I don’t profess to be a schooler of the Bible but this is something that I started wondering about right off.
When Cain slew Able and was tossed from Eden, God placed a mark on him so that strangers and, or other people would not harm him. Now, who were the other people, as I read Genesis there were only four people in the whole world at the time and Cain killed one of them and I think his parents would of known who he was, but who were the strangers?
IANA Bible scholar, but my WAG would be that perhaps the “strangers” would be any animals or wildlife he comes across that he has not met? However, your question seems fundamentally based–which is perfectly fine, I’m only suggesting that perhaps the story was metaphorical–ie, there were indeed other people that Cain could come across.
I mean no blasphemy! ::bows::
~Ferry
One variant has God creating “others” sort of as the background to the central story of the Creation (much like a movie producer filling the streets with extras who have no need to be there except that we expect to see them).
The more classic version is that, since Adam and Eve went on to have other children (who would, in the first stages, have had to engage in a bit of not-yet-prohibited incest in order to populate the world), Cain’s mark was to prevent one of Seth’s or Eve’s other childrens’ descendants from killing Cain some time during the next several hundred years that people tended to live at that time (according to the Biblical account).
There have been several threads exploring the possibilities (which is not the same as claiming that the answer has been pinned down):
Genesis creation in bible doesn’t make sense 04-13-1999
Bible: Cain’s Wife and other biblical puzzles 06-23-1999
Who had Cain and Abel’s babies? 10-10-1999
Where did Cains wife emerge from? 12-14-1999
Weird Bible stories 12-27-1999
Cain: I now pronounce you man and… Huh? 08-12-2000
Who did Cain marry? 10-08-2000
How many people did God create? 11-27-2001
How many people did God create? 05-16-2002