# Where did Cains wife emerge from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 14, 1999, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-cains-wife-emerge-from/5344 "1999-12-14T13:27:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolfduke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b19c9b/32.png) [@wolfduke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfduke)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 1999, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-cains-wife-emerge-from/5344/1 "1999-12-14T13:27:00Z")
OK…so God bespat out Adam and eve and they begat Cain and Abel. Cain tops Abel and just to rub salt in the wound takes his wife. From whom was she begat? ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Thin\_Skin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@Mr\_Thin\_Skin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Thin_Skin)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 1999, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-cains-wife-emerge-from/5344/2 "1999-12-14T13:31:00Z")
Uhh, from God’s magic hat? ---
**Author:** ![galen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecc23a/32.png) [@galen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 1999, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-cains-wife-emerge-from/5344/3 "1999-12-14T13:43:00Z")
He begat her, dummy * * * The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to change it. (Karl Marx, 1845) ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 1999, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-cains-wife-emerge-from/5344/4 "1999-12-14T14:12:00Z")
God created a bunch more faulty humans to be a threat to Cain as well provide a wife. While we’re on Biblical questions: we all know what sodomy is. What is gomorrahizing? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 1999, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-cains-wife-emerge-from/5344/5 "1999-12-14T14:30:00Z")
She was found under the leaves of a gopherwood tree. She was a daughter of Adam, but by Lilith not Eve. Her ancestors were not Created, rather her people had evolved. Space aliens. None of the Above. Myths are too important to be subjected to analysis as if they were courtroom testimony or a historical record. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 1999, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-cains-wife-emerge-from/5344/6 "1999-12-14T14:43:00Z")
Oh, and \*\*AWB[\b], the term properly refers to a social disease. Gomorrahea. But an unfortunate transliteration error on the part of Arabic physicians during the Middle Ages tends to obscure the reference. ---
**Author:** ![Twin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/85f322/32.png) [@Twin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twin)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 1999, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-cains-wife-emerge-from/5344/7 "1999-12-14T14:58:00Z")
Adam and Eve had several children. One of them ended up being Cain’s wife. Seems pretty simple to me. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 1999, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-cains-wife-emerge-from/5344/8 "1999-12-14T15:03:00Z")
_Twin: Adam and Eve had several children. One of them ended up being Cain’s wife._ That’s almost as bad as Lot’s daughters getting pregnant from dad. ---
**Author:** ![Keeves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f05b48/32.png) [@Keeves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeves)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 1999, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-cains-wife-emerge-from/5344/9 "1999-12-14T15:07:00Z")
AWB: \*That’s almost as bad as Lot’s daughters getting pregnant from dad.\*When there are literally only a handful a humans in the world, it was too soon for the concept is incest to have developed. No contradiction. Only after people were able to marry from other families did they consider making siblings taboo. ---
**Author:** ![mipsman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mipsman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mipsman)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 1999, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-cains-wife-emerge-from/5344/10 "1999-12-14T15:08:00Z")
Dr Fidelius, what is the story of Lilith? She figures in some mythologies but is studiously ignored in others. I recall that she died before Adam met Eve. Let me turn on my religion Cuisinart here. OK,if you want an Immaculate Conception of Mary and like the idea of reincarnation, you need a female figure, unsullied by the actions of that hussy Eve and the dupe Adam, ready to be on the scene when needed. A Lilith entity fits the bill perfectly. Are there any Messianic legends or mythologies that Lilith would come back someday? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 1999, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-cains-wife-emerge-from/5344/11 "1999-12-14T15:08:00Z")
When you’re the only people in the world, it’s not like you have alot of options in term of relationships. * * * “I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 1999, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-cains-wife-emerge-from/5344/12 "1999-12-14T15:14:00Z")
Lilith isn’t mentioned _at all_ in Genesis. Possably in Deutoronomy, but I haven’t checked. As for the Immaculate Conception, I always assumed that God threw in some kind of extra-special-anti-sin filter when she was conceived. I’ve never heard of her having different ancestors than anyone else. * * * “I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 1999, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-cains-wife-emerge-from/5344/13 "1999-12-14T15:25:00Z")
**mipsman** : Lilith is most certainly NOT an unsullied female archetype. _CAUTION: Everything that follows is off the top of my head. Any errors will be shrugged off._ Remember in Geneis 1:27 it says “So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; **male and female** created he them.” Bolding mine. The “female” created on that day was not Eve. Eve was made from Adam’s rib, quite clearly on another day. That “female man” originally created was Lilith. She was later cast out into the wild world for daring to feel she was the equal of Adam. She felt that as she and he were created at the time, she did not need to be subservient to him. Eve was made to be more properly respectful of her master. (snort.) ## After being cast out, she became the mother all all ghosties and ghoulies and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night. You will note that she was given dominion over all living things at the same time as Adam; presumably after the seperation they divided the world with him getting the diurnal creaures and her getting the nocturnal. Dr. Fidelius, Charlatan Associate Curator Anomalous Paleontology, Miskatonic University “You cannot reason a man out of a position he did not reach through reason.” And mäni interesting furry animals ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 1999, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-cains-wife-emerge-from/5344/14 "1999-12-14T15:29:00Z")
Oh, and don’t bother searching for a mention of Lilith in the Bible. She doesn’t appear. A hell of a lot of Judeo-Christian beliefs are extra-Biblical. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 1999, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-cains-wife-emerge-from/5344/15 "1999-12-15T06:32:00Z")
What’s the problem with brother and sister having children? Inbreeding. Why is inbreeding bad? Because you greatly increase the chance of recieving two copies of one or more defective genes. How many defective genes did Adam or Eve have? None, they were made by God. How many inherited defective genes did their children have? None, any defecitve genes one of A&E’s kids had was theirs alone. ## What’s the danger from inbreeding in that first generation? Virtually nothing. _It is too clear, and so it is hard to see._ ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 1999, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-cains-wife-emerge-from/5344/16 "1999-12-15T06:40:00Z")
Well, aside from the genetic issue, there’s the all important “yuck” factor. ---
**Author:** ![Keeves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f05b48/32.png) [@Keeves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeves)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 1999, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-cains-wife-emerge-from/5344/17 "1999-12-15T06:46:00Z")
ZenBeam, those genes are not _defective_. They are _recessive_. There is no implied “good” or “bad” here, only a description of which one is dominant in a mixed pair. My theory is that both Adam and Eve had a carefully orchestrated mix of both dominant and recessive genes, and their kids did as well, so that after a few generations, all were mixed very nicely and pseudorandomly into the general population. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 1999, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-cains-wife-emerge-from/5344/18 "1999-12-15T06:54:00Z")
_DrFidelius: Remember in Geneis 1:27 it says “So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”_ Well, I’ll be! I always assumed that God created Adam on the 6th day. He wasn’t created until the 8th, Gen 2:7, and wasn’t called Adam until Gen 2:19. So all the references to Adam and Eve being the first man & woman are wrong! So if A&E’s progeny hadn’t mixed with the 6th day people, we wouldn’t have original sin. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 1999, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-cains-wife-emerge-from/5344/19 "1999-12-14T19:00:00Z")
> [@](#): > > ZenBeam, those genes are not defective. They are recessive. I meant what I wrote. If you need a particular gene, you don’t necessarily need both copies to be good. But if both are broken, you’re done for. ## This is a different issue than recessive vs. dominant. There’s nothing wrong with having two copies of a _recessive_ gene. _It is too clear, and so it is hard to see._ ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 1999, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-cains-wife-emerge-from/5344/20 "1999-12-14T19:36:00Z")
From DrFidelius: > [@](#): > > Myths are too important to be subjected to analysis as if they were courtroom testimony or a historical record. Tell it to the christians. They’re the ones convinced it is history and not myth. If they treat it as history, it is fair game to analyze it. From PunditLisa: > [@](#): > > Well, aside from the genetic issue, there’s the all important “yuck” factor. It is only our modern attitudes that see that as a yuck factor. Incest is a well-practiced breeding pattern. From ZenBeam: > [@](#): > > What’s the problem with brother and sister having children? Inbreeding. > > Why is inbreeding bad? Because you greatly increase the chance of recieving two copies of one or more defective genes. From Keeves: > [@](#): > > ZenBeam, those genes are not defective. They are recessive. There is no implied “good” or “bad” here, only a description of which one is dominant in a mixed pair. Keeves, there is nothing inherently bad about having two recessive genes. However, the problem comes from having two _defective_ recessive genes. Because a defective dominant gene will be obvious and is unlikely to get reproduced, but the recessive will not be noticed in the parents, and thus play peek-a-boo in the offspring. That is what ZenBeam meant by defective genes. They are recessive - making no value judgment, but they are also defective, and thus why they are a problem and why we avoid inbreeding. If they were just recessive, it wouldn’t be a problem. (All of us have paired recessive genes. Just not necessarily the harmful ones.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-cains-wife-emerge-from/5344.md?page=2)