Who were Cain and Abel married to?

[rondaxedad]

My ten year old daughter asks. We are Catholic homeschoolers and need a Catholic answer, please.

 

[buffalo]

My ten year old daughter asks. We are Catholic homeschoolers and need a Catholic answer, please.

Even though Cain and Abel are the only two named in Scripture Adam and Eve had other children. Since God commanded Adam and Eve to go forth and multiply so the whole human race would be descended from them it was permitted for them to marry their sisters.

 

[JimG]

Genesis chapter 5 says that the total lifetime of Adam was 935 years. The first parents could have had hundreds of children scattered over a wide geographic area.

 

[BerhaneSelassie]

IT seems to be implied that Abel was not “married” yet since Cain was older and he did not know his wife until AFTER he slew Cain [Genesis 4:17] (assuming its being told chronologically). Also had Abel had a wife and then had a son the scripture would mention that, since both Cain and Seth sons are named.

Perhaps Abel’s implied virginity is a reason why he’s liked with Christ, not only because of his righteousness.

Cain’s wife is not named in the Scriptures. Adam’s third son is Seth, he was clearly born after Abel died since the bible says in Genesis 4:25 he was Abel’s replacement. When Seth was born Adam was 130 (Genesis 5:3) So if Genesis at this point is chronologically telling facts then the Cain’s wife has to be less than 130 and had to be his sister since the lines of Seth and Cain did not mix til much later (Genesis 6)

Both Christian and Jewish tradition teaches Cain’s wife was his sister, not a niece. Seth’s wife had to have been his sister and not likely a niece. Some point to Genesis 4:1 in Hebrew which uses the word אֶת several times, which the Jewish scholar Rashi saw as pointing to Cain and Abel as having sisters.

 

[diggerdomer]

My ten year old daughter asks. We are Catholic homeschoolers and need a Catholic answer, please.

We don’t know. That’s not the point of these stories.

 

[dragon]

We don’t know. That’s not the point of these stories.

Whoa!! These are just stories?? Incest is okay at the beginning of mankind?? I must be missing something here. The Bible can give us a very detailed genealogy in the Old Testament, but can not tell us where the rest of the people came from?? You just sit there and say it does not matter?? You know how long Adam lived, but you have no idea what he was doing in all that time. Seems pretty lacking to me.

From what I have read in the Bible it talks about man, daughters of man, and gods. That is three distinct groups. I understand that the Catholic Church teaches that the Bible is not the only thing that makes the church, but in my reasoning the Bible is what the rest of the church is based on. If you have a flawed base the rest is built on shaky ground.

 

[dragon]

Even though Cain and Abel are the only two named in Scripture Adam and Eve had other children. Since God commanded Adam and Eve to go forth and multiply so the whole human race would be descended from them it was permitted for them to marry their sisters.

More children?? How do you know this?? Marry sisters?? Incest is allowed?? You state facts without facts. You assume. If you are basing your reasoning off of what you were told then your reasoning is flawed. Who is to say that god, after he kicked Adam and Eve out of the Garden, just created more people?? Just as plausible.

 

[diggerdomer]

Whoa!! These are just stories?? Incest is okay at the beginning of mankind??

No

I must be missing something here.

Yes

The Bible can give us a very detailed genealogy in the Old Testament, but can not tell us where the rest of the people came from??

Yes

You know how long Adam lived

No I don’t.

but in my reasoning the Bible is what the rest of the church is based on.

Ok, but the Church teaches the Church is based on God (Christ)

 

[IHeartAquinas]

It has always been my understanding that Adam is representative of the first men, collectively, and Eve is representative of the first women, collectively. The specific points of their familial stories, especially concerning the slaying of Abel and the geneologies, are reference to the specific men and women from whom the Jewish race, God’s chosen people, were descended. Therefore, there is no reason to wrestle over any questions of incest because, more than likely, the first generation of humankind was not having incest.

1. God created man and woman, therefore, he knows how genetics work.
2. Incest has a much higher chance of genetic mutations, sterilization, etc.
3. Continued incest can result in the complete genetic baselining of a community making further procreation impossible.
4. Knowing this, we can safely believe that God would not create man in a situation that would require all future generations to be descended from a single genetic pairing.
5. Therefore, God being God would not have created a single man and a single woman to “be fruitful and multiply.”
6. Finally, we can deduce that God created many men and women and chose a specific lineage from which to derive His chosen people.

As for who Cain married, there is speculation that Adam’s legendary first wife Lilith was also later the wife of Cain. I do not believe this, but it’s there for your consideration. But, apart from a handful of women, women are almost entirely ignored if not completely written out of the Bible, so to answer the OP’s question, it is best not to go searching for an answer but to answer honestly–we don’t know to whom Cain was married, but it probably was not his sister, or his niece, or anyone else that would violate the reason and sanity of God (cf my logical argument above).

 

[Paula_RGN]

I have recently been informed that this whole question of our first parents is only a myth!
If so what about the descendants of Cain and Seth? Not sure about Abel. I was also informed that Abraham was the first human being - if so what about his father Terah and his ancestors. Some of this is really confusing - can somebody shed the light? Thank you.

 

[buffalo]

More children?? How do you know this?? Marry sisters?? Incest is allowed?? You state facts without facts. You assume. If you are basing your reasoning off of what you were told then your reasoning is flawed. Who is to say that god, after he kicked Adam and Eve out of the Garden, just created more people?? Just as plausible.

Then we would not all be descended from Adam and Eve.

 

[buffalo]

It has always been my understanding that Adam is representative of the first men, collectively, and Eve is representative of the first women, collectively. The specific points of their familial stories, especially concerning the slaying of Abel and the geneologies, are reference to the specific men and women from whom the Jewish race, God’s chosen people, were descended. Therefore, there is no reason to wrestle over any questions of incest because, more than likely, the first generation of humankind was not having incest.

1. God created man and woman, therefore, he knows how genetics work.
2. Incest has a much higher chance of genetic mutations, sterilization, etc.
3. Continued incest can result in the complete genetic baselining of a community making further procreation impossible.
4. Knowing this, we can safely believe that God would not create man in a situation that would require all future generations to be descended from a single genetic pairing.
5. Therefore, God being God would not have created a single man and a single woman to “be fruitful and multiply.”
6. Finally, we can deduce that God created many men and women and chose a specific lineage from which to derive His chosen people.

As for who Cain married, there is speculation that Adam’s legendary first wife Lilith was also later the wife of Cain. I do not believe this, but it’s there for your consideration. But, apart from a handful of women, women are almost entirely ignored if not completely written out of the Bible, so to answer the OP’s question, it is best not to go searching for an answer but to answer honestly–we don’t know to whom Cain was married, but it probably was not his sister, or his niece, or anyone else that would violate the reason and sanity of God (cf my logical argument above).

1. As the first humans God created they were genetically superior. Mutations were not an issue for many generations.
2. Bogus alert.
3. Heresy

Read the Book of Jubilees - Though not canonical it can shed light on how the Hebrews understood this.

Further point, God is able to create the universe and create life, but He could not suspend deleterious mutations early on if He wished. See the problem with your line of thinking?

 

[dragon]

No

Yes

Yes

No I don’t.

Ok, but the Church teaches the Church is based on God (Christ)

You take apart my questions, and answer with yes and no, but you do not even bother to state what you base this on. It seems one could do this to anything and come up with anything they wanted.

 

[dragon]

Then we would not all be descended from Adam and Eve.

I understand this. One knows from biology class what it takes to have more children/people. According to the Bible there was only one female, except I have seen some people refer to Adam’s first wife, Lilith (not sure if this is the correct name). So we have one female, two males. All I ask is where more people came from.

 

[dragon]

1. As the first humans God created they were genetically superior. Mutations were not an issue for many generations.
2. Bogus alert.
3. Heresy

Read the Book of Jubilees - Though not canonical it can shed light on how the Hebrews understood this.

Further point, God is able to create the universe and create life, but He could not suspend deleterious mutations early on if He wished. See the problem with your line of thinking?

So just so I understand you, you are saying that man is inferior to what he once was??

#5 It is not nice to accuse one of heresy. Just because one has stated something different from what you believe is not heresy. It is just the exchange of ideas and the process to come to an understanding. If I am not mistaken the church killed many people because they did not believe what they believed. That is not a good thing. My belief is that if one has truly found the true way and their God has all the power that they believe then what do they have to fear from someone that does not believe what they believe??

 

[buffalo]

I understand this. One knows from biology class what it takes to have more children/people. According to the Bible there was only one female, except I have seen some people refer to Adam’s first wife, Lilith (not sure if this is the correct name). So we have one female, two males. All I ask is where more people came from.

Asked and answered.

Adam and Eve were first parents. Lilith did not exist.

Adam and Eve had a number of children beyond Cain and Able. Incest was permitted in the lateral line between brother an d sister but not between Adam and Eve and their offspring.

 

[bookgirl32]

Just some thoughts, based on myself and no prior research at the moment:
Could this be kind of like capital punishment? Capital punishment is wrong when there is an alternative that would protect innocent human life. Incest is wrong when there is an alternative to it? (Which, obviously it wouldn’t have taken very long for an alternative to incest to come about).

Could it be possible that incest was allowed by God in that case because it was needed for procreation? I mean, Eve came from Adam, she was directly genetically related to Him. And God obviously wanted them to procreate.

I could be waaaaayyyyyyy off here, just throwing something out there.

 

[buffalo]

So just so I understand you, you are saying that man is inferior to what he once was??

#5 It is not nice to accuse one of heresy. Just because one has stated something different from what you believe is not heresy. It is just the exchange of ideas and the process to come to an understanding. If I am not mistaken the church killed many people because they did not believe what they believed. That is not a good thing. My belief is that if one has truly found the true way and their God has all the power that they believe then what do they have to fear from someone that does not believe what they believe??

Yes - man is far inferior to our first parents.

Clearly if one knowingly states and believes something different from what the Catholic Church believes and teaches they are a heretic.

You are mistaken - the Church didn’t put anyone to death. The officials of the local governments did.

 

[CWBetts]

Many people also forget that Abraham and Sarah were half-siblings! It is not unreasonable to accept that sibling incest was allowable in primordial times.

 

[buffalo]

Just some thoughts, based on myself and no prior research at the moment:
Could this be kind of like capital punishment? Capital punishment is wrong when there is an alternative that would protect innocent human life. Incest is wrong when there is an alternative to it? (Which, obviously it wouldn’t have taken very long for an alternative to incest to come about).

Could it be possible that incest was allowed by God in that case because it was needed for procreation? I mean, Eve came from Adam, she was directly genetically related to Him. And God obviously wanted them to procreate.

I could be waaaaayyyyyyy off here, just throwing something out there.

Yes - incest between brother and sister is not intrinsically evil. Incest between parent and child is intrinsically evil.

Murder is intrinsically evil but in the case of legitimate defense killing is not.