Dear Catholic Exchange:
Who are the people Cain is afraid of in Genesis 4 who pose a danger to him? God says he will protect Cain with a mark and they won't dare touch him. But who are these people?
Mr. Meyer
Dear Mr. Meyer,
Peace in Christ!
Whom did Cain fear in Genesis 4:14, after he murdered Abel and was banished?
“A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture” gives a traditional explanation:
“The murder took place when there was already a large population. Seth was born after the murder when Adam was 130 years old. God had blessed the race and commanded them to increase and multiply, and Adam begot unnamed and unnumbered sons and daughters. As the story is told, therefore, in 130 years the number of men and women would have increased very considerably.”
Perhaps some commentary on the Commentary would be helpful: There is no reason to believe that Adam and Eve did not begin procreating soon after they were created. This makes nearly 130 years of child bearing. Given the nine months of gestation and some interval between pregnancies, let’s conservatively say that there were 60 pregnancies. The possibility of twins as Jewish tradition holds, we can say that Adam and Eve produced around 100 children by the time Cain killed his brother. From this group we should subtract the number of those too young to threaten Cain — about 20 years of children. Let us conservatively say that the remainder is 80 first generation children of Adam and Eve whom Cain could fear for killing their brother. But this is the beginning of the calculations: Grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren, etc., for 100 years of generations would produce thousands at the time of Abel’s death.
United in the Faith,
Eric Stoutz
Information Specialist
Catholics United for the Faith
827 North Fourth Street
Steubenville, OH 43952
800-MY-FAITH (800-693-2484)
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