Dear Youth 84 - Youth Magazine Staff - March 1984

Youth Magazine Staff

Question: We were discussing the Bible in world history class the other day. One student asked where Cain got his wife. If Adam and Eve only had two sons and one of them was killed, who was there to marry? I'm confused. No one in our class could answer the question. Answer: When God created Adam and Eve, He said, "'Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth'" (Genesis 1:28 ). In the fourth chapter of Genesis we read the story of Cain and Abel - the first of Adam and Eve's many children. In the days before the Flood of Noah, people lived hundreds of years. Notice in Genesis 5:5, Adam was 930 years old when he died. And in verse 4 we are told Adam had both "sons and daughters." Although the Bible only names a few of the boys, there is a Jewish tradition that Adam and Eve had 33 sons and 23 daughters. Talk about a big family! Of course the only people to marry were brothers and sisters. - Information Supplied By: Herbert W Armstrong Library