

[donnA]

if it were his niece, where did she come from, who were her parents? would they have had to have both been children of adam and eve also?

 

[preachinjesus]

You know I've never really bought the claim that humanity would never have been able to begin and sustain a race through just two parents like Adam and Eve. Some cosmological evolutionists I know try to say there is too much genetic differentiation to have one couple as genetic progenitors of the whole human race.

My thought is, if God had His hand in creation (at whatever level you believe) isn't it sensible that He would have been able to impart genetic variety in the first generations of humanity. To suggest God did all of this (please pause and look around) why would He stop in seeing the whole process through?

 

[tinytim]

Do the math..
Adam and Eve.. a kid every 9 months or so.. (Primitive Duggars... LOL... Thanks Preachinjesus)
Adam lived 930 yrs... ..
That's at least 800 kids possible...
Say 400 boys, 400 girls
And each couple has another 800 boys and girls... That would be... 320,000 humans

NOW... those kids have kids, and so on.. .
Cain may have married a neice, great neice, great great neice he may have never met until he moved to that city.

 

[pinoybaptist]

Yes, Adam and Eve may have had dozens or even hundreds of children. I mean, think about it, Adam lived 930 years. When Seth was born he was 130. That sounds very old, but only about 1/7th of how long he lived. Men today live 70-80 years, 1/7th of that would be 10-11 years old.

I don't know for certain, but when Adam was 500 years old he was in the prime of life, like a 30 year old man today.

So, just because scripture doesn't mention it, it would be difficult to believe that Adam and Eve did not have many children, and they in turn had many children as all men lived very long ages at that time. So, they quickly populated the earth.

if you come right down to it, many of these children and great great great grandchildren were most likely alive during the great flood.

 

[Steven2006]

if it were his niece, where did she come from, who were her parents? would they have had to have both been children of adam and eve also?

Adam and Eve obviously had many children. Two of them have a daughter, she grows up meets Cain and it is love at first sight. :laugh:


Seriously, sister or niece is the most likely answer. They lived a long time and there is no time period given to when Cain got married. Obviously it was a relative, how close of one we just don't know.

 

[donnA]

Adam and Eve obviously had many children. Two of them have a daughter, she grows up meets Cain and it is love at first sight. :laugh:


Seriously, sister or niece is the most likely answer. They lived a long time and there is no time period given to when Cain got married. Obviously it was a relative, how close of one we just don't know.

I agree, she was a relative. But most people get hung on them being relatives, like siblings and beleive there were other none related people in the garden, completely not biblical.

 

[RAdam]

if you come right down to it, many of these children and great great great grandchildren were most likely alive during the great flood.

Right. Adam had only been dead 126 years when Noah was born. Lamech, Noah's father, missed the flood by two years. Methusaleh, Noah's grandfather, died the same year as the flood.

 

[psalms109:31]

Enoch

Jude 1:14
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones.

I wonder what ever happened to the prophesis of Enoch, it might give us some insites

 

[Thinkingstuff]

Jude 1:14
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones.

I wonder what ever happened to the prophesis of Enoch, it might give us some insites

Unfortunately it does not and neither does the book of Jasher or the assumption of moses however I did find this in the book of Jubilees chapter 4

And Cain took Âwân his sister to be his wife and she bare him Enoch at the close of the fourth jubilee. [190-196 A.M.] And in the first year of the first week of the fifth jubilee, [197 A.M.] houses were built on the earth, and Cain built a city, and called its name after the name of his son Enoch.
And Adam knew Eve his wife and she bare yet nine sons.

 

[Scarlett O.]

Here's my thinking. The Bible does say that Adam and Eve had lots of sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:3-5

"And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth. And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begot sons and daughters. And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died."

Some say that he had all of these children after Seth and some read this clause as independent of Seth's birth.

If it is independent of Seth's birth, then there is no problem. He married a sister or niece.

If the clause "and he begot sons and daughters" is chronologically after Seth's birth, then I still don't see a problem.

Why do Genesis 4:16 and Genesis 4:17 have to be at the same time?

Why couldn't Cain have dwelt in the land of Nod for long time, a 100 years or so BEFORE he met his wife? I don't see anything between verse 16 and 17 to insinuate that the very day that Cain was expelled from God's presence that he impregnated his wife.

If the two clauses in chapter five, "after Adam begot Seth, he lived 800 years" and "he (Adam) begot many sons and daughters" are dependent on each other chronologically, it still doesn't make verses 16 and 17 of chapter four have a specified time length between the two.

I know I didn't make much sense, but it's scrambling about alright in my own mind. :saint:

 

[RAdam]

You have an excellent point because when the bible lists the sons of a particular person it is not necessarily listed in order of birth, but rather sometimes in order of who we are going to be following. For instance, Abram is listed first among the sons of Terah, but wasn't the firstborn. He wasn't born until Terah was 130 years old, but the text says Terah's firstborn was born when he was 70 years old.

You are correct to say things aren't always listed in strict chronological order, but rather sometimes the author makes sort of an aside to tell you of one particular thing or line before resuming the narrative.

 

[psalms109:31]

Thank's

Thank you all, such great faith.