Who Was the Wife of Cain?
A closer look at one of the most enigmatic women in Genesis
This illustration shows Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, where God gave them the command to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28). Photo: From Charles Foster, The Story of the Bible (1897).
While there are many examples of strong and inspiring men and women in Genesis, the book is also packed with stories of dysfunctional families, which is evidenced from the very beginning with the first family—Adam, Eve and their two children, Cain and Abel. In no short amount of time—just 16 verses after announcing the birth of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4—Cain has murdered his younger brother and is consequently exiled from the land. In theory, this would have dropped the world’s population from four down to three. The narrative continues in Genesis 4 with Cain settling in the land of Nod and having children with his wife. Who did Cain marry? Where did she come from? Are there other people outside of Eden? In the November/December 2013 issue of BAR, Mary Joan Winn Leith addresses these questions and explores the identity of the wife of Cain in “Who Did Cain Marry?”
Given that the wife of Cain is only mentioned once in the Old Testament, she would not be counted among the famous women in Genesis. Nevertheless, her identity is still worth investigating. Who did Cain marry? Mary Joan Winn Leith first explores the traditional Jewish and Christian answers that contend that the wife of Cain was another daughter of Adam and Eve. According to this reasoning, Cain would have married his sister—one of Abel’s twin sisters no less, according to the Genesis Rabbah.
Mary Joan Winn Leith explores the identity of the wife of Cain.
A different answer emerges when Leith turns from the traditional responses about the wife of Cain and delves into modern scholarship. Looking at recent work done by sociologists and anthropologists, she notes that when forming a group identity, we tend to define ourselves by how we differ from other groups. In the ancient Near East, sometimes those outside of a particular group or society were considered less “human” by those inside of the group. An important factor that contributes to this mindset is geography. People in the ancient Near East typically stayed close to home, which affected their perception of the world. Surely they knew that other groups of people—potential enemies or allies—existed far away, but if they never came into contact with these groups, what did they matter?
Mary Joan Winn Leith suggests that while the Israelite storyteller knew that other men and women in Genesis existed outside of Eden, they did not matter to him or factor into his account. He was concerned with Adam and Eve and their progeny—not those outside of this group.
Who did Cain marry? There are many answers. For Leith’s explanation of the identity of the wife of Cain—one of the often-overlooked women in Genesis—read her full Biblical Views column “Who Did Cain Marry?”
BAS Library Members: Read the full Biblical Views column “Who Did Cain Marry?” by Mary Joan Winn Leith in the November/December 2013 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.
Not a BAS Library or All-Access Member yet? Join today.
This Bible History Daily feature was originally published in 2013.
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Adam and Eve were kicked out of Eden after they sinned!
Geb and Nut in the Hebrew pantheon are Adam and Eve who begot four twin sons, two males Abel and Cain, and two females. Indeed from medieval sources we find that Cain married his sister Calmana and Abel married another sister Delbora (as we are told by several sources very late: Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius, Golden Legend by Jacopo da Varazze, Historia Scholastica in Gen 4: 1 (PL 198, 1076) by Peter Comestor, Seder ha-Dorot) exactly as in the Egyptian myth the two brothers Osiris and Seth marry with his two sisters Isis and Nephthys. Then Cain kills Abel as Seth kills Osiris
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If you read Genesis Chapter 1 verse 26 It says “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness & have Dominion over..Etc. This is before Adam & Eve, This is when the races of men were created There were people outside of the Garden, Adam & Eve came after in Chapter 2
Note that beginning in Chapter 2 it talks first of God resting from his creative works, then in verse 4 it says that these are the generations, or history, of the heavens and earth in the day that they were created and then it basically goes on to describe the creation Adam and how Eve was produced from Adam’s rib.
A couple of interesting points are: 1. in verse 5 it points out that the vegetation was watered by a mist – no rain……….that did not come until after the flood…….a lucid canopy of water surrounded the earth on the outer edge of the atmosphere……..that is where the water came from for the flood……the entire earth was tropical back then.
In verses 15-17, we find Adam being told not to eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden.
Notice he was OK with that until Eve came along and in Genesis 3:12 Adam blamed God for giving him the woman………….now, I wonder where have I heard that before!!!!!!!
If you pushed up all the water underground, it would fill the entire earth to a depth of 60′. It was the opening of the “fountains of the deep” that provided most of the destruction not the rain. The very ground liquified and became quicksand. All the wicked of the earth sank and drowned in mud.
God blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent, and the serpent did not have a leg to stand on.
Could it be that we are only thinking of the physical when it comes to the first family? Consider that the word “Adam” means something other than a physical man and “Eve” also has another meaning past a name.. I can’t apply the literal history of the “first couple” to my life, so why would it matter except to satisfy curiosity. However, if Adam is “the faculty of intellectual wisdom” and Eve is “the emotional nature of love,” something missing in any/all other beings on the planet at the time, we might come to understand the tendencies of man and woman, plus understand what makes us as we are today, complete people, as in a balance of the two. Also, we know that when in harmony and love a new physical child is born, so is the balance between Adam and Eve in the spiritual sense, that means new “birth” for we who already exist. Now, I can apply these meanings to my life and understand the differences. When God “breathed” into Adam, the same meaning is applied to “spirit,” which makes the potential of Adam & Eve being changed into fully-functioning spiritual beings as God would have intended. Cain could have physically married another human being that had not received the “breath” of God. To me, the understanding of the first family is in the connection God had with them, and not whether or not there was another first family somewhere, or physical incest. Fully-functioning beings, now blessed with intellect and wisdom by one, connected via marriage to emotion and love, means we certainly do have the “first family.” Thank you for considering my point of view.
It is amazing how much mystery develops about the Bible when we decide not to take it at its word. We are given no indication as to how old Cain was when he killed Abel or when he was married. He could have been 100 years old which is the same approximate age the three sons of Noah were when they entered the ark. Without birth control there could have been hundreds of people alive when Abel was murdered. Cain could have married his sister or even his niece.
If we add some other group of people not descended from Adam and Eve, the entire story of the Tree of Knowledge and Tree of Life and the 7 day creation and Adam’s longing for a helpmeet which is then made from his side becomes nonsensical. All of mankind is mortal and doomed to eternal death without the atoning blood of Christ. If Adam and Eve ate the fruit while others didn’t then there would be immortal human beings and they would not have remained on this miserable sin filled planet but God would have taken them elsewhere.
Well Ethane, unfortunately Adam and Eve did sin, by being disobedient, the result being stated in Genesis 3:19 which is read or quoted at most ‘Christian’ funerals when they say: “for out of the dust you are and back to the dust you return,: or words to that effect……..and as the apostle Paul said at Romans 5:12, though just one man (Adam), sin and death spread to all mankind………we have all inherited that imperfection
Romans 3:23, 24 says that we have all sinned, but we have a ‘free’ gift of forgiveness due to the fact that Jesus gave his life for ALL mankind………..BUT we have to take advantage of that ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
I have questioned this subject for fifty years and have finally concluded that my salvation is not required to know what happened to Cain and his life other than he was the first killer. Now that said, I am more interested in what my creator took from Adam and made Eve his soulmate. I think that may a question that is more interesting.
You see we are quite happy to believe that a rib was taken from Adam and made Eve. It seems to me that it is strange the woman and man have the same number of ribs so GOD must have copied the rib to do that, however, my Bible says a curve was taken from Adam to make Eve..
If Adam was made originally with everything then must have a curved body similar to that of a woman. If we look at shapes of men and women we see a major difference in them. The men’s shoulders and hips are equal in width while the ladies shoulders are more narrow than their hips and their bodies appear more curves. Now I know Adam explained that Eve was bones of my bone and he called name Eve but she was much better looking than all bone.
Also I wonder what really happened between the winged serpent and Eve when she said he beguiled her.
Cain’s wife is a curious subject but the the size of the animals on the ark are also. Lots of animals on such a small ark, also it would be interesting to figure out where out where Eden was located. Such as, could it have been in America and the garden being say around the area on St. Louis.
The Book of Enoch is a seed of truth wrapped in in pseudo fictional history, It is mentioned a few times in the Bible, but is not in the Bible because it was and still is deemed completely unreliable. Though it is a fun read!
Adam was molded from the earth and God or a Christophany breathed life and an eternal spirit into Him. God put Adam to sleep, first anesthesiology, took our a DNA sample from his side not a rib, first operation, the Eve was cloned. God breathed life and a spirit into her. She was brought to Adam by a pre incarnation of Christ who married them, first marriage. This was another reason Jesus attended the wedding in Cana and performed His first miracle.
Boy am I glad I’m not smart, being 88 years young only makes me feel that I must try harder to learn, however at my age I have a hard time remembering where my shoes are half the time and the other half is spent how to start looking for them, you know the feeling in the question, What am I doing in this room? Just smile a lot and get something to eat. Have a great day.
Keep up the research.
My thought on this subject is; that God had created men and women but without His God Spirit. When He created Adam and Eve He formed Adam from the ground and Breathed His God breath or His Spirit into Adam, and of course it was automatically transfered into Eve when she took her first breath. They were created for a totally different purpose. God created them to be a legacy He wanted children with His Heart and His thoughts, and His powers (eventually) But they failed the test. So when Adam was banished He married a lesser person one of the people created without God full Breath. the women that the angels cohabited with that became Giants Everything and everyone got out of hand. They had far too much wisdom and far too much power to be in control of God’s Planet. Angels taking on human form and humans was a bad and evil combo. God had to destroy them all!! Except for dear Noah and family. Thank you Lord for Noah
Anyway it’s much more complicated than this, but these are the basics as to what my studies have found, while studying under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
The Book of Enoch has the answer.
How abt his marrying a Neanderthal who also roamed the region.
Neanderthal Genes do not match up with those of Modern Man so no ability to procreate. He took a sister.