The most talked about wife in history.
We don't even know her name, but she was discussed at the Scopes trial, mentioned in the films Inherit the Wind and Contact, and her image has been on the tongues of many countries around the world for centuries.
Bible skeptics have used the issue of Cain's wife more than once to try to discredit the book of Genesis as a genuine historical record. It is sad to say that most Christians have not adequately answered this question. As a result, the world sees their failure to defend the authority and reliability of Scripture, and thus the Christian faith as a whole.
For example, in the landmark 1925 Scopes trial in Tennessee, William Jennings Bryan, a Christian plaintiff, failed to answer a question about Cain's wife asked by lawyer Clarence Darrow. Let's consider the following excerpt from Brian's interrogation tape:
Q - Have you discovered where Cain found his wife? A - No, I left that for the agnostics. Q - Have you ever found the answer? A - I never tried to find him. Q - Have you ever tried to find him? Oh no. Q - The Bible says that he found a wife, doesn’t it? Were there other people on Earth at that time? A - I can't say. Q - You can't say. Have you ever taken this into consideration? A - It never bothered me. Q - Cain found himself a wife, and there was no record of anyone else. A - That's what the Bible says. Q - And you don’t know where Cain’s wife came from.
The world's press covered this trial widely, and what was heard left an imprint on Christianity to this day - Christians cannot defend the Bible record!
Currently, the same example was given by Carl Sagan in his book Contact (which was on the New York Times bestseller list) and was used in the film of the same name based on this book.
In the book we read a description of how the fictional character Ellie could not get answers to her questions from the priest's wife, who was the leader of a discussion group in the church:
Ellie had never read the Bible seriously before... So over the weekend before her first class, she read, trying to be objective, what seemed to be the most important part of the Old Testament. She immediately noticed that there were two different, mutually contradictory stories of Creation... and could not figure out exactly who Cain married.
Sagan cleverly posed the usual questions (including the question of Cain's wife) that are often asked of Christians in an attempt to supposedly "prove" that the Bible is full of contradictions and cannot be defended. The truth is that most Christians may not be able to answer these questions! And at the same time, there ARE answers.
But because there is a lack of apologist teaching in the churches, especially regarding the skeptics of the book of Genesis, most believers in the church are unable to be “... ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with gentleness and blessing.” (1 Peter 3:15)
Why is it important ?
Many argued that in order for Cain to find a wife, there would have to be other “races” of people on Earth who, by their origin, were not descendants of Adam and Eve. For many people, this question is a stumbling block in accepting the book of Genesis and the story that at the beginning of history there was only one man and one woman on Earth.
Proponents of the gospel must be able to prove that all people are the descendants of one man and one woman (Adam and Eve) - since only the descendants of Adam and Eve can be saved. Therefore, when asked about Cain's wife, believers need to make it clear that she was a descendant of Adam and Eve.
One of the most asked questions is “Where did Cain find his wife?” In order to answer it, we first need to turn to the primary source, the information.
Where did the technology come from?
Some claim that in order for Cain to go to the land of Nod and build a city, he would need technology that would already exist in that land, and it is assumed that it was developed by other "kinds".
However, the descendants of Adam and Eve were very smart people. Jubal made musical instruments such as the harp and pipe (Genesis 4:21), and Tubalcain worked with copper and iron (Genesis 4:22).
Due to the intensive drumming of evolutionary ideas into the head, many people today think that the current generation is the smartest of all who have lived on our planet. But just because we have jets and computers doesn't mean we're smarter than everyone else. Modern technologies are the result of the accumulation of knowledge. We stand on the shoulders of all those who came before us.
Our brains have suffered from 6,000 years of Curse (since Adam). We have greatly degenerated compared to people who lived many generations ago. Perhaps now we cannot compare in intelligence or ingenuity with the children of Adam and Eve. Scripture throws some light upon us of what appears to be enormous original ingenuity.[16]
First man
“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12)
We read in 1 Corinthians 15:45 that Adam was “the first man.” God did not start by creating an entire “race” of people.
The Bible clearly states that ONLY the descendants of Adam can be saved. Romans chapter five says that we sin because Adam sinned. The punishment of death that Adam received for his disobedience passed on to all his descendants.
Adam was the head of humanity, so when he “fell,” we, as his descendants, also “fell.” Thus, we are all separated from God. The end result of sin would be to separate us from God forever in such a sinful state. However, it is joyful to admit that there is a path for us to return to God!
Man brought sin and death into the world, so all of humanity - and these are all the descendants of Adam - needed a sinless Man who could atone for the punishment for sin and the resulting death. However, the Bible indicates that “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23). How then could this issue be resolved?
Find out more
What was Adam, the first man, really like?
This popular answer is in our children's section, but is written at a level that adults will enjoy too.
- God's Story, from Creation to Eternity
- Frequently Asked Questions about Genesis
- Facts about Creation and Evolution
- Alleged Contradictions in the Bible
- Books and films about the Creation
- Archeology confirms the Bible
- Bible
- Is there evidence of biblical events in extra-biblical written sources? Answer
The Last Adam
God has provided a way to save us from our lost state.
Paul explains in 1 Corinthians that God sent another Adam! The Son of God became a man - a perfect man, but at the same time our relative! Jesus is called the “last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45) because He took the place of the first Adam. He became the new head, and because he was sinless, he was able to pay the debt of sin:
“For as death came through man, so also came the resurrection of the dead through man. Just as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will live” (1 Corinthians 15:21, 22)
Christ suffered death (the penalty for sin) on the cross, shedding His blood (without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness - Hebrews 9:22) so that all those who trusted Him would repent of their disobedience (in Adam) and be reunited with God.
Thus, only the descendants of Adam can be saved.
Everyone is related
According to the Bible, all people are sinners and we are all relatives:
“Of one blood He made the human race to dwell upon all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26)
The Gospel is understandable only on the basis of the fact that all people living and who have ever lived (with the exception of the first woman) are descendants of the first man - Adam. If this were not true, the gospel could not be explained or defended.
Thus, in the beginning there was only one man—created from the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7).
This also means that Cain's wife was a descendant of Adam. She could not have descended from another "race" of people and was therefore one of the descendants of Adam.
First woman
In Genesis 3:20 we read:
“And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, for she became the mother of all living.”
In other words, all people except Adam are descendants of Eve, she was the first woman.
Eve was created from Adam's rib (Genesis 3:21–24), a unique phenomenon. In the new covenant, Jesus (Matthew 19:4–6) and Paul (Ephesians 5:31) use this historical and one-time event as the basis for marriage between one man and one woman.
Also in Genesis 2:20 it says that when Adam looked at the animals, he could not find a helper like him.
All this makes it very clear that there was only one woman present, Adam's wife, from the very beginning. There could be no “race” of women.
Therefore, if Christians cannot defend the fact that all people (including Cain's wife) can trace their ancestry back to Adam and Eve, then how can they understand and explain the entire gospel? How can they justify sending missionaries to every tribe and nation? Therefore, everyone needs to be able to answer the question about Cain's wife, thereby showing that Christians can defend the gospel and everything it teaches.
Was she the most talked about wife in history?
We don't even know its name, but it was discussed at the Scopes trial, mentioned in the films Inherit the Wind and Contact, and has been on the tongues of many countries around the world for centuries.
Bible skeptics have used the issue of Cain's wife more than once to try to discredit the book of Genesis as a genuine historical record. It is sad to say that most Christians have not adequately answered this question. As a result, the world sees them as unable to defend Scripture as an authoritative source and thus the Christian faith.
For example, in the landmark 1925 Scopes trial in Tennessee, William Jennings Bryan, a pro-Christian plaintiff, was unable to answer a question about Cain's wife posed by lawyer Clorence Darrow. Consider the following excerpt from Brian's interrogation tape:
Q - Have you discovered where Cain found his wife? A - No, I left that for the agnostics. Q - Have you ever found the answer? A - I never tried to find him. Q - Have you ever tried to find him? Oh no. Q - The Bible says that he found a wife, doesn’t it? Were there other people on Earth at that time? A - I can't say. Q - You can't say. Have you ever taken this into consideration? A - It never bothered me. Q - Cain found himself a wife, and there was no record of anyone else. A - That's what the Bible says. Q - And you don’t know where Cain’s wife came from. 3
The world's press covered this trial widely, and what was heard left an imprint on Christianity to this day - Christians cannot defend the Bible record!
Currently, the same example was given by Carl Sagan in his book Contact4 (which was on the New York Times bestseller list) and was used in the film of the same name based on this book.
In the book we read a description of how the fictional character Ellie could not get answers to her questions from the priest's wife, who was the leader of a discussion group in the church:
Ellie had never read the Bible seriously before... So over the weekend before her first class, she read, trying to be objective, what seemed to be the most important part of the Old Testament. She immediately noticed that there were two different, mutually contradictory stories of Creation... and could not figure out exactly who Cain married. 5
Sagan cleverly posed the usual questions (including the question of Cain's wife) that are often asked of Christians in an attempt to supposedly "prove" that the Bible is full of contradictions and cannot be defended. The truth is that most Christians may not be able to answer these questions! And at the same time, there ARE answers. But since there is a lack of apologetic teaching in the churches, 6
Especially in relation to the skeptics of the book of Genesis, most believers in the church are unable to be “...ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that is in you with gentleness and blessing.” (1 Peter 3:15)
Cain's wife
Who is Cain?
Cain was the first child of Adam and Eve mentioned in Scripture (Genesis 4:1). He and his brothers Abel (Genesis 4:2) and Seth (Genesis 4:25) were part of the FIRST generation of children to be born on the earth. Although only three sons are mentioned in Scripture, Adam and Eve had other children.
Cain's Brothers and Sisters
In Genesis 5:4 we find a statement that sums up the lives of Adam and Eve:
“The days of Adam after he begat Seth were eight hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters.”
During their lives, Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters. Jewish historian Josephus wrote:
"The number of the children of Adam and Eve, according to what ancient tradition says, was thirty-three sons and twenty-three daughters."
Scripture does not give the exact number of children born to Adam and Eve, but given the length of their lives (Adam lived 930 years - Genesis 5:5), it would be logical to assume that there were many of them! (Remember, in Genesis 1:28 they were told to “be fruitful and multiply”)
Wife
If we look at the Scriptures, without taking into account prejudices and other ideas, then when in the very beginning there was only the first generation of people, brothers were forced to marry their sisters, otherwise there would be no other generations!
We do not know when Cain married, and no details are given about other marriages or children, but we can assume that Cain's wife was his sister or another close relative.
Objections
God's law
Many are quick to reject the conclusion that the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve married each other, based on laws prohibiting marriage between close relatives. Some people say that you should not marry a relative. Actually, if you marry someone other than a relative, then he is not a person!
The wife is related to her husband even before marriage, because ALL people are descendants of Adam and Eve, all from the same blood. There was no law prohibiting close relatives from marrying until the time of Moses (Leviticus 18–20). Based on the fact that marriage united one man and one woman for life (Genesis 1 and 2), in the beginning it was not a violation of God's law (before Moses) for marriages to take place between close relatives, even between brothers and sisters.
Notice that Abraham married his paternal sister (Genesis 20:12). The Law of Moses prohibited such marriages, but this did not happen until four hundred years later.
Biological deformities
Today, according to existing laws, siblings (as well as brothers and sisters of one of the parents) cannot marry each other and have children.
It is true that children of sibling marriages are at risk of being abnormal. By the way, the closer the relationship of the spouses, the higher the risk of abnormalities in the offspring. This is easy for the average person to understand without going into detailed explanations.
Everyone receives a set of genes from their father and mother. Unfortunately, genes today contain a lot of errors (due to the Fall), and these errors manifest themselves in very different ways. For example, some grow their hair to hide the fact that they have one ear lower than the other, or perhaps that their nose is not quite in the middle of their face, or that their chin is not quite the normal shape. Let's admit that the reason we call each other normal is because we agree to think so.
The closer the relationship between two people, the higher the possibility of having the same errors in their genes, received from the same parents. Therefore, a brother and sister are likely to have the same errors in their genetic information. A child born from the marriage of a brother and sister inherits one set of genes from each parent. Since the genes are likely to carry the same errors, the violations are duplicated, and the result will be deformed offspring.
On the contrary, the further the parents are related, the higher the likelihood that their genes will not carry the same errors. Children who inherit one set of genes from each parent are likely to get a good gene in every pair with a bad gene. Usually the good gene takes over, and deviation (at least serious) will not occur. For example, instead of completely deformed ears, there will be only slightly crooked ears. (In general, however, the human race is slowly degenerating, accumulating errors generation after generation).
However, this fact of life today does not apply to Adam and Eve. The first two people were created perfect. Everything God created was “very good” (Genesis 1:31) This means that their genes were perfect, without errors! But when sin entered the world (because of Adam - Genesis 3:6), God cursed the world and the perfect creation began to degenerate; death and corruption have come (Romans 8:22). Over a long period of time, this process manifested itself in all kinds of distortions of the genetic material of all living beings.
But Cain belonged to the first generation of children born. He (and his brothers and sisters) received virtually perfect genes from Adam and Eve, since the effects of sin were still minimal. In such a situation, brother and sister could marry (on the basis of one man marrying one woman—which is what marriage is according to Matthew 19:4–6) without any likelihood of abnormalities appearing in the offspring.
By the time of Moses (about 2,500 years later), degenerative errors had accumulated in such numbers that God was forced to make laws prohibiting marriage not only between brothers and sisters, but also among all close relatives (Leviticus 18–20).
(Also, by that time there were many people on Earth, and there was no need for close relatives to marry.)
From all that has been said, three interrelated reasons can be identified for introducing laws prohibiting consanguineous marriages:
- As we have already discussed, there was a need to protect against the potential for increased deformities among offspring.
- God's laws were instrumental in maintaining a strong, healthy Jewish nation, which was God's purpose.
- These laws protected individuals, families, and society as a whole. Physiological destruction caused by incest must be kept to a minimum.
Cain and the land of Nod
Some argue that part of Genesis 4:16–17 means that Cain went to the land of Nod and found himself a wife. From this they come to the conclusion that there was another race of people on Earth, not consisting of the descendants of Adam and Eve, to which Cain’s wife belonged.
“And Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. And he built a city, and called the city after the name of his son Enoch.”
From what has been stated above, it is clear that ALL people, including Cain's wife, are descendants of Adam. However, this passage does NOT say that Cain went to the land of Nod and found a wife. John Calvin comments on these verses:
“From the context we can understand that Cain was married before killing his brother, otherwise Moses would have written something about Cain being married.”
Cain was married BEFORE he went to the land of Nod. He did not find a wife there, but “knew” (had sexual relations with) his wife.
Who was Cain afraid of?
Some argue that there were many people on Earth other than the descendants of Adam and Eve, otherwise Cain would not have had to fear people wanting to kill him because of what he did to Abel.
Firstly, the reason why anyone wanted to destroy Cain because of the murder of Abel was because they were closely related! (by analogy with blood feud among the modern peoples of the Caucasus - editor's note)
Secondly, Cain and Abel were born long before Abel's death occurred. Genesis 4:3 states.
“After some time, Cain brought a gift to the Lord from the fruits of the ground.”
Note "after some time" . We know that Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old (Genesis 5:3), and Eve saw him as a replacement for Abel (Genesis 4:25). Therefore, the time period from the birth of Cain to the death of Abel could be 100 years or more, which allows enough time for the other children of Adam and Eve to marry
By the time of the murder of Abel, the number of descendants of Adam and Eve could be large, up to several generations.
Where did the technology come from?
Some argue that in order for Cain to go to the land of Nod and build a city, he must have had a large amount of knowledge and skills that were already in that land thanks to other "races". The descendants of Adam and Eve were very smart people. We know that Jubal created musical instruments such as the harp and pipe (Genesis 4:21), and Tubal-Cain forged copper and iron (Genesis 4:22).
Due to the widespread acceptance of the doctrine of evolution, many people believe that their generation is the most advanced that has ever existed on the planet. The fact that we have supersonic planes and computers does not make us the smartest or the wisest. Modern technology is actually the result of the accumulation of knowledge.
We must not forget that our minds have lost a lot in 6000 years (since Adam). We have greatly degenerated compared to people of previous generations. We are far from being as smart and inventive as the children of Adam and Eve were. Scripture talks about what can be called advanced technology from the very beginning.
Cain had the knowledge and talent to build a city!
But what about the Law of God?
Many immediately reject the conclusion that Adam and Eve's children married each other, appealing to the law against marriage between brothers and sisters.
Some people say you can't marry your relative. But in essence, if you are not marrying a relative, you are not marrying a person! The wife is related to her husband even before they marry, because all people descend from Adam and Eve - they are all “of the same blood.” The law prohibiting marriage between close relatives was given only in the time of Moses (Leviticus 18-20). Provided that one man entered into a lifelong marriage with only one woman (based on Genesis 1 and), originally, when close relatives (even brothers and sisters) married each other, this was not disobedience to the law of God. Remember that Abraham was married to his half-sister (Genesis 20:12). God blessed their union to produce, through Isaac and Jacob, the Jewish people. Only 400 years after this, God gave Moses laws prohibiting such marriages.
