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Overview:
The Bible tells us that Adam and Eve had daughters as
well as sons. If Cain married early in his life, his
wife would have been his sister. If he married late,
it could have been one of his countless relatives.
Cain
and Abel were not the only children of Adam and Eve, even
though many people think so.
Genesis 5:4 says Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters,
and Jewish tradition teaches they had 33 sons and 23
daughters. (Remember that Adam lived 930 years, so he
and Eve had plenty of time to have 56 children!)
To
get the population started, of course, at least one
of Adam and Eve's sons had to marry one of the daughters.
It is likely that in the first generation all marriages
were between brother and sister. Living so close to
the time of the perfect creation, no genetic problems
would have developed yet, so no harm would have come
from such close marriages.
By
the time of Moses, 2600 years later, many biological
problems had accumulated, which made marriage between
close relatives dangerous, so laws were given against
it and are still in place today.
We
are not told how old Cain was when he went out to build
his city (Genesis 4:17). But Bible commentators have
estimated that at least 120,000 people could have been
alive on earth within only a few hundred years. So Cain
probably had quite a lot of women to choose from for
a wife.
If
he married early in his life, his wife would have been
his sister. If he married late, it could have been one
of his countless relatives.
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