the land of NOD ???

[chimoku]

Hi!

In a discussion with some who are not believers the question came up re: GENESIS 4:16

"So Cain went out from the Lord's presence and lived in the land of Nod east of Eden. Cain lay with his wife ..."

Question:

How did the land of Nod get populated ?

There were people living there - evidently - os Cain could take a wife . . .

How was it that this was possible - when the Bible acount states that Adam & Eve only had 2 sons at that point ?

Thanks for any help I can get @ this.

[Sirsilius]

Interesting question- can't wait for the replies.

[RGR]

Obviously Adam and Eve had daughters. Now these days we look down upon marriage between siblings but in that time, it would have been necessary. Given the long life span of people in those days, it is pretty easy to assume that the Earth would have been populated very quickly with grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Adam and Eve.

[DaBronx]

It is a popular misconception that Cain and Abel were Adam and Eve's first children... the Bible never states that they were their firstborn and it's obvious by the events following Abel's murder that there were other inhabitants on the Earth by then!

Imagine living 800 years, capable of giving birth every nine months and no birth control... Knowing this, it shouldn't be a surprise that Adam and Eve would have had plenty of (grown) children by the time Cain and Abel came along.

Edited August 22, 2005 by DaBronx

[Guest Zayit]

Be careful there we don't know how long Eve lived, only Adam ( 950 after the expulsion from the garden).

We also don't know how old Cain and Abel were when this happened so don't know how many people were living by then.

Nod means in Hebrew wandering, so we can't assume it was a "town", but rather out away from the rest of his family ( besides whoever he choose as a wife).

[the_raven_1313]

Even though Cain, Able and Seth were the first generation of children on this earth mentioned in scripture doesn

[Guest Zayit]

Poor Havah, just think 56 times she was reminded horribly of her sin!

[ayin jade]

Yea, Im pretty sure she was reminded of her sin every second of the day, not just in childbirth.

[apothanein kerdos]

This probably happened YEARS after they were born. Notice that it says, "now it happened in the course of time". Assuming they did this when each was 400 years old, this means Eve would have had other kids, Eve's kids would have had other kids, and Eve's kids kids would have had other kids. There could have been thousands....possibly millions, of people on the earth by the time Cain killed Able. Likewise, "Nod" is a land of wandering.

[spaceman]

Just a thought to throw out.......

God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and then said the same thing to Noah and his family when they came off the ark after the flood. These are the only two instances that I can find where God has said this to anyone. Is it possible that this could have had some impact on reproduction and populating of the earth? Just a thought.......What do you think?