Did Cain marry his sister or did he search-out and find a woman from elsewhere? Here is what the Bible says:
And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.
And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, . . . (Genesis 4:16-17 KJV)
So, by these scriptures, it is not obvious whom Cain married and from where his wife came; However, if we look at Genesis 3:20, the Bible makes it plain and simple:
And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. (Gen 3:20 KJV)
Therefore, Eve was the mother of all humanity and there were no human beings past, present, or future apart from Adam and Eve. The scriptures are clear, Eve was the mother of both Cain and Cain’s wife, his sister.
This state of affairs poses several questions that must be addressed:
(1) What about birth defects due to the close relationship of Cain and his sister?
(2) What about the Biblical and social morality laws prohibiting close relationship marriages? and,
(3) Is there any scientific evidence that either supports or contradicts the Bible concerning Eve being the mother of us all?
First, let’s start with the birth defects issue (question 1). It is a fact that when close relatives marry, their children have an increased probability of having birth defects, disease, and even early death. The theme of the Bible is that in the beginning, everything was “very good” (Genesis 1:31), and due to sin, there has been a deterioration of everything (Genesis 3:17). In the beginning, there were no genetic problems, then, after the original sin, genetic mutations started to appear and have continued to increase. So, when Adam and Eve’s children married one another, these mutations were not yet a significant problem. Actually even at the time of Abraham, some 2000 years after the creation, marrying a close relative was not a problem, and sometimes even encouraged by God (Genesis 17:19; Genesis 24:1-60; Genesis 28:10-15). Abraham married his half sister (Genesis 20:12); Isaac married his second cousin (Genesis 24:15); and Jacob married two of his first cousins (Genesis 28:1-7). It wasn’t until the time of Moses (about 2500 years after the creation) that God prohibited marrying close relatives (Leviticus 18:8-18). This was necessary to protect humanity from genetic mutations which had reached levels of concern. This notion that genetic mutations are increasing can be substantiated by the decline in lifespan from Adam who lived 930 years (Genesis 5:5), the lifespan of Moses who lived 120 years (Deuteronomy 34:7), and the present day lifespan which is approximately 67 years world-wide. Also, modern science has accepted the fact that genetic mutations are on the increase.
The next issue (question 2) concerns incest and the laws associated with it. Did God force the offspring of Adam and Eve to break the laws concerning incest? No, when Adam and Eve’s children married one another, there were no laws, Biblical or social, concerning incest. Also, remember, Adam and Eve were closer than siblings, they were identical twins (Genesis 2:21-23) except that Adam was a male (X and Y chromosome) and Eve was a female (two copies of the X chromosome). So, Adam and Eve’s children had no knowledge of or concerns about incest.
And lastly (question 3), concerning the existence of scientific evidence that either supports or contradicts Genesis 3:20, actually, there is much DNA evidence that strongly supports Genesis 3:20. DNA has been collected from humans around the globe over the past couple of decades: tens of thousands of DNA sequences. Geneticists, both secular and creationist, have used these sequences to compile a human genetic tree. This tree clearly shows that we all came from one woman. So, if any other, unrelated group of humans existed during, before or after Eve, there would necessarily be two or more family trees; but, there are not two or more, there is just one.
In conclusion, based on both Genesis and genetics, Cain married his sister.
Here are some other links with some additional background information:
Adam’s DNA
Genesis Chapter 1 and 2
Jesus’ DNA
The Genetics of Sin Nature
Key words: genetics, DNA, Cain, marriage, sin, mutations, incest, close relationship marriages
oops, mistype, sorry.
If you read genesis carefully then you will know for sure there is no incest and that there is 2 creation. Adam was the second creation and the first creation was the gentiles.
Dear Rongit,
Please show us by scriptures why you believe this. We can’t see it.
Admin
Who was/were Cain fearful off? There was only Adam his father, Eve his mother and maybe one or more sisters (of which he married one).
Also, if the Global Flood of Noah is true, then, in fact, all of us descended from the only man left: Noah (and then, from one of his 3 sons). That would also make Noah’s wife ‘the mother of all living’.
Point 1 Cain lived a long time, probably more than 900 years. He did not know how many brothers and sisters he would have. Cain knew that Adam and Eve were commanded to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the Earth. Therefore, he had every right to be fearful, plus he had been rejected by God. In these matters, try to put yourself in the circumstances. Cain’s circumstances were very different from ours.
Point 2 Noah’s wife would not be the mother of Noah or any of those before the flood. Also, take Shem’s sons or daughters; their mother was not related to Noah’s wife. I maintain that only Eve was the mother of all the living.
Point 1: Adam himself was also ‘cursed’ and chased out of the Garden by God. And why would the latter brothers and sisters of Adam seek Cain out for revenge for a dead brother Abel they never knew? Remember, Seth wasn’t even born then.
Point 2: True. Shem’s wife was not related to Noah’s wife. The point is that Noah’s wife gave birth to the 3 men (Shem, Ham and Japheth) whose 3 wives gave birth to the current human race. If the Global Flood account is true, then ALL one of us LIVING today descended from these 3 women.
I know, you meant to say that those 3 women were not born of Noah’s wife, and thus, cannot qualify for the title “Mother of ALL living”. Then the same argument would also apply to Eve. Adam was a living soul not born of Eve. (In fact, God didn’t even breathe into her!). Since she was not the mother of the living Adam, the all-inclusive “ALL” title is not appropriate for her too.
Point 1. Adam’s offspring would know what Cain did to Abel. Adam and Eve would have told them.
Point 2. Eve was also not the mother of the animals, which were also counted as living. What we have here is the breakdown of language and absolute truth. It is difficult to explain anything in absolute truth. If the Bible had to explain every detail, it would be unusable. I like the Bible the way it is. It gives us the truth but not too many details. We have been given brains so that we can use logic. Logically, it seems that the Bible is telling us that all of present-day humanity was born of Adam and Eve, that there were no other sources of our DNA. By the way, secular science is beginning to see that the Bible is correct in the origin of humanity.
Admin
How many generations since Adam
Adam have god walking in Paradise before adam creation.
Adam have god walking in Paradise before adam creation.Adam is a servant of him who he put adam in his farm in the east to cultivate the land.
Utter nonsense. There was no incest anyway. that has been very clearly explained in the text. The question is. why are you making things up to suit your arguments and promote a false narrative? There is and will only be one human line
If Adam was created 6000 years before, what about the earlier mankind who lived many more years before?
Mohammad,
We have concluded from both the Bible and the genetics, that Adam was the first man and there were no humans before him. Neanderthal is pre-flood man; Cro-magnon was a European; Ice man was a European; Africans are just like everyone else with a genetic distance to Neanderthal just like everyone else; and there are miss-truths everywhere.
Thank you so much for your interest in the things of God.
Admin
U r absolutely rite…Mohammed
God made humans on the six day:
Eastern – Chinese, Arabs, Indian , Muslim , Japanese , etc
Northern European
Middle Easterners – Jews
Western Red Indian
Southern African
These first humans were made by sand , white sand , brown sand , black sand ….
God told these humans to re produce and eat the fruit of the land.
Then God needed a government (one world order) and made Adam and Eve. He chose the Jews to be the rulers (cabinet).
God made a decision NOT TO IMPOSE ON OUR FREE WILL AND CHOICES, but taught us right and wrong . The fist government failed – dug into treasury unlawfully (apple) and caused anarchy.
God brought the second Adam , Jesus Christ and He had the “government on His shoulders”.
Every leader who lead through Christ will have s successful regime , country and ppl. However sin will always be part of the world ; dome will repent and others will not.
Diversity in religion:
– The curse of the old law is still embraced by many cultures and it is hardship ;
– Christ followers live by faith, hope, the fruit of the spirit and don’t need to climb Kilimanjaro it Mount Everest to receive Hod’s piece , power and light .
Creation vs Evolution :
They co-exist , the Planet was once void, dark and chaotic. Destroyed by asteroids. The very condition created a composition that God could work with to:
Create ppl who are energy to return as energy unto God when they die ;
– Apes did evolve into human-like creatures, but they are not humans . They are not each unique with unique finger prints. They have no souls – they are labeled “Animals”.
So Cain god find a wife amongst the people God created seconds before Adam and Eve …
There is NO evidence that there was anyone here
What do you think about christian identity? And more importantly their theory of the beast of the field being the african? All throughout time the black man has been distinct from all other races- so much so that racemixing does not produce a harmonious blend of traits but rather a patchwork of mismatched organs in an emotionally unstable person. Just look at the ancient white egyptians and their sworn enemies the black nubians, nothing has changed! I am inclined to believe that we are different species due to the genetic distance .05 (1.5 is for a chimpanzee) and i am not a “hater of black people” for saying this.
In general, modern science will tell you that close interbreeding is bad and breeding within the same species, but with someone with diverse genes is good. The term “hybrid vigor” is sometimes used to describe this principle. However, the term is somewhat misleading in that humans mating with humans do not produce hybrids, the produce humans.
That being said, this “vigor” stops when interbreeding between species occurs. Many attempts have been made to breed humans to chimpanzees with no success. Ilya Ivanov, a Russian made many attempts, including artificial insemination, to no avail. Actually chimpanzees are not close to humans genetically; there is a 9 percent difference in mitochondria and 50 percent in y-chromosome.
When you study DNA, you will find that all of us humans are very closely related and are all part of the body of Christ; and if we believe we will be resurrected receiving our perfect genes that were prepared for us on day 6 of creation. The Gospel According to DNA
This comment looks weird. Do people really believe that beasts of the field are humans?
I believe that human existed before Adam and eve error.Adam and Eve were just the first to start Gods history.cain married from already existed generation.Genesis clearly shows God created Adam.later Eve from Adam.they bore cain and Abel~now they were four.Cain killed Abel,remaining three,Adam,Eve and cain.By the time cain killed Abel bible doesnt talk about eve had any other daughter or son. So it is clear that cain married from somewhere but not from his family. My conclusion~Adam and Eve where not the first human
Many believe like you do and you may be right; however, we have a scripture that contradicts your view:
Gen 3:20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
God bless you and thank you for your interest in the things of God. Keep studying!
James
Bro, you are right.
Story of Genesis is fake with real characters.
If you understand it,read First page of genesis about days,morning, evening,water then analysis .
God created Sun and moon on 4th day,even morning and evening happened in 1st day , 2nd day and also 3rd day.how can it’s possible??
Morning and evening can possible without Sun And Moon???
At first day where did light come from,while God created Sun and moon at 4th day?
“God created Heaven and earth”, this story is copied from sumerian myth.for knowing the truth, you should read ” Cosmology Hoe”
And Song of hoe cuneiform is 3000 BC Old while Genesis of Moses is 1300 BC old.
Adam And Eve were not first human on earth,I have proof. And It’s real.text me if you wanna real history of Adam and Eve.
The bible is the inspired word of God. There is a reason Hod allowed Genesis 5 that gives generations of Adam and Eve, to come later after chapter 4. In as much as John 1 talks about before creation but comes long after Genesis 1. Chronology is not factored when scribes wrote bible. But the spirit of God usher us in the study. So in conclusion Cain married his sister since there was no where to gt a wife. And it was not sinful.
Hello my research was God created Adam and Eve from dust and He created also Manu and Shatarupa who is from Hinduism history.so I think that Cain met their generation.What’s your opinion?
Rubina,
This is a fascinating question for which I do have an opinion. My opinion is that after the flood, those on earth considered those before the flood as Gods. Those before the flood lived nearly 1000 years and were very strong and wise. I suspect Noah was considered a God. Then, Noah’s sons also lived a long time and were strong and wise, but not up to the levels of Noah. The sons, and maybe some of the grandsons, were considered demigods. If you review the early cuneiform tablets, you will see the kingdoms and kings names before the flood and also shortly after the flood. Then the people lost there demi-god status and became like us.
Then as the generations went on, the gods and demigods were embellished and tales were manufactured to fit the religious leaders purposes. This is most probably when the ancient mythology was developed.
So, how exactly Manu and Shatarupa would fit into this scenario, I don’t know. You would be the better judge of that.
James
Where’s that generation coming from?
According to the scripture, God created Adam and Eve. Then where did the other races come from. That is, blacks, whites, Chinese and others. So to some extent it could be true that there was more than one creation, which explains the origin of Cain’s wife.
This is a very interesting top. Having come from a Christian family and studied a bit of genetics in biology I find the article answering my question. Thanks so much.
Hi
Pls can you tell me the part of the Bible that said Eve gave birth to a girl, cause i have searched and there is no place like that in the Bible except that they gave birth to another son after Cain and Abel called Seth
Genesis 5 ves 4
Well, we are all “one” ! In fact, africans, japanese, chinese,… have all one ancertor (Adam). Skin colors are due to the climate in different regions : the warmer the area people live, the darker their skin colors ! Most africans are black skinned because of the exposure to the Sun ! However, europeans, americans and so forth are exposed to a fresh and cold environment, which explains their light skins ! To sum up, the Bible is right ! Never can it have a lie ! Thanks for the article (writing from the democratic republic of the Congo ).
I believe their was 12 Adams and 12 eves the first original tribes which I believe the 24 elders whom sit in front of the the thrown of god gave everyone a geological spot and said there’s your spot use what ingriedents you got and make a human then take the female and separate them that’s how we have different nationalities
Adam and Eve were probably the second generation. Genesis 1 speaks of man and woman being created after gods own image and likeness. Where as chapter 2 speaks of man being created out of dust and then, breath of life was breathed in him. Sounds like a down grade to me. And it also speaks of the earth already formed but going through hard times with no rain for a while and no food growing, which clearly was happening before. And it’s only on this downgraded time of man that God had to warn man of the different trees what to eat and not eat. Not a big fan of typing so I hope I was clear enough on my point that can be much more elaborated on. Thanks
Just confusing me
But what about cain, his son’s name was enoch right?
Then why isn’t there:the book of enoch in the bible??
Does enoch book talked about the giants and the apocalypse?
May i ask a last question? Cain is not the son of Adam right? I heard that Eve had a child with the devil as he showed her lust,easy money,slaves,desire
And love.
I’m confused. But the bible does not state whether Adam and Eve got other children after Seth. And if there were no other human being existed before them that means Eve was the only female by then. Does this means Cain and Seth slept with their mother? I’m totally confused. Kindly help me to understand this.
Daniel,
Here are a couple of scriptures that will help you.
Genesis 4:16 And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.
Genesis 4:17 And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.
So, Cain went out and knew his wife. This was not Eve, she was back with her husband Adam. Also we know that:
Gen 3:20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
So, if you put these scriptures together, Cain’s wife had to be either his sister or some close relative, but not his mother.
Admin
In my opinion, considering Gen 4:16 Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. There was an existing generation before the Adam on. We are told about Adam’s generation because it might be the one that God had chosen and had high expectations on the generation. God knew about the other generation hence he threw out Cain to the unchosen generation.
Andy,
Many people believe that humans existed before Adam and Eve. In the past, I did too, but there is a problem with that idea for those, like me, who take all scriptures at face value. The scriptures say that all those humans came from Eve (Genesis 3:20); therefore, all humans came from Adam as well since Eve came from Adam’s rib.
Thank you for your interest in the things of God. Keep it up.
Admin
WHO DID CAIN MARRIED AND WHERE IS SHE FROM?
It all began when Lucifer developed pride and boasted to take a step to take the place of God. Isa 14:12-15
And it led to the war that took place in heaven when Micheal and his angels faught against Lucifer (dragon) and his disobedient angels. When Lucifer prevailed not, he lost his original place in heaven and he was casted down to earth with his disobedient angels. Rev 12:7-9
The angels of Lucifer were then dominating the earth bearing beautiful daughters and sons. Then there was an existing garden of Eden for man created by God on earth for man to reside. Gen 2:7-8
While Adam and Eve were in the garden, Lucifer(dragon) conceived in his heart to conspire with Eve for man to disobey God which brought about their displacement from the garden of Eden (presence of God) to the earth where Lucifer was already dominating with sons and daughters.
So, Adam and Eve bear their children on earth where Lucifer was already dominating. Gen 4:1-16
That was how Cain got married to one of the daughters of men. Gen 6:1-2
The wife of Cain was from the decedants of Lucifer that was why her name was not mentioned in the Bible.
Well, we are all “one” ! In fact, africans, japanese, chinese,… have all one ancertor (Adam). Skin colors are due to the climate in different regions : the warmer the area people live, the darker their skin colors ! Most africans are black skinned because of the exposure to the Sun ! However, europeans, americans and so forth are exposed to a fresh and cold environment, which explains their light skins ! To sum up, the Bible is right ! Never can it have a lie ! Thanks for the article (writing from the democratic republic of the Congo ).
according to Gen. 5:4 Adam gave birth to Seth and other sons and daughters, so Cain might have married one of his sisters, and also in Gen. 6:1-4 there were fallen angel some which became giants on the earth and when the sons of God came in unto them they bare children so, Cain might have married one of them. so Cain married either from his sisters or from the fallen angels. Thanks.
God’s set up during creation,only requires us to have believe & faith since we are comparing the biblical teaching s about laws against incest between the first generation before sin & our generation of sin.In my conclusion, the devil has come in this generation, to confuse us from understanding the truth a bout our creation. May God bless you all & allow God to fight our battles of all kinds psalms 35:1-
Admin.,
I was led to Christ, or saved, in second grade at Pasadena Christian School back in 1962. My sister and I were given bibles at a very early age. We started reading immediately after. I have gone through most of my life now and have talked and reasoned with God almost all of my life. I devoted many years to church and was very involved with studying, helping, and teaching including reading and studying the bible.
And to this day I can’t for the life of me figure out why I have such a problem with a very important piece of scripture. That being of we are saved by faith and not of our works. I get the part of works but the part of faith for some reason eludes me. According to the dictionary and the way my mind sees it is that faith is believing in something that you cannot prove. And since God gave humans the ability to reason and think I struggle with the thought of believing in the entire bible because the bible tells me to. It almost tastes like blaspheme just saying that. I feel Gods love every day (praise Him) and as much as I am able I put him first in my life every day. I want to put more into spiritual efforts but I first must know how I am supposed to know without having proof that this is the way God want’s it.
Can anyone help me with this?
thank you Ken.
Ken,
I hope many reply, but I will be the first. Your question is at the very center of Christianity. In short, I have concluded that Faith is the centerpiece of Christianity because faith is so much stronger than sight. The Bible says that anything that you can see is temporal and the things you cannot see are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18). If you think about it anything that is seen is not only temporal, but also subject to deception; for instance magicians, photo shopping, tricks of the mind, etc. But, faith is strong; you read the Bible, understand who God is, His personality, His acts, His thoughts. Then you decide whether you want to join with Him or not. If you do go with Him, you quickly see that faith is important to Him. The Bible has a principle: the Master leaves and gives His servants responsibility; the Master returns unexpectedly and looks for faithfulness. God loves faithfulness and puts much importance on it; we should do the same.
I am a scientist and find proof of the Bible every day. My concern is to give too much proof of the Bible so people trust in scientific evidence instead of faith. My conclusion is that there is so much anti-Bible propaganda that I and others like me provide a little counterbalance. This is a great time to be a Christian; we have many opportunities to exercise our faith and be pleasing to God.
Thank you for your very important input and thank you for your interest in the things of God,
Admin
Thank you very much. You’ve answered my question on Cain’s wife for which I’m eternally grateful. More wisdom and God bless you.
I Have A Question: Why God Didn’t Forgive Adam And Eve And Also Did God Didn’t Know That Satan Will Deceive Them And Finally Why God Planted The Tree Of Knowledge Of Good And Evil.
why lot daughter sex with father?
Lot’s daughters wanted children and feared they would not marry. There were many things happening at this time, all of which are a mystery to me.
James