Was Cain the first child bore by Adam and Eve?
I highly doubt it.
I checked every Gen. 4 translation I could find and I did not find any translation that says Cain was the first born child, always it is the first-born son.
The Bible often only records male births not female. If female children were born prior to Cain it would not be at all uncommon not to note their births. Gen. 5:4 We know that Eve had many sons and daughters. So, could a daughter have been born first?
With just the two observations above, it can not be assumed, as most do, that Cain was the first child born.
Is it discover able or discernible from the Bible and elsewhere what gender was born first, since it doesn't say? I think so.
First, there are biological reasons as to why there are more women on earth. I copied and pasted the below from miriamstoppard.com and I believe is true.
Is this true? "You are more likely to have a boy if you have sex only once during your fertile period and a girl if you have sex more often.
Answer: True
This is based on the fact that female sperm live longer and swim slower than male sperm. If you have sex a few days before you ovulate the longer living and slower female sperm will be waiting for the egg. If you have sex just before ovulation the faster pushier male sperm will win the race. Whatever you do remember that really there is a 50:50 chance of having either a boy or a girl. Focusing on having a healthy baby is more important than its gender."
I added the bold print pointing out the main fact that is to observed. I could not find any good studies on that "fact" but I have read it in a few places, and I believe it to be true. I mostly believe it because, it worked for my family. I had two girls and was not leaving this planet with out a son and bingo, I followed the "facts" above and now I have a son! But unlike Eve who thanked the Lord, I thanked the internet.
Gen. 4:1 The biblical text has two items that seem out of place to me.
1. Eve's interaction with the Lord and 2. he was “bore Cain”
The perfect women, Eve, thanked and or praised and or acknowledge the Lord for providing her with a son. The Amplified Bible says “with help from the Lord”. She conceived. Why would Eve the perfect women who was having sex with the perfect man need help from the Lord to conceive? And in this case she thanked the Lord for a son, not for a daughter, so her problem may have been only conceiving a son.
There is no record that she thanked the Lord for a daughter. She didn't thank Him for Abel, but she thanked Him for a son who grew up to be the first murderer. Or, maybe she thanked the Lord for the knowledge on how to have a son and not the son Cain.
CEV Bible puts it like this, “Adam and Eve had a son. Then Eve said, “I’ll name him Cain because I got him with the help of the Lord. Granted I cherry picked this verse as it makes my point perfectly, but there are several other translation in the exact same vein. CEV states as clear as can be that the noun cain is related to the conception.
The NKJV says "she acquired a man form the lord" some translations say "gained" a son from the Lord. What ever God was trying to get across to us, it seems clear that Eve was thankful to the Lord that she conceived a son, not a daughter.
My view of what God was trying to get across to us is . . .
Eve was having problems conceiving a son. Eve prayed, got instructions “help” from the Lord on just how to conceive a son and she bore Cain.
The NKJV says “and she conceived and bore Cain.” Interesting phrasing. Very different than saying in the next sentence. “Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel.”
With Abel, there is no mention of conception and he was not bore Abel. . . she bore again, this time his brother Abel.
For me the simplest answer to all of these questions is: Eve had many daughters perhaps 12 of them. She was becoming jealous of her daughters who had no men and her daughters were becoming more beautiful while she was aging.
Without some men and soon, she would not be able to keep her husband to herself.
Eve's curse . . . “your desire will be for your husband” would have rung in her ears as there were no men for her daughters, only her husband. And in desperation she prayed.
The Lord heard her prayer and told her how to conceive a male child and that is why the passage notes “conceived”. Then just maybe LOL her 13th conception was Cain.
The phrase “bore cain” , this is the only time a phrase like this is used in the Bible (as far as I can tell) Perhaps, cain did not start out as a proper noun. Perhaps, cain was the method of having a boy child. Something like below.
Eve is praying and the Lord responds,Eve to gain a son, you must wait a cain-night after your cycle is complete, Adam's seed must rest as your body prepares for a son. A fort-night before your next cycle is to start, have relations with your husband, and you shall conceive a son. Each time you wish to gain a son do this.
I have seen Cain's name in Hebrew letters v numbers, refereed to or used in connection to the number 16, it is thin but there. It fits. Fortnight is two weeks, a cain-night is 16 days, making a full monthly cycle. Yes, today the average woman's cycle is 28 days, but they are not perfect like Eve was. And the fort-night is not important in the equation, only the 16 days is. 16 days into the menstrual cycle , is the most likely day to conceive a male child.
A short aside on the name Cain, that name in the Bible is used to me in odd places and spelled various ways. Perhaps there is an unknown etymology. Perhaps it shouldn't be capitalized in Gen.4. Perhaps it shouldn't be capitalized until the first-born male was named Cain, Cain being named after the process that bore him.
Since there was no TV back then, Adam and Eve would have had girl after girl. Perhaps thinking that the sex of their offspring was either random or perhaps determined by God.
So by the time the Lord told Eve how to conceive a son, there were plenty of sisters to provide for the lustful teenage boys that would be coming along. This to me is the most conceiving argument that Cain was not the first child. Cain would have been more likely to have killed Adam rather than Abel, just to get to Eve.
Also, we know that Cain killed his brother, over an offering not a sister.
Having been a young man, it seems far far more likely to have a fight over a women then anything! This is more indication that there were sisters available to them to marry, perhaps a few to choose from.
Yes, the above is mostly all conjecture but it makes for a good story and it is all possible according to what we know from the Bible, In my book “Killing Abel” this scenario makes for a compelling read as Eve struggles to provide some male children for her beautiful daughters so they would not endanger her marriage.
I highly doubt it.
I checked every Gen. 4 translation I could find and I did not find any translation that says Cain was the first born child, always it is the first-born son.
The Bible often only records male births not female. If female children were born prior to Cain it would not be at all uncommon not to note their births. Gen. 5:4 We know that Eve had many sons and daughters. So, could a daughter have been born first?
With just the two observations above, it can not be assumed, as most do, that Cain was the first child born.
Is it discover able or discernible from the Bible and elsewhere what gender was born first, since it doesn't say? I think so.
First, there are biological reasons as to why there are more women on earth. I copied and pasted the below from miriamstoppard.com and I believe is true.
Is this true? "You are more likely to have a boy if you have sex only once during your fertile period and a girl if you have sex more often.
Answer: True
This is based on the fact that female sperm live longer and swim slower than male sperm. If you have sex a few days before you ovulate the longer living and slower female sperm will be waiting for the egg. If you have sex just before ovulation the faster pushier male sperm will win the race. Whatever you do remember that really there is a 50:50 chance of having either a boy or a girl. Focusing on having a healthy baby is more important than its gender."
I added the bold print pointing out the main fact that is to observed. I could not find any good studies on that "fact" but I have read it in a few places, and I believe it to be true. I mostly believe it because, it worked for my family. I had two girls and was not leaving this planet with out a son and bingo, I followed the "facts" above and now I have a son! But unlike Eve who thanked the Lord, I thanked the internet.
Gen. 4:1 The biblical text has two items that seem out of place to me.
1. Eve's interaction with the Lord and 2. he was “bore Cain”
The perfect women, Eve, thanked and or praised and or acknowledge the Lord for providing her with a son. The Amplified Bible says “with help from the Lord”. She conceived. Why would Eve the perfect women who was having sex with the perfect man need help from the Lord to conceive? And in this case she thanked the Lord for a son, not for a daughter, so her problem may have been only conceiving a son.
There is no record that she thanked the Lord for a daughter. She didn't thank Him for Abel, but she thanked Him for a son who grew up to be the first murderer. Or, maybe she thanked the Lord for the knowledge on how to have a son and not the son Cain.
CEV Bible puts it like this, “Adam and Eve had a son. Then Eve said, “I’ll name him Cain because I got him with the help of the Lord. Granted I cherry picked this verse as it makes my point perfectly, but there are several other translation in the exact same vein. CEV states as clear as can be that the noun cain is related to the conception.
The NKJV says "she acquired a man form the lord" some translations say "gained" a son from the Lord. What ever God was trying to get across to us, it seems clear that Eve was thankful to the Lord that she conceived a son, not a daughter.
My view of what God was trying to get across to us is . . .
Eve was having problems conceiving a son. Eve prayed, got instructions “help” from the Lord on just how to conceive a son and she bore Cain.
The NKJV says “and she conceived and bore Cain.” Interesting phrasing. Very different than saying in the next sentence. “Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel.”
With Abel, there is no mention of conception and he was not bore Abel. . . she bore again, this time his brother Abel.
For me the simplest answer to all of these questions is: Eve had many daughters perhaps 12 of them. She was becoming jealous of her daughters who had no men and her daughters were becoming more beautiful while she was aging.
Without some men and soon, she would not be able to keep her husband to herself.
Eve's curse . . . “your desire will be for your husband” would have rung in her ears as there were no men for her daughters, only her husband. And in desperation she prayed.
The Lord heard her prayer and told her how to conceive a male child and that is why the passage notes “conceived”. Then just maybe LOL her 13th conception was Cain.
The phrase “bore cain” , this is the only time a phrase like this is used in the Bible (as far as I can tell) Perhaps, cain did not start out as a proper noun. Perhaps, cain was the method of having a boy child. Something like below.
Eve is praying and the Lord responds,Eve to gain a son, you must wait a cain-night after your cycle is complete, Adam's seed must rest as your body prepares for a son. A fort-night before your next cycle is to start, have relations with your husband, and you shall conceive a son. Each time you wish to gain a son do this.
I have seen Cain's name in Hebrew letters v numbers, refereed to or used in connection to the number 16, it is thin but there. It fits. Fortnight is two weeks, a cain-night is 16 days, making a full monthly cycle. Yes, today the average woman's cycle is 28 days, but they are not perfect like Eve was. And the fort-night is not important in the equation, only the 16 days is. 16 days into the menstrual cycle , is the most likely day to conceive a male child.
A short aside on the name Cain, that name in the Bible is used to me in odd places and spelled various ways. Perhaps there is an unknown etymology. Perhaps it shouldn't be capitalized in Gen.4. Perhaps it shouldn't be capitalized until the first-born male was named Cain, Cain being named after the process that bore him.
Since there was no TV back then, Adam and Eve would have had girl after girl. Perhaps thinking that the sex of their offspring was either random or perhaps determined by God.
So by the time the Lord told Eve how to conceive a son, there were plenty of sisters to provide for the lustful teenage boys that would be coming along. This to me is the most conceiving argument that Cain was not the first child. Cain would have been more likely to have killed Adam rather than Abel, just to get to Eve.
Also, we know that Cain killed his brother, over an offering not a sister.
Having been a young man, it seems far far more likely to have a fight over a women then anything! This is more indication that there were sisters available to them to marry, perhaps a few to choose from.
Yes, the above is mostly all conjecture but it makes for a good story and it is all possible according to what we know from the Bible, In my book “Killing Abel” this scenario makes for a compelling read as Eve struggles to provide some male children for her beautiful daughters so they would not endanger her marriage.
