The wives of Adam's sons.

[OldCoot]

If some folks would just take a basic math class, they could figure out it wouldn't take very long to have quite a population of people to choose from.  It is easily conceivable that there would have been a substantial population by the time of Noah... 3 Billion easy with even more highly probable.  Based on the average ages of the Patriarchs (912 years), it is conceivable that the population at the time of the flood might have been equal in numbers as today.

The basic math equation is....

The average age of the 8 patriarchs from Adam to Noah was 912 years.  Even by the time of Cain getting his woman, it is likely that there was population in the hundreds, if Adam and Eve continued to have children, and those children started having children with each other.  We don't know the age of Cain's wife.  We know that Adam and Eve had Seth when they were 130 years old.  It would be highly likely that they had a batch of kids between Cain's birth and Seth's birth, and those kids would have already been kicking out kids of their own.  Cain's wife could have been a grand niece for all we know.

Abraham married his half sister (Genesis 20:12), so this sort of thing was not uncommon.

 

Edited November 7, 2018 by OldCoot

[Dennis1209]

On 10/9/2018 at 7:34 AM, Berean said:

Where did the sons of Adam find wives?

That's an age(s) long question. The traditional view is their DNA was pure and therefor could inner marry there sisters. However, there's problems with that view and other puzzling questions.

What was the "mark of Cain"? When Cain was driven out after killing Able, how could he have built a city all by himself, not to mention having to feed and cloth himself? Did his brothers, sisters and kinfolk rush over and help him build a city? When Cain was banished and leaving, why did he immediately fear someone was going to kill him? Seems to me if his family wanted him dead, they would have done it then and there? It's very apparent Satan and his minions were angry that God created Adam after His image, breathed life into his nostrils and gave him a soul.

Good arguments have been postulated that there had to be other sentient beings around, or left over if you will. That argument seems the most logical, but to me still remains a mystery. 

Edited November 19, 2018 by Dennis1209

[Dennis1209]

On 10/9/2018 at 11:01 AM, maryjayne said:

some of the sons of Adam married their sisters and had children, whom other sons of Adam married. We do not know how many children Adam and Eve had, or over what period of time.

We also suspect health, environmental conditions and human DNA had a linear decline over time. We know child bearing became painful and a burden after the fall, therefor assumed woman might want a break between pregnancies? Since human DNA, health and climatic conditions were totally different in the beginning... Is there any reason to suspect a 9 month gestation period was longer or shorter? And proportionately living to such ages and comparing them with today, at what age did child bearing and conception occur back then? 

[JohnD]

On 11/19/2018 at 9:06 AM, Dennis1209 said:

We also suspect health, environmental conditions and human DNA had a linear decline over time. We know child bearing became painful and a burden after the fall, therefor assumed woman might want a break between pregnancies? Since human DNA, health and climatic conditions were totally different in the beginning... Is there any reason to suspect a 9 month gestation period was longer or shorter? And proportionately living to such ages and comparing them with today, at what age did child bearing and conception occur back then? 

Good points.

[BibleGuy]

On 10/9/2018 at 5:34 AM, Berean said:

Where did the sons of Adam find wives?

If Adam/Eve were not the ONLY humans on the planet at that time...then other populations may have already existed when God made Adam/Eve.

After all, Ge. 1:2 already refers to "formless and void"....which is used to describe God's JUDGMENT against rebellion (as in Jer.4:23), thus confirming that Ge. 1 is NOT the full history of all life on the planet.

The fossil record confirms other life, even hominid species, BEFORE and/or concurrent with Adam.

[Justin Adams]

6 minutes ago, BibleGuy said:

If Adam/Eve were not the ONLY humans on the planet at that time...then other populations may have already existed when God made Adam/Eve.

After all, Ge. 1:2 already refers to "formless and void"....which is used to describe God's JUDGMENT against rebellion (as in Jer.4:23), thus confirming that Ge. 1 is NOT the full history of all life on the planet.

The fossil record confirms other life, even hominid species, BEFORE and/or concurrent with Adam.

Pure conjecture. The so-called fossil record will tell you what you want to hear. Again, conjecture.

[BibleGuy]

1 hour ago, Justin Adams said:

Pure conjecture. The so-called fossil record will tell you what you want to hear. Again, conjecture.

Archaeology and Anthropology are scientific disciplines....not "conjecture".

It's ok for good Christians to do good science.

 

[OldCoot]

One thing for certain, for such a wealth of fossils, sedimentary structures, petrified wood, etc, it was the result of some pretty tough cataclysmic events.  I became pretty aware of that from many Geology and Anthropology courses I had in college.  I never bought into the party line of uniformitarianism as espoused by Charles Lyell, et al that presupposes deposition happened over millions of years.  A carcass does not wait around for 100 feet of sediment to pile on.  deposition has to be fast and heavy.   Else predatory birds and animals ravage the carcass and is ends up distributed over and area.   Not enough deposition, and the carcass decomposes too quickly thus preventing since the oxygen is not forced away under the weight of too little deposition.   Wood will rot if not quickly petrified and we see trees standing completely vertical thru dozens of feet to sedimentary rock involving multiple layers.  It had to be fast.

I also concur that Genesis 1:2 has in view that the earth became (hayah) Tohu Va Bohu... without form and void.  I find it tough to believe the Lord created it that way.  Something happened.  We can try and piece other pieces of scripture to see if the image emerges of what happened.  Like....

Jeremiah 4:23-26 (NKJV Strong's) I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and void;
And the heavens, they had no light.
24 I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled,
And all the hills moved back and forth.
25 I beheld, and indeed there was no man,
And all the birds of the heavens had fled.
26 I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness,
And all its cities were broken down
At the presence of the Lord,
By His fierce anger.

Prophecy is pattern, not only prediction.  While the passage in general is a reference to Judah and Jerusalem, never was the nation brought to a point of being without form and void (tohu va bohu - same terminology as Genesis 1) and the heavens without light.  Only in Genesis 1 did that happen.   Doesn't make a definitive case for Genesis 1, but it adds another piece of the  puzzle.   One thing for certain, the heavens and earth were already in place before the "let there be light" of day one.

Could the reason for the "became without form and void" of Genesis 1 be the angelic rebellion?  Could be.  Maybe not. 

One day we will all know what happened. We can have friendly discussions on varying conclusions and make a feeble human attempt at figuring things out.   If the Lord would have thought it was important for us to know all the details, He would have given them.

Edited December 7, 2019 by OldCoot

[other one]

On 10/9/2018 at 9:29 AM, Berean said:

Just a thought, how could they have cousins or close relatives if they were the only ones?

Adam lived 900 years;  Seth lived 912 years.   They had sons and daughters that are not discussed in detail.   Adam lived long enough to have seen 8 generations of his offspring.   Actually, when he died. Noah's father (Lamech) was about 58 years old.     Enoch was 308 years old when Adam died.    Everyone had been told to have children and they did.    and they intermarried.    Remember that there was no rule about marrying relatives until the days of Moses.   At least not that I am aware of.

[Berean]

21 hours ago, BibleGuy said:

After all, Ge. 1:2 already refers to "formless and void"....which is used to describe God's JUDGMENT against rebellion (as in Jer.4:23), thus confirming that Ge. 1 is NOT the full history of all life on the planet.

Everything that's wrong with this statement can be summed up in three words: context, context, context. The context of Gen. 1:2 does not support your supposition or view. In fact, this is the first time I've encountered your interpretation and I'm sure such a view is in a decided minority.