Who Did Adam & Eve's Kids Marry?

Leviticus 18:9 says, "You shall not have intercourse with or uncover the nakedness of your sister..."

With this being the case, how did Adam and Eve's children propagate the race without having intercourse with their siblings?"

Good question and one that deserves an answer!  Please keep in mind, however, the Scriptures do not directly address a lot of issues in terms of "chapter and verse."  We have to draw from many sources to answer some questions; and some inquiries, to be totally honest, will not be answered this side of eternity!

Here goes!  Some have tried to "excuse" God by teaching that He probably created other human beings right after He created Adam and Eve.  We read in 1 Corinthians 15:45 that Adam was "the first man."  God did not start by making a whole group of people--men and women.  Defenders of the gospel must believe that all human beings are descendants of one man and one woman (Adam and Eve), as only those people who are descendants of Adam and Eve can be saved.  Romans 5:12 tells us that "even through one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed on all men inasmuch as all sinned."

The Bible makes it clear that only the descendants of Adam can be saved.  Romans 5 teaches that we sin because Adam sinned.  Since Adam was the head of the human race when he "fell," we who were in the loins of Adam "fell" also.  If God created other human beings in addition to Adam and Eve, then the gospel message is rendered false.  So please don't buy into this convenient, less substantiated argument.

Let's face it.  If we work totally from Scripture, without attaching our personal prejudices or other extra-biblical ideas, then we have to accept the fact that back at the very beginning, where there was only one generation, brothers would have had to marry sisters or there would be no more generations!  The Bible does not tell us how many children were born to Adam and Eve.  However, considering their long lifespans (Adam lived 930 years), it seems reasonable that there were many.  Famed Jewish historian Josephus wrote that "The number of Adam's children, as says the old tradition, was 33 sons and 23 daughters."

Remember, too, that sibling ages could be separated by hundreds of years!  To fully understand this concept, we have to quit thinking like traditional "Ozzie and Harriett" Americans.  We are not told when Cain married or any of the details of other marriages and children, but we can say with some degree of certainty that some brothers had to marry their sisters at the beginning of human history.  

News flash!  I realize I'm challenging religious mindsets; however, God continued to do "strange things" throughout redemptive history.  Do the names Hosea (prophet) and Gomer (prostitute) ring a bell?

Most people immediately reject the conclusion that Adam and Eve's sons and daughters married each other by appealing to the above verse from Leviticus 18.  Some say you cannot marry your relation.  But if this first generation of humankind did not marry their relations, they could not marry a human!  Understand something.  The law forbidding marriage between close relatives was not given until the time of Moses.  Remember that Abraham married his half-sister (Genesis 20:12).  God blessed this union to produce the Hebrew people through Isaac and Jacob.  It was not until some 400 years later that God gave Moses laws that forbade such marriages.

Today, brothers and sisters are not permitted by law to marry because their children have a reasonably high risk of being deformed.  Besides, that would be gross anyway!  Just as the human lifespan shortened as sin continued to ravage mankind, so the human gene pool surely degenerated.  Adam and Eve possessed no genetic mistakes.  They were created physically perfect.  Everything God made was "very good" (Genesis 1:31).  Their genes were perfect--no mistakes.  But when sin entered the world, God's perfect creation began to generationally degenerate.  

Cain was in the first generation of children ever born.  He, as well as his brothers and sisters, would have received virtually no imperfect genes from Adam and Eve, so their offspring would have been genetically sound.  Sadly, sin began to work its destructive force against the beauty of God's creation, and by the time of Moses, degenerative mistakes would have built up in the human race to such an extent that it became necessary for God to forbid brother-sister marriages.  Also, there were plenty of people on the earth by then, and there would have been no reason for close relations to marry.

I believe this argument is plausible.  Regardless, the Bible is still God's Word and God's ways are perfect.  I still say we underestimate the toll that sin has taken on humankind and this planet.  This venue does not allow me to go into more detail, but I'm thankful for the information provided by www.bibleexplorer.com.  I drew heavily from their research.  If your curiosity has peaked, log on to that site and type in "Where did Cain get his wife?" Questions like this make me appreciate the integrity of the Scriptures even more.

Keeping Score (Part 3)

In my last two blogs I discussed what it means to “forgive and even forget” those offenses that come into our lives.  In Part One, I taught how we through prayer are able to receive a new interpretation of our painful experiences.  In Part Two, I demonstrated how this principle worked in the life of Joseph, whose brothers grossly mistreated him when he was a teenager.  In Part Three, I wish to offer a partial theological treatise on how God forgives us.

To fully experience the dynamics of forgiveness and forgetting, we need to understand the act of justification. 

Justification is God’s judicial act of declaring believing sinners to become righteous and acceptable in His sight.  It is a legal term.  Justification is possible because Christ has borne the sinner’s sin on the Cross “and has been made unto him righteousness” (1 Corinthians 1:30).  Romans 3:24 says, “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

Justification springs from the fountain of God’s grace.  “But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:4-5). 

For you see, Jesus satisfied all the demands of the Old Testament Law.  Justification is on the basis of faith, not by human merits or works.  In this marvelous operation of God, the Holy Judge of the universe judicially declares righteous the one who believes in Jesus.

Romans 8:31-34 says, “What then shall we say in response to these things?  If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?  It is God who justifies.  Why then is the one who condemned?  No one.  Christ Jesus who died – more than that who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”

A justified believer emerges from God’s great court room with a consciousness that Another, His Substitute has borne his guilt and that he stands without accusation before the bar of God.  The believer is justified in Christ and “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). 

So, if God for Christ’s sake forgives us, we can forgive others.  And if God looks upon us “just as if we never sinned,” then we can look upon those who sin against us in like manner.  It’s all by His grace and empowerment .  The prophet Micah was outspoken and fearless in announcing the iniquities of Judah, However, he ended his prophecy with these wonderful words:

“Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of his possession?  He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in his unchanging love.  He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities under his feet.  Yes, you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea”  (7:18-19). 

Even God’s anger does not keep score!  He casts all repented and confessed sin into His “Sea of Forgetfulness” to be remembered against us no more.  Jesus made it clear:  “Whenever you stand praying forgive; if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions.  But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions” (Mark 11:25-26).  To forgive is a choice.  The pain may still be felt, but your desire to forgive remains intact. 

Have you embraced the “I’ll forgive, but I won’t forget” concept?  Remember, God is able to help you assign a new, redemptive interpretation to your pain.  Rejoice as He pulls the negative emotions out of the skewed details of your past.  Approach your former nemesis, look him in the eyes and give him a big hug (if only in your mind)!  Jesus’ unconditional love and God’s judicial act of pardon will cause you to love everyone!

Do you remember the chorus, “Old Time Religion?  One verse says, “It makes me love everybody.”  It’s hard to love sometimes, but tell your soul man to line up.  Emotions may still remain, but the spirit man wins!  “The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5).

Keeping Score (Part 2)

Last week I asked the question, “Do we forget when we forgive people who bring offense and emotional pain into our lives?  My summation was that we don’t go brain dead after we forgive someone.  But God graciously pulls the pain out of the situation by giving us a healthier interpretation of the facts. 

Offenses always bring emotional pain, but when we allow God to exchange our pain by His power, He assigns a new interpretation of what happened and the negative emotional residue fades into the past.  In this sense, we can forgive and forget!  Let’s take a look at the life of Joseph recorded in Genesis 37-50 for a prime illustration of this wonderful reality!  

For our purposes today, let’s look at the events recorded in chapter 50 only.  Now second in command in the land of Egypt, Joseph says something to his brothers that illustrates this process.  He had been terribly mistreated by his brothers.  At 17, he was cast into a pit – probably an empty, deep well – because of their anger and jealousy.  Later he was sold to a caravan of Ishmaelite traders on their way to Egypt.  During the next thirteen years he faced his share of trials, but in the plan and purpose of God he ultimately triumphed and ended up as Egypt’s Prime Minster, second only to Pharaoh himself.

Psalm 105:17-19 describes his plight.  “He (God) sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant:  Whose feet they hurt with fetters:  he was laid in iron:  Until the time that his word came:  the Word of the Lord tried him.”  I’m sure Joseph experienced many anxious days and anger during those trying years. 

Eventually, a severe famine in their homeland drove his brothers to Egypt to seek relief.  Joseph of course, recognized his siblings, but withheld his identity long enough to weigh their motives.  A game of cat and mouse centering on his beloved brother Benjamin followed until Joseph became convinced of his brothers’ changed hearts.  When life brings pain and unfair days, we have two choices.  We either respond negatively or positively.  We get bitter or better.  One definition of forgiveness is, “relinquishing our right to get even  or to take matters into our own hands.  In the soul realm Joseph perhaps had every right to punish his brothers.  Instead, he chose to embrace a righteous interpretation of the facts.

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive” (verse 20).  That was Joseph’s defining moment!  A lot of people allow the inequities and hurts of life to become their defining moments.  They make a cognitive choice not to forgive.  In short, they assign negative emotions to what happened and anger rules their lives.  Remember, not forgiving is a choice!

Obviously, Joseph remembered his brothers’ harsh treatment years prior, however, he chose not to rehearse the details and to lay aside the emotional residue of his offense.  In that respect, he was able to forgive and forget!  When we place such matters in God’s hands, it is possible to forgive those who sin against us.  Forgiveness causes our memories to fade and our souls to heal.  In a very real sense, we do forget.  God heals our soul as we release our pain to Him in prayer.  The Spirit heals our mind and emotions.

How do we know when we’ve truly forgiven someone?  When the offense comes to mind, if indeed it does, and it no longer hurts.  The sting is gone!  Prayer is therapeutic, and as we release those who hurt us, the Holy Spirit gives a new interpretation of the situation and eliminates the pain.  Remember, Joseph had thirteen years to process his pain.  You can bet that his initial decision to forgive his brothers (back when) still held pain.  Eventually, total forgiveness erased his pain.  Our spiritual forefathers referred to this process as “praying through.”  This is but one of the beautiful and practical aspects of our sanctification.

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK:  I will turn to a more theological discussion regarding God’s offer of forgiveness. 

Keeping Score (Part 1)

After sin entered the human race in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve and everyone born after them have suffered from relationship breakdowns.  Relationships were one of the hardest hit areas of life.  Stories of people who refuse to forgive their perpetrators, who hold grudges and who grow bitter fill the pages of human history.  Many refuse to forgive those who have brought offense and pain into their lives.  They keep a running total of wrongs done.

The New Living Translation renders 1 Corinthians 13:5 this way:  “Love keeps no record when it has been wronged.”  Agape love, or God’s love produces amnesia.  To God, confessed sin is forgiven sin!  Psalm 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”  In Isaiah 43:25 the prophet writes, “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for my own sake.  And I will not remember your sins.”  Isaiah 37:18 says, “It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness.  For you have cast all my sins behind your back."  Psalm 130:3 reminds us that “If you Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?”  Sin placed under the blood of Jesus Christ is gone and forgotten!

Often we hear people say, “I’ll forgive, but I’ll never forget.”  I used to subscribe to this way of thinking until one day the Lord challenged my attitude.  A lot of Christians buy into this unscriptural teaching.  In reality, many times it’s justification for on-going grudge-holding. 

Forgive and forget.  Is it possible?  Yes and no!  All of us have been hurt by someone – probably more than once.  The prophet Zechariah said it this way:  “I was wounded in the house of my friends” (13:6).  Someone said, “I’m not God, so it’s impossible for me to forget hurtful people and situations in my life.  I don’t go brain dead when I forgive.  I still remember the details!” 

That’s not completely true.  Given time, none of us with one-hundred-percent accuracy remember the details of our lives.  However, we DO assign an emotion to everything that happens to us.  When offenses come our way, it’s not our spirit man who gets wounded; it’s our soul man.  Our soul – mind, will and emotions – reacts negatively during times of offense.  Again, we don’t remember facts.  We assign negative emotions to those facts. 

I am the middle of seven siblings.  It’s amazing when we get together as adults and discuss childhood memories.  None of us agree on the facts, and all of us assign different emotions to what took place.  Both positive and negative emotions come to the surface, depending on our individual interpretation of the facts.  Isn’t that crazy?

Like people in general, Christians get hurt along life’s journey.  Jesus warned us in Matthew 24:10 that offenses will accelerate in the last days:  “And then many will be offended…” However, we possess the indwelling Spirit, Who helps us righteously process those negative experiences that afflict our soul.  Through prayer God assigns new interpretations to our negative experiences.  What people sometimes mean for evil, God reverses for our good – and theirs! 

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK:  How this principle played out in the life of Joseph (His story is found in Genesis 37-50).