When was cain and abel born

Acts 30 May. Acts 31 May. Acts 3 June. Acts 4 June. Acts 5 June. Acts 6 June. Acts 7 June. Acts 8 June. Acts 9 June. Acts 10 June. Acts 11 June. Acts 12 June. Acts 13 June. Acts 14 June. Acts 15 June. Acts 16 June. Acts 17 June. Acts 18 June. Acts 19 June. Acts 20 June. Acts 21 June. Acts 22 June. Acts 23 June. Acts 24 June. Acts 25 June. Acts 26 June. Acts 27 June. Acts 28 June. Acts 29 June. Acts 30 June. Romans 3 Sept.

Romans 4 Sept. Romans 5 Sept. Romans 6 Sept. Romans 7 Sept. Romans 8 Sept. Romans 9 Sept. Romans 10 Sept. Romans 11 Sept. Romans 12 Sept. Romans 13 Sept. Romans 14 Sept. Romans 15 Sept. Romans 16 Sept. Romans 17 Sept. Romans 18 Sept.

Romans 19 Sept. Ephesians 20 Sept. Ephesians 21 Sept. Ephesians 22 Sept. Ephesians 23 Sept. Ephesians 24 Sept. Ephesians 25 Sept. Ephesians 26 Sept. Ephesians 27 Sept. Ephesians 28 Sept. Ephesians 29 Sept. Ephesians 30 Sept. Ephesians October New Testament readings 1 Oct. Ephesians 2 Oct. Colossians 3 Oct. Colossians 4 Oct.

Colossians 5 Oct. Colossians 6 Oct. Colossians 7 Oct. Colossians 8 Oct. Colossians 9 Oct. Philemon 10 Oct. Philemon 11 Oct. Philippians 12 Oct. Philippians 13 Oct. Philippians 14 Oct. Philippians 15 Oct. Philippians 16 Oct. Titus 24 Oct. Titus 25 Oct. Titus 26 Oct. James 31 Oct.

James , November New Testament readings 1 Nov. Jude 2 Nov. Revelation 16 Nov. Revelation 17 Nov. Revelation 18 Nov. Revelation 19 Nov. Revelation 20 Nov. Revelation 21 Nov. Revelation 22 Nov. Revelation 23 Nov. Revelation 24 Nov. Revelation 25 Nov. Revelation 26 Nov. Revelation 27 Nov. Revelation 28 Nov. Revelation 29 Nov. Revelation 30 Nov. Revelation December New Testament readings 1 Dec.

Luke 2 Dec. Luke , 3 Dec. Luke 4 Dec. Luke 5 Dec. Luke 6 Dec. Mark 7 Dec. Matt , John 8 Dec. Mark 9 Dec. Matthew 10 Dec. Luke 11 Dec. Luke 12 Dec. Luke 13 Dec. Matthew , 14 Dec. Luke 15 Dec. Luke 16 Dec. Luke 17 Dec. Luke 18 Dec. Matthew 19 Dec. Matthew 20 Dec. Matthew 21 Dec. Matthew 22 Dec. Matthew 23 Dec. Matthew 24 Dec. Matthew 25 Dec. John 26 Dec. Luke 27 Dec. Luke 28 Dec. Hebrews 29 Dec. Hebrews 30 Dec. Hebrews 31 Dec. Genesis - 2 Jan.

Genesis 3 Jan. Genesis 4 Jan. Genesis 5 Jan. Genesis 6 Jan. Genesis 7 Jan. Genesis 8 Jan. Genesis 9 Jan. Genesis 10 Jan. Genesis 11 Jan. Genesis ,32 12 Jan. Genesis 13 Jan.

Genesis , 15 Jan. Genesis 16 Jan. Genesis 17 Jan. Genesis , 18 Jan. Genesis 19 Jan. Genesis 20 Jan. Genesis 21 Jan. Genesis 22 Jan. Genesis 23 Jan. Genesis 24 Jan. Genesis 25 Jan. Genesis 26 Jan. Genesis 27 Jan. Genesis 28 Jan. Genesis , 29 Jan.

Genesis ,, 30 Jan. Genesis ,, 31 Jan. Genesis February Old Testament readings 1 Feb. Genesis 2 Feb. Genesis ,, 3 Feb. Genesis 4 Feb. Genesis 5 Feb. Genesis 6 Feb. Genesis ,13, 7 Feb. Genesis 8 Feb. Genesis 9 Feb. Genesis 10 Feb. Genesis 11 Feb. Genesis , 12 Feb. Genesis 13 Feb. Genesis 14 Feb. Genesis 15 Feb. Multi-Verse Retrieval x. En dash not Hyphen. Let's Connect x. Subscribe to our Newsletter. Daily Devotionals x. Daily Bible Reading Plans x.

Recently Popular Pages x. Recently Popular Media x. One of the most often-asked questions about the Bible is that of Cain's wife. The Bible says that after he killed his brother Abel, Cain married a wife. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and born Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son - Enoch Genesis Many Questions There are many difficulties that arise with this statement since Genesis only records two children of Adam and Eve to this point-Cain and Abel.

The issues to be considered are these: 1 If all humanity descended from Adam and Eve, then where did his wife come from? The idea of Cain marrying someone from this race creates more problems than it solves. The Scriptures are clear that Adam was the first man created Genesis , ; 1 Corinthians Furthermore, his wife Eve was given her name because she was the mother of all living Genesis These two facts rule out the idea of some Pre-Adamic race from which Cain chose a wife.

Other Children Other Bible students have attempted to explain the existence of other humans apart from Cain and Abel by saying they were not necessarily the first two sons of Adam and Eve. They contend that other sons and daughters could have been born before Cain and Abel and that the Bible is merely singling out these two for emphasis.

Attempting to say that other children existed before Cain and Abel has no support in Scripture but it cannot be totally ruled out. If all of humanity did descend from Adam and Eve and their first two sons were Cain and Abel then how do we explain the existence of Cain's wife?

The Bible does not tell us how old Cain and Abel were when this murder took place. It merely says it occurred at the end of days. It is not necessary to assume that they were mere teenagers or young men. If each of them were over fifty years of age, then there could have been a considerable number of people living at the time. We know this because the Scripture does state that Adam and Eve had many more sons and daughters than Cain and Abel.

And he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he begot sons and daughters. So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died Genesis , 4. The Bible says Adam was one hundred and thirty years old when Seth was born. He then lived another eight hundred years. God had promised Eve that he would greatly multiply her conception Genesis In fact Jewish tradition states that Adam had 33 sons and 23 daughters! Therefore many people could have existed at the time when Cain killed Abel.

It has been conservatively estimated that 32, people could have been alive at that time this event occurred. If we assume the couples gave birth to children for only half of their life span, then the population by the time of Adam's death could have been very large.

Moreover, the genealogy in Genesis 5 records that every descendant of Adam down to Lamech had other sons and daughters.

These other sons and daughters were born to men not older than one hundred and eighty-seven years. With these facts in mind, there would be no problem finding a wife for Cain.

Prior to his banishment, Cain could have had many women from whom to take a wife. What About Incest? It seems then that Cain, or one of his brothers, must have married a sister. If the entire human race came from an original pair then this was unavoidable. Does this not present us with the problem of incest? The answer is no. These early intermarriages between brothers and sisters does not violate the commands God later gave in the Book of Leviticus which condemned these relationships.

Sister Or Niece Though Genesis condemns incest- relations between children and parents-it does not forbid a man from marrying his sister or niece.

The Bible records other examples of intermarriage within families. Abraham, for example. Changed With Law It was when God gave the people the law of Moses that He established laws forbidding a man from marrying a sister or niece. None of you shall approach anyone who is near of kin to him, to uncover his nakedness: I am the Lord Leviticus At that time God forbade marriage between the following: mother, father, sister, brother, half-brother, brother's wife, aunt, uncle, stepmother, granddaughter, daughter-in-law, and son-in law.

Before that time, it was not forbidden Leviticus God forbade intermarriage at the time of Moses to protect the increasing chance of a deformed offspring resulting from such a union.

In addition, the future health of the nation Israel was insured by this commandment. Furthermore, the commandment against this type of practice strengthened the structure of the family unit. And they are not simply saying that Cain did something evil and Abel did something righteous; they are saying that Cain is evil and Abel is righteous. These judgments are missing from the biblical story.

And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berekiah Matthew ; see also Hebrews , ; 1 John Since Abel was an innocent and righteous man who died unjustly, he came to be understood among some early interpreters as a martyr figure—someone who willingly submits to suffering and death. For example, in the 4 Maccabees Apocrypha, first century AD , the mother of the seven slain martyrs recounts how her education of her sons prepared them to meet their death with dignity 4 Maccabees Among this list of martyrs, v.

Likewise, Cain came to be a symbol, not of a righteous martyr, but one who was somehow responsible for the wickedness of future generations. We will begin next week by looking at this episode. Cain did not simply do something wicked, but his wicked act showed a much deeper problem, that he is wicked. This way of reading the story of Cain was taken in various directions by early interpreters.

One of those ways was to make Cain the cause of the flood. Genesis gives the reason—more accurately, we seem to be given two reasons—for why God inflicted such a cataclysmic punishment on all flesh. Cain is not mentioned. In antiquity, a good number of interpreters seized on this episode to explain why God brought the flood e.

Genesis , however, seems to come at it from a different angle. The blame rests not just with the sons of God or the giants, but with humanity at large. Humans had become thoroughly wicked, with a disposition only toward doing wicked acts. One clear example is from the apocryphal book Wisdom of Solomon When an unrighteous man [Cain] departed from her [from following Wisdom] in his anger, he perished because in rage he slew his brother.

When the earth was flooded because of him , Wisdom again saved it, steering the righteous man [Noah] by a paltry piece of wood. Two things are worth noting here.

This is especially true given the ever-so-brief and puzzling explanation given in Genesis One might think that the reasons for something so utterly devastating would deserve a fuller treatment. Early interpreters found in the Cain story a possible explanation that offered some rationale. Admittedly, the story of Cain is several chapters and many hundreds of years ten generations removed from the flood story according to the genealogies of chapters 4 and 5.

Not at all. This interpretation is found in the Mishnah, the compilation of Jewish oral tradition dating from about A. The answers may vary, but all agree that some answer must be given, since these passages as they stand, without further explanation, are theologically troubling. Expanding on the story of Cain and connecting him to the flood is one ancient example of this same interpretive phenomenon.

As we have seen, ancient interpreters produced some inventive interpretations of the story of Cain. The story is ambiguous in places, and some of those ambiguities could be theologically objectionable if left to themselves.

So, early interpreters fleshed out the story where needed to clarify what was unclear and to make theologically palatable what was potentially theologically objectionable.

Now I want to end our discussion of the story of Cain by listing three other issues that early interpreters felt needed to be addressed. Some early interpreters specified that Cain used a stone to kill Abel e. The biblical author clearly has no interest in supplying his readers with this information. But ancient interpreters assumed that clues were hidden in the text, and that attentive reading—which is the only worthy posture for reading Scripture—will reveal these clues eventually.

Some interpreters saw in Genesis a clue revealing the implement used. Although such details do not typically interest modern readers, we, too, commonly make inferences about what biblical texts do not say in light of what they do say.

Was he not omniscient? As a general rule, these human presentations of God anthropomorphisms did not sit well with early interpreters, and so they sought ways to ease the theological tension. So, in this case, some interpreters stressed that God knew exactly what happened. He only questioned Cain in order to expose further his culpability. For example, Philo Questions in Genesis says that by asking the question, Cain would reveal his guilt or innocence by his answer. If he denied it, he would be declaring his own guilt.

The ancient interpreters just go a little further and insert some details. God banishes Cain to a life of wandering, and Cain complains that this will leave him open to retaliation v. Early interpreters were fond of seeing examples of repentance in other biblical characters who exhibited no such repentance in the biblical stories.

In this example, we are reminded that theological concerns can sometimes affect translations themselves. Seeing how people of faith throughout history handled sacred Scripture humbles contemporary readers who feel that biblical interpretation is an easy matter.

Join us to receive the latest articles, podcasts, videos, and more, and help us show how science and faith work hand in hand. Pete Enns explores how ancient interpreters thought about and solved various issues regarding the Genesis 1 account. Pete Enns discusses Genesis 2—the Garden of Eden story. He begins by discussing the aspects with which ancient interpreters wrestled, recounts their conclusions, and then offers his own insight.

Part Six in the Uniquely Unique mini-series. We take stock of one more distinguishing feature of humans—the image of God. In the final part of his four-part series, J. In the third part of a four-part series, J. In this excerpt from their new book, geologist Gregg Davidson and theologian Ken Turner shine a spotlight on Genesis One as theologically rich literature first and foremost.

Were Adam and Eve Celibate in the Garden? So What? We today do it all the time. Tending the Earth is a Lower Profession Some early interpreters thought that there must be something less worthy about tending the earth compared to tending to animals.

The first century Jewish philosopher Philo, who advocated an allegorical approach to Scripture, put it this way: One of them labors and takes care of living beings…gladly undertaking the pastoral work which is preparatory to rulership and kingship.

The Problem is a Defective Offering Other interpreters took another approach. Slow Down and Listen In the opening chapters of Genesis, we have seen repeatedly that some of the details needed to clarify the creation and garden stories are not given to us.

Good vs. Evil The story of Cain and Abel flies by pretty quickly. One clear example is from the apocryphal book Wisdom of Solomon When an unrighteous man [Cain] departed from her [from following Wisdom] in his anger, he perished because in rage he slew his brother.