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Q. Where did Cain get his wife? |
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A: Genesis informs us that after the birth
of Seth (their third son following Cain and Abel) Adam and Eve "begot
[other] sons and daughters" (Gen. 5:4). The exact number is
not mentioned, but you can imagine in 930 years (the life-span of
Adam), there must have been quite a few. These children intermarried
and during their long life spans mentioned in the rest of Genesis
5, they also had a multitude of children. Everyone that Cain had
contact with would have been a descendant of his parents. Whether
he married a sister (keep in mind, the biblical command against
marrying close relatives was not given until thousands of years
later during the time of Moses) or someone more distantly related,
Cain's wife must have been a relative. Since the genetic make-up
of the first human beings would have been more tolerant of near-relatives
mating, this would not have created the problems that it would today.
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