According to Num 12 Moses’ marriage (lit. “taking” l–q–ḥ) of a Cushite woman is the cause (ʿal-ʾōdôt) for Miriam and Aaron to speak against (dibbēr bĕ) their brother and question whether YHWH speaks exclusively through (dibbēr bĕ) him. (On the different meanings of dibbēr bĕ see Levine: 328–29). YHWH responds “suddenly” (pitʾom), summoning Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to the tent of meeting, where he descends in a pillar of cloud and summons Aaron and Miriam to step forward. He then affirms to them that he speaks “mouth to mouth” with Moses, in contrast to visions and dreams used for (other) prophets, and he angrily rebukes them for daring to speak against Moses. The encounter leaves Miriam with a skin disorder that renders her “white as snow.” At Aaron’s behest Moses intercedes for Miriam, and the disorder lasts only seven days, during which time she is shut out of the camp.

The story evokes multiple questions: What is meant by the designation “Cushite”? Is this woman to be identified with Zipporah, who is named as Moses’ wife in Exod 2:21; 4:25; 18:2? If not, had Zipporah died previously or was Moses a bigamist? Why would the marriage cause Miriam and Aaron to question Moses’ leadership? Why was Miriam alone punished and why was she afflicted with a temporary skin disorder? Above all, what was the point or purpose of this story? While these questions remain open, the following responses are ventured as reasonable ways of answering them that have emerged in scholarly discussion.

The story is composite (Römer). In one tradition, Miriam was the sole complainant, as indicated by the feminine singular verb form in v. 1 (wattĕdabbēr, “she spoke”) and by the punishment upon Miriam alone (v. 10). The exact reason behind Miriam’s complaint is no longer clear, but it seems to be personal. According to some authors it is impossible to isolate this tradition from the rest of the present narrative (Coats: 261; Noth: 92–93), which changes it into a story about a challenge to Moses’ leadership. One may however observe that the story combines a question about Moses’ status in comparison to the prophets and a question about “mixed” marriages. As the story stands, Miriam is still the leading complainant; her name precedes Aaron’s in 12:1, though elsewhere Aaron’s comes first (12:4–5). As a woman, Miriam has more in common with Moses’ wife and can be read as the one from whom greater empathy should have been forthcoming.

Cush is the name in the HB/OT for Nubia, the area south of Egypt (Jer 13:23; 2 Chr 12:3). The LXX translates it as Αἰθίοψ (“Ethiopian,” so also KJV). If she was from Nubia, this woman would have been black, “rendering the whitened skin of Miriam a singularly fit punishment for her objections to the Cushite wife” (Cross: 204). She would also have been a different person than Zipporah, who was from Midian in northern Arabia. In this case, the Cushite was Moses’ second wife, whether after Zipporah or simultaneously is not clear.

However, Cush was also a designation for part of Midian (Albright: 205, n. 49). In Hab 3:7 Cushan, a biform, occurs in parallel with Midian. According to 2 Chr 21:16, the Cushites are located next to the Arabs. Hence, the Cushite wife might still have been Zipporah. The story about the Cushite may once have been connected with that of Zipporah being brought by her father from Midian to join Moses in Exod 18:5–6, as the two texts are separated by the collection of legal material set at Sinai that dominates Exod 19–Num 10 and that might have intervened in the development of the literature (Wright: 203–4). Perhaps Num 12 avoids Zipporah’s name because of its stress on her non-Israelite ethnicity, which is the concern of Miriam’s and Aaron’s complaint about Moses’ fitness for leadership. A woman from Midian, though not Nubian, would have been dark-skinned, so that Miriam’s punishment of being made “white as snow” remains appropriate. The translation “leprous” in some English versions for the skin disorder (mĕṣoraʿat) is misleading, since whiteness is not a symptom of the disease known today as leprosy (Hansen’s disease).

The story’s present purpose is related to its inclusion of Aaron. It affirms Moses’ leadership and seems to promote Moses’ line of Levitical priesthood over that of Aaron, perhaps against claims that the Mushite line was compromised by non-Israelite blood (Cross: 204). YHWH’s declaration that he speaks mouth to mouth to Moses also contrasts with the means used to communicate with prophets, although it no doubt came to be interpreted to mean that Moses was the preeminent prophet, along the lines espoused by Deut 34:10.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

“Most of the Christian world, it seems to me, has heard of these famous pre-Christian scrolls, discovered in the Judean desert. But the story of their discovery and release is actually more dramatic and interesting than most Christians seem to be aware,” said Mark Ward, editor of Bible Study Magazine, which dedicated space to the anniversary in the January-February 2022 issue.

The story many people learned says that in 1946, a shepherd boy searching for a lost animal threw a rock into a cave in the Qumran. Instead of a goat, he heard pottery breaking. Inside of that pottery were ancient scrolls.

Those scrolls turned out to be ancient copies of the Hebrew Bible from before the New Testament era.

The shepherds sold the scrolls to antiquities dealers, who in turn sold them to an archbishop and a professor in Jerusalem.

Later, British archaeologists discovered more caves with scrolls in the area. Beyond that, most people didn’t know much about the scrolls.

A handful of scholars began to study the scrolls, but they remained rather unknown until some scrolls were advertised for sale in an ad in the Wall Street Journal.

Some scrolls or fragments were displayed, but only a few people had access to really study them. The scholars created a concordance of the scrolls by the mid 1950s. However, that concordance was kept secret.

A concordance is a list of words in a work — often the Bible — and where the passages are found in the work.

During this time, the scrolls were being photographed and sent to certain scholars. The same was true for the concordance.

Through those first decades, the public didn’t know much about the scrolls beyond their existence and that they were aiding Bible research. But in the mid 1980s, that began to change. Some of that change came from a man named Marty Abegg, Bible Study Magazine said. Abegg learned of the concordance and eventually was given access to it. However, he was not given access to some of the other scrolls that would aid his research.

The magazine said Abegg eventually realized he could recreate those scrolls using the concordance’s information. He also recreated some of the scrolls his academic adviser needed and couldn’t get. Eventually, Abegg was able to get his recreations published.

And in 1991, the doors opened for the public and many other people to start studying the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Why are the Dead Sea Scrolls so significant to us?

Before their discovery, the oldest existing complete version of the Hebrew Bible was from the year 1008, long after Jesus walked the earth. The Dead Sea Scrolls are from 250 BC to AD 68.

Scholars found much of the Hebrew Bible was close to what was in the 1008 version and the minor differences didn’t change meanings. However, some passages were added or omitted in the newer versions. If you read newer English translations of the Bible, you may find notes that point out that certain passages aren’t in older translations. The Dead Sea Scrolls led to a lot of that.

Bible Study Magazine shares several passages with the newer, different translations that emerge from using the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Among them is Psalm 139:14, which in the English Standard Version says, “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”

In the International Standard Version, published in 2011, the verse reads, “I praise you, because you are fearful and wondrous! Your work is wonderful, and I am fully aware of it.”

Visit biblestudymagazine.com to see a detailed telling of Abegg’s story and to see more on how the scrolls and their history have affected Bible translation in the past 75 years.

Devil worshipers are being hunted after a dead badger and a deer’s head were put near a school, in Totton, Hampshire.

The badger’s spreadeagled corpse was found inside a five-pointed satanic star.

Three days earlier a deer’s head was also discovered in a busy underpass at Spicers Hill.

It follows cases of New Forest sheep being killed in 2019 and 2020 – in those instances, they were stabbed, mutilated and daubed with so-called satanic symbols.

At the time, police also received reports of a cow being injured, while a church was covered in satanic graffiti, including the numbers 666 sprayed on the door.

One appalled resident, who asked not to be named, said: “The discovery of the badger, placed on a pentagram surrounded by leaves and consequently blood, shocked many students.

“This isn’t the only incident of this satanic ritual. A mutilated deer head was discovered in similar circumstances. Is this quiet neighborhood having deals with the devil?

“And the lingering question running through all students’ heads – who is doing this? And what’s next?”

The gruesome badger discovery was made in an underpass outside Hounsdown School. Totton councilor David Harrison said: “The people doing this are doing so to cause a bit of a public outrage.

“It is completely devoid of any care for children who might witness what is an unpleasant sight as they walk to school.

“It is very immature, thoughtless, and likely that it is nothing whatever to do with any satanic ritual.”

Sergeant James Blachford of the local constabulary added: “There is nothing to suggest at this time that the animals were killed deliberately, nor any evidence at the scene that a ritual had taken place.”

Irma Garcia was one of two teachers killed in the Robb Elementary School shooting on Tuesday. Yesterday, her grief-stricken husband died of a heart attack. Her nephew said on Twitter that he “passed away due to grief.”

This tragic news reminds us that sin affects everyone it touches. Those who loved someone who was murdered in Uvalde are dealing with a grief others cannot fully fathom. The same is true today in Buffalo, New York, and wherever such tragedies occur.

While we “weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15), we also owe these victims and their loved ones our best effort to understand such shootings so we can do all we can to prevent them in the future.

As I noted yesterday, many mass shootings are prompted by personal rage and animosity. Some, however, are prompted by ideology. The alleged gunman in Buffalo is an example: he left behind a 180-page document filled with hateful rants about race and ties to the “great replacement.”

I want to devote today’s Daily Article to this subject. It is a little longer than usual, but I am praying that our discussion helps us understand this issue and then take biblical steps to counter its malignant growth in our culture today.

What is Replacement Theory?

According to an insightful article written by two sociologists in The Conversation, Replacement Theory (RT) advocates “think there is an organized, conspiratorial effort across all levels of society to establish a ‘great replacement’ of white people, white civilization, and white culture.” They especially believe that immigrants are part of this plot, though RT extends to Jewish people and Black people, both of whom are seen as inferior and a threat to white people.

Four out of ten Americans identify as nonwhite and the number of white people in the US is expected to decline through lower birth rates. As a result, RT believers think they must correct this declining influence of white identity however they can.

A core belief in the white supremacist movement and RT is the fourteen-word slogan, “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for White children.” One scholar calls this quest “a sort of a holy war … where they see themselves as taking the action directly to the offending culture and people by eliminating them.”

The Buffalo shooter thus targeted victims in a predominantly Black neighborhood and because they were Black. He said in his screed that the decrease in white birth rates equates to a genocide.

What is the history of RT?

French writer Renaud Camus wrote “Le Grand Remplacement” (which translates to “The Great Replacement”) in 2011, giving rise to the term in more popular use. However, RT has a tragic history going back to the first part of the twentieth century.

In 1903, an antisemitic document titled “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” described an alleged Jewish conspiracy to dominate the world. The early twentieth-century writings of French nationalist Maurice Barrès warned that a new population of immigrants would take over and “ruin our homeland.”

Beginning in the 1960s, KKK leaders and other white supremacists reiterated replacement ideas in their racist political activism. The internet has become a main forum for recruiting more white supremacists and encouraging belief in RT.

Consequently, a shooter who killed at least fifty Muslims in New Zealand in 2019 wrote about an alleged “assault on European people.” The extremist who attacked the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburg in 2018 targeted Jewish people, killing eleven. The shooter in the Walmart attacks in El Paso, Texas, in 2019 wanted to target Hispanic people, killing twenty-three.

Is RT gaining popularity in the US?

The Conversation article writers note that “conspiracy narratives like replacement theory often find fertile ground during a period of cultural change. As the US population becomes more diverse, replacement narratives have moved from the margins of extremism into the mainstream.” For example, white nationalists marching at a 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, chanted, “You will not replace us!” and “Jews will not replace us!”

A version of RT that focuses not on alleged white superiority but on political and economic demographics has also gained in popularity.

A May 2022 Associated Press public poll reports that about one in three adults in the US “believes an effort is underway to replace US-born Americans with immigrants for electoral gains.” Three in ten respondents also worry that more immigration is causing US-born Americans to lose their economic, political, and cultural influence.

Given the surge of illegal immigrants on our southern border, some claim that Democrats want to encourage such immigration so these immigrants will vote for Democrats. Note, however, that only US citizens can vote in state and federal elections and that attaining US citizenship typically takes several years. It is also the case that roughly two in five Latino voters cast a ballot in the 2020 election for then-President Donald Trump. (For more, see Mark Legg’s “Why the ‘Great Replacement’ theory is so dangerous.”)

Why is white supremacist ideology popular?

From the garden of Eden to today, humans have been tempted to “be like God” (Genesis 3:5). Nietzsche was right: the “will to power” is the basic drive in fallen human nature.

Consequently, we are tempted to feel superior to others wherever and however we can. White supremacist ideology, with its paranoid fear of the “other,” is one expression of this sinful drive.

In his excellent book Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore our Nation, David French notes that by the election of 1860, the South came to believe that its culture and essential liberties were under threat. He writes, “[The South] was consumed with an unreasonable fear of violence and a belief that white northern radicals actively wanted to harm the people of the South.” This fear “made many southerners believe that secession was an urgent, immediate imperative.”

RT advocates are motivated by the same fear of the “other” today.

“A good man does good works”

The Bible encourages us to respond in three ways.

One: Love every person as God loves them.

Racism is sin. “God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34). Consequently, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). God therefore rejects violence (Psalm 11:5) and calls us to do the same (Isaiah 60:18). Ask the Spirit to give you God’s heart for every person you meet today (Galatians 5:22).

Two: Embrace immigrants as God embraces them.

Space does not permit a discussion on illegal immigration, an issue I have addressed in detail elsewhere. For today, let’s heed God’s word: “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him” (Exodus 22:21); “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers” (Hebrews 13:2; cf. Leviticus 19:33-34; Deuteronomy 10:18-19; Deuteronomy 24:19-22; Ezekiel 47:21-23; Zechariah 7:10; Malachi 3:5; Matthew 25:35, Matthew 25:40). No matter how they came into our country, every person in the US is now our “neighbor.” Ask God to show you how to love them as you love yourself today (Matthew 22:39).

hree: Serve others as Jesus served others.

It is not enough to reject evil ideology—we must counter it by putting biblical truth into action. Jesus said he “came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Ask him who and how you can serve in his name.

Martin Luther noted, “Good works do not make a good man, but a good man does good works.”

How “good” will you be today?

Naomi Judd’s death came just days before her induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. So, Ashley Judd accompanied Wynonna Judd to the ceremony where they shared a Bible passage in their late mother’s honor.

News of Naomi Judd’s death on Saturday, April 30, 2022, shocked everyone and devastated her family and fans alike.

The 76-year-old Country music legend had been open about her struggles with mental illness. She spent a good deal of time traveling across the country speaking about her life-long battle with severe depression and anxiety. And though Naomi Judd worked hard at overcoming the darkness in her life, she admitted suicidal notions would come and go.

“I’m still trying desperately trying to help myself,” she said back in 2016. “Those thoughts of suicide don’t come anymore. But I’m vulnerable. I know I can backslide.”

Naomi’s hope in sharing her story was to raise awareness and debunk the stigma surrounding depression.

“It’s not a character flaw, it’s a disease,” Naomi explained.

Sadly, this disease got the better of Naomi Judd and the cause of her death was suicide.

“Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness. We are shattered,” Ashley Judd, Naomi’s youngest daughter, announced on social media.

Naomi Judd experienced plenty of hardship before her rise to fame — childhood abuse, poverty, and rape, just to name a few. But in the 1980s, she and her oldest daughter Wynonna Judd, who was 18 at the time, formed The Judds.

The mother-daughter duo went on to enjoy immense success as Country Music artists. They had 14 No. 1 songs and each one of their singles made it as a Top 10 hit on Billboard’s country charts. The Judds won five Grammys, nine CMA Awards, and seven ACM Awards alone between the years 1984 to 1991!

Naomi Judd’s death occurred just one day before The Judds, as the first all-female group, were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. And in their mother’s absence, famous actress Ashley Judd joined her sister Wynonna in accepting this prestigious honor.

“I’m sorry that she couldn’t hang on until today,” a tearful Ashley said of her mom.

The Judds Inducted Into The Country Music Hall Of Fame

During the private Medallion Ceremony held in Nashville, Tennessee, The Judds were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. It was a moment of both triumph and tragedy. And just as the Lord promises to be with us through every peak and valley, His presence could be felt as those present honored Christian celebrity Naomi Judd.

Fellow Country singer and Hall of Famer Ricky Skaggs delivered a speech just before the induction of The Judds. In it, he expressed his condolences and provided Biblical encouragement.

“All of Country music and all the people around the world that love your music and love The Judds are here praying for you guys,” he said. Ricky continued with, “I believe God’s given you an ink pen of His love to write your future.”

Next, Ricky Skaggs quoted Psalm 2:8: “Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance.”

He followed it up, saying, “There’s just so much God wants to bless y’all with.”

Then, after Ashley Judd gave her speech, it was time for Naomi’s daughter and the other half of The Judds, Wynonna, to speak.

Sisters Share Scripture Following Naomi Judd’s Death

Wynonna confessed the ceremony as the first place she’d been since Naomi Judd’s death. She beautifully described the experience of accepting an award while at the same time mourning the loss of her mother as “broken and blessed.”

“It’s a strange dynamic to be this broken and this blessed…But though my heart is broken, I will continue to sing,” she said.

Wynonna Judd then recalled the last thing they did as a family with her late mother.

“We all gathered around her and we said, ‘The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters.’”

Wynonna could have stopped there. But she didn’t. She continued citing Psalm 23, with Ashley Judd joining in, too. And it was a powerful reminder of the Lord’s presence and goodness through ALL circumstances.

The story of Adam and Eve’s children Cain and Abel doesn’t take up much room in the Bible. The story of their lives takes up one chapter, with a few genealogical deals added in the next one. Despite this, the phrase “Cain and Abel” is known throughout our culture, and we all have a fairly good idea of what it means. Let’s take a closer look at what the Bible actually says about these two men and their lesser-known siblings.

Who Were Cain and Abel?

According to Genesis 4, after being exiled from the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had two sons: Cain and Abel. Cain was the first son, the Bible doesn’t specify how much later that Abel was born.

As adults, Cain and Abel took separate careers: Abel became a shepherd while Cain became a farmer (Genesis 4:2). At some point, Cain and Abel both gave offerings to God from their produce. Cain gave crops from his harvest, while Abel gave sections of firstborn lambs. God accepted Abel’s offering but did not approve of what Cain brought. Cain was upset and jealous of Abel as a result (Genesis 4:5), and God warned Cain to be careful:

“Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

—Genesis 4:6-7

Later (the date is not clear, just “one day”) Cain asked Abel to walk with him in the field, and Cain killed Abel. God took a tactic similar to the one he used in Genesis 3:9 after Cain’s parents had eaten the forbidden fruit: He approached the wrongdoer and asked a question. In this case, he asked Cain, “Where is your brother?” Cain responded, “I don’t know… am I my brother’s guardian?” (Genesis 4:9).

God rebuked Cain for his actions and told him that from this point he would be “a homeless wanderer on the earth” (Genesis 4:12). Cain replied that he could not bear the punishment of forever wandering and that “anyone who finds me will kill me!” God replied that he would punish anyone who killed Cain seven times over, and put a mark on Cain so that anyone who tried to kill Cain would be warned off (Genesis 4:15-16). After this point, Cain had a son named Enoch and founded a city, and had various descendants who developed skills like playing music, forging metal, and nomadic herding (Genesis 4:17-24).

Why Did Cain Kill Abel?

God approved of Abel’s offering but not Cain’s, and as a result, Cain resented his brother. Why precisely God didn’t approve of Cain’s offering is hard to say. It’s worth noting that the Bible says Cain gave “some of his crops,” without describing the quality of the offering (Genesis 4:3). In contrast, the next verse says that Abel gave “the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock.” Abel gave the best, and he took it from the first results of his labors, not as an afterthought or after he was sure he had a surplus.

We don’t get any such details about Cain’s crops, which may mean he didn’t give the best. Cain may simply have not been showing proper respect toward God with his offering. Regardless of what Cain did wrong, the fact that God told Cain he would be accepted if he did what was right (Genesis 4:7) indicates there was generally something wrong with his offering.

Not only was Cain jealous of God favoring Abel, but he also didn’t appreciate the warning that God gave him. He was warned, and yet he continued to behave rebelliously. Even after he killed Abel, his rebellious attitude continued, as seen in his scoffing response, “Am I my brother’s guardian?” (Genesis 4:9).

In essence, Cain’s response was self-centered. The result was that he became a wanderer, a man with no community. He lived for himself and got only himself in return.

Who Was Seth?

Genesis 4:25-26 picks up after the story of Cain’s family and says that Adam and Eve had another son named Seth. After Seth was born, Eve said, “God has granted me another son in place of Abel, whom Cain killed” (Genesis 4:25). Seth later had a son named Enosh (Genesis 4:26), and genealogy in Genesis 5 focuses on Seth’s descendants, ending with Noah who would become famous for building the ark.

At first glance, Genesis 4-5 sounds like it’s saying Adam and Eve didn’t have any children between Abel and Seth. It says that “After the birth of Seth, Adam lived another 800 years and he had other sons and daughters,” (5:4) as if there was a long period where it was just Adam, Eve, and their two sons followed by a big expansion after Seth. However, this misses a couple of things.

First, Cain said after God cursed him that he feared, ‘anyone who finds me will kill me!” If there were no other children of Adam and Eve around at this point, who could Cain be talking about? Some scholars have suggested the answer is that Adam and Eve were not the first and only human beings created, simply the ones Genesis focuses on because they are the ones who lived in the Garden of Eden. However, after Adam and Eve sinned in Genesis 3, God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us,” talking about them as representatives of their entire species. 1 Corinthians 15 continues this method by describing Adam as the first human. It says “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ, all will be made alive” (15:22) and that “The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven” (15:47). Therefore, it seems that Adam and Eve were the first human beings.

Second, Genesis 5 talks about Adam’s lineage without mentioning Cain and Abel at all. It starts by saying “this is a written account of the descendants of Adam,” then says, “When Adam was 130 years old, he became the father of a son who was just like him… He named his son Seth” (5:3). This genealogy doesn’t record every single descendant of Adam, only select ones. Therefore, Adam Eve could have had more children between Abel and Seth, and likely did. We just don’t know how many, whether Cain and Abel grew up with many brothers or sisters.

Did Adam and Eve’s Sons Marry Their Sisters?

Assuming that Adam and Eve were the first man and woman, and there no “Pre-Adamic” beings that humans mated with, it would seem that Cain and Seth Eve must have married women descended from Adam and Eve.

As established, we don’t know when Adam and Eve started having daughters (or for that matter whether Abel had a wife and children unmentioned in the narrative). We also know that Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born, so there could have been several generations of people born in between Genesis 4:1 and Genesis 4:17 (the first time that Cain’s wife is mentioned). Therefore, we don’t know whether Cain or Seth married their direct siblings—one of them might have done so and the other married a niece or cousin. Regardless, sheer math would indicate that at least one of Adam’s three sons married a sister.

This idea is disturbing and goes against the laws forbidding incest in Leviticus 18. However, prior to this law being given in Leviticus, there are various instances of men marrying their sisters or other relatives. Abraham’s wife Sarah was his half-sister by a different mother (Genesis 20:11-13). Jacob married two of his female cousins (Genesis 29-30). Moses’ father married his aunt (Exodus 6:20). For whatever reason, the law against incest doesn’t seem to have been in effect (at least not as strictly) before God made the covenant with the Israelites at Mount Sinai.

Why this shift occurred is hard to say. Since Genesis describes all that was created in the Garden of Eden as good, including Adam and Eve, their genes may have been well-developed to the point that their kids could marry siblings and produce children with no genetic defects. This would fit the shift we see in Genesis from early generations with long lives producing children past their 100s to humans with shorter lives and shorter fertility rates. We go from Adam and Eve, who were still having children when they were over 100 years old (Seth was born when Adam was 130), to Abraham and Sarah who were past child-bearing age when Sarah was 90 and Abraham 100 years old (Genesis 17:17, 18:12). In Genesis 6:3, God decrees that humans will only live to be 120 years old, and other than a few patriarchs this holds true throughout the rest of the Bible.

So, it’s possible that in Cain and Abel’s period, human genetics were so good that all the biological problems that incest creates (mutations, etc.) weren’t a problem. Regardless, God does forbid incest later (and then quite firmly) in the Bible. However we interpret who Adam and Eve’s sons married, we are left with the fact that the Bible doesn’t tell us every single bit of information we want. It gives us the facts we need and leaves us with reminders that whatever strange things people in the Bible did, God knew what he was doing and worked something good from it down the line.