WHO WAS CAIN’S WIFE?
Reading lightly
the narrative of the first humans on Earth, we seem to get the first impression
that Cain and Abel were the first children that Adam and Eve had, and that
after Cain’s death, Seth was the next child of our first parents. And the
question rises, who then became Cain’s wife? (Genesis 4:17).
CAIN AND
ABEL WERE NOT THE FIRST CHILDREN
We wrongly assume
that Cain and Abel were the first children that Adam and Eve had. But looking
carefully into the text, we can see that this is not the case:
“Now Adam
knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a
man with the help of the LORD.” And again, she bore his brother Abel.”
Genesis 4:1-2
The text only
indicates the birth of two sons, who will be the protagonists of this story,
the first human fratricide, but nowhere it suggests that they were the only
ones, not even the first two males.
Furthermore, if
only Cain and Abel existed, why would Cain worry about being killed by ‘whoever
finds him’?
It is obvious
that Adam and Eve had other children, male and female, long before they had
Cain and Abel, and that they procreated a small number of families before Cain
and Abel were adults. In fact, it is impossible that Adam had lived with Eve
for 130 years, and had only produced two children (Genesis 5:3).
WHO WAS
THEN CAIN’S WIFE?
Adam and Eve
must have had a large number of children long before the birth of Cain and Abel,
and they must have reproduced among themselves and created towns and tribes long
before the first murder took place.
Therefore, the retaliation
that Cain feared could come from brothers, and nephews who would be indignant
for the crime Cain committed.
As a
consequence, Cain’s wife was most probably a younger niece.
WHAT ABOUT
SETH?
Now, if Cain and
Abel were not the only ones, why then Eve said:
“God has
appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.”
Genesis 4:25.
This declaration
does not cancel the fact that Adam and Eve had other offspring before Cain and
Abel, but only that Seth was born right after Abel was killed, becoming the next
male child that Eve took as a replacement of his beloved Abel.
Omar Flores.
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