Biblical scholars, your insights/opinions re: The Book of Genesis?

Question

The book says :
That after Cain murdered his brother Abel, he settled in the "land of Nod...away from the presence of the lord "where he knew his wife"

Who was his wife?

I've heard these answers before:
"It's all metaphorical"
"He married his sister"
"There were others who were not descendents of Adam & Eve"

If you have any other answers...I'd be willing to hear.

Answer 1

There is no real evidence about the Adam and Eve story other than what was written recently. Recently because there is no evidence of any writing until the people of Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Egypt invented some form of writing. For many centuries, these stories were told as folklore. The story of Adam and Eve is therefore an attempt by 'early' peoples to understand whence they had come from. The story of creation in 7 days could only have been thought of by people who believed earth is the only world there is. Of cause it is not. Pluto takes 88 earth years to go round the sun once. Mercury takes much fewer earth days.. The story of Adam and Eve and creation should therefore be taken in this context. It is too complex for the human mind to understand.

Answer 2

It very unlikely that the Genesis accounts are "metaphorical" due to the way the New Testament authors refer to it in very literal ways, especially regarding original sin.

The Bible explicitly refutes the idea that God created any humans directly except Adam and Eve in Acts 17:26;
"and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, " - Acts 17:26

This leaves us to infer, with great confidence, that Cain married his sister (or possibly a niece). This was not forbidden by God's Law, however, as He had not yet given the Law.

Answer 3

The purpose of the book of Genesis is not to give a detailed historical account of the activities of human beings like we are used to seeing when we read a biography or something like that. The book of Genesis is there to explain to us that we all have a Creator from whom we have become alienated by our sins and to reveal the beginning of his plan to redeem us to Himself.

As a result when you read the account of Cain going to the land of Nod and are used to reading biographical accounts it seems like Cain packed his bags took a short journey to another town and met a woman and got married all in about a week or a month or something like that.

Because of the curse, Cain must have wandered for many years and eventually he came to that land and met a sister or a neice or something like that. Remember that people often didn't have their first child till they were over 100 years old back then. Then Cain built a city with his family and named it after his first son. The passage could have been written like this if it was written to give an accurate account of Cain's life

Genesis 4:16 And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, (and he wandered for many years until he came) 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.

Answer 4

First you need to understand that Cain was likely an older adult by this time in history.Adam and Eve had numerous children and they had children and so on.There were likely many women at this point.All related to Cain,but not nessessarily his sisters.He had nieces,great neices,ect.ect.Look at how many descendants an elderly grandparent has today.My sister is already a grandmother at 40 years old.Adam lived for many hundred years.The earth was already being well populated by the time Adam and Eve passed.

Answer 5

There are any number of possibilities as to whom Cain married including the three you mentioned. Also, we don't know how much time had passed in human history at that point and how fertile the women were and how many children Adam and Eve had. It's conceivable that Cain could have been older and there could have been numerous generations alive at that point. Who knows? If it was important for us to know, God would have included that in the account.

Answer 6

In those days, He would have married a relative, maybe a sister, probably a cousin. With people living 900 + years, there would have been a lot of children around. If they had children when young, each couple could have had several hundred children. The Bible says Adam and Eve had other children. And their children would have had children, etc.

In those days, incest was not a problem... the genetics would have been mostly free of defects, so no problem there. It wasn't until Moses time that the laws of incest were given.

I hope this answers your question.

Answer 7

Adam and Eve lived for 100s of years and had lots of children. In order to establish the human race on earth, Cain married his sister, which at that time was not as genetically risky for their children as it would be today.

Answer 8

Q: Why did Cain worry that people would kill him when they saw him?
A: They were Abel's brothers and sisters and they loved him dearly.

Incest wastn't against the law at that time. God hadn't given Moses the law yet.

Answer 9

From the book of Genesis, it tells us there that Adam had other sons and daughters. So since there were no other humans created by God apart form Adam and Eve the fact is that he took one of his sisters as he left, and they became husband and wife. finito

Answer 10

when abram married sarai,she was his half sister,so i suppose that cain married his sister,we dont understand the mind of God,we just take Him at His word