Genesis Chapter 4 Discussion Page 23

Dear Anonymous from 5/30/2012
Adam lived for over 900 years and had many sons and daughters. Each of his sons took a sister and had many sons and daughters; not just the Christ line thru Seth or the line of the first "seed of satan", Cain.
Now since these people lived for centuries there would be hundreds of people in only a few centuries, maybe more. GOD doesn't tell us everything just those things HE feels we need to know.
I know VLHowell covered most of this, but just to reiterate, because even GOD repeats himself knowing that we humans need to be told more than once.
And another thing GOD NEVER leaves HIS people clueless!!! NEVER! Adam and Eve were fully instructed on GOOD & EVIL. They knew good experientially and they knew evil by GOD's instructions; HE never wanted them to know evil experientially which is what happened when they sinned.

So Cain married one of his sisters and his son Enoch was the first RECORDED grandson and a son of the firstborn of Adam and Eve. Get your facts straight Cain was firstborn; Able was second-born.

Anonymous, The 6th day GOD created flesh creatures that moved along the earth.(man and woman)Adam and eve were special. Jesus would come from their lineage.

Thank you for the answer! I do believe God s Word from GENESIS to Revelation. It s the time factor that had me confused. Thats why I asked the question. I didnt know nor factored in time lasp!

To Anonymous (5/30/12):

First let me point out one particular fallacy that you mentioned in your comment.

"there is no mention of Eve ever giving birth to daughters (no girls are ever recorded)"

If you had only read the very next chapter of Genesis, you would know, "...the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters." ( Gen. 5:4)

It obviously shows here that Adam (and by reason, Eve) had more children, among whom were daughters. If you would like to make up contradictions in the Bible, at least put forth some effort to try to make it sound plausible. Josephus wrote that Hebrew tradition puts Adam and Eve's children between 50 and 60 (if i'm not mistaken). While this number can't be taken as infallible since Josephus' writings were not inspired, he was known as quite a scholarly and generally accurate historian.

To address the question of "where did Cain find a wife?" That's an easy one. It was his sister. The Bible does not give the chronological information as to how old Cain and Able were when the murder occured, nor does it tell how many children Adam and Eve had between Able and Seth. Considering the fact that the Bible speaks of Cain and Able as functioning adults, there is ample time for Adam and Eve to give birth to many girls who would have become Cain's wife.

The main point being, there are no contradictory or illogical statements made in Genesis 4 (or the rest of the Bible for that matter).

This is for Mr. Anonymous.
Please remember that it is not the principle or protocol of God to give us an account of everything in a chronological order. That would sought of promote laziness. Rather it is "precep upon precep,here a little and there a little". The work of joining everything in chronological order is best done through consultation and can well be done by wise men and women. This is work for the wise, the unwise will stumble. Remember, Proverbs 25:2, "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter." With good analysis, evaluation and connections, everything in the Bible is cohesive and conclusive. Just by reading this chapter, one can tell that hundreds of years elapsed between seemingly closely connected events. Bottom line is that God tests our faith through such things that tend to generate doubt.

If it isn't in the Bible, then it isn't none of our concern! If God wanted us to know, then He would have put it in there! Don't concern yourself with things that have nothing to do with now!!!

GOOD LORD GOD ALMIGHTY PEOPLE ...............
How does the first born grandson of the first two people on the planet become a great builder and build a city????
why is Cain so worried about everyone trying to kill him ?? who is there ?? Adam and Eve then him and now his brother is dead so .... again who are all the people that will want to kill him
Where did all the people come from to fill this city that was built by the first born son of the second child born on the planet???
Where did Cain find a wife???
there is no mention of Eve ever giving birth to daughters (no girls are ever recorded)
by the time she gives birth to the third recorded son Seth,(whom is by her claim the son to replace Able whom was slain by Cain),.... his nephew Enoch is a father.....whom has built a city!!

come on people WHERE DO ALL THE PEOPLE COME FROM ????????

did God decide to suddenly plant thousands of people all over the place in ready made culture with music and craftsmanship after deciding to put his first two people here clueless and naked ??

this is the sort of thing that blows my mind ............
how can anyone explain this one to me ????????

what was the mark that god put on cain;how come most bible's omit the mark GOD put on cain and why

Vs 15 - "And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold....." God's ways are deeply amazing, He actually said this after Cain slew Abel?!

i think God made other people after adam and eve but just wernt described because they werent as important as the first man with first sin to even be recorded there are so mant more important things to record also sometimes i think it jumps the gun because back then they lived ti be 900 years old until the flood when it first rained and changed the earths atmosphere i think lamech is mentioned again in more detail later as an ancestor to noah

I,like Hector(earlier comment), wonder who the other's were? Specifically Cain's wife?

wow, i'm 4 chapters in and theres already murder! what a suspenseful murder/genocide thriller this is turning out to be! can't wait to read more. people sure do have wild imaginations.

Just had this discussion with a friend and I would like an opinion regarding Verse 15: And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

I have been told by several sources that this is the verse where "Black People" have become to be known as the "descendants of Cain", and continue to be maltreated because of this belief.

But looking at what this verse says, it does not indicate that Cain's complexion changed, it says "God set a mark upon Cain". Was it a birthmark? A scar? How do people see this as a change of complexion?

The Mormon religion for decades discriminated against black people based upon that belief, and I have many Caucasian non-Mormon friends who believe this to be true.

To: Hector

...Please see my theory a few lines below, you may have to view all comments to get to it. I am under the same name.

I think the lord for the word.

janet cain did not give to God the firstfruits,also he did not stand correction,it was what cain did that God did not like,he loved cain also

where did the other people come from......the people that cain met in nod......if God only made 2 people where did the other's come from......how could cain fear for his life......who were the others

Abel was a keeper of sheep and gave the first born of his flock to God. Cain was a tiller of the ground. God accepted Abel's gift because he gave the first born of his flock. This speaks of Jesus the first born of God the father for the sins of the world. God told Cain if he would do well he would be accepted too. Instead Cain does his good works and this displeases God. We must put our faith in the shed blood of Jesus to please God. Therefore God accepts Abel's offering.

Why is it that the Lord chose Able over Cane. What was wrong with Cain that the Lord did not like him

To Jacob,

I think "our" has nothing to do with the Trinity...the bible was spoken and preached, basically because most people were totally illiterate. If you think of it that way then "our" makes perfect sense when spoken to the masses in front of the reader.

Is this not the first Public "Confession" of any Sin we have seen in The Bible,maybe?

Joey and JR,

When the plurals "our" and "us" are used it is because God is a triune God, three parts that are one God. God the father, God the son (Jesus who is the word of God), and God the Holy Spirit. This can be hard to understand but through the bible this trinity is made clear. It is imparitive to know and believe in the trinity because that is the true God, if you only believe in the father and not the son or the holy spirit you do not truely believe in God (but in a false God). For you can not get to heaven without the father, and it is only through the son (Jesus) that you can get to the father. The new testiment is clear on this particularly my favorite book of the bible John.

There is a few options for sure about who Cain married, but too they lived a long time back then and had pretty good genes and health, so would be interesting to know how many children they ended up with over the hundreds of years that they lived.

To Joey Stewart

-It's all good. I have done alot of reading and research of my own into this. I have also done a lot of reasearch to prove a point to my cousin that indeed there were giants back then, and as to why we cannot find evidence, but I digress. I really think i may be on to something here. As far as when God says "Us" I do believe he is referring to the trinity. Now, I am not Catholic, but I do believe in fact that "the Word" was with God, and the Word WAS God. ( Genesis 1) Also remember, the Lord had achoir of angles with Him, and could have been speaking "Aloud" so everything could hear. Any thoughts...?

and another retraction as to the use of "us" being in chapter 2, more like chapter 3. My bad.

Actually,

Never says them in any way not to mean just that man and that woman. A retraction of a retraction. I must have been looking into what you said and hurried over it, J.R. I still think it was just Adam and Eve at that point.

I retract an earlier statement to J.R. upon further reading man and woman was used in plural form, but something that bothers me about this is It seems there is more than one god doing that creating. "In OUR own image", and again in verse 2 "us" is used when describing their knew found knowlege. Any thoughts?

To phillip, True.

To J.R, If God created man, Adam, then woman, Eve, and mention that they were the only two people HE had made, then the creation story kind of unwinds if you say that Cain found other humans. Where are they in the creation story? ch.1 says a man and woman, not men and women when god created man in the first version of creation in ch.1.

I actually have a pretty good explanation for this. People have to read the bible, and it's texts, and THEN re-read them with understanding. I know it's difficult, and helps if you go to a good learned man (or woman) of the cloth. My theory is right in plain sight: the reason there are two creation stories in the bible is easy. 1 tells how all people were created, the 2nd is SPECIFICALLY about how Adam and eve were created. This was nesseceray for them to go back and trace Abrahms lineage...from Adam to Abrahm. It also explains how there were other people in the earth, after adam and eve were kicked out, they met other humans walking around. This also explains why Cain was so scared that someone would kill him if the met him in the wild. Go tell someone about this...it makes sense!

- "how got cain married to a girl that he is the first son of adam and who is cain's wife from where she is?" -

My guess would be that the LORD made a wife for him while he slept. This makes sense too:
answersingenesis. org/articles/nab/who-was-cains-wife
albeit it has a little bit 'incest through gene therapy' written on it, so in the context it should be pointed out that the laws prohibiting close relatives marrying are also against causing harm, preventing mental issues, leaving close relatives as refuge if things don't turn out well, and providing new/different impulses and relations.