in the bible where did cains wife come from,why did god prefer abels sacraficin a goat to cains crops?

Question

this has wrecked my head for years and now when asked these questions by my children i am clueless

Answer 1

Do you think the Bible has everything in it that happened in the begining.. There aren't enough words in it to completely describe a man's actions in a week much less than thousands of years. How long did the morning and eveing of a day take? Twenty-four hours.. I think not. It could have been seven hundred million years. These are six periods ceration. How long did Adam exist outside the garden after the fall before God again delt with him? One hundred, two hundred, maybe 300 years, could have been. How many families could have started in 300 years? Yes the Children of Adam took their sibling as mate.. There wasn't anyone else. There were close enough to the creation that their DNA hadn't had much of a chance to pick up damaging errors. Today this would be dangerous and we all know it, but it's because our DNA is not pure... Jim

Answer 2

It wasn't that Cain's offering was less important than Abel's. It was that Cain did not offer his best to the Lord. As far as Cain's wife the Bible only says she came from Nod. But I believe I have a reasonable answer to how there was a woman in Nod.

Adam and Eve were in the garden of Eden. But the Bible does not say how long they were there. The could have been there for many many years. The bible also speaks very little about the birth of female children, especially in the old Testament. We only know that Eve bore two male children which the Bible speaks of. Yet for the world to be populated they would have had many children, male and female. Eve may have bore 50 or 100 female children before Cain and Abel. When they were cast out of the garden it is possible that some of Eve's female children went to other places, including Nod. When Cain received his mark and then later married a woman from Nod, it is entirely possible that this woman was his sister.

I have no way of proving all this but it does sound reasonable.

Answer 3

This is the reason God preferred Abels' sacrifice.
It seems, from what happened later, that Cain while under the instruction of his parents was gradually resenting and rebelling against what he was being taught with regard to the need of a substitutionary sacrifice of innocent blood to cover his sin. Thus he was doubting God's word. Acting now alone, he comes in unbelief, presenting the fruits of the ground, which God had cursed, instead of an animal sacrifice which God had prescribed.
Genesis 4:17 says, "Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch." Who was his wife? It is implied in the biblical text that Cain married one of his sisters. Several facts lead us to this conclusion.
First, it is clear that Adam and Eve had a number of children. Genesis 5:4 says, "After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters." Since Adam and Eve were the first man and woman, and since God had commanded them (and their descendants) to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28), it seems reasonable to conclude that Cain married one of his many sisters. It is also possible that he married a niece or even a grandniece.
One must keep in mind that in the early years of the human race there were no genetic defects that had yet developed as a result of the fall of man. By the time of Abraham, God had not yet declared this kind of marriage to be contrary to His will (see Genesis 20:12). Laws governing incest apparently did not become enacted until the time of Moses (Lev 18:7-17; 20:11,12,14,17,20,21). Hence, there was no prohibition regarding marrying a sister (or niece or grandniece) in the days of Cain.
To learn more on this subject you can go to http://www.answersingenesis.org

Answer 4

Well let me answer a question with a question. And I'm sorry cuz I hate when others do this with me. So I apologize.

When were the laws of God against marrying close relatives established?
After the flood of Noah hundreds of years after Cain married.

Why was this law probably put into affect after Noah and not before.
I imagine because God wanted the world to be populated. In the beginning Adam and Eve's genes were perfect. No mutations at all and I suspect none or virtually none of any consequence in Cain and Abel. They could marry their sisters and have no fear of having genetic problems come out in their children. I imagine it would be many generations of people that would be on the earth before any mutations emerged and became a problem.
What could hasten this and make a law against close relations marrying necessary for species survival?
A bottlenecking of genetic information where all of a sudden, the genetic diversity throughout humanity was drastically limited or narrowed. When do we see this? At the flood when only Noah and his sons and their wives survived. When was the law set into place? After the flood.

The whole "icky" thing associated with marrying a sibling I think came partly from culture and partly perhaps God made it that way in our minds and hearts to discourage that kind of relationship.

Ok....Cain and Abels sacrifice. What was the first sacrifice? The one God Himself did when He covered Adam and Eve in the Garden with animal skins, symbolizing their death and shed blood "covered" or atoned for the sins of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve literally wore their atonement on their bodies as symbols. This goes back to the law that there is no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood. Abel brought an animal and shed it's blood, creating an appropriate sacrifice for his sins.....Cain disobeyed and brought vegetables. This was disobedient. Cain couldn't perchase a lamb or goat from his brother Abel the shepard? He certainly had bartoring goods. He could have traded vegetables with his brother Abel for an animal to make it an appropriate sacrifice. But for whatever reason he would not. This is why God was not pleased. No shedding of blood and the fact that Cain hated his brother Abel MORE than he loved God. His anger or jealousy or what have you was more important to Cain than Cains love and obedience to God.

Answer 5

Adam and Eve had other children. Scientifically it was possible back then to marry your sister and have normal kids because the gene pool was stronger. If you think about it reasonably, how many kids could you have without unprotected sex? Also the Earths atmospheric pressure was different prior to the flood. There was a water bubble surrounding the Earth causing a healing type atmosphere much like the pressure chambers used in medical science for extreme wreck cases. People lived longer and healed faster. So a woman could have many babies and not suffer as much as today. Theoretically a woman could have a child every nine months. The earth would populate really quick if you think about this as the truth.

As far as the rejection of Cains sacrifice the Bible says it was done without faith. This may have meant Cain gave it to the Lord unwillingly or half hearted...

Answer 6

There are two schools of thought on the origin of Cain's wife. (At least 2 that I've heard of) One being that Adam and Eve and their children were the only inhabitants of the Earth. Although no other children were mentioned, it is possible that Adma and Eve did have more children, one of which may have become Cain's wife (A little strange I know) I've also heard it said that God created more men and women, other than Adam and Eve, who populated other parts of the world. Cain could have married one of those women.

As far as the offerings go, Cain's offering was not one of sacrifice. Cain gave whatever he felt like. Where as Abel gave his first fruits (the first born of his flock, and their fat) which showed a respect for God. There was no telling if the rest of Abel's flock would be fruitful, and would sustain him, but he still gave God his first.

I hope this helps. You may also want to consult www.biblegateway.com they often have commentary online. Good Luck!

Answer 7

Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters, so to be ableto multiply they had to have insest.God preferred Abels sacrifice a goat to Cains crops because God gave Cain his best crops, but Cain didn't he gave what was left over.

Answer 8

It has to do with the attitude of the heart and the manner in which Cain brought his offering.

It kind of ties in with what Christians know as tithes and offerings.

Abel did what he knew was right in his heart.
The fatted calf he brought the offerings from was a "first born" and the offering he brought would have been the first thing he did. Before eating any himself and doing anything else he saw to it that the Lord was thought of first.
The offering he brought before the Lord was exactly what he should do and the Lord saw it and was pleased.

It's kind of like one of your kids getting a good grade on a paper at school and wanting Dad to be the first person they show it too. Nobody else can see it until Dad does.

Cain on the other hand seemed to half-heartedly go "yea, whatever. here's these vegetables." The scripture say in Genesis Chap 4 that Cain brough "some fruit from the soul." the language suggest that he did not put his heart into it and did not put the Lord first

So the Lord was not pleased with what he saw out of Cain. And like any 2 brothers, when the one gets the favor of the parent, the other one gets jealous. causing Cain to mad at Abel and the whole murder ensues.

The Lord tells Cain he has nobody to blame except himself. 6 Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

As to the whole Cain's wife issue....
16 So Cain went out from the Lord's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Eden in our modern world is thought to quite possibly be in southeastern Iraq so he would have set off east from there.

Hope that helps some

Jesus Loves You

Answer 9

Cain's wife was his sister. Adam and Eve had both sons and daughters, inspite the fact that the bible does not mention them. If every thing that ever happened was put on record back then, this world would not be big enough to house those books that contained that information.

Since God made man and woman and told them to be fruitful and multiply, man can only be born through the seed being planted into woman getting furtilized which creates a baby. Knowing this, it stands to reason that Adam and Eve also gave birth to girls as well as boys.You dont' have to have that written down to know that is where babies and people came from starting with Adam and Eve.

God wanted a pure sacrifice and Able gave God a lamb. The shedding of blood was what God expected to cover the sin.When Adam and Eve sinned by eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, God clothed them in coats of animal skins which was the first shedding of blood in reguards to something having to die in order to cover a sin.

Genesis 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

From that moment on, all sins needed to be covered by the sacrificing of a pure blemished free lamb. Cane sacrificed his first crop of vegetables from his garden, and that displeased God. It wasn't a lamb that he sacrificed. I wouldn't doubt it if cane had asked Able for one of His flock, Able would have gladly given him one, knowing it was for God. But Cane was too proud and angry and jealous of his borther Able, so he killed him, and had his brother's blood on his hands.

jGenesis 4:2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

Anytime a baby boy is born it is concidered a blessing to have the family lineage extended through that son. Females have important roles too, but the male lineage was most important to God because it was what specific lineage led to the birth of Jesus. Some women played an important role in that birth, by way of Ruth, mary, etc. Study your bible and you will recognize these women and being an important role player in the future coming of Jesus.

Answer 10

1 - The Bible doesn't say where Cain's wife came from, but if you take it literally, she would have to been one of his sisters.

2 - Abel raised sheep, not goats. As to why Abel's sacrifice was accepted and not Cain's, perhaps Heb. 9.22 gives the answer. "Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins."