Genesis 4:17
Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.
I wanted to write a short lesson on the origin of Cain’s wife, because it is a situation that is constantly presenting itself in my life, through questions people have, saying, “If Adam and Eve had two sons, and Cain killed Abel and was ejected from the presence of God, where did the woman he made his wife come from, and all the people it took to build the city he built?” This paraphrased question covers the gist of their various inquiries at least.
Many tend to fill in the blanks, where they deem the Bible to not explain their inquiries. That is a big no-no. Remember the command, “Do not add to, nor detract from the words of this book?” God is not fond of us projecting things upon the text that we suppose. But the main reason I see people doing this is because they want to read the biblical text in a linear fashion, and assume all the events in a chapter occur in a short span of time. That is the problem with modern thinking. Number one, the Hebrew narrative is never chronological in the way they wrote, and number two, they didn’t write it as a daily journal, which to me, is pretty obvious. I mean, Adam and Eve have sex, Eve gets pregnant with twins, and the next minute one takes, possibly his plow-head, and caves his brother’s head in with it. All this occurs in chapter four of Genesis. Do you think there is some details and timeline missing??? Well yeah!!! Unless we think these babies are born and grew to manhood in a day, and went out farming, LOL. The Bible is not a diary. It gives us an overview of man’s history, with the details that will benefit our learning, that the Spirit of God deemed necessary for us to perceive the points God wants known to us.
So…..many years occur between each event in this story. Two people in human history were told to replenish or re-populate the earth: Adam and Noah. Why? Because they were the only ones present, or left. To sustain life, they had to procreate!! LOL. So, do we think that Adam and Eve would’ve stopped with twin boys, and no females to procreate with? Ugh….no. There is so much speculation on things in the Bible anytime information isn’t provided. It’s always a rabbit trail, that deters from the entire point of the text. Although our Bible is a mathematical anomaly, it was never intended to be a science book. It is intended to be a guide in how to please God and obtain righteousness before Him. God never intended for it to explain to us how He made the stars, and the heavens. Those are obviously the secrets that belongs to Him. He said the things He chooses to reveal belong to His children.
Deuteronomy 29:29
“Secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those that are revealed belong to us and our descendants forever, so that we might obey all the words of this law.”
Did you know the pursuit of knowledge, that God declares belongs to Him, is the very thing that brought the fall of Adam and Eve, and the very thing that brought the flood of Noah’s day? Did you know to seek to know what God forbids you to pursue is rebellion? Did you know you will spin your life’s wheels chasing the distractions presented by the enemy of your soul , the Sa’tan, and never do what God has called you to do in advancing His kingdom, by pursuing knowledge that God doesn’t will to make known? It is called idolatry, because it becomes something we seek out of His will. And why? Because in that heart’s mindset, it needs to prove Him to ourselves, and we think we owe carnal men an answer to all things, even the things we cannot know. But God has said that His evidence is vividly witnessed in the things He has made. The just shall live by Faith(fulness).
Romans 1:20
“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse.”
But we see that Cain and Abel were men in a field, working. Abel offered to God his very best and first of his harvest. Cain is said to have offered his leftovers, after he was sure he had enough for himself. Man…that will preach right there! I could chase that rabbit on how people are with giving to God of their earnings. I can hear them now, “Do we HAVE TO give 10% before or after taxes?” I want to say, when asked such things, “Why not keep it all, stop going to your Christian social club, and just be the honest idolater that you are, and fully serve your heart’s desire: YOU! But….I don’t……..LOL. It wouldn’t change anything. And 10%? That was the Old Covenant tithe. Under Christ, Jesus said, “If your righteousness doesn’t exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will in no way enter the Kingdom.” Sacrificial giving is the New Standard. It exceeds that 10%. But we will save that rabbit trail for another day.
Cain kills Abel, is ostracized from all relatives and God for murder, which was the highest form of betrayal in their culture. He is sent away as a vagabond to wander. (Man, that wouldn’t be Christlike today, huh? “You juth gotta love them like “Jethus, Chris!!) …..So Cain settled in the land of Nod and builds a city!!! So here the question arises, “Where does he find this wife, if his parents, he and his brother were all the people on the earth?” Well…..nowhere is that said to be true. We are just presented by the biblical text, the microscopic story of the aspects of these four family members. Did you know the Bible says Jesus had brothers AND sisters? Can you tell me the sisters’ names? Who their spouses and children were? What their lives were like and what happened to them all? No you can’t, because we aren’t afforded any more info than that they merely existed. Did you know Peter had a wife? Can you tell me her name? No, because all of this is not relevant to God’s purpose for the Bible. So at what point are we going to stop trying to chase information that God did not see fit to tell us, because it had no relevance to His plan of redeeming mankind and this earth back to Himself. THAT IS the point of the Bible. Nothing more. Nothing less. Why can’t we stop desiring what we aren’t given, and actually desire what many died to give us?!? There’s a heart probing question for you!!!!
As to the wife of Cain, I have heard people go so far as to suggest that there were races of people remaining on the earth from a previous inhabitance, before Adam was made. But God answers this matter in the very Hebrew name of Adam’s wife, Havva (Eve חַוָּה).
Havva means “mother of all living.” But you don’t have to know Hebrew to see that. It was written in plain English…..
Genesis 3:20
The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.”
That is settled. All humans on the earth, other than Adam and herself, were conceived in her womb. Hello?!?
