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I once had a friend ask me about the reliability of the bible. At work, someone had challenged him about Cain’s wife. She is mentioned in Genesis 4:17. According to Genesis, God created Adam and Eve who had two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain murdered Abel and left the Lord’s presence. Then, suddenly, Cain lay with his wife and began to have children. Where did she come from? My friend was confused and wondered if the bible was accurate.
The answer to the dilemma is Cain married a sister. If God started the human race with two people, this would need to happen. The bible only mentions three of Adam and Eve’s children by name. But they clearly had others, as Genesis 5:4-5 says, “After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died.” (NIV)
If we do the math, Adam may have been 100 years old when Cain killed Abel. That’s plenty of time to have other children. The bible doesn’t name all their descendants, just the ones key to the story.
I recommend The Creation Answers Book if you’d like to learn more about this topic. It discusses this passage as well as the genetic risks and moral objections to Cain marrying a sister.*
Many people often find objections to the bible, thinking it untrustworthy. But answers exist to their objections. You can trust what it says!
*Don Batton, David Catchpoole, Jonathan Sarfarti, Carl Wieland, The Creation Answers Book (Australia, Creation Book Publishers, 2006, pp. 127-139.
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Bumper music “Landing Place” performed by Mark July, used under license from Shutterstock.