on 20/04/2019
Where did Cain get his Wife?
Why is it important?
This is a very important question because:
Many sceptics have claimed that for Cain to find a wife, there must have been other “races” of people on the earth who were not descendants of Adam and Eve.
To many people, this question is a stumbling block to accepting the Creation account of Genesis and its record of only one man and one woman at the beginning of history.
Also, the Bible makes it very plain that only the descendants of Adam can be saved, so if there were other “races” of people on the earth then the foundations of the Gospel are being attacked.
What does the Bible say?
Take time to look up the Bible verses if you want to really benefit from this study
The Bible clearly tells us that at the beginning God created one man and one woman. God did not start by making a whole group of people. Adam was “the first man” (I Corinthians 15v45). Eve was “the mother of all living” (Genesis 3v20).
The Bible says that all human beings are sinners (Romans 5v12), and that we are all related (Acts 17v26 – God “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth”). This means that Cain’s wife was a descendent of Adam. She could not have come from another ‘race’ of people.
Cain was the first child of Adam and Eve recorded in scripture. He and his brothers, Abel and Seth, were part of the first generation of children born on earth (Genesis 4v1, 2, + 25). Though not mentioned by name, Adam and Eve had a number of other sons and daughters (Genesis 5v4). The Bible does not say when they were born, or how many BUT considering their long life spans, Adam and Eve could have had many children. Many could have been born in the 130 years (Genesis 5v3) before Seth was born.
The Bible does not tell us when Cain married, or many of the details of other marriages and children, but some brothers had to have married their sisters at the beginning of human history, or there would not have been any more generations! Thus, Cain’s wife was either his sister or close relative.
The law forbidding such marriages was not given until the time of Moses (Leviticus 18-20). Provided marriage was one man to one woman for life (Genesis chs.1+2 cp. Matthew 19v3-6), originally there was no disobedience to God’s law when close relatives (even brothers and sisters) married.
What about biological deformities?
Today, laws do not permit brothers and sisters to marry and have children because their offspring have a strong chance of being deformed.
When God created Adam and Eve, they were perfect – ‘very good’ Genesis 1v31 – no mistakes. BUT when sin entered the world, the perfect creation began to degenerate, suffering the curse of death and decay (Romans 8v22). Over thousands of years, this degeneration has resulted in all sorts of genetic mistakes (mutations) in living things.
Mutations have accumulated since the Fall, causing many human diseases. The more closely 2 people are related, the greater the chance they have inherited the same mistakes in their genes, which could result in their offspring having a disease or deformity.
Cain was in the first generation of children ever born. He (and his brothers and sisters) may have received no defective genes from Adam or Eve, since the effects of sin and the Curse would have been minimal to start with (it takes time for copying errors to accumulate). In that situation, brother and sister could have married with God’s approval, and without producing deformed offspring.
By the time of Moses (a few thousand years later), degenerative mistakes (mutations) would have increased to such an extent that God gave the laws forbidding brother-sister marriage (Leviticus chs. 18-20). This does not mean that God changed his mind, but rather, because of the changes that sin brought, He introduced new laws for our sake. Remember, God loves us and knows what is best for us.
Also, by the time of Moses, there were plenty of people on the earth, and there was no need for close relations to marry.
Cain and the Land of Nod
Some claim that Genesis 4v16-17 means that Cain went to the land of Nod and found a wife there. Thus, they conclude there must have been another race of people on the earth, who were not descendants of Adam, who produced Cain’s wife.
However, this passage does not say that Cain went to the land of Nod and found a wife there. Cain was married before he went to the land of Nod. He did not find his wife there, but “knew (had sexual relations with) his wife.”
Others argue that because Cain built a city in the land of Nod, there must have been a lot of people there. However, the Hebrew word translated ‘city’ here need not mean what we imagine a city as today. The word meant ‘a walled town’, or protected encampment. Even a hundred people would be plenty for such a city.
Who was Cain Fearful of?
Some claim that there had to be lots of people on earth other than Adam and Eve’s descendants, otherwise Cain would not have been fearful of people wanting to slay him for killing Abel (Genesis 4v14).
In the days before civil government was instituted to punish murderers (Genesis 9v6), someone would want to harm Cain for killing Abel only if they were closely related to Abel! Strangers could hardly have cared. So, the people Cain was afraid of could not have been another race of people.
Cain and Abel were born quite some time before Abel’s death. Note the phrase ‘in the course of time’ (Genesis 4v3). We know Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old (Genesis 5v3), and Eve saw him as a ‘replacement’ for Abel (Genesis 4v25). Therefore, the period from Cain’s birth to Abel’s death may have been 100 years or more – allowing plenty of time for other children of Adam and Eve to marry and have children and grandchildren. By the time Abel was killed, there could well have been a considerable number of descendants of Adam and Eve, involving several generations.
Many people cannot answer the question about Cain’s wife because they focus on today’s world and the problems associated with close relations marrying. However, when we take Genesis as the record of the All-knowing God and Reliable Witness who was there as history happened, we begin to realise the true history of the world and the changes that have occurred because of sin. Thus, when we use Genesis as a basis for understanding history, we can make sense of questions that would otherwise be a mystery.
For further information on creation/evolution issues visit:
