The tale of Adam and Eve’s sons, Cain and Abel, doesn’t take up much space in the Bible. Their story takes up one chapter, with some details in the following. Let’s examine what the Bible says about these brothers and their siblings.
Who Was Cain’s Wife?
Who were Cain and Abel?
Genesis 4 tells us that Adam and Eve had two sons after their exile from the Garden of Eden, Cain and Abel. We know that Cain was the first son, but the Bible doesn’t specify when Abel was born.
In adulthood, the brothers took differing career paths. Genesis 4:2 informs us that Cain was a farmer, and Abel became a shepherd. At some point, both brothers gave offerings to God from their produce. Abel gave sections of firstborn lambs, while Cain gave crops. God accepted Abel’s offering but disapproved of Cain’s offerings.
Genesis 4:5 tells us that Cain was jealous and upset with Abel, and as a result, God warned Cain to be careful, telling him that he would be accepted if he did the right thing.
The Bible says that one day, Cain asked Abel to take a walk in the field, where he killed Abel. God took a similar approach to the one he used with Cain’s parents in Genesis 3:9 after they ate the forbidden fruit: He approached the wrongdoer with a question, in this case, asking Cain where his brother was. Genesis 4:9 tells us that Cain asked a question in return, responding with, “I don’t know, am I my brother’s guardian?”
God scolded Cain for his actions and told him from that point, he would homelessly wander the earth. Cain said he couldn’t bear the punishment of wandering forever and that someone who found him could kill him. God comforted Cain, telling him that He would punish anyone who killed him seven times over and marked Cain so anyone who tried to kill him would be warned, as detailed in Genesis 4:15-16.
After this, Cain had a son named Enoch, founded a city, and had several descendants who developed skills like forging metal, playing music and nomadic herding.
Who was Cain’s wife?
The Bible doesn’t explicitly say who Cain’s wife was. The only possible answer is that Cain’s wife was his niece, sister, or great-niece. The Bible also doesn’t tell us how old Cain was when he killed Abel, but they were likely grown adults. Adam and Eve had given birth to more children than Cain and Abel at the time of Abel’s death, detailed in Genesis 5:4. The fact that Cain was afraid for his life after killing his brother indicates that many other children or grandchildren of Adam and Eve lived at the time. Cain’s wife was likely Adam and Eve’s daughter or granddaughter.
Since Adam and Eve were the first human beings, their children had no choice but to intermarry. God allowed inter-family marriage until later when the population was big enough to make intermarriage unnecessary, as explained in Leviticus 18:6-18. The reason that incest today typically results in genetic abnormalities is that when two people of comparable genetics have kids together, there’s a high risk of their recessive traits becoming dominant.
When people from different families reproduce, it’s improbable that both parents will have the same recessive traits. The human genetic code has become damaged over the centuries as genetic defects have amplified, multiplied and passed down from generation to generation. God perfectly designed Adam and Eve, and their lack of genetic defects enabled them to have a superb quality of health than we do today.
READ: Bible Verse To Read Each Morning To Have A Successful Day
When sin first came to the world through Adam and Eve’s defiance against God, it brought disease, sickness, and a compromised bloodline for their descendants. Their kids had few if any, genetic mutations. Therefore, it was safe for them to intermarry.