Cain's Wife

This comment is a continuation of last weeks comment "Inter-Marriage in the Bible." A big question always arises with non believers - "Who was Cain's wife?" We know there were no other people in the world other than Adam and Eve's family - where did Cain's wife come from? The following is from Ken Ham's book "The New Answers Book."

" Some claim that the passage in Genesis 4:16-17 means that Cain went to the land of Nod and found a wife. Thus, they conclude there must have been another race of people on the earth who were not descendants of Adam, who produced Cain's wife. "Then 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 and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son - Enoch."

From what has been stated above, it is clear that all humans, Cain's wife included, are descendants of Adam. However, this passage does not say that Cain went to the land of Nod and found a wife. John Calvin in commenting on these verses states:

"From the context we may gather that Cain, before he slew his brother, had married a wife; otherwise Moses would now have related something respecting his marriage."

Cain was married before he went to the land of Nod. He didn't find a wife there but "knew" (had sexual relations with) his wife.

This makes sense in light of what Nod is, too. Nod means "wandering" in Hebrew. So when Cain went to the land of Nod, he was literally going to the land of wandering, not a place full of people.

Who was Cain fearful of in Genesis 4:14?

Some claim that there had to be lots of people on the earth other than Adam and Eve's descendants; otherwise Cain wouldn't have been fearful of people wanting to slay him because he killed Abel.

First of all, one reason that someone would want to harm Cain for killing Abel is that person was a close relation of Abel!

Secondly, Cain and Abel were born quite some time before the event of Abel's death. Genesis 4:3 states: "And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord."

Note the phrase "In the process of time." We know Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old (Genesis 5:3), and Eve saw him as a replacement for Abel marry and have children. By the time Abel was killed, there may have been a considerable number of descendants of Adam and Eve involving several generations.

Where did the Technology Come From?

Some claim that for Cain to go to the land of Nod and build a city, he would have required a lot of technology that must have already been in that land, presumably developed by other races.

Adam and Eve's descendants were very intelligent people. We are told that Jubal made musical instruments, such as the harp and the organ (Genesis 4:21), and Tubal-Cain worked with brass and iron (Genesis 4:22).

Because of intense evolutionary indoctrination, many people today have the idea that their generation is the most advanced that has ever been on this planet. Just because we have jet airplanes and computers doesn’t mean we are the most intelligent or advanced. This modern technology is really a result of the accumulation of knowledge.

We must remember that our brains have suffered from 6,000 years of the curse. We have greatly degenerated compared to people many generations ago. We may be no where near as intelligent or inventive as Adam and Eve's children. Scripture gives us a glimpse of what appears to be advanced technology almost from the beginning.

Cain had the knowledge and talent to know how to build a city.

One of the reasons many Christians cannot answer the Question about Cain's wife is that they tend to look at today's world and the problems that would be associated with close relations marrying, and they do not look at the clear historical record God has given us. They are trying to interpret Genesis from our present situation rather than understand the true biblical history of the world and the changes that have occurred because of sin. Because they are not building their worldview on Scripture but taking a secular way of thinking to the Bible, they are blinded to the simple answers.

Genesis is a record of the God who was there as history happened. It is the Word of One who knows everything and who is a reliable Witness from the past. Thus, when we use genesis as a basis for understanding history, we can make sense of evidence which would otherwise be a real mystery. You see, if evolution is true, science has an even bigger problem than Cain's wife to explain - namely, how could man ever evolve by mutations (mistakes) in the first place, since the process would have made everyone's children deformed? The mere fact that people can produce offspring that are not largely deformed is a testimony to creation, not evolution. "

By George Konig
6/17/2007
www.georgekonig.org

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