this question must be a faq, but since i really wish to know it i want to ask anyways. and ill try to stop bothering you guys too.
Adam and eve were the first humans to be put on earth. Fact.
but what i dont understand is this. in the bible it says they had children too. Adam and Eve had two children in fact. so with that being said how did everyone else come about? Did Adams son have to have sex with Eve in order to populate the earth like wise did Adam have to have sex with her daughter?
i guess what im getting at here is i dont know enough about adam and eve. could you explain this to me.
Hi Mr Isla
Adam and Eve lived a long time and had many, many, children who married each other. I want to look at a few things 1) the story of Cain and Abel tells us how the fall of Adam and Eve grew to include jealousy and murder. 2) The Bible tells us Seth was born as a replacement for Abel, 3) At Seth’s birth Adam is 130 years. So how old was Eve when Seth was born? We are not told however we know she had two son (Abel & Cain) who sound to be grown, so lets assume a minimum 40 and we know she was younger than Adam so a maximum 129. 4) Now notice what is missing- Cain is older than Abel but not titled First Born which was historicly an important title. Why not? Probably Cain was not the first born of Adam. So now we would like to know how old was Adam when Eve was created? The bible does not tell us however some common sense would suggest they were close in age. So why does it matter? Well if Eve is close in age to Adam then she is over 120 when she bears Seth. If we look at another extreme making her 40 years old then a 90 year difference is between her and Adam, this makes no sense because then Adam did not need a woman for 89 years.
So what is the point? Adam and Eve lived much longer than you or I, and they bore many children for many more years than you or I can bear children. Had Eve bore children from the age of 20 and Seth was even her last child lets guess her 120 (10 years younger than Adam) then she would have bore children over a 100 years or roughly 50 children. Though the bible does not claim Seth as the last.
Now these children married each other however it was not actually “incest” because “incest” did not exist yet. Later god would stop the practice being able to marry any unmarried person and require the marriage only be only non-siblings.
Now while we are on this subject, if Eve bore 50 children, and those children did the same Eve would have 625 grand children, over 97,000 great grand children, and 2.4 million great-great grand children. And the next generation would over populate the earth! Only 6 generations and the earth would be over populated. So maybe that is why we do not live 900 years or bear children over a 100+ years.
*Genesis 2
21 So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man, 23 5 the man said: “This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of ‘her man’ this one has been taken.” 24 6 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body. 25 The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame.
Genesis 4
25 6 Adam again had relations with his wife, and she gave birth to a son whom she called Seth. “God has granted me more offspring in place of Abel,” she said, “because Cain slew him.” 26 To Seth, in turn, a son was born, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to invoke the LORD by name.
Genesis 5
1
1 This is the record of the descendants of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God; 2 he created them male and female. When they were created, he blessed them and named them “man.” 3 Adam was one hundred and thirty years old when he begot a son in his likeness, after his image; and he named him Seth. 4 Adam lived eight hundred years after the birth of Seth, and he had other sons and daughters. 5 The whole lifetime of Adam was nine hundred and thirty years; then he died. 6 When Seth was one hundred and five years old, he became the father of Enosh. 7 Seth lived eight hundred and seven years after the birth of Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters. 8 The whole lifetime of Seth was nine hundred and twelve years; then he died.*
usccb.org/nab/bible/genesis/genesis2.htm