Cain’s Wife

Q

I have what is probably a silly question, however it has been on my mind on and off for quite some time. In Genesis Cain dwelt in the land of Nod. Cain also had a wife. Where did she come from and where did Nod come from?

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A

Adam and Eve were the first humans and Cain was their son, so he had to have married his sister. Genesis 5:4 tells us that after Seth was born, Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters.

Since he was worried about being killed, some of Adam and Eve’s other offspring were obviously of an age to avenge their brother Abel’s death so there could easily have been a sister suitable in age to be Cain’s wife.

The Hebrew word translated Nod in Genesis 4:6 means wandering. Cain wandered in the wilderness for a time outside the Garden. Eventually he founded a city and named it after his son. Other sisters and brothers and their offspring dwelt there with him.

Genesis 5 repeatedly tells us that these early humans lived for hundreds of years. If each of the 10 patriarchs named there only had 4 sons, who then had 4 sons of their own, etc, there would have been well over 1 million inhabitants of Earth by the time of the Great Flood. It’s likely that the actual population was 3-4 times that many.