a fugitive and a vagabond

[JohnR7]

We are told that after Cain killed Able that: "the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him." Genesis 4:15 

I have heard people say that the only people on earth at this time was Adam, Eve, Cain. If this were the case, then were did these people come from, that Cain is worried about slaying him?

 

[JagSayon]

I used to have this theory that Adam and Eve weren't the only ones created by God. They are mentioned in the Bible but the Bible didn't say that God didn't create other people. And since God is against incest, it might be he created other people so it was these 'unmentioned' people that Cain was afraid of. But this is just my opinion with no facts to back me up.

JagSayon

 

[LightBearer]

God’s sentencing of Cain to banishment from the ground evidently meant his eviction from the neighborhood of the garden of Eden, and the curse already upon the earth would be increased in Cain’s case, the earth not responding to his cultivation of it. Cain expressed regret over the severity of his punishment and showed anxiety as to the possibility of Abel’s murder being avenged upon him, but still no sincere repentance. God “set up a sign for Cain” to prevent his being killed, but the record does not say that this sign or mark was placed on Cain’s person in any way. The “sign” likely consisted of God’s solemn decree itself, known and observed by others. Ge 4:10-15; compare vs Ge 4:24 where that decree is referred to by Lamech.

Cain went into banishment in “the land of Fugitiveness to the east of Eden,” taking with him his wife, an anonymous daughter of Adam and Eve. (Ge 4:16, 17; compare 5:4, also the much later example of Abraham’s marriage to his half sister Sarah, Ge 20:12.)

 

[websitejack]

Originally posted by JagSayon
I used to have this theory that Adam and Eve weren't the only ones created by God. They are mentioned in the Bible but the Bible didn't say that God didn't create other people. And since God is against incest, it might be he created other people so it was these 'unmentioned' people that Cain was afraid of. But this is just my opinion with no facts to back me up.

JagSayon

JagSayon,

Here is a response from an article from the Answers In Genesis site:

Even though only these three males are mentioned by name, Adam and Eve had other children. In Genesis 5:4 a statement sums up the life of Adam and Eve—‘And the days of Adam after he had fathered Seth were eight hundred years. And he fathered 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 Jewish historian Josephus wrote that, ‘The number of Adam’s children, as says the old tradition, was thirty-three sons and twenty-three daughters.’

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, They were commanded to ‘Be fruitful, and multiply’ (Genesis 1:28).

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. Some say that you cannot marry your relation.

Actually, if you don't marry your relation, you don’t marry a human! A wife is related to her husband even before they marry because all people are descendants of Adam and Eve—all are of ‘one blood.’ 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 (Leviticus 18–20). 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.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/tools/cains_wife.asp


websitejack