question had come from Mr. Mike Miderho a short while ago regarding where Cain could have got his wife. Please note that he did not doubt the authencity of the Holy Bible. Hear him in his own word "Please do not think that I doubt that God created the world and everything in it. I just wondered if there are aspect of creation and God's work left out of the Bible"
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Mr. Mike Miderho's wrote:
"Cain: Where did he get his wife?"
"In Genesis, God created Adam and Eve. They are the only known humans on earth, according to the Holy Bible. In Genesis 4: 1-2, Adam and Eve, gave birth to Cain and Abel. This brings to four (4) humans created by God, according to the Bible. In the same Genesis 4: 16-17, Cain was made to leave and settled in Nod, east of Eden. And he got a wife. And they had Enoch, and Enoch had Irad.
The things that bothered me are:
1. Where did Cain's wife come from and what was her name?
2. Who created her?
3. Where did Enoch's wife come from and what was her name?
4. Were there other people on earth not mentioned in the Bible?
5. If so, why?"
Let me add that this question has bothered not a few people and we must thank Mr. Miderho for his boldness to raise it up.
I have two contributors to the answer. Promptly was from Mr. Bertram Oparaku of Texas and second was from Ms. Mary Gani of Kent, UK. I hope to place their articulate thoughts for everyone to read. Their answers and mine are in agreement.
Soon as Mr. Miderho's question came, I printed it for my wife for her opinion. She came out with exactly what I had in mind.
First is our (my wife & I) thoughts:
Genesis 4: 1 reads "And Adam knew his wife; and she conceived and bare Cain and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord"
A careful analysis of Adam's statement, "I have gotten a man from the Lord" sounds the expression of someone who has been having female children and glad to have a male at last.
This supposition or argument is buttressed in Gen. 5: 4 "-------And he (Adam) begat sons and daughters"
Of course, the siblings must have married among themselves.
If we watch the account of the Bible carefully, we shall note that recorded events are not chronological of dates. Also, stories were not recorded except they have some significance, otherwise, there will be no space for it; i.e. the Bible will be too voluminous.
For example, Jesus lived a total life of 33 years on earth. The events of His early 30 years were scantily recorded. What we have on record were mostly His deeds of only 3 years, yet the Bible recorded that the whole stories could not be told else the whole earth would not be able to contain it. (John 20:30-31; John 21: 25)
The name of Cain's wife was not recorded. There were stories of many other prominent actors in Bible History whose names we were not told; e. g we do not have the record of Samson's 1st Philistines wife (Judges 14).
Cain feared that any one would slay him for the murder of his brother Abel (Gen. 4: 14). But who could have been so concerned to avenge Cain for the murder of Abel? Certainly it would be none others than his other siblings. This indicates that the children of Adam & Eve have grown fast, numerous enough to find spouses among themselves.
Marriages among close relations were very common in those days. It continued till the days of Abraham and Sarah, which was 292 years (approx.) after the flood and over 2000years after Adam & Eve. Abram & Sarah were children of the same father. Sarah was Abram's half sister (Gen.20:11). The practice of marrying among close relations persists till date among the nomadic Fulani of Nigeria and also in the Middle East.
Note that when the siblings of Abram were listed in Gen.11:27-32, Sarah was not mentioned as Abram's sister but was described as his wife. There was perhaps no reason to go into details. But when the reason arose in Egypt, Abram released the hidden identity of Sarah (Gen.20; 11). So, Cain's wife was not mentioned perhaps because there was no reason to do.
The above explanation of where Cain could have got his wife goes for Enoch and any other person in the early days.
Below are the explanations offered by Mr. Bertram Oparaku
(1) Q-Where did Cain's wife come from and what was her name. A- "When Adam was 130 years old, he became the father of a son who was just like him - in his very image. He named him Seth. After the birth of Seth, Adam lived another 800 years and had other sons and daughters" Gen 5:3-4. Although not specifically named, Cain must have married his sister.
(2) Q-Who created her. A- God created Adam & Eve. Adam & Eve had her.
(3) Q-Where did Enoch's wife come from and what was her name. A- Although the name of Enoch's wife was not specified in the Bible, his wife must have come from the children of other sons and daughters of Adam. Gen 5:3-4. See number one above.
(4) Q- Were there other people on earth not mentioned in the Bible? A- Before creation of Adam and Eve? "No" After Adam and Eve? "Yes"
(5) Q-If so why? A- The Bible contains several lists of Ancestors called "Genealogies" (Adam to Shem Gen 5; Shem to Abraham Gen 11:10-31; Descendants of Jacob, son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham Gen 46:8-27; Jesus to Adam Luke 3:23-38). Genealogies are not intended to be exhaustive and may include only famous people or heads of families that are relevant. For example, after Sarah's death, Abraham married another woman whose name was Keturah and together they had six more children Gen 25:1-4. These children of Abraham with Keturah as well as Abraham's brother who was Lot's father were not carried along in the genealogies from Adam to Jesus found in Luke 3:23-38. Genealogies were used to preserve tradition but were included in the Bible to confirm the Bible's promise that the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ would be born into the line of Abraham.
I hope this puts to rest any doubt out there on this topic. The Bible in itself is amazing: - In the words of Dr. A.F. Schauffler, "We speak of the Bible as one book but in reality, it is a set of sixty six (66) books written by about thirty-six (36) different authors. The oldest author was Moses, a Hebrew prophet who wrote about 1,500 years before Christ and the latest author is John the Evangelist who wrote about 100 years after Christ. So we see the bible was about 1,600 years in the making. It records history, the oldest in the world: reaching back to the creation of all things. Many recorded events, once discredited by Bible critics as not only improbable, but impossible, have been proven authentic by the discovery, in recent years, of records and tablets buried for thousands of years in the ruins of cities and palaces of kings, who lived at the same time as the events recorded in Bible history occurred. Many of it's prophesies uttered thousands of years before have had their fulfillment in a wonderful manner, and others point still to the future".
There are several writings and books like these detailing Bible prophesies and the fulfillment of them. I recommend such writings to doubtful minds.
Pastor Aweda, God bless you for all you do for His kingdom
From Miss Mary Gani comes the following thoughts:
I would like to respond to the letter from Mr Mike asking about Cain's wife and the numerous other people who we find referred to in the Bible, but whose genealogy is not stated in detail.
Firstly, I must draw our attention to the passage in Genesis 1:28 where the Lord God tells Adam and Eve to be fruitful, to multiply and fill the earth. From this alone and also expressly stated in Gen5: 4, we can understand that Adam and Eve had more children than just Cain, Abel and Seth.
It is also interesting to note that based on the culture of Bible times, and indeed in most societies of the world today, inheritance is paternal. I bear my father's name, just as you bear yours, Barak Obama bears his, and one day my children will also bear their father's name. In Bible times also, census was basically a counting of the males in society, thus you will note that when Jesus fed the 5000 (Matthew14: 13- 21) with 5 loaves and 2 fish, the person who counted the participants of that great fish picnic only counted the males. From what we know of our loving and impartial God, this was not a bid to oust women from societal recognition, but was a system developed by man in earliest times to keep records of human beings, for whom God had said He will demand an accounting Gen9: 5 and 6.
Furthermore, at the time of the first humans, the laws of sexual relations contained in Leviticus18 which prohibit incest had not been given. God in His omniscience had made Adam and Eve perfect creatures before they fell from Grace, and as such, the fear of combining bad genes through incest did not even exist. That is not the case today. In fact, that ceased to be the case about 4000 years ago.
We therefore understand that Adam and Eve had many other children who had many other children amongst whom there was intermarriage. Thus, Cain's wife could have been his sister, or niece. (He had no uncles and aunties, so she couldn't have been his cousin, lol.)
The last genealogy stated in the Bible was that of Jesus. After the gospels' account of His genealogy, no other genealogies were traced. We can understand that this was done in order to point out to readers that Jesus is fully man and fully God, and after His death and resurrection, no other genealogies are required to be in the Bible because the new means of inheritance is through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Furthermore, I must state that the Bible in its own statement concerning its accuracy, states that it is purer than silver refined seven times over. (Psalm 12 : 6 and Psalm19: 7- 11).
Mary Gani.
Collated by: Sam Aweda
