Questions & Answers
“Where did Cain get his wife?”
by David Churchill

    In Genesis chapter four, where did Cain get his wife?  How could he find a wife in the land of Nod if the only people then were Adam, Eve, Cain, and dead Abel?
     I’m glad to answer a question like this here — partly because finding the right answer is easier than the question suggests and partly because I like questions that prompt people to think more deeply about what they read in the Bible.
     The first time I remember hearing this question asked was as a small boy back in the 1960's.  My parents and other relatives were sitting around the kitchen table having one of their evening discussions while the children played in the living room.  The conversation turned to the Bible and one of the men raised this question about Cain’s wife suggesting that Cain could not find a wife in Nod because there were no people there or anywhere else.  He then proceeded to use his answer to the question as his proof that the Genesis was fiction and the Bible was full of errors and contradictions.
     The last time I heard someone ask this question involved a woman who had not been a Christian very long at the time.  She was trying to study the Bible for herself, but still knew very little about how to do that.  She was having difficulty finding an answer that both made sense to her and yet was consistent with what facts she had already learned from the Bible about God and creation.
     The challenge of this question comes from its assumption that there were no other people living at the time other than Adam, Eve, and Cain.  (Obviously, if there were no other people on the earth, there would have been no eligible women in Nod for Cain to marry.)  If we accept that assumption is true before we actually learn the facts from our text, then we’re making what’s called a “preconception” or “prejudice.”  Our preconception then restricts us from reading out of the Bible all the information it presents and causes us to read into the Bible “facts” that are not there.  Let’s read the beginning of Genesis chapter four again without this prejudice.

     1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.”  2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel.  Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.  3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord.  4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat.  And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, 5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering.  And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
     6 So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry?  And why has your countenance fallen?  7 If you do well, will you not be accepted?  And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door.  And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.
     8 Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
     9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?
     He said, “I do not know.  Am I my brother’s keeper?”
     10 And He said, “What have you done?  The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.  11 So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.  12 When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you.  A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.
     13 And Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear!  14 Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.”
     15 And the Lord said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.
     16 Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden.  17 And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch.  And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch.
     25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.”  26 And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh.  Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.

     
     What plausible clues or facts do we find to consider about Cain’s wife and/or other people of that time?
     Our first clue is the fact of the amount of time that had passed since the creation provided opportunity for Adam and Eve to have had other children.  Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born (Genesis 5:3).  Eve named Seth as her replacement for the murdered Abel indicating the two events happened reasonably close together … at least within a few years of each other.  This fact suggests that Adam and Eve had many decades to produce other children who in turn had time to produce children of their own, and so on.  There was opportunity enough for several generations of people by the time Cain killed Abel.
     The next clue to consider is the fact that Cain worried about other people killing him out of vengenance for Abel’s murder.  Obviously, Cain knew other people who (1) were living at the time and (2) were not directly mentioned in this passage.
     Another clue is the fact is that Adam and Eve were having other children.  If we read ahead to chapter 5, verse 4, we see that Adam fathered both sons and daughters, yet verse 3 lists only Seth as a son without any mention of his older brothers Cain and Abel or of these other brothers and sisters.  This example reminds us that Bible passages typically mention only the people pertaining to that particular passage’s discussion or subject.  So even though chapter four may mention Cain and Abel and then Seth, we know from chapter five that they had other relatives who are not specifically named, but living at the time.
     Our final thought to consider is that Cain may have already been married by the time he moved to the land of Nod.  After all, the passage does not say if he found his wife in Nod.  Nor does the passage describe whether or not the land of Nod was already inhabited.  The text does treat his relations with his wife in the same matter-of-fact language as Adam’s relations with his wife, Eve – if one had an established wife, then the other did, too.  Also, if we consider the later traditions of only heads of families offering sacrifices as a retroactive clue to this passage, then it’s quite likely that both Cain and Abel were qualified to offer sacrifices because they were already married and probably with children.
     
     So what reasonable answer to this question have we gleaned from the Bible?
     Cain’s wife discussed in chapter four is obviously one of Adam and Eve’s daughters or other descendants discussed in chapter five.  Cain was probably already married before he moved to the land of Nod.



      © David G. Churchill; used by permission. rev.03xx-041115
      Permission guidelines for your use of this article.
      Unless otherwise noted, “Scripture taken from the NEW KING JAMES VERSION.  Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.”
      This article’s presentation in Exploring God's Word ©2003-4 David G. Churchill.
      For additional quality Bible-study materials, contact your local church of Christ or access Exploring God's Word at www.exploringgodsword.co.
      Send us your Bible-related questions.