Who Was Cain's Wife?

This means that Cain’s wife had to be a descendant of Adam.

Now, let’s establish that Cain’s wife was the descendant of Adam’s wife Eve. In Genesis 3:20 we read, ‘Now the man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.’ In other words, all people are descendants of Adam and Eve—she was the first woman. She is the mother of the human race.

We are told in Genesis 2:20-24 that Eve was formed from the rib of Adam because Adam could not find a mate suitable for him. There was no one of his kind - another human being. All this makes it obvious that there was only one woman, Adam’s wife, at the beginning. There were never any other women around who were not Eve’s descendants.

Again, we quote 1 Timothy 2:13, “For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve.”

Thus, Cain’s wife had to be a descendant of Adam and Eve.

Cain was the first child of Adam and Eve recorded in Scripture (Genesis 4:1). His brothers, Abel (Genesis 4:2) and Seth (Genesis 4:25), were part of the first generation of children ever born on this Earth.

Even though only these three males are mentioned by name, Adam and Eve had other children. In Genesis 5:4, we read, “the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters.”

This does not say when they were born. Many could have been born in the 130 years (Genesis 5:3) before Seth was born. During their lives, Adam and Eve had a number of male and female children. The Bible does not tell us how many children were born to Adam and Eve. However, considering their long life spans (Adam lived for 930 years - Genesis 5:5), it would seem reasonable to suggest there were many! Remember, too, that they were commanded to ‘Be fruitful, and multiply’ (Genesis 1:28).

Cain’s Wife

If we now work totally from Scripture, then back at the beginning, when there was only the first generation, brothers would have had to have married sisters or there would be no more generations! We are not told when Cain married or any of the details of other marriages and children, but we can say for certain that some brothers had to marry their sisters at the beginning of human history.

God’s laws

Many people immediately reject the conclusion that Adam and Eve’s sons and daughters married each other by appealing to the law against brother-sister intermarriage. Based purely on the Scripture record, the law forbidding marriage between close relatives was not given until the time of Moses (Leviticus 18-20). Provided marriage was one man to one woman for life (based on Genesis 1 and 2), there was no disobedience to God’s law originally when close relatives (even brothers and sisters) married each other.

Remember that Abraham married his half-sister (Genesis 20:12). God blessed this union to produce the Hebrew people through Isaac and Jacob. It was not until some 400 years later that God gave Moses laws that forbade such marriages.