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I have a question from my 7 year old who is now learning about evolution at school. She wanted to know how the world went on to multiply from Adam and Eve? Did brothers and sisters then have children etc?
Answer to Question 609 I’m not sure how to explain the Biblical account of man’s origins to a 7 year old. I will explain to you how man multiplied and you can do the explaining.
Having been banished from his parent's homeland which was near to the entrance of Paradise, and from the presence of God, Cain came and dwelt in the land called Naid (Nod). We are then told that "Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bare Enoch. And he builded a city, and he called the city after the name of his son, Enoch." Did Cain find his wife in Naid and where did she come from? If we read the bible only as a historical book and take the chronological order of events in the literal sense then we are justified in thinking that God created many Adams and Eves. There are many historical facts in the Bible, but its main purpose is not to give us a historical record, but to reveal to us God's plan of Salvation. Thus Genesis only gives us the names of people that have a role to play in this plan of salvation.
Cain and Abel were born just after Adam and Eve were exiled from Paradise, and then we are told that Adam had another son called Seth when he was 230 years old. Is it possible that Adam and Eve didn’t have any more children until more than two hundred years had passed? It seems very unlikely. They would have had many children between the firstborn mentioned and Seth, but they are not mentioned because they do not play a direct role in the plan of salvation. Up to when Seth was born, Adam and Eve probably had great, great, great grandchildren and probably even more descendants if we take into account that each generation is 25-30 years. We don't know how long after Abel was murdered that Seth was born, but it couldn't have been many years cause Eve says that "God hath raised up to me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." If that is the case then Abel was more than two hundred years old when he was murdered. Both he and Cain would have taken one of their sisters as a wife a great many years before and would probably be themselves great, great, great grandfathers. Thus when Cain was banished from the land of his parents, he left with all his household which included his wife, children, grandchildren and other descendants.
Cain taking his sister as his wife may be termed as incest, but that was how God ordained it [that all men should be the offspring off one couple - Adam and Eve]. It was not a sin (unlawful) because God willed that the entire Human race should come from one man and one woman. In should be noted that as yet there was no law forbidding such a thing. The law came after when the earth had been multiplied and even then it allowed marriage between first cousins. To this day it is lawful for Jews and Muslims to marry their first cousins because their religious law allows them. Our Church on the other hand believed that the human race had multiplied to an extent that there was no need to find a mate so close to the family core and not only forbade first cousins but also second cousins from entering into marriage. This was because such marriages confuse the relationships. If a man marries his first cousin, their children would not only be brother and sister but also second cousins. The man’s wife would also be his first cousin, his mother in law would also be his aunt and vice-versa, and his grandparents would also be his wife’s grandparents. With second cousins the lineage goes back to great grandparents who in many cases are still alive. Marriages between third cousins are allowed because now the lineage goes back to great great grandparents who in the majority of families have passed away. There is another reason why marriages between close relatives were forbidden. We see in many of the Jews an illness in their complexion which is a result of inter-marriages. In Cyprus we also have the curse of Thalassemia which again is a result of inter-marriages. We find that in societies where the population is small even marriages of third cousins can cause illnesses in their offspring. In recent years with the compulsory blood tests before marriage, we have almost eradicated this illness from our people. The Jews also have blood tests before marriage for the same reasons.
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