Where did Cain's wife come from?

Question

It says in the Bible that Cain was cast into the land of Nod. He found his wife. Where did she come from?

Answer 1

It was his sister. The Bible names only Cain, Abel & Seth, but it says that Adam and Eve "had other sons and daughters" (Genesis 5:4). Adam lived for many hundreds of years. After sons and daughters were married, their offspring married (cousins), and so on until now when we don't marry close relatives. But we are all related and part of the same family if you go back far enough.
By the way, "Nod" means "wandering." Cain took his sister, or she was sent to him wherever he was hanging out in the wilderness, and they began a nomadic people.

Answer 2

The Bible says that Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters. Genesis 5:4 says "And the days of Adam after his fathering Seth came to be eight hundred years. Meanwhile he became father to sons and daughters."

Scientists agree that, looking at the laws of genealogy, we all came from one human pair. So, wether you believe man was created or evolved, sexual relations must have occured somewhere between a brother and sister or cousins.

Sometime after the Flood, God gave laws to the Isrealites and incest was forbidden. This is because man was so far removed from Edenic perfection that such a relationship could have adverse affects on any children born from it.

Cain would have married his sister, or perhaps a cousin, but this would not have been classed as incest because it would not have caused any ill-effects for their children. It was also necessary to kick-start the human race.

Incidentally, some people read into the Bible that Cain's wife came from the Land of Fugitiveness (Land of Nod) and assume that other people were created as well as Adam and Eve. However, the Bible merely says that Cain went to the Land of Fugitiveness and while there his wife gave birth to Enoch. It in no way implies that he met her there.

Genesis 4:16 says that Cain "took up residence in the land of Fugitiveness to the east of Eden." Then verse 17 says: "Afterward Cain had intercourse with his wife and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch." It does not say that Cain left for the land of Fugitiveness alone and that he got married after he got there.

If there were multiple creations of humans and only Adam and Eve sinned, then only Adam and Eve would have been punished. The only mention of death in Eden was if God was disobeyed. Had others been created and if they did not sin, then they would still be here on earth.

Acts 17:26 says: "And he made out of one man every nation of men, to dwell upon the entire surface of the earth."

Answer 3

- Adam was the first man.

1Corinthians 15:45 (NLT) The Scriptures tell us, "The first man, Adam, became a living person."

- Eve was the first woman.

Genesis 2:20 He gave names to all the livestock, birds, and wild animals. But still there was no companion suitable for him. (Eve is created two verses later). This Lilith bull-crap is nothing but a rabbinic tradition and is non-biblical.

- All human beings are related.

Acts 17:26 (NLT) From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth.

- Cain’s wife is a descendant of Adam

Genesis 2:23 And Adam said, This [is] now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Woman - Strong’s Concordance [0802] ishshah

Genesis 4:17 And Cain knew his wife;…
Wife – Strong’s Concordance [0802] ishshah

The name “woman” – ishshah – is given to one who came from Adam. Therefore, she had to be his sister (or possibly niece).

This law forbidding close relatives marrying was not given until the time of Moses (Leviticus 18–20). Provided marriage was one man for one woman for life (based on Genesis 1–2), there was no disobedience to God’s law originally (before the time of Moses) when close relatives (even brothers and sisters) married each other.

From what has been stated above, it is clear that all humans, Cain’s wife included, are descendants of Adam. However, this passage does not say that Cain went to the land of Nod and found a wife. John Calvin in commenting on these verses states:
From the context we may gather that Cain, before he slew his brother, had married a wife; otherwise Moses would now have related something respecting his marriage.11
Cain was married before he went to the land of Nod. He didn’t find a wife there but “knew” (had sexual relations with) his wife.12
This makes sense in light of what Nod is, too. Nod means “wandering” in Hebrew. So when Cain went to the land of Nod, he was literally going to the land of wandering, not a place full of people.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/who-was-cains-wife

Answer 4

The land of Nod is just a way for those who told the story of Cain to have a place outside of this garden of Eden. They used realistic references ot places that exist today because it made the story more interesting. However, It is simply a story about a guy who killed his brother and was sent away. There were obviously other people around. There are American Indians, Olmec, Arawak and others who can tell you what happened long before Adam and Eve.

Live.

Answer 5

Adam and Eve were the first people created and they were created in the Garden of Eden. And yes, they had two sons, Cain and Abel. The bible is clearly pointing out who they were and where they were created. He would have had to create other people as well in other places. He wasn't trying to make a point with the other people, just who was first and where they were from.

Answer 6

During time that Cain and Able was growing up, Adam and Eve had lots more children to populate the earth. It was also said that Adam and Eve's bloodline was so pure that one didn't have to worry about the sins of "inbreeding" until many generations from that point.

Answer 7

Hi,
Many will say it was his sister or cousin. Some will argue it was from the Sixth Day creation, because some Bible scholars read that Adam was actually created on the Eighth Day. There are many Bible studies that pertain to this debate.

Answer 8

how old did Adam live ? how old was Adam when Cain was born? how many other kids did Adam have before Cain was born in the hundreds of year that Adam lived? how many of these kids that Adam had in the hundreds of years that he lived had kids that had kids that had kids that had kid that had kids ect. ect. ect and how many of all these people went to other places and made towns and cities where even more kids where born ? answer all these questions and then maybe you will find out the answer to the question you ask.

Answer 9

"His wife"... She was a daughter of Adam, and Cain's own sister; God dispensing with such marriages in the beginning of the world, as mankind could not otherwise be propagated. He built a city. In process of time, when his race was multiplied, so as to be numerous enough to people it. For in the many hundred years he lived, his race might be multiplied even to millions.

Answer 10

Adam and Eve had sons and daughters (Genesis 5:4) and they married.

It's interesting to me that this question comes up so often. If you believe in evolution, the first sexual beings children would have reproduce by incest. Nobody cares. If you believe in Genesis though, people have a problem with it and make fun of it.

Mike