WHERE DID CAIN GET HIS WIFE?
Many events recorded in scripture were not recorded according to a timeline, but according to relevant events in the current narrative. For example, Bible Scholars have established that the story of Job happened before the story of Abraham. Again, from a careful calculation, you will find out that in Genesis 6 where the earth was being populated by the Nephilim race, Adam was still alive. Also, if you calculate properly, you would see that Abraham most likely met Noah alive before Noah died. Noah lived for 950 years.
When you have people living for up to 900 years, they could see up to twenty generations of their children before they die.
Even though the Bible’s report of Cain’s Judgment came immediately after his crime, the Bible never stated that the judgment was immediate.
From other Bible references showing the way God responds and judge people based on the cry of the earth, God's response is not usually very immediate, but it can take up to 300 to 400 years for God to respond in judgment to a cry from the earth (as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, or the land of Canaan).
The assumption that God judged Cain immediately he killed his brother may not be very accurate. The judgment of God on Cain most likely came years after he killed his brother. By this time, Adam already had Seth and the many other sons and daughters whose names were not recorded in Genesis. These had populated the earth. Genesis 5:4 clearly states that Adam had other sons and daughters besides Cain, Abel, and Seth.
Because people lived very long in those days, if God judged Cain 400 years after he killed his brother Abel, by this time, Adam already had many other descendants from whom Cain could have easily taken a wife. As a matter of fact, in 400 years, Adam would have had several generations of grandchildren. 400 years is a long time (remember that the children of Jacob who went to Egypt were about 70 in number. That number increased to millions in just 430 years of being in Egypt).
It is reasonable to believe that Cain no longer had a good relationship with his parents after what he did to his only brother. This could have affected the speed with which Cain would get married. Seth must have been given one of his sisters to wife, but not Cain. And this trend and anger against Cain may have continued for a very, very long time.
Bear in mind that in that generation, incest was neither a sin nor a crime (that was the only way humankind could multiply). In fact, the other [many] sons and daughters of Adam married each other and had many children, but Adam may have bluntly refused to give his murderous son any of his daughters to marry, or Cain wouldn't have the courage to ask.
If God judged Cain 300 years after he killed his brother (which is more likely), the earth was already populated with thousands of human beings through Adam and his other descendants.
If you assume that Cain received his judgment immediately he committed his crime, it would be impossible to understand where he got his wife. But if you understand that Cain’s judgment came years after his crime (and there is no scriptural reason not to believe this), it would be easy to understand where he got a wife, and where the people who he was afraid of came from.
NB: if you take a close look at these verses below, one could assume that Shem died before his son Arphaxad had children. But in reality, Shem remained alive to see the days of Abraham because he lived for 500 years and Abraham was born less than four hundred years after Arphaxad was born.
Genesis 11:10-17 (NET)
This is the account of Shem. Shem was 100 old when he became the father of Arphaxad, two years after the flood.
And after becoming the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah…
-Written by Pastor SD Abraham
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