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The Bible indicates that Adam and Eve's first son, Cain, slew his younger brother Abel because of jealousy over the acceptance of his brother's offering over his own. Immediately after being banished to the east in the land of Nod, Cain found a wife and raised a family and founded a "city" called Enoch. If Cain was the firstborn of Adam and Abel the second, then how could Cain have found a wife and built a city?
The Bible describes the creation of humanity in Genesis, the first book. According to the chapter one account, God created male and female human beings in His image. Chapter two of Genesis goes into more detail about the creation of mankind. According to the narrative, God created Adam, the first man, then, some time later, created Eve. Adam and Eve sinned and were banished from Eden. They produced two sons, Cain and Abel. Both Cain and Abel presented sacrifices to God, but Cain's was rejected,6 because he expended a half-hearted effort. So, Cain became angry and murdered his brother in a fit of jealousy
God confronted Cain about the murder of Abel and banished him to the east of Eden. The problem arises in the next verse, where suddenly Cain is married and builds a city:
- Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. (Genesis 4:16)
- Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son. (Genesis 4:17)
The assumption seems to be that Cain and Abel were the first two children of Adam and Eve. Although Cain does seem to be the firstborn, the text is not clear that Abel was the second born, but only that he was the second son. Later, the narrative indicates that Adam and Eve produced "other sons and daughters." So, it is possible that Adam and Eve produced daughters between the births of Cain and Abel. It is also likely that others sons and daughters were produced after the birth of Abel. We don't know how old Cain and Abel were when Cain murdered his brother, but they seem to be at least young adults, since they are both engage in a trade for their living. The second thing one notices is Cain's seeming paranoia about being found and revenge being taken against his for killing Abel. The only way this makes sense is if the brothers and sisters of Abel were upset that Cain had killed their brother. Although the period of time between the birth of Cain and the death of Abel is not given in the Bible, it would seem that this period was probably over 100 years, since the birth of Adam's next son, Seth is said to have occurred when Adam was 130 years old. Adam and Eve could have produced many daughters during that period of time.
So, the Genesis narrative suggests that Cain had other brothers and sisters when he was exiled by God. One of those sisters married Cain (or more likely had already been married to Cain when he killed his brother), became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch somewhere east of Eden. The next problem that arises is the claim that Cain "built a city." To us, in the 21st century, this evokes images of skyscrapers and high density housing. However, the original Hebrew word, translated "city," merely had the meaning of a place that was guarded by a watch or with a wall.12 At its minimum, the Hebrew root referred to an encampment or post. So, it is entirely possible that Cain could have built such a "city."
THEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS
Skeptics have pointed out that the only viable solution to the problem of Cain's wife (Cain marrying his sister) suffers from theological problems, since close relations were not allowed to marry according to Jewish law.13 However, all of these events happened before the law was given. According to the Apostle Paul, when there is no law, there can be no violation of the law or sin.14 So, since the law against incest was not given until thousands of years later, there was no theological problem with Cain marrying his sister.
GENETIC PROBLEMS
Many skeptics object to the idea that Cain married his sister from a scientific viewpoint, since inbreeding leads to the expression of detrimental recessive mutations. This is why punctuated equilibrium does not represent a viable evolutionary mechanism, since species sorting does not really lead to the formation of new species, but to the extinction of the current species.15 However, scientists have developed completely inbred strains of mice whose individuals are all genetically identical. The process involves selecting out the defects. The resulting strains of mice are regularly interbred and do not suffer from any defects (although scientists also raise strains of inbred mice that possess a single genetic defect, for study). In the same way, I believe that the first two humans were created without genetic defects. Inbreeding among their offspring did not lead to defects until many generations later as spontaneous mutations accumulated. At that point, God instituted laws against incest to minimize the expression of genetic mutations that had developed within our species.
CONCLUSION
Is has been shown that the Bible's claim that Cain, the first offspring of Adam and Eve, could have found a wife is found to be plausible if he had chosen among one of his sisters (and he probably had already done so before he murdered Abel). Since there seems to have been at least 100 years between the birth of Cain and the death of Abel, Adam and Eve would have had plenty of time to produce daughters for Cain to choose from. Brothers and sisters marrying seems to be a theological problem, since the Bible is quite clear that one should not marry a close relative. However, the Jewish laws were not instituted until thousands of years later, so there would have been no prohibition against such marriages at that time. Skeptics also say that such interbreeding would have produced a genetically crippled population. However, if God had created human beings, as the Bible says, then it would be expected that they would have been created without genetic defects. The accumulation of detrimental mutations would taken many generations, at which time God instituted the laws against incest to protect against the majority of these defects.