Archives for July 2018

 

 

    

Where did Cain’s (Adam and Eve’s firstborn) wife come from?

Scripture says: 

Genesis  4:

¹⁶ And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. ¹⁷ And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch. (AV)

 

Now some will say here is another inconsistently with the Bible that if there were only three people on the earth (Adam/Eve/Cain, Abel is now dead at the hand of Cain) how could Cain find a wife when no human females were around other than his mother? So logically Cain must have “married” a Neanderthal or maybe even some human/ape hybrid since this conclusion would dovetail with the evolutionary explanation of origins.

The authority of Scripture gives us the explanation in a very straight forward way. Remember we are to give a defense of our faith if asked:

1 Peter 3:

 ¹⁵ but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: (AV)

 

By studying scripture we know that God created by kinds and we (humans) are of one kind and above the animals since we are made in God’s image. Today people have different skin colors and eye colors, etc. but we are all one kind – the human race. So how does scripture explain Cain’s wife?

 Genesis 5:

⁴ and the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: (AV)

 

Adam and Eve had other children, both boys and girls. Scripture tells us that Cain and Abel were born before Seth but when Cain slew Abel they were grown men and during that time human females were around. Cain married his sister or a close female relative. The objection that comes come to mind to deny Cain marrying a close female relative  – incest!

At the time in history that Cain had a wife it was only decades after creation. The people then had inherited DNA information that was close to the perfect DNA that Adam and Eve had before the fall in the Garden of Eden. It was when Adam disobeyed and ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that sin and death entered the world and he began dying, meaning growing old, and all people since have begun to accumulate mutations in their DNA.

Today so many generations removed from the perfection that was the initial creation, our genes (DNA) have mutations that continue to accumulate and cause potential disease and potential birth defects in offspring from a union of a brother and sister or close relative. In Cain’s day the risk of birth defects due to genetic mutation wasn’t an issue but as generations got further from the creation, God in his infinite wisdom stated:

Leviticus 18:

⁶ None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the Lord. (AV)

 

When mutations had accumulated enough God through the Mosaic Law commanded that unions between close relatives were to cease under penalty of punishment. Additionally the nation Israel was prohibited from doing the abominations that the Canaanites were doing in the land promised to the Israelites. The risk of birth defects by close relatives having children was now a potential problem due to the accumulation of genetic mutations in people since the creation.

So Cain married and had children with his sister or a close female relative. Evolutionary explanation has skewed so much of mankind’s thinking that instead of the Authority of Scripture answering our questions we attempt to explain things ourselves and deny God’s perfect way of doing things.

 

May God bless you,

Phelps Chapel