For more on this issue, including why intermarriage among adam and eves children in the first generation is. Consequently, although this is not stated, the only logical conclusion is that cain married his sister and they had children. Mary joan winn leith first explores the traditional jewish and christian answers that contend that the wife of cain was another daughter of adam and eve. Jan 19, 2009 dont you think one of his sister would of went with himi dont think he did. And cain went out from the presence of the lord, and dwelt in the land of nod, on the east of eden. The text seems to pose a problem as it makes reference to the wife of cain when so far in the text, only four human beings have been mentioned. Nov 16, 2018 cain and his wifes relationship was a marriage between brother and sister at the first generation level of humans, and, therefore, it was without any genetic danger. Well this verse pretty much sums up the reality of where cain as well as his brother seth got his wife. The book of genesis tells us that adam and eve had two sons, cain and abel.
Cain claimed the right to this sister because he was the firstborn. No woman in scripture has caused as much confusion as cains wife. The narrative continues in genesis 4 with cain settling in the land of nod and having children with his wife. After all, abraham married his halfsister with no problems. How did god intend for people to be fruitful and multiple without sinning. Saying that cain and abel were real is like saying. If cain married his sister, he did not commit incest because incest did not become a crime until thousands of years later. In the bible, all the people on earth at that time were directly descended from adam and eve.
The brothers made sacrifices to god, each of his own produce, but god favored abels sacrifice instead of cain s. When did god no longer allow marriage between close. This answer may sound revolting for those of us who grew up in societies that have attached a stigma to such an idea, but if we start from scripture, the answer is clear. Let me explain by answering this question with another question. The debate over who became the wife of cain and abel has gone on for centuries. The couples first three children were cain, abel and seth, after he begot seth, were eight hundred years. The simple answer is that cain married his sister or another close relation, like a niece. Depending on how much time there was between cain being married, he either married a distant sister, or if enough time transpired, he could have married his own niece.
When did god no longer allow marriage between close relatives. In the day when god created man, he made him in the likeness of god. Adam, eve, cain and his brother abel whom he had killed. God had commanded to be fruitful and multiply, he had not yet given a command against marrying a sister that didnt happen until moses time, and the genetic makeup of man was clearly different at this time due to the old ages of the patriarchs and the ability to procreate in close relations without severe birth defects. In order for their children to marry and reproduce, it was necessary for brothers to marry their sisters. Rabbi tovia singer explains who married adams sons duration. Saying that cain and abel were real is like saying that spot and puff and dick and jane in the old 1950s and 1960s grade school readers were real.
Cain did not marry his sister bible proves this over and over. Since the bible normally does not record the birth of a daughter, we wouldnt have record of these births. After god created adam and eve, they had sons and daughters gen 5. He has been writing, researching, and editing for since. After all, abraham married his half sister with no problems. Nowhere does genesis say that they bore only cain and abel before later creating seth. Cain did not marry his sister bible proves this over and. Intermarriages between brothers and sisters were permissible until god later gave the book of leviticus chapter 18 which condemned these relationships.
Jul, 2014 we know that adam and eve had other sons and daughters in addition to abel, cain, and seth gen. Since they were physically almost perfect, they would have no need to worry about genetic deformities. The understanding in the sisterwife interpretation is basic and standard. She actually was his niece daughter of his halfbrother haran and he stretched the truth when he called her his sister. They had no congenital defects to pass on to their offspring. And for that matter, where did cains son enoch get his wife, given that cain was exiled. Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore enoch. Since adam and eve were the first and only human beings, their children would have no other choice than to intermarry. The bible says that after he killed his brother abel, cain married a wife.
There are numerous examples of incest in the bible. Some might replay that such would be wrong, because it would be incest. He has uncovered the nakedness of his sister, he shall bear his guilt. The third generations of humans had no need for this loophole, because marriage between first cousins is not considered incest according to torah law. Brothersister marriage is inescapable, unless we resort to more such deus ex machina explanations of special creations of more women. The only possible answer is that cains wife was his sister or niece or greatniece, etc. Changed with law it was when god gave the people the law of moses that he established laws forbidding a man from marrying a sister or niece. After the world was formed, god finished his work of creation by raising one man from the dust and one woman from the mans ribs. Where did cain get his wife if there were only 3 people on. Cain, the firstborn, was a farmer, and his brother abel was a shepherd. Some of these had apparently moved away and settled east of eden, in nod, where cain and his wife moved to. Cain married a relative, just as, really, each person today marries one of his or her relatives. Abel maintained that he should marry her because she was his triplet.
And in the first year of the first week of the fifth jubilee, 197 a. God did not forbid interfamily marriage until much later when there were enough people to make intermarriage unnecessary leviticus 18. Since they were both farmers, they were likely both fullgrown adults, possibly with families of their own. Travis shaffer, pastor of greenvale baptist church in gray station tn. The scriptures are clear, eve was the mother of both cain and cain s wife, his sister. Were not told when cain married or many of the details of other marriages and children, but we can say for certain that cain s wife was either his sister or a close relative. He could have married his sister or his niece, or his grandniece, or his greatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgrandniece i think you get the idea. Cain did not marry his sister, because like the story of adam and eve, the story of cain and abel is dr. Rabbi menachem posner serves as staff editor at, the worlds largest jewish informational website. Dna damage accumulates over time, but even 2000 years later. Adam and eve likely had several female children but the misogynistic nature of the bible means that females are hardly mentioned except when they do something bad. Or did he marry one of cains daughters, his own niece, although cain had been exiled by then. Note warning to all christians who were taught a lie over the truth, you are about to be awakened.
Cain then murdered abel, whereupon god punished cain by condemning him to a life of wandering. That r some sign of incomplete bible,hadit says cain marry his sister,paul did not witness d lifetime of adam so d bible didnt reveal it but d superior god know everytin and has been revealed in d islamic scripture 1 woman raised from the dead after 12 days. And cain took awan his sister to be his wife and she bare him enoch at the close of the fourth jubilee. And though we now follow guidelines of marriage by way of levitical law, we are still, all from the same family. Someone might have showed you that, but it wasnt god. Cain did not marry his sister bible proves this over. Sep, 2007 thus, cains wife is a descendant of adamman. Skeptics have pointed out that the only viable solution to the problem of cain s wife cain marrying his sister suffers from theological problems, since close relations were not allowed to marry according to jewish law. The bible does not say how old cain was when he killed abel genesis 4. Adam and eve bore daughters in addition to their sons, one of whom became cains wife. When adam was about to marry them abel with iqlimiya and qabil with layudha, red. According to this reasoning, cain would have married his sisterone of abels twin sisters no less, according to the genesis rabbah. Therefore, she had to be his sister or possibly niece. Cain kills his brother abel for some reason or other.
Marriage to a sister in the early stage of the human race was not considered wrong or unnatural. Deals with this question from the king james version bible. Notice, however, that cain did not marry before he settled in nod, and that when he did settle in nod, it was already populated. As adam and eve were the first human pair on earth, and by natural generation had three sons who are namedcain, abel, sethand there is no mention of any. So enoch, no doubt, also married his own sister, the daughter of cain and his unnamed wife. Hebrew readers should be able to make this connection easier. Even if people choose to believe we came from primordial soup, when we began to marry we married a relative. Jun 22, 2005 quotemamageekif adam and eve are the parents of all humankind, did cain marry his sister. The earliest inhabitants of earth had no other choice than to marry their brothers and sisters in order to fulfill the divine command, be fruitful and multiply acts 17. Who picked and chose what books went in the bible, and did. For more on this issue, including why intermarriage among adam and eves children in the first generation is morally acceptable, please see our previous response. Cain couldnt have married one of his daughters but he could have married a sister or a niece. Skeptics of the bible have used cains wife time and again to discredit the book of genesis as a true historical record. Cain and his wifes relationship was a marriage between brother and sister at the first generation level of humans, and, therefore, it was without any genetic danger.
In addition, as the ancient rabbis attest, cain wouldve married one of his sisters. This is usually because of societal taboos or fear of genetic defects. Although the prosecutor during the scopes trial failed to answer this question, rabbi tovia singer addresses this conundrum live on air. While it is true that the bible does not specifically say cain s wife was his sister, we know from scripture since adam and eve were the first and only human beings that their children would have no other choice than to marry each other in order to fulfill the divine command to be fruitful and multiply. The most commonly thoughtof examples are the sonsdaughters of adam and eve genesis 4, abraham marrying his halfsister sarah genesis 20. May 23, 2014 cain did not marry his sister bible proves this over and over. Cains wife all the women of the bible bible gateway. Cain most likely married his sister cain likely married a sister or a niece. It is rather unfortunate that churches and religious leaders seem to have severely dropped the ball when it comes to this very common question.
One of the most oftenasked questions about the bible is that of cains wife. Brothersister marriage is inescapable, unless we resort to more such deus ex machina explanations of special creations of. Since men and women lived to be hundreds of years old in the primeval world, populations grew rapidly, and cain had plenty of time to marry a sister or possibly a niece, move to nod, and build a city for his own descendants and others. That cain married his sister or a later female descendant of adam through the marriage of any of adams sons or daughters is viewed by some societies today as unthinkable. The short answer is that the brothers had to marry their sisters. Dont you think one of his sister would of went with himi dont think he did. But later during the patriarchal age, as an increasing number of men and women cousins became available, cousins with an increasing number of removals, then what i think is our. We know that adam and eve were the first people, so who did cain and abel marry in order to multiply the human race. Cain was married to either his sister or his niece.
While the bible does not give a complete account of the order or names of adam and eves children, it does say that he adam had other sons and daughters genesis 5. When cain tells god, whoever finds me will kill me genesis 4. In answer to this, conservative readers point to a later verse, gen 5. Did cain marry his sister or did he searchout and find a woman from elsewhere. In the biblical book of genesis, cain and abel are the first two sons of adam and eve. According to the bible, we are all descendants of adam and eve and the only ones who can benefit from the salvation provided by god romans 5. People have often asked, where did cain get his wife. The most commonly held belief among christians is that cains wife was simply one of his sisters. Cain and abel both wanted to marry the younger of abels youngest triplet sisters and after arguing about it they both decided that they should marry their sister who was born with them. In a sunni islamic version, allah promises permits adam to marry one of the twin pairs with one of the pairs of qabil with the beautifullooking iqlimiya, while the twin pairs of his sister named abel and layudha are less attractive. Many people immediately reject the conclusion that adam and eves sons and daughters married each other by appealing to the law against.
And he then founded a city, and named the city after his son enoch. So cain knew his wife in the land of nod and they had a. If adam and eve were the first people, and cain their first child, whom did he marry. The lord made only two people, so the only people available for adam and eves sons to marry were their own sisters. Can he make two mountains without making a valley in between.
His word indicates that adam was the first man and eve the first woman. Consequently, although this is not stated, the only logical conclusion is that cain married his sister and they had children together. Candice lucey contributing writer after the world was formed, god finished his work of creation by raising one man from the dust and one woman from the mans ribs. Because she would see her brother able in the face a cain everyday of her life.
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