Hi geetrue,
Just as Steve has pointed out, all we can do is speculate. We are given some facts. Some events that we are told and some facts we are given. However, all of the questions that we have that arise from those facts and events are pure speculation. We have no witnesses from whom we can seek additional information.
What are the facts?
Well, the Scriptures tell us that God created the heavens and the earth in six days. Up until the 3rd day the earth would have been uninhabitable by human beings. There was no food. We are told that Adam and Eve were formed by God and not born through natural birth. We are told that Adam and Eve had two sons named Cain and Abel. We are also told that Eve is the mother of all the living. We are told that at some time Cain killed Abel. We are told that the Lord put Cain out of Eden and that when the Lord spoke to Cain about this, Cain was concerned that anyone could kill him. Finally, we are told that Eve had another son named Seth.
That's about it as far as facts and events that are relevant to this particular issue. Now, if we want to question the account beyond these facts, then we must speculate.
Because Adam and Eve were formed by God and had no earthly parents to care for them, they were likely created as full grown adults. This means that from day one of their life they could procreate and they were commanded to do that.
So, let's, just for fun, run the possible numbers. Today, family size is often limited because of the cost of caring for children. However, in the days of the beginning, food was free and there were no laws that children had to go to school. There would really have been very little reason that Adam and Eve didn't have children fairly regularly and often. But we can only speculate on these things.
Let's say that they had two or three children every 4-5 years. That's about what the average family has today when they do begin having children. Most siblings today are only 4-5 years apart in age. Now, yes, I understand that's not true of every family so please don't anyone respond with 'my brother and I are 20 years apart'. I'm strictly running averages here.
Let's also consider that menopause would not have set in for Eve for many, many years beyond the age women begin to have it now. After all, if Adam and Eve were both created at pretty much the same time, then Eve was 130 years old when she had Seth also. So, how many children could Adam and Eve had birthed in 130 years?
Now, let's add the next generation. Adam and Eve had children who in 15-25 years would have likely been having children. So, by the 40th year of the beginning, Adam and Eve could have had 24 children of their own and the second first generation of children could have been beginning to have their own children. Some of the third generation would have been old enough to be having children also by the 40th year of the creation. The real numbers can possibly be way more than I'm accounting for here.
If we use the same averages of 3-4 children every 4-5 years for the next generation, then by the end of 80 years we would be working into the third generation having children and even the 4th generation. It is possible that if each of Adam and Eve's first male children chose a sister for a wife that there might be at least 8 couples and possibly even 12 if the males and females were evenly born to them. At this point of 80 years from the creation it is possible that there would have been 200 new births added to the 26 older children. And there could likely have been more even more. I have only taken a snapshot at 40 and 80 years, but children were still being born to all the people on the earth at that time. By 120 years there could well have been over 1,000 people living on the earth from the first parents, Adam and Eve. There may have actually been several thousand people living upon the earth.
Now, the second question we need to answer, again through speculation, is how old were Cain and Abel when this event occurred? We know that Eve likely had Seth shortly after Abel was killed because she credited Seth as being a replacement for Abel. Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born to them.
So, if Cain killed Abel, say, within 5 years of Seth's birth, then the creation would have been at least 125 years old and there could likely have been more than 1,000 people upon the earth. So, who would Cain have been afraid of killing him? Possibly over 1,000 people. Further, because all of these 1,000+ people were all fairly direct descendants of Adam and Eve and therefore, close cousins, brothers and sisters of the deceased, that might help explain why he was fearful that they might desire to kill him.
Let's face it, even today the people who are most angry enough to want to kill a murderer are the families of the victim.
Yes, it's all speculative, but it's also all possible as an explanation to your question. By the way, by this fourth generation men could well have been choosing wives from families that are not later a part of God's command that a man should not have sexual relations with the family relations that He mentions. Men could well have picked the daughters of fairly distant cousins.
God bless you.
In Christ, Ted
