Who Was Cain Afraid of?
Adam and Eve, the first people who were created by God, were kicked out of the Garden of Eden because they disobeyed Him. We are told of their first two children, Cain and Abel. Abel did what was right and pleased God while Cain didn’t. In jealousy, Cain killed Abel. When God judged (Genesis 4:13-14) “Cain said to the Lord, "My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me." So the question is, if Cain and Able were Adam and Eve’s first two children, who was Cain afraid of? He may have been looking down the road. Adam ended up living 930 years. He could have had 300 kids. If each child had kids when they reached their teens, there could have been 40 generations and thousands of kids by the time Adam died. Another option is that when they were kicked out of the Eden, Eve was told in Genesis 3:16, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children.” How can there be more pain if there had never been a child born in the Garden of Eden. Could God have created others in Eden that may have had children? After all, the Bible only focuses on a select few. If Eve’s disobedience brought sin to all mankind, maybe if there were others in Eden, they were cast out too! Understand that God is not bound by our limited knowledge...only His Word. There are many things that He did that are not recorded. We read in Genesis 6:1-2, “When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.” Who were these sons of God? There are many theories, and even though I don’t believe it plays in here, without absolute knowledge, this can’t be ruled out. Does it really matter? Not if we understand that God can create simply by His command. It does matter when it comes to sharing our faith with others because unanswered questions can create doubt in people's minds. Do I lose sleep over this quandary? Not at all. Cain moved to the land of Nod (which means wandering). A place or concept? Father, help us not to get bogged down by details not essential to faith, but give us understanding to share with others. Amen