Icons of the Bible: The Children of Adam & Eve
Updated: Sep 25, 2022
Adam & Eve Had A Big Family
The Bible does not specifically say how many total children Adam & Eve had after the Fall. The Bible however does single out Can, Abel 7 Seth but also says in Genesis 5:4, 4 and the days of Adam after he begat Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters. It was from this pool of daughters that Adam/Eves Son's found wives, and those sons and daughters had children etc.
After Cain killed Abel eve bore another son named Seth.
Adam/Eve followed Gods commission to be "fruitful & multiply"(Genesis 1:28). In a preview of things to come Cain followed the evil in his heart while Abel followed the Lord. Thus Cain was cursed by God (Genesis 4:11-12).
Cain later married a woman (daughter or granddaughter of Adam/Eve). At the beginning of earth’s history, there was no disobedience to God’s law when close relatives (even brothers and sisters) married each other. Abraham for example married his half-sister (Genesis 20:12). God then blessed this union that would produce the Hebrew people through Isaac and Jacob. Later on at the time of Moses, God initiated laws that forbade such marriages due to the accumulated deformity of genes. Adam and Eve did not have any genetic defects which enabled them and the first few generations of their descendants to have a better genetic pool than we do currently.
If Adam lived for 930 years as the Bible says he would have fathered many children.
The original vitality of creation allowed pre=flood people to live as much as 800 years. Adam lived half of the time to the Flood and even meet Noah's father. And Noah lived long enough to meet Abraham.
The Biblical authors saw no great value for us to know the exact number of children.
Colossians 3:10-11
10 and have put on the new man, that is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him:
11 where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman; but Christ is all, and in all.
Adams Descendants
Adam’s Death
Adam had a third son Seth, who was to become the father of all future generations of man.
Adam died at the age of nine hundred and thirty years. His death was mourned by all human beings. He and his wife were buried in the Cave of Machpelah, near Hebron (in the land of Israel).
Seth’s Children
During the life of Seth’s son Enosh, people began to make images and statues to remind them of G‑d. Later, however, the people began to worship the idols they had made. And so, they turned away from G‑d, and neglected the laws of right conduct which G‑d had given to Adam. G‑d saw the evil doings of the new generation and punished it time and again by sending great floods which destroyed a third of all the people living, and by causing other disasters such as famines and epidemics. But, none of these warnings brought the people to their senses.
Enoch
Only in the time of Enoch (Chanoch), who was the seventh generation removed from Adam, did men improve their conduct. Enoch devoted all his life and work to the service of G‑d. He lived for many years a life of isolation and prayer. When he returned to live among the people, they soon recognized his great wisdom and justice, and elected him their leader. Under his rule there was peace all over the world. He restored faith and law among the people, so that no one stole from his neighbor, or robbed the traveler.
This order lasted till the year 930, when Adam died. Then Enoch again withdrew into seclusion, appearing only occasionally to give advice to the people and to answer the questions that had arisen during the period of his absence. Enoch did not die like any other human beings. He was one of the few who G‑d took away alive.
Methuselah
During the life on Enoch’s son, Methuselah (who lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years, longer than any other human being), the people again revolted against G‑d, and there prevailed a state of lawlessness, cruelty, and corruption that brought doom and destruction upon the world." article from Chabad.org
The City That Cain Built
Genesis 4
And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch (v. 7).
"After Adam and Eve fell into sin, there was a rapid escalation in the warfare between the city of God and the city of man. In other words, there was a rapid expansion of human evil. Only a few years after the fall, the first murder occurred when Cain slew his brother, Abel. In response, God pronounced a curse upon Cain, just as He had for Adam and Eve when they sinned. In Adam’s case, God had said: ” ‘Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you.’ ” Thenceforth, the man and his descendants faced difficulty in exercising dominion over the creation— raising crops for their sustenance took on new difficulty. Cain, however found his calling in tilling the ground (Gen. 4:2). But when he sinned, God negated that skill, saying: ” ‘Now you are cursed from the earth When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you.’ ” Furthermore, just as God had banished Adam and Eve from the garden, He exiled Cain from the company of his family, the people of God. ” ‘A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth,’ ” God told him.." from the article: The City That Cain Built