By Pastor Doug Batchelor
One of the most popular questions skeptics enjoy posing about the Bible is, “Where did Cain’s wife come from?”
But this is just an example of where you just need to keep reading to get the answer. Genesis 5:4 tells us that Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters. If you lived 930 years, like Adam, and if you were healthy, fertile, and reproductive for only 20 percent of your life, you would still have around 200 childbearing years. With God’s command to be fruitful and multiply, no doubt Adam’ and Eve’s progeny became quite numerous.
Considering the near perfect vitality and health experienced by the first generations … well, they probably had throngs of children. So Cain undoubtedly took one of his many sisters as his wife. At this point in Bible history, when man’s genetic vitality was at its peak, there was nothing forbidding the practice. Abraham married his half-sister (Genesis 20:2). Isaac married his cousin. It was not until the time of Moses that marrying a sister was forbidden, likely because of the greater risk of genetic weakness and health complications with the offspring (Deuteronomy 27:22).