Cain's Wife?

Question

For those of you who have read the bible, in the book of genesis it describes the story of cain and abel. Right after Cain is banished from eden, it talks of his wife, who apparently appeared out of nowhere. I'm a strong believer in the bible and don't doubt it one bit, but WHERE DID CAIN'S WIFE COME FROM!?

No smart alec remarks please, if you are an atheist, keep your comments to yourself unless you have a legitimate interpretation, otherwise you will be reported.

How I read it is that cain and abel were the only children of adam and eve mentioned up to that point, I couldn't assume there were others in between that time, because they were never mentioned. Am I the only one who thought this way?

Answer 1

"Then Cain went away from the presence of The Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch." (Genesis 4:16-17 RSV)
If Adam and Eve were the only created humans, where did their son Cain get his wife?

The question is asked quite often, by young and old, by people of many different church denominations. It also seems to be one of the favorite "gotcha" questions from unbelievers who enjoy challenging The Bible.

So, where did Cain's wife come from?

Adam and Eve were the only created humans; Adam from the earth (Genesis 2:7), Eve from a part of Adam (Genesis 2:21-22). Adam and Eve first had two sons, Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1-2). Cain killed Abel (Genesis 4:8), and, as documented in the opening paragraph, was banished to the land east of Eden where he started a family with his wife.

But where did Cain's wife come from? The Bible provides only one answer: Adam "had other sons and daughters" (Genesis 5:4).

Cain married one of his sisters.

While such a marriage would certainly be very wrong today (as God later decreed, see the Fact Finder below), the rules were quite different in the early days of humanity. It wasn't a matter of Cain making a "wrong" choice, since it was his only choice in order to be able to obey God's command for humanity to "be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28).

In those early times, the defects and disorders that could later possibly occur in children from such marriages, from recessive genes, would not have been as likely, since recessive genes would have had little time to develop. The children could actually have been much healthier than humans are today, as evidenced by the far greater life spans of the earliest humans (e.g. Genesis 5:1-32).

Although Cain and his sister were very closely related, Adam and Eve could be considered even closer. Although Adam and Eve are the ancestors of all subsequent humans, Eve herself was actually created from a part of Adam, in a process that scientists today might call a sort of "cloning" (Adam and Eve were likely quite similar in appearance), so, in a way, genetically, Adam married himself.

Answer 2

The Bible says Adam lived 930 years. There's a whole lotta time there to have other sons and daughters. Adam and Eve didn't just have Cain and Abel. They had Seth and others as well.

Plus we're not given the timetable of how OLD Cain and Abel were either when Cain killed Abel. Remember this happened before the flood of Noah, so people aged differently due to the effect of the water in the "firmament". The earth at one time was surrounded in the atmosphere by a great deal of water. Plus it didn't ever rain before the flood, but a mist went up from the ground and watered everything.
Adam and Eve lived a very long time and had many sons and daughters, and they had sons and daughters. Plenty enough so that when Cain was old enough and wanted a wife, he had to go all the way to Nod to get one.

Answer 3

Ah, the most talked about woman in the Bible ...

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Turn to Genesis 5:4, "And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:" Do I really have to go further? I guess I do!

Now a man who lives more than 800 years (930 years, to be exact, according to Genesis 5:5) is bound to have more than three children, don't you think. How about this: If Adam and Eve didn't produce any more offspring other than Cain, Abel and Seth then how did we get here?

Since Adam disobeyed God the first time, concerning the tree that he wasn't supposed to eat of, you can be sure he was going to take this "be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth" business very seriously. (Genesis 1:28) He wasn't going to let God down again, not if he could help it anyway.

So Adam had other children, after Seth, as the Bible records in Genesis 5:4. The Bible says Adam had daughters. How many? It doesn't matter. One would do although I'm sure there were several as the verse indicates by the plural "daughters." Can you figure out the rest on your own? Okay, I'll give you the answer. Cain married one of his sisters. Now let's find out why she is so important to study....

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Question: "Who was Cain's wife? Was Cain's wife his sister?"

Answer: The Bible does not specifically say who Cain’s wife was. The only possible answer was that Cain's wife was his sister or niece or great-niece, etc. The Bible does not say how old Cain was when he killed Abel (Genesis 4:8). Since they were both farmers, they were likely both full-grown adults, possibly with families of their own. Adam and Eve had surely had more children than just Cain and Abel at the time Abel was killed - they definitely had many more children later (Genesis 5:4). The fact that Cain was scared for his own life after he killed Abel (Genesis 4:14) indicates that there were likely many other children and perhaps even grandchildren or great-grandchildren of Adam and Eve at that time. Cain's wife (Genesis 4:17) was a daughter or granddaughter of Adam and Eve.

Answer 4

Adam and Eve obviously had all the children (because there were no other human around). The way it was is that, the kids were all born in couples and it would be a boy and a girl born together everytime Eve had kids. Now if you were born together, you were considered brother and sister (too "close") for marriage so they would crisscross. Abel was to marry Cain's sister and Cain was to marry Abel's sister. That is the way it was and that is the way it happened with all of their children (which there were a LOT). Abel was happy with this decision but Cain was not because Cain's sister was a lot prettier and Cain wanted her instead of Abel's sister. And then you know the rest of the story.

Answer 5

if I had a dollar for every time this gets asked a day.....

Anyway here goes AGAIN... the Bible never says that Cain and Abel were Adam and Eve's first children. Infact, it was before the fall that God told them to go multiply.. also, when they fell God told Eve He would INCRESE her pains in childbirth, this means she had children before Cain and Abel. Now, does this mean there was incest, yes it does, but the Law was not written yet, before the fall there was no sin, and by the time Cain needed a wife, he may have married a distant cousin. In the Bible before the Law was given there are a few cases of incest that wasnt even treated as a sin because it was nessisary. Once it wasn't then it became sinful.

*Tacks this note on the main page in hopes it doesnt get asked again today

Answer 6

You are right there is no answer to that as found in the Bible. Some believe that many children were born of Adam and Eve and therefore Cain married a sister which was not incest at that time. As the gene pool deteriorated then marrying a sister was forbidden by the time of the writing of the law

Answer 7

This has to be one of the most-asked questions! Anyway, since Adam and Eve were the first humans and God told them to be fruitful and multiply, the clear answer must be that Cain married another descendant of Adam and Eve, whether immediate daughter or next in line or not we are not told. We are told in Gen 5:4 that Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters. There was no time frame given as to exactly when Cain took his wife so we don't have to think that when Cain was banished he immediately left for Nod and took a wife immediately.

Answer 8

In the Bible, It states that Adam and Eve also had more sons and daughters after Cain and Able, thus coming to the conclusion: Cain "married" one of his sisters.

Answer 9

MANKIND ADAM

We all have read about Cain and Abel (Gen.4:8-17)
How Cain slew Abel, and God cursed Cain and drove him out.
Then Cain said (Gen.4:14) “that every one that findeth me shall slay me”
Who is Cain worried about?
Then in (Gen.4:17) And Cain knew his wife
Where did Cain find a wife?

The answer is in the Hebrew text (Gen.1:26 and Gen.2:7).

Gen.1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness: ….
The word “man” (Gen.1:26)
in Hebrew text looks like this ( אדם )
with no article means “MANKIND”
The word “man” (Gen.1:26) transliterated is (adam).

Gen.2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, ….
The word “man” (Gen.2:7)
in Hebrew text looks like this ( את־האדם )
with article and particle means “THIS SAME MAN ADAM”.
The word “man” (Gen.2:7) transliterated is (eth-Ha adham).

So on the sixth day God created or made MANKIND.

On the eighth day God formed THIS SAME MAN ADAM.

Answer 10

I have asked this question before and I am agnostic. One of the answers I got was that she was one of those evolving mokeys evolution talks about. Another was that everyone is not named in the Bible, I guess the mother of Enoch, the one who walk with God was not worth the ink. Just remember this, He who asks a question is a fool for a minute; he who does not remains a fool forever.