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DOCTRINE QUESTION 29

QUESTION 29:
If there were no other people on earth, where did Cain get his wife?

ANSWER:
This is probably the oldest and most often asked question.

There are many things the Bible does not speak of, because they are insignificant. This is one thing we are not told. To draw a logical conclusion from what we do know about Cain, we would have to conclude that he married his sister. When we read that, "And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived,..." Genesis 4:17, we must remember that he was no youngster at the time. He was born first, and then we read Adam begot sons and daughters. Genesis 5:4. It is most logical to believe that he married one of his sisters. It might be argued that this would not work, as they were too closely related, but it worked then with Adam and Eve, who was part of his own flesh. It would seem, in order to populate the earth, God not only permitted intermarrying, but He also let them live and bear children at an older age. Adam beget Seth when he was one hundred and thirty years old. Eve would have been the same age. This is not possible with women now. Abraham married Sarah who was his half sister. Genesis 20:2-12. She was ninety years old when she bear Isaac, a son. (Genesis 17:17). The important thing revealed in the Word of God isn't "where Cain got his wife," but "Where will you spend eternity?"

If you never come as a lost sinner to Christ and trust Him as your Saviour you will be like Cain, lost forever. (Jude 1:11). His way was offering the wrong offering to God. (Genesis 4). There was no blood, no death to pay the wages of sin, so he perished in his sins. "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission (forgiveness)." Hebrews 9:22. "...and the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:7. What about you? Are you saved?

All comments and questions to: Harold Smith

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Updated July 2009, by Shelly Allen