WHO WAS CAIN'S WIFE? (a case for Cain) B'Reisheet chapter 4

[Jacob Ben Avraham]

Who was Cain's wife? well, that's easy, "Mrs. Cain" but on a serious note, let's go back to brass tacks, let's go to "The case for Cain"

We can see in Genesis that Cain is someone like all of us, with a sin nature, with a choice to do either right or wrong, follow the way of YHVH or reject him. Cain and Abel, you and me, we can either live like Cain or like Abel, the choice is ours. Both boys knew the right thing to do, but only Abel chose the right way, G-d's way, and it cost him his life.

G-d gives Cain a chance to do right and correct the wrong done

GOD: "Why are you angry? why has your countenance fallen? if you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? and if you do not well, sin is at the door, and its desire is for you, but you must master it!" (Gen 4:6,7)

If one has an imagination, one can only wonder an up beat conversation between God and Cain

"Yo Cain, what are you doing dude?"
"Uh, a sacrifice!" yeah, to you God, the best of MY fields, of what MY hands have done, uh Yeah!
"Uh, not so fast there boy, Sacrifice YES, but of grains NO, not my way. Hey, remember mom and pop, how I taught them, you know, the blood sacrifices, lambs and goats, it reminds them of their sin, and what it cost them, so, the same thing for you kid! you are no different. So look, I understand your motive, and nothing wrong with grain offerings, but that's later, right now, I demand blood sacrifices"
"So, tell you what you do, go into Abel's field, ask him for a lamb, and he'll give you one, bring it back here, lay it on the altar, cut its throat, and I'll accept it" deal??
Helloooooo? Cainnnnn? Uh, no, I don't have favorites, you and Abel are the same, but Abel did it my way, you can do it too, that is if you choose to, it's up to you now"


We know the outcome, murder, rebellion, and it says that "Cain went out from the presence of YHVH, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden" (Gen 4:16) "Nod" is the word for "wandering"

So, in simple words, Cain became a vagabond, and wanderer, like back in the 1930s, the "hobos" riding the trains during the depression, going here and there. Since YHVH cursed the earth as punishment, he no longer could be a farmer, be probably was just a gatherer, picking fruit from the trees, nuts, and berries that grew wild, he probably had some sort of weapon, maybe a flint spear to fight off hungry T-Rexes and velociraptors, Saber tooth tigers, etc.

The sad note is that he did not repent, even though he could of, satan had such a hold on Cain, it was "Cain's way" or "no way" therefore, the world today goes the "Way of Cain". It says that he "went out from the presence of the LORD" or he didn't have anything to do with God afterwards

What a sad state. Now, in verse 17 it says, "and Cain knew his wife and she conceived"

This is where many people question God's Word,saying;

"Hey, wait a minute now, if Adam and Eve were the only ones on the earth, and Abel is dead, and only Cain is left, then, where did his wife come from?"

We need to understand that the Bible was not written from a day by day event, in some places it is written like that, like in the 6 days of creation. But in other instances, like when Moses leaves Egypt on the run, the next verse shows that he is in Midian, well, how long did it take him to go from Egypt to Midian? maybe a month, two months, who knows? it also goes from being a shepherd in the fields of Jethro, to the calling of his ministry at the burning bush, there is a 40 year lapse here, it doesn't record his day by day experiences with his family, the sheep, etc

So if we go back to Genesis, between verses 16 and 17 in Genesis 4, there is a time lapse, perhaps 15, 20 years maybe more. On the home front, Adam and Eve console themselves with the loss of their sons. They have another child, Seth. afterwards, they have more children, The Bible doesn't record the names of them all, many are daughters, and they grow up and intermarry, brothers with sisters, nothing wrong with that back then, before the written Torah was given.

So, eventually, the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve spread out and go there way, one daughter ends up where Cain is living at, so, Cain meets his distant sister, and form a family, she becomes his wife, "Mrs. Cain" yes, Cain married one of his sisters.


Rabbi Ben Avraham

[DaveW]

Sorry rabbi but that is speculation.

It may seem to be the only logical conclusion; but any answer is only speculative.

[Nevertheless]

I would have to object to the statement that Cain offered the best of his harvest. Scripture tells us that Abel offered the best he had, but Cain brought "some".

[Wycliffes_Shillelagh]

I would opine that the thrust of the story of Cain and Abel is about the internal tension within the nascent Israelite nation between those who wanted to return to a nomadic-herdsman type of lifestyle, and those who had engaged in agriculture and the practice of settling cities.  (Note that Cain's first action is to found a city.)

Jarrod

[Brian.bkb]

I believe Cain took what we often call neanderthal to wife and this started what is known as "the neurological boom/evolution" of primitive mankind. The boom science still remain baffled over is taught precisely at Genesis 4:17-24, including their later tendency for violence.

[DaveW]

I believe Cain took what we often call neanderthal to wife...

Based on what scripture exactly?

[belief = place biblical faith in...]

[4WD]

I believe Cain took what we often call neanderthal to wife and this started what is known as "the neurological boom/evolution" of primitive mankind. The boom science still remain baffled over is taught precisely at Genesis 4:17-24, including their later tendency for violence.

I am not sure that modern science believes now that they could interbreed.  I think the latest theories are that the Neanderthal went extinct rather than being assimilated.

[DaveW]

I am not sure that modern science believes now that they could interbreed.  I think the latest theories are that the Neanderthal went extinct rather than being assimilated.

Other way around.  In fact they think the gene for red hair in humans came from neanderthals.

ETA:

DNA found in early modern human fossil shows evidence of interbreeding with Neanderthals

Scientists have long suspected that modern humans and our ancient Neanderthal cousins interbred, and now DNA evidence shows that it did occur, and dates when it occurred, researchers say.

Sequencing of DNA in a thighbone of one of the earliest modern humans, discovered in 2008 in Siberia, shows interbreeding occurred sometime between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago, they say.

The genetic evidence remains in the leg bone of a man living in Siberia around 45,000 years ago, just when modern humans were poised to expand into Europe and Asian after emerging from Africa.

"The amazing thing is that we have a good genome of a 45,000 year old person who was close to the ancestor of all present-day humans outside Africa," says researcher Svante Paabo of the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany.

The DNA evidence suggests modern humans and Neanderthals interbred during an era dubbed the Initial Upper Paleolithic, a period that saw a significant expansion of modern human culture, the researchers say.

Some earlier estimates had put possible interbreeding much earlier, when our direct human ancestors were less modern both anatomically and in behavior.

The DNA evidence says otherwise, researchers say.

"This new paper definitively says it was modern humans with modern human behavior that interbred with Neanderthals," says David Reich of Harvard University, a co-author of the study published in Nature.

The Initial Upper Paleolithic is when complex bone and stone tools began to appear in Eurasia, accompanied by other evidence of modern human behaviors such as body ornamentation with animal teeth and pierced shells, use of pigments and even development of musical instruments, research team member Tom Highham of Oxford University says.

The DNA of the Siberian human bone shows evidence of interbreeding between modern humans and our cousin species Neanderthals who evolved outside of Africa, the researchers say.

The amount of Neanderthal DNA present suggests interbreeding between Neanderthals and the ancestors of the Siberian man occurred within only a few dozen generations of when he lived, they say.

The thighbone represents the oldest modern human remains ever found outside of Africa and the Middle East.

A small imprint of Neanderthal DNA, about 2 percent, exists in all humans today except in Africans, evidence of interbreeding between the two species only after the "Out of Africa" scenario of human development, researchers say.

The Siberian man appears to have lived at a point that was a crossroads for human evolution in terms of both time and geography, scientists say.

"This does seem to mark a watershed where modern humans were pushing the boundaries further and further in their dispersal out of Africa," says Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London.

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/18480/20141022/dna-of-found-in-early-modern-human-fossil-shows-evidence-of-interbreeding-with-neanderthals.htm

[Brian.bkb]

I believe Cain took what we often call neanderthal to wife...

Based on what scripture exactly?

[belief = place biblical faith in...]

Genesis 1 mankind was made as a pair after the beast of the earth. they had a different territory. their eating habits are not the same as those of Adam. Later Cain was exiled to live their way, not an agricultural way but of the wild in the earth..there are a few more aspects but that's the jist..i believe the animals in genesis two, the beast of the field are what we know as domesticated species.. that's also something science is on the fence with.. in other words i don't think all domesticated species came from wild ones but was a separate creation of YHWH.

[Brian.bkb]

I believe Cain took what we often call neanderthal to wife and this started what is known as "the neurological boom/evolution" of primitive mankind. The boom science still remain baffled over is taught precisely at Genesis 4:17-24, including their later tendency for violence.

I am not sure that modern science believes now that they could interbreed.  I think the latest theories are that the Neanderthal went extinct rather than being assimilated.

Consider Denisova and Red Deer Cave.. many scientists have found evidence that rising water levels aided in the downfall of the primitives.

[DaveW]

I believe Cain took what we often call neanderthal to wife...

Based on what scripture exactly?

[belief = place biblical faith in...]

Genesis 1 mankind was made as a pair after the beast of the earth. they had a different territory. their eating habits are not the same as those of Adam. Later Cain was exiled to live their way, not an agricultural way but of the wild in the earth..there are a few more aspects but that's the jist..i believe the animals in genesis two, the beast of the field are what we know as domesticated species.. that's also something science is on the fence with.. in other words i don't think all domesticated species came from wild ones but was a separate creation of YHWH.

You did not answer the question.  You just made another wild and baseless assumption.

the church I grew up in believed that Cain's wife was an ape and that is where the Blacks came from.  What you propose is just as preposterous.

[Brian.bkb]

I apologise, i didn't know you wanted me to copy and paste the actual bible verses, i assumed  you could read the scriptures i was speaking of yourself..

[Brian.bkb]

Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth...Genesis 2:7,8 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.... I'm on a cell phone, this is very tedious...black people are of Noah and Sons just like the rest of us.. your bad experiences shouldn't lead you to discredit every other idea in every other person...

[DaveW]

I have read Gen 1 and 2 many times.
I have seen NOTHING in there to support that Cain married a neandrathal or that the animals that are domesticated were of a seperate act of creation.

Since I do not see it in those passages; I am requesting you show me how you see it in there.

[Brian.bkb]

I have read Gen 1 and 2 many times.
I have seen NOTHING in there to support that Cain married a neandrathal or that the animals that are domesticated were of a seperate act of creation.

Since I do not see it in those passages; I am requesting you show me how you see it in there.

totally understand and respect that but i was clear as possible..i never seen it either, not for years, and no man showed me..genesis 1 beast of the earth, genesis 2 beast of the field..i was born into a hunting family in a largely agriculture society..i always knew the difference between the fields and the earth but it never registered that genesis 1&2 is genuinely precise..