From Adam and Eve to the procreation of the human race

Explanations on Genesis

The most famous wife in history?

The answer to the most common question about Creation: from Adam and Eve to the procreation of the human race

adam-eve_400x400[1] One of the reasons why many Christians do not know the answer to the question about Cain's wife is that they focus attention on the world today and the problems that would result from marriages between close relatives, and not on the clear testimony that God has given us. They try to interpret Genesis starting from the current situation, rather than understanding the biblical history of the world and the changes that have occurred because of sin. Because they do not build their view of reality on the basis of scriptures, but they accept a secularized way of interpreting the Bible, they remain blind to simple answers.

Genesis is the account of the God who was present when the historical events occurred, the Word of One who knows all and who is a reliable witness of the past. So, when we start from Genesis as a basis for understanding history, we can understand facts that would otherwise remain mysterious.

If indeed evolution were true, science would have an even bigger problem explaining Cain's wife: how can a man have evolved from mutations (errors) in previous organizations, since that process would have given birth to completely malformed beings? The fact that offspring can be produced without major malformations is a testament to Creation, not of evolution.

Here is the explanation:

Bible skeptics have repeatedly used Cain's wife to try to discredit the book of Genesis as a reliable historical document. It is sad that most Christians have not been able to give an adequate answer to this question. Consequently, the world sees them as unable to defend the authority of scripture, and with it, the Christian faith.

For example, at the historic Scopes trial in Tennessee in 1925, William Jennings Bryan, the lawyer who defended the Christian faith, he could not answer questions about Cain's wife made the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Clarence Darrow. Consider the following excerpt from the trial transcript in which Darrow interrogates Bryan:

D. You never know from where Cain took his wife?
R. No, lord. I leave the agnostics to investigate on her.
D. You've never heard?
R. I never tried.
D. Have you ever tried to know?
R. No.
D. The Bible says that it has taken a, no? There were other people on the earth in those days?
R. I can not tell.
D. You know not to say. Have you ever considered?
R. The question has never concerned me.
D. There were no reports of other people, But Cain found his wife.
R. This is what the Bible says.
D. Whence came, you do not know.

The press around the world was taken from this cause, which had repercussions for Christianity to date: Christians do not know how to defend the biblical text!

Recently the same example was quoted by Carl Sagan in his book Contact (a best-seller according to the ranking of the newspaper The New York Times) and it was also used in the movie of the same title drawn from his work.

In the book we read of a fictional character, Ellie, and how he can not get answers from the wife of a clergyman who heads a group discussion:

Ellie had never read the Bible so seriously ..., during the weekend preceding her first class, He began reading what seemed the most important part of the Old Testament. Trying to keep an open mind, all at once he recognized that there were two different and mutually contradictory stories of Creation ... and had trouble figuring out exactly who it was that Cain married.
Sagan, in an attempt to give a “test” that the Bible is full of contradictions and can not be defended, cleverly a list of questions are often directed at Christians, including the one about Cain's wife.

The truth is that probably the majority of Christians do not know the answer to these questions! however, There are some answers! But, since in most churches it lacks the teaching of apologetics, particularly with regard to the book of Genesis, the majority of believers is not capable of being “always ready to give an account for the hope that is in you to everyone who asks you a reason” (1 Pietro 3:15).

Why this is important?

Many skeptics have claimed that for Cain to find a wife, there must have been other “races” Human beings on Earth, who were not descendants of Adam and Eve. Among so many, This has been an impediment to acceptance of the Genesis account of the creation of one man and one woman at the beginning of the story. Defenders of the gospel must be able to prove that all mankind are descendants of one man and one woman (Adam and Eve), since only the descendants of Adam and Eve can be saved. therefore, believers must be able to explain Cain's wife and show clearly that she was a descendant of Adam and Eve.

Bible reading:
Genesis 4:1 — Genesis 5:5
One of the more common queries to the speaker on the Creation is: “Where Cain took his wife?”
To answer this question, we must first go through the background information concerning the meaning of the Gospel.

The first man

“therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death, and so death passed upon all men, because all sinned. . . ” (Romans 5:12).

In 1 Corinthians 15:45 we read that Adam was “the first man”. God did not start by creating a “race” of men. The Bible makes it clear that only the descendants of Adam can be saved. Romans 5 He teaches that we are sinners because Adam sinned. The death penalty, which Adam received as judgment for his sin of rebellion, It has been inherited by all his descendants.

Since Adam, When “Street”, He was the head of the human race, For we also are his offspring we fell with him. So we are all separated from God. The final consequence of sin would be separation of sinners from God forever. But there is a way for us to return to God!
Because a man brought sin into the world and death, mankind, descendants of Adam, He needed a sinless Man to pay the penalty for sin and the resulting death sentence. However, the Bible teaches that “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23). What could be the solution?

The last Adam

God provided the solution: a way to deliver man from his wretched state. Paul explains 1 Corinthians chapter 15 that God provided another Adam! The Son of God became man: a perfect man, yet still close relative! He is called “the last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45), because he took the place of the first man. He became the new head, and sinless, He was able to pay the penalty for sin.

“For since by a man came death, comes also through a man also came the resurrection of the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:22-23).

Christ suffered death (the iniquity) on the cross, shedding His blood (and without bloodshed there is no forgiveness — Jews 9:22), so those who have placed their trust in His work on the cross can be, repent of their sins of rebellion in Adam, and be reconciled to God.
So, only the descendants of the first man, Adamo, They can be saved.

All relatives

Since the Bible says that all mankind is sinful, and that we are all relatives (proceedings 17:26: He made from one blood every nation of men , to dwell on all the face of the earth), the Gospel presupposes that all living human beings and those who have lived in all times (except the first donna7) are descendants of the first man, Adamo. If not, the gospel could not be explained or defended.

So, at the beginning there was only one man, made from the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7).

This means that even Cain's wife was a descendant of Adam. It could not be of another “race” of human beings: It must be included among the descendants of Adam.

The first woman

In Genesis 3:20, we read: “The man called his wife Eve, because it was the mother of all living”. In other words, all human beings, with the exception of Adam, are descendants of Eve: she was the first woman.

Eve was made from Adam's side (Genesis 3:21-24); This was a unique event. In the New Testament, Jesus (Matteo 19:4-6) and Paul (Ephesians 5:31) cite this historical fact as the foundation of marriage between a man and a woman.

Yet, in Genesis 2:20 we are told that when Adam looked at the animals, he found a suitable mate: there was no one of his kind.

All this makes us realize that from the beginning there was only one woman, Adam's wife. There could be a “race” women.

So, if Christians are not able to defend that all humans (including Cain's wife) derive ultimately from Adam and Eve, then how can they explain the Gospel? How can they justify sending missionaries to every tribe and nation? Therefore it is necessary that we answer the question about Cain's wife to be able to defend the Gospel and all that it teaches.

WIFE OF CAIN

Who was Cain?

Cain was the first child of Adam and Eve, as documented in Scripture (Genesis 4:1). He and his brothers, Abele (Genesis 4:2) and Set (Genesis 4:25), They were part of the first generation of children ever born on this earth. But, though only these three males are specifically appointed, Adam and Eve had other children.
Brothers and sisters Cain

In Genesis 5:4, we read a summary of the life of Adam and Eve:

“Having begotten Seth, Adam lived eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters”.

In the course of their lives, Adam and Eve had a number of male and female children. Indeed, the Jewish historian Josephus wrote that “the number of the sons of Adam, according to an ancient tradition, it was of 33 sons and 23 daughters”.

Scripture does not tell us how many children were born to Adam and Eve, However, considering their long life (Adam lived 930 years - Genesis 5:5), it seems logical to suggest there were many! (Remember, they were commanded to: “Be fruitful and multiply”, Genesis 1:28).

The wife

Now, if we rely solely on Scripture, without any personal prejudices or other biblical ideas, then in principle, when there was only the first generation, they had to marrying between brothers and sisters, otherwise there would be no more generations!

We do not know when Cain married, and even the details of other marriages or his children, But we can say with certainty that Cain's wife was his sister, or another close relative.

OBJECTIONS

God's laws

Many people immediately reject the conclusion that the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve had to marry each other, appealing to the law against consanguineous marriages. Some say that you can not marry your close relatives. But actually, if one does not marry a relative, not marry a human being! A wife is related to her husband before marrying, because all humans are descendants of Adam and Eve: all are of the same blood.
The law forbidding close relatives marrying was not given until the time of Moses (Leviticus 18-20). Provided that marriage was between a man and a woman for life (see Genesis 1 e 2), there was no disobedience to God's original law (that is, before the time of Moses) when close relatives - even brothers and sisters - were married to each other. Remember that Abraham married his half sister (Genesis 20:12)9. God's law then forbade such marriages, but only four hundred years later, the time of Moses.

congenital malformations

Today, the law does not allow brothers and sisters (and half-brothers, stepsisters, etc.) to marry and have children.
Now, it is true that children born from marriages between brother and sister are more likely to be born malformed. Indeed, the closer the relationship between a pair, the greater the likelihood of having a child is malformed. It is very easy to understand this, even without going into technical details.

Each person inherits the genes of the mother and father. Unfortunately, genes today contain many mistakes (because of sin and the curse), and these errors are manifested in several ways. For example, there are people that makes hair grow over their ears to hide the fact that one ear is lower than the other, or it happens that someone's nose is not the center of the face, or that the jaw is a bit 'distorted, and so on. We see that the main reason why we call ourselves “normal” it is because we agreed!

Closer is the kinship between two people, the greater the probability of having the same mistakes in their genes, as they are inherited from the same parents. For this, chances are brother and sister have similar mistakes in their genetic material. But though a union between the two, in order to have children, the children inherit their parents' genes. Since it is likely that these genes have similar errors, the pair of associated errors produces a malformation in children.

Vice versa, the more distant the relationship between parents, the greater the likelihood that they have different mistakes in their genes. The children, who inherit a gene from each parent, They will probably end up with a pair of genes containing only one bad gene. the gene “good” It tends to override the bad, so that a malformation (least severe) It is not produced. Instead of having totally deformed ears, for example, a person can only have them crooked! (however, mankind as a whole is slowly degenerating because of errors accumulated generation after generation).

Anyway, this fact of life today did not apply to Adam and Eve. When these two people were created, they were perfect. Everything God made was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). This means their genes were perfect, without mistakes! But when sin entered the world (because of Adam — Genesis 3:6), God cursed the world, so that the perfect creation then began to degenerate, that is, They suffer death and decay (Romans 8:22). During the long period of time elapsed since then, this degeneration has produced all sorts of errors in the genetic material of living things.
Cain, But, was the first generation of children ever born. He (as well as his brothers and sisters) They had not received virtually no imperfect genes from Adam or Eve, since the effects of sin and the Curse would have been minimal to. In this situation, brothers and sisters could marry (provided it was one man and one woman - is this marriage [Matteo 19:4-6]) - Without any potential to produce deformed children.
At the time of Moses, instead (circa 2.500 years after), the degenerative mistakes would have accumulated to such an extent in the human race that became necessary for God to bring the law to ban marriages between brothers and sisters and other close relatives (Leviticus 18-20)11. Also, there were many people on earth, and there was no reason for close relations to marry them.

In summary, it seems that there were three reasons for the introduction of laws forbidding marriages between blood relatives:

As already discussed, there was the need to protect against the growing risk of giving birth to malformed children.
God's laws were aimed at maintaining a strong Jewish nation, healthy and aligned to God's plans.
These laws served to protect the individual, the structure of the family and society in general. In fact, the psychological damage caused by incestuous relationships should not be minimized.

Cain to the land of Nod

Some claim that the song by Genesis 4:16-17 it means that Cain went to the land of Nod and found a wife has. So they conclude that there must have been another race of people on earth, who were not descendants of Adam, and from which she came from Cain's wife.

Cain went out from the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain knew his wife and she conceived and bore Enoch; And he built a city which he called Enoch, after the son.
From what is written above, it is clear that all humans, including Cain's wife, are descendants of Adam. Anyway, this passage does not say that Cain went to the land of Nod and found a wife. John Calvin, commentary on these verses, writes:

“From the context we may gather that Cain, before killing his brother, He 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 found his wife, piuttosto is “He knew” (He had sex with) his moglie13.

Cain, who was afraid?

(Genesis 4:14)

Someone says that there must have been many people on earth, in addition to the descendants of Adam and Eve, otherwise Cain would not have been afraid that someone wanted to kill him because he killed Abel.
First of all, the most likely reason why someone wanted to harm Cain for killing Abel must have been because they were close relatives of Abel!

Second, Cain and Abel were born quite a lot 'of time before the death of Abel. Genesis 4:3 dice:

“it happened, after some time, that Cain brought an offering of the fruits of the earth to the Lord”.

Notice the expression: “after some time”. We know that Seth was born when Adam was the age of 130 years (Genesis 5:4) and Eve saw him as a replacement for Abel (Genesis 4:25). therefore, the period of time elapsed since the birth of Cain to Abel's death may have been a 100 years or more, allowing plenty of time for other children of Adam and Eve to marry and have children. Before 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?

Some claim that for Cain to go to the land of Nod and build a city, He should have had considerable existing technological resources in that place, presumably developed by other “races”.
But the descendants of Adam and Eve were very intelligent people. We are told that Jubal made musical instruments such as the harp and 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 ever existed on this planet. But the fact that we have jet airplanes and computers does not mean that we are smarter or more advanced. This modern technology is really a result of the accumulation of knowledge over the centuries.

We must remember that for 6.000 years (since the time of Adam) our brain has suffered the effects of curse. We are greatly degenerated compared to so many generations of people do. Probably our intelligence is absolutely not comparable to that of the children of Adam and Eve. The Scripture gives us a glimpse of what appears to have been an advanced technology from the beginning. Cain had no doubt the wisdom and skill to know how to build a city.