Cains Wife

| Home | Sermons | Articles | Links | Class |

Where Did Cain Get His Wife?

Michael Pickford

The question above is an age old question. Sadly, there are many Christians who cannot adequately answer it. However, there is an answer! At the Scopes trial in Tennessee in 1925, ACLU lawyer Clarence Darrow asked the religious William Jennings Bryan the question about Cain’s wife. Bryan couldn’t give an answer. How tragic! Beloved, learn how to answer this and other questions posed by those who despise the wonderful word of God.

To get a clear understanding of the proper answer to the question, we should first understand what is NOT the answer to the question. For example, some contend that God had created another group of people in the same manner as He created Adam. There are several biblical reasons why this cannot be so. For example, in Genesis 2:19-25 we learn that God brought forth to Adam every animal created. “But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him” (Vs. 20b). God then created Eve from a rib from Adam’s side. Why would God do this? If there was another group of people, why could Adam not find a partner suitable for him from them? Furthermore, “Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living” (Gen. 3:20). This very fact refutes the possibility of another created group of people. Eve was the mother of ALL living! Also, Paul made it clear that God made every nation of men from ONE blood (Acts 17:26). There was no other group of people. All people living today came from Adam and Eve!

So, where DID Cain get his wife? Simple, he either married his sister or another close relative. The Bible doesn’t tell us how old Cain and Abel were when Cain killed Able. The statement “in the process of time” (Gen. 4:3) seems to indicate a considerable amount of time. Add to this the facts that Adam and Eve were commanded to be fruitful and multiply, and Adam lived to be 930 years old! During this time, he had sons AND daughters (Gen. 5:4,5). Since there could not have been another group of people created by God, and since Adam and Eve did have daughters, it is very practical to conclude that Cain married his sister or another close relative.

But, doesn’t the Bible condemn incest? Yes it does, but not during the time of Adam and Eve. Remember, Abraham was married to his half-sister (Gen. 20:12), and God blessed that union by giving them a child who would produce a nation chosen to be God’s own special people. It was 400 years after Abraham before God first condemned incest (Lev. 18-20). But what about deformities? Laws of our land prohibit intermarriages between those too closely related because of the possibility of their children being deformed. These deformities are the result of mistakes in the gene pool. However, these mistakes take time to develop. When God created Adam and Eve, their genes were perfect. God created no mistakes. Obviously, because of the curse brought on by sin, genes began to digress. However, It would take many generations before the threat of deformities would develop from close relations intermarrying. Evidently, this had occured by the time of Moses, hence the prohibition. But Adam and Eve’s direct children would not have horribly erroneous genes; therefore, they could intermarry for several generations without the threat of deformed children.

It is not only reasonable, but it is biblical to conclude that Cain married a close relative. Possibly even his sister!



| Back To Articles |