I know the formula “and he had other sons and daughters” sounds like the daughters always come after the first son is born, but I would argue it is more likely that Cain was of marrying age (and quite probably was already married, although we can never know), that there were already sisters present, that it is likely there were already unnamed brothers, and that Cain was perhaps already in his 120s when he murdered Abel. One caveat is that Abel does not seem to have left any offspring, so he was possibly not yet married and therefore probably still a young man. Thus, somewhere in that 130-year window, and likely close to the birth of Seth, was the world’s first recorded murder. In context, Cain may have been approaching 130 years old when he murdered his brother. Other significant younger brothers include Joseph and Solomon, among others. 3 Nearly all the important men in the biological lineage of Jesus, including Seth, Shem, 4 Abraham, 5 Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and David were younger brothers. If you think being the oldest is important, 2 this is only really true in Scripture for the person of Jesus Christ, the firstborn of Mary. In fact, if they were all oldest sons, the average age at which each father had his first son over those first nine generations is 117! It is more likely that Genesis simply records the lineage of Noah and does not mention other children in each family. 1 This is also assuming the named son is the oldest son, which is not at all stated in the text. If sons and daughters are equally likely to be born, there is less than a 0.2% chance that a son will be the firstborn nine generations in a row. In fact, the likelihood is vanishingly small. It is true that Seth was in the lineage of Noah, but the rest of the men in that line are not likely to have been first-born children either. This means there may have been sons born between Abel and Seth.
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Since Seth was prophetically named by his mother (his name sounds like “he appointed” in Hebrew), it is reasonable to suspect that he was the first son born after Abel died. Yet even if Abel was the second child, it is unlikely that Seth was the third. His name appears next, but this is because he is an important part of the story. Seeing that Adam and Eve were commanded to reproduce (Genesis 1:28), it might be assumed that Cain was born pretty early, perhaps a year or two after Creation Week.Ěbel was born after that, but not necessarily next. And think about it: 130 years is a long time for Eve to have had a mere three children! That’s only one child every 43 years. Seth being the third named son means little in regards to birth rank. 130 years is a long time for Eve to have had a mere 3 children! That’s only one child every 43 years. “And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, ‘God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.’” (Genesis 4:25). And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.” (Genesis 4:8). We know that Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old, but also after another brother, Abel, was killed: “Cain spoke to Abel his brother.
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It is true that Cain was firstborn (Genesis 4:1), but Scripture does not say anything about when sisters were born, nor does it say that Seth was the third child or even the third son. The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years and he had other sons and daughters.” (Genesis 5:3–4).Īctually, Cain and Seth may not have had to wait at all to get married once they came of age. After all, Seth, the third named child of Adam and Eve was born when Adam was 130 years old (Genesis 5:3), so Cain would have had a long wait, right? “When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. From context, he thought there were no other women around at the time for them to have been marrying. Recently, a new (to me) question came up in a discussion with a Christian writer: how old were Cain and his younger brother Seth when they each married? He insinuated they would have waited a long time to get married-time for sisters younger than Seth to be born and to grow up.
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Some of these questions seem difficult to answer, but they are not at all tricky when put into the proper biblical context. The story of the first murder in world history is a sad one, but it also raises many questions about the Bible. By Robert Carter /SergeylT “And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.” Gen 4:8