Did Adam and Eve's children commit Incest?

[Blissman]

Did Adam and Eve's children commit Incest? If so, how many generations of their children had married their cousins?

 

[Havoc]

If the Genesis account, as interpreted by Christians, is correct, then the children of Adam would have to have committed incest.

 

[Arikay]

and if the Account of noah flood was correct, Noahs family would have commited incest as well.

 

[Blissman]

When did incest become a sin?

 

[Salsa_1960]

If the Genesis account, as interpreted by Christians, is correct, then the children of Adam would have to have committed incest.

Well, first off, not all Christians take the book of Genesis literally. I've hee-hawed on it. I tend to think of Genesis figeratively, though I understand the arguments in favor of a literal interpretation-- The Lineage of Christ back to Adam in particular (Luke 3:22-38).

Secondly, even if Genesis is literally correct, remember that Cain was told (after killing his brother Abel) to go off into the land of Nod. There is no other mention in Genesis of this land. Perhaps, (and this is pure speculation), God created other "Edens."

Thirdly, even if the "Land of Nod" was inhabited by other decendents of Adam and Eve, what some of us are forgetting is that this is God's world and God's plan. Perhaps incest was something God found best avoided by many families for medical reasons. (Genetic reasons). Reasons that had nothing to do with morals. If the story of Noah and the flood is taken literally, I might say the same thing regarding Noah's decendents as well.

When did incest become a sin?

Welcome to the forum/s Blissman.

At the time of Noah, sexual conduct between a father and a daugther (or daughter-in-law) was seen as sin.

Genesis 9:20-25
20 Noah, a man of the soil, began to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of the wine, he got drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers who were outside. 23 Shem and Japheth took the garment and placed it on their shoulders. Then they walked in backwards and covered up their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so they did not see their father's nakedness.

24 When Noah awoke from his drunken stupor he learned what his youngest son had done to him. 25 So he said,
"Cursed be Canaan!
The lowest of slaves
he will be to his brothers."
​

I believe, however, that incest was seen (more clearly) as a sin at the time that the law was handed down to the Hebrews after their Exodus from Egypt. (The time of The Ten Commandments along the many laws which accompanied them).

~Sandy

 

[Havoc]

Well, first off, not all Christians take the book of Genesis literally. ~Sandy

My mistake, you are correct. I sometimes forget that the majority, 88%, of Christians are Liberal Christians, most of whom do not believe in a strictly literal interpretation of the Bible.

 

[Salsa_1960]

My mistake, you are correct. I sometimes forget that the majority, 88%, of Christians are Liberal Christians, most of whom do not believe in a strictly literal interpretation of the Bible.

I consider myself a "Moderate."

 

[DLraing]

Sandinmyears, does your Genesis account (Genesis 9:20-25) mean that Noah cursed his son for merely seeing him naked?

 

[Sheseala]

Noah didn't curse his son, but rather his grandson, which is still odd.

I've read interpretations saying that Noah was possibly castrated, and the cursing had to do with inherintance issues. Other than that I get confused with that section as well.

 

[ZaraDurden]

Honestly, I have always been under the impression that Noah's son (or grandson, dependant upon translation) got drunk and tried to sodomize him while he slept. My thoughts were actually reinforced by a TV show I saw not too long ago on sex and the bible.... I am not so sure, though.

 

[MoonlessNight]

Honestly, I have always been under the impression that Noah's son (or grandson, dependant upon translation) got drunk and tried to sodomize him while he slept. My thoughts were actually reinforced by a TV show I saw not too long ago on sex and the bible.... I am not so sure, though

That is a possible interpretation, since the Bible is full of Euphenisms for sexual intercourse, but seeing someone naked does not seem to be used in other places in the Bible as a term for sexual intercourse as far as I can tell. I think perhaps the fault comes more from the fact that Ham told his brothers, rather than covering up Noah and keeping the situation to himself.

As for cursing Canaan, that's something I can't explain other than to say it's quite convenient for the Israelites later on when they conquer the Canaanites. But, since curses are generational anyways, it seems that cursing Ham would work for that purpose as well, so I don't know.

 

[BarbB]

I don't believe that incest was a sin until the time of Abraham (or maybe just after) as it took a long time for the gene pool to get poluted enough to cause problems in the subsequent generations.

As for Noah - I agree with moonless that the curse had to do with seeing his father drunk and naked, without dignity, and then telling his brothers. They were not cursed as they backed up to cover their father!

 

[tcampen]

I don't believe that incest was a sin until the time of Abraham (or maybe just after) as it took a long time for the gene pool to get poluted enough to cause problems in the subsequent generations.

So much for moral absolutes. I guess God DOES change his mind about what is right and wrong depending on the circumstances. And exactly how did the gene pool get "polluted?"

 

[Teh Wiccan]

Ah man! I just ATE!

 

[ps139]

So much for moral absolutes. I guess God DOES change his mind about what is right and wrong depending on the circumstances. And exactly how did the gene pool get "polluted?"

For purposes of this question, lets assume that Adam and Eve were the first created humans. Their genes were pure - free from any mutation.Because of the purity of these genes, incest would not cause birth defects and such like it does today.

 

[Havoc]

Birth defects are rare even in incest. Ask any farmer with a breeding program.

 

[revrobor]

Did Adam and Eve's children commit Incest? If so, how many generations of their children had married their cousins?

At that time in man's history, as the race was more pure, God had not yet seen fit to call sexual intercourse between close relatives "incest". Read your Bible carefully. The term "incest" was not used until well after Adam and Eve's children had children. So, to answer your question, no, they did not "commit incest". It's a mistake to judge what happened in the distant past or will happen in the distant future by what we understand today.

 

[TheOriginalWhitehorse]

If the Genesis account, as interpreted by Christians, is correct, then the children of Adam would have to have committed incest.

Well, God hadn't established the law yet. So they did marry siblings, as God chose to have us all related by blood to Adam. God wanted all the race to be Adam's race. So He ordained this to be the case until there were enough that people could marry outside the family, and then God established the law.

So they didn't sin, as this was the chosen means for a time, but it is sin now that the law has been established.

 

[TheOriginalWhitehorse]

My mistake, you are correct. I sometimes forget that the majority, 88%, of Christians are Liberal Christians, most of whom do not believe in a strictly literal interpretation of the Bible.

I'm just curious where you got these statistics.

 

[Blissman]

What about the children of Noah?