Jesus My Lord and My God   Ajit Leons Ministries

Was God’s creation of man limited to Adam and Eve in the beginning? And, if so, who was Cain’s wife?

This is a question that has struck all of us as we read the Book of Genesis. To know whether God created people other than Adam and Eve in the beginning, we need to look into the answer regarding Cain’s wife. (NIV) Gen 4.8-17
When I was asked the question about who Cain’s wife was, for the first time, by a group of college students, I told them then that I had no idea. I asked them to give me some time to seek guidance from our Lord Jesus Christ and look into the Bible.After about week later I arrived at an answer. I spoke of this question with others who I thought may be able to confirm my discovery and give more information. I talked to a few and was given a totally different answer from the one I had arrived at. Their answer was:
In the beginning, God had created only one man, Adam and one woman, Eve. They had two sons Cain and Abel. They would have certainly had daughters about whom the Bible does not mention as only the male descendants were taken into record generally. In such circumstances, they reckoned that Cain would have obviously married one of his sisters.
Well, this answer was not acceptable to most of the people I spoke to from various churches. In fact some persons opined that it would amount to Cain having committed the sin of incest. The youth rejected it outright.
The Bible provides us with the answers. Looking at the below given Bible verses (Gen 4.8-17), we can get to a very simple and straightforward answer; without having any further doubt or confusion in this regard.
Gen 4.8-12: 8 Now Cain … attacked his brother Abel and killed him…. 10 The LORD said … 11 Now you are under a curse … 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.
Gen 4.13-14: 13 Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer
on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
(GNT) Gen 4.13-14: 13 And Cain said to the LORD, “This punishment is too hard for me to bear. 14 You are driving me off the land and away from your presence. I will be a homeless
wanderer on the earth, and anyone who finds me will kill me.”
Gen 4.15: But the LORD said to him, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.
(GNT) Gen 4.15: But the LORD answered, “No. If anyone kills you, seven lives will be taken in revenge. So the LORD put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who met him not to kill him.
Gen 4.16-17: 16 So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. 17 Cain made love to his wife …
In Gen 4.14:
(i) Cain’s: “from/off the land and hidden/away from your presence” speaks of a land away from where persons (Adam, Eve and Cain) we know existed at that time. Cain knew of God’s presence in this land, but he did not know whether God’s presence would be there in the land to which he was being ousted.
(ii) Cain’s: “whoever/anyone” reveals Cain knew that there were other people living in such land. In other words, this proves that there were other persons in the world at that time, living in such land. Thus, Cain was afraid that any of these people who found him may kill him.
In Gen 4.15:
(i) The Lord’s: “anyone” confirms that there were other persons in the world at that time.
(ii) The Lord’s “suffer vengeance seven times over” or “seven lives will be taken” gives the impression that at least seven more persons were there at that time in the land Cain was being ousted to.
(iii) Also, the Lord’s: “put a mark … so … no one … would kill him” reveals the following. Remember, at that point of time, as per the Bible, on earth there were only three people left (Abel having been killed by Cain). Of course, if we consider that Adam and Eve had daughters regarding whom no records were made, then there would have been more persons. If so please note that all these persons and Cain would definitely have known each other and their Lord. So, the Lord would not have had to put a mark on Cain for them to recognize him.
The mark was put, therefore, for persons living in the other land (see Gen 4.14 above) to know that he is under the protection of the Lord and not kill him.
Further, for such persons to recognize the Lord’s mark, they would surely have had to not only know the very same Lord but also believe in Him as their Lord and be obedient to Him. (This reminds me of the ‘Phantom’ comics that used the same theme in their stories)
The above may be summed up as:
Cain knew of other people who lived in the land which was away from where he, Adam and Eve lived in the presence of the Lord (Gen 4 14).
When he was sent out of this land to be a restless wanderer in that land, Cain was afraid he would be killed by the people there. (Gen 4.14).
To remove his fear, the Lord, who also knew these people, does two things (Gen 4.15):
1. The Lord says that if anyone in that land kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over (or seven lives will be taken in revenge)
2. The Lord puts a mark on Cain to protect him from being killed by anyone in that land.
All this proves that:
1. There were people other than those mentioned in the beginning and they also knew the very same Lord known by Adam, Eve, Cain and all their children.
2. These people believed in the Lord and were obedient to Him.
In conclusion, we can say without doubt that:
(i) Persons other than Adam and Eve were created by the Lord.
(ii) Cain married a woman from among these people in the land he was ousted to and not his sister.
We know that the history of a people will speak only of those who have played some major role in the society. Even if you were one of these people, nothing will be said about you or even your existence. Of course, that does not prove you never lived there. It just means that you were not important enough to be mentioned.
The Bible does not speak anything about any other people other than the mainstream ancestors starting from Adam to Jesus. In tune with the custom of those times, it records events in respect of the male descendants, mentioning only a few females who had played major roles in history. Even today in many communities, the male is the heir of each generation and only events regarding male descendants are recorded.
However, as the above (Gen 4.14-15) proves, there were other people who would have been created too. Just because they are not mentioned does not prove they were not created or they never existed.
Personally, I consider the Bible as the love story between God and His chosen people, the Israelites; written from their point of view about their experiences of the love of God. From the Bible, we get a glimpse of God and Heaven, of which we know very little (Jn 3.12). A closer, inspired reading of the Bible always leads to the Mysteries revealed within the Word of God.
Image Source: Thomas Cole [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons