SUBJECT:  Cain

QUESTION: Can you tell me where Cain got his wife?

ANSWER:

Yes, we can. Cain married one of his sisters. There simply wasn't any other female for him to marry. In Genesis 5:4-5 we read: "And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: and all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died."

Jewish tradition recorded by Josephus, says that Adam and Eve had 33 sons and 23 daughters. These brothers and sisters would have had to marry each other in order to obey God's command to propagate the human race (Genesis 1:28). Today, there are biblical laws which forbid marriage between those who are closely related. But, it was not wrong for brothers and sisters to marry at that early time in human history. However, in Abraham's day it was permissible to marry only one's half sister. Abram married his half-sister, Sarai (Genesis 20:12). Nahor married his brother Haran's daughter (Genesis 11:29). There was then no genetic harm to the children. When men and women over the centuries continued in sin, it became genetically harmful for close blood relatives to marry (see Leviticus 18), and for the sake of future generations it is forbidden.

 
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