Where did Cain get his wife? A stumbling block for believing creation account in Genesis. Any ideas?

Question

Many skeptics have claimed that, for Cain to find a wife, there must have been other "races" of people on the earth who were not descendants of Adam & Eve. Do you think there were? If so, who were they?Why is this a stumbling block for many people to accept the creation account in Genesis and its record of only one man and woman with the beginning of history. Is there an answer? Is the reason mentined in the Bible?

Answer 1

Why is it a "stumbling block"? In the beginning of time,there were not genetic diseases (as there are today) and no taboo against marriage within families. He married one of his sisters.

Answer 2

If we now work totally from Scripture, without any personal prejudices or other extra-biblical ideas, then back at the beginning, when there was only the first generation, brothers would have had to have married sisters or there would be no more generations!

The Bible does not tell us how many children were born to Adam and Eve. However, considering their long life spans (Adam lived for 930 years—Genesis 5:5), it would seem reasonable to suggest there were many! Remember, They were commanded to “Be fruitful, and multiply” (Genesis 1:28).

Many Christians cannot answer the question about Cain's wife because they focus on today's world (and the problems associated with close relations marrying), and do not understand the clear historical record God has given to us.
They try to interpret Genesis from our present situation, rather than understand the true biblical history of the world and the changes that have occurred because of sin.

Answer 3

Genesis 4:16-17

So Cain went out from the Lord's presence and lived in the land of Nod (which means wandering), east of Eden.
Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch.

So....
If he had a wife before his exile and she came with him she was likely a very close relative. Otherwise she came from Nod.

I believe that if the Bible is meant to be told as a history (which it really is not), then you have to believe that in Genesis 1:26 that God is creating man, but not Adam and Eve. In Genesis chapter 2 it sounds like Adam came about on the 2nd day, got to work on the 3rd, and Eve was created on the 6th.

Answer 4

Cain had intercourse with his wife and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch.”—Gen. 4:17.

Where, then, did Cain get his wife? It was obviously from among his own family. His wife was one of his fleshly sisters, a daughter of Adam and Eve. Cain was likely married at the time he killed Abel, or shortly thereafter took one of his sisters as a wife. They then traveled together to the land of Fugitiveness, where they took up residence and started their own family.

Even though Adam and Eve sinned and became imperfect, Cain and his brothers and sisters were still so near to physical perfection that the children they produced did not suffer the same adverse effects as do children born of such unions today. Even some 2,000 years afterward, God’s faithful servant Abraham married his half-sister Sarah, and God did not disapprove. (Gen. 20:12) It was yet another 450 years or so before God saw fit to provide his nation of Israel a body of laws that forbade incest on penalty of death. (Lev. 18:8-17) By that time imperfection had apparently developed to such an extent that no longer was it safe for close relatives to marry.

So, really, the question of where Cain got his wife is not a difficult one. The answer is provided right within the Bible, and it becomes obvious when the Bible account is read carefully.

Answer 5

Cain's wife was one of his sisters. The bible never said that Cain and Abel were Adam and Eve's only children. They had more children after Cain And Abel and Cain married one of them. Back then, there wer not problems with siblings marrying. I don't think that is mentioned in the bible, but I did learn it in a bible study class years ago.

Answer 6

Please take into account that although Adam and Eve had only three children mentioned in the bible, Adam lived to be 930 years of age, which means that he had other children according to the commandment of the Lord, to fill the earth and replenish it. Cain, after being leaving and finding himself in the land of nod, found himself one of his sisters and married her. And although that is not written in the bible it is a safe assumption to make. There were no other people other than adam,even, cain, able,seth, and the other children that followed.

Answer 7

It is never really answered in the bible. Except that at a time declared by God man was not able to take a sister or a cousin as a wife anymore. So therefore at one time when mans genetics was so pure from creation that birth defects prior to God's rule did not affect newborns. People also lived to be 600 to 800 years old. It would be easier for men to marry a sister as she turned of age.

Answer 8

Of course Genesis is a myth and most folks don't take it literally. However, if you want to believe that Genesis is literally true read chapter one and two and you'll find that there were people created in chapter one before the Adam & Eve story in chapter two.

Answer 9

Usually, people that study the bible, will twist and shape it to bring their own facts. They say the bible is a book of facts but when something contradicts the facts, they say that context is metaphorically written. Even people of faith, have so many different interpretation of certain context of the bible, that they disagree with each other.

Answer 10

His wife was his sister. Read the First and Second Books of Adam. They are non-canonical but not condemened or anything.