It’s one of the most puzzling questions in the Bible: If Adam and Eve were the very first people, and Cain and Abel were their first sons, where did their wives come from?
The simple, and somewhat startling, answer is this: They
married their sisters.
The First Generation's Dilemma
When we think about the earliest moments of human history,
as described in the Book of Genesis, we have to remember the unique
circumstances. Adam and Eve were the only parents. Cain and Abel were
the first children born on Earth. For humanity to continue, the first brothers
had only one option for marriage—their own sisters. There simply were no other
women around.
If this idea makes you uncomfortable, that's completely
understandable! Today, marrying a close sibling is considered incest and
is forbidden by law and social custom. However, in the very beginning, a
different standard had to apply. Think of it as a one-time "loophole"
necessary to populate the planet.
Once enough people existed, this practice stopped. The need
for siblings to marry each other disappeared. By the time the third generation
came along—Cain and Abel's children—they could marry their first cousins,
which has never been considered incest according to Torah law.
Where Are Adam and Eve's Daughters?
If Adam and Eve had daughters for their sons to marry, why
are they not mentioned by name in the Bible?
This is a great question, and the Bible actually gives us a
clue! Later in the Book of Genesis, it tells us: "And the days of Adam
after he fathered Seth were eight hundred years, and he fathered sons and
daughters." (Genesis 5:4)
This confirms that Adam and Eve had many children—boys and
girls—over their long lives.
So why don't we know the names of these important daughters?
The Torah, which is the first five books of the Bible, is not a complete record
of every person who ever lived. It's more of a history book with a specific
focus.
The text typically only records the names of people who fit
one of three categories:
- Leaders
of Note: People who played an important, active role in the biblical
narrative.
- The
Chain of Lineage: The men needed to show the family link connecting Adam
to Noah, and later, Noah to Abraham.
- Those
Who Impacted the Story: Characters whose actions were central to the
main plot.
Since Adam and Eve's unnamed daughters simply fulfilled the
biological role of continuing the family line, their individual names were not
recorded. They were essential to the story of humanity, but their names weren't
necessary for the story of God's covenant with the leaders who followed.
The true focus of the Torah remains on the lineage that
would eventually lead to the great figures of the Bible, leaving the first
wives of Cain and Abel to remain among the quiet, unrecorded characters of
history.
Culled from: Chabad.org
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