So Cain left the Lord’s presence and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain had sexual relations with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Then Cain founded a city, which he named Enoch, after his son. [Genesis 4:16-17 (NLT)]
Our pastor often says that the hardest part of giving his sermon is afterwards when someone asks him a question. I understood what he meant after finishing my sermon last Sunday. Opening our series on women in the Bible, I’d spoken about Eve. After service, a woman pulled me aside and said she’d always had trouble understanding how Cain, after being banished and settling in the land of Nod, could find a wife there. If Adam and Eve were the first parents, where did those people in Nod come from?
Skeptics of the Bible often use the identity of Cain’s wife in an attempt to discredit the book of Genesis. Sunday’s question came from two common misconceptions. The first occurs because only three of Adam and Eve’s children are named in Scripture and they’re all boys. Cain’s and Able’s births are recorded first and then Seth’s when Adam is 130 years old. We know Adam lived another 800 years after Seth’s birth and that “other sons and daughters” were born, but we’re not told when that happened. Scripture never says that Cain and Able were the only children born in the first 130 years and simple logic tells us that Adam and Eve did not average only one child every 43 years. Several more unnamed children had to have been born both before and after Seth’s birth. By the time of Cain’s banishment, the first couple probably had grandchildren, great-grands, and even great-great-grands. Assuming that about half of them were female, Cain had several women he could have married.
Of course, that means those early men married their sisters and, later, their nieces and cousins. Today, we gasp at the thought of incest but it wasn’t condemned in the beginning. While God’s command to leave one’s parents in marriage prohibited parent-child marriage [Genesis 2:24], His law against other intermarriage wasn’t given until thousands of years later when Moses recorded it in Leviticus. [Lev. 18:6] Remembering that Adam and Eve were perfect, with flawless DNA, and lived in an unpolluted environment, the danger from genetic defects with inbreeding was minimal in the beginning. Given the few number of people and the tribal structure of ancient society, intermarriage couldn’t be avoided. The righteous Abraham married his half-sister Sarah, Isaac married his cousin Rebecca, Jacob married his cousins Leah and Rachel, and Moses’s father married his aunt.
The second misconception is that Cain met his wife in the land of Nod; Scripture, however, never tells us that. The event that took place in the land of Nod was Cain having sex with his wife and getting her pregnant; an entirely different matter. Moreover, Scripture never tells us how old Cain and Abel were when Cain murdered his brother. Since Adam was already 120 by that time and the brothers worked as a shepherd and farmer, it’s logical to think they were grown men and already had families of their own. That Cain was frightened after killing Abel and needed a mark from God to protect him, would indicate that he feared repercussions from Abel’s line. In answer to the woman’s question, Cain brought his wife (who was most likely his sister) with him to Nod. Since he founded a city there, he probably brought several people in his clan with him.
We sometimes think that the Bible should read as concisely and unambiguously as an American history text; it simply doesn’t. Moreover, we must be careful of assuming that because someone or something isn’t mentioned that they didn’t exist. That there are only three birds in today’s picture doesn’t mean there were only three birds at the beach any more than only three boys’ names means there were only three sons. We can’t even assume that Abel was the second son. We only know that he came after Cain but how much after and whether there were other children in between, we don’t know. Perhaps his name is mentioned only because he was later murdered by his brother.
In the infamous Scopes trial, William Jennings Bryan was questioned by Clarence Darrow about the origins of Cain’s wife. Bryan was defending the Bible and yet this church elder had no idea where Cain got his wife and couldn’t even answer whether or not other people were on the earth at the time. Let’s do a better job than the famed lawyer in defending the Word of God! Of course, to defend it, we must first read it!
Last Thursday night’s Bible study had been as inspiring as Easter Sunday’s sermon. As we walked out of the building, I confided to my friend that there was no way I could follow such brilliant preaching. You see, our pastor was taking a much needed vacation and I would be doing the preaching for the next two Sundays. Afraid I couldn’t possibly fill his shoes or touch people’s hearts the way he does, I asked, “How can I possibly compare to him?” My friend wisely answered, “You don’t!” He reminded me to be myself and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.
First published in 1678, John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress is the second best-selling book of all time (the first being the Bible). In this religious allegory, the reader follows the adventures and trials of Christian (Part I) and his wife Christiana and their children (Part II) as they journey from the City of Destruction toward the Celestial City.
As Mary stood in the shadow of the cross, did she recall Simeon’s words when he held the infant Jesus in his arms? His prophecy came true that day at Calvary; as she watched her son endure such torture, it truly must have felt as if a sword had pierced her very soul. Jesus was supposed to be the glory of His nation but there He was—dying the death of a criminal. Mary didn’t understand why her beloved boy had to perish and she certainly didn’t know that He’d be back in three days. Imagine her sorrow and the emptiness in her heart as she witnessed her son’s agony.
There’s a therapeutic riding center across the highway from one of the churches we attend. Along with horses, barn cat, and dog, they have a rooster. No matter what the time of day we’re there, that rooster crows. Every time I hear that bird’s loud “cock-a-doodle-do!” I remember Jesus’s words to Peter and ask myself, “Have I denied my Lord today?”
Some things never change and, aside from death, it’s said that taxes are the only other sure thing in our lives. Along with a poll (or head) tax, the Romans had a variety of other taxes including customs taxes, property taxes, import and export taxes, crop taxes, toll bridges, sales tax, and special taxes when there was a war or building project to finance. Sounds a bit like nowadays! Yesterday was April 15, the day the IRS demanded what is theirs. When you put “the” and “IRS” together you get the word “theirs” and, once we’ve filed our taxes, it sure feels like the government considers most of what’s ours to be theirs!
Devotions of the Heart 