Cain's Enemies

I used to think that the story of the human family is precisely the same as the story of Adam and Eve's. That may be true spiritualy but Genesis 4 gives three reasons to suspect that outside of Eden they were not alone.

Firstly there's the classic question of Cain's wife. Its amazing that the incestuous explanation of this has persisted for so long... like incest is only wrong for genetic reasons? There is no reason in the text insisting that Cain married his sister - its based purely on the assumption that there were no other humans around (and that the first family were geneticaly dramaticaly different from the rest of us). Cain started his family outside of Eden, which is where I would suggest he found his wife as well.

Secondly there is the question of Cain's enemies. When God told him he was to be evicted from Eden how did he respond?

'Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.' v 14

Whoever finds me will kill me? It seems that Cain knew full well that outside of Eden's protection he would be in a world of violence and danger. Perhaps he was talking about wild animals? Well the text simply doesn't read that way. See how God reassures him, it seems to be pointedly aimed at the only animal we know that could understand such a curse... humans:

'Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.' v 15

If there still lingers any doubt verses 23, 24 seem to clear the matter up.

And thirdly there's the details of Cain's building projects.

'When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. ' v 17

Now we'd be wrong to thing of this as a spralling metropolis like London, New York or Sydney but equally its something more than pitching a tent. The Hebrew indicates that this was a guarded settlement and so its another indication that there were other human beings around at the time - to live with and to try and live without.