We only know three of the children of Adam and Eve by name: Cain, Abel, and Seth. But there were others. Adam lived a total of 930 years, and verse 4 tells us, “The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters.” When Cain was cast out of the presence of God and his family he was afraid that some might want to take vengeance on him for the murder of Abel. You might wonder who he worried about. This verse gives us the answer. I’m sure that over a period of 800 years and in good health Adam and Eve could have had many children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren. Cain obviously took a wife from amongst these, but there were many others that might have desired to get even with Cain. Utley observes, “Cain feared for his own life. The rabbis say that he was afraid of the animals. However, the context seems to imply that his own relatives, who would be ‘go’els’ (blood avenger) for Abel, would kill him. This would imply that Adam and Eve had many unnamed children.”

There have been many wild speculations concerning Cain’s wife. It appears that Cain was already married at the time of his crime against Abel and he took his family with him when he was expelled to the land of Nod. But that too is speculation. There has even been the suggestion of other non-Homosapien humanoids at the time from which Cain took a wife. Utley finishes his comments on this by saying, “There is a very interesting discussion of Adam and Eve’s relationship to other pre-historic humanoids in Kidner’s The Tyndale Commentary on Genesis and Bernard Ramm’s discussion of anthropology in The Christian’s View of Science and Scripture. This verse implies many other rational creatures. For a discussion of humanoids and their dates of occupation of the ancient Near East see R. K. Harrison’s Introduction to the Old Testament, pp. 147–163 and Who was Adam? by Fazale Rana and Hugh Ross. If Cain married a non-Homosapien without God’s Spirit, then Gen. 6:1–4 would be a mixing of God’s special human creation with bipedal animals instead of humans with angels.”[1]

As Genesis five continues with the genealogy of Seth leading to Noah, the phrase “he had many other sons and daughters” is repeated nine times, once after each of the descendants. The writer of Hebrews, being well versed in the teaching of the Old Testament, very likely had the refrain of “many sons and daughters” in mind when he spoke about how “Jesus Christ has been made complete through his exaltation in a manner that anticipates God bringing many other sons and daughters to glory” in Hebrews 2:10. The many other sons and daughters in Seth’s line are all to be brought to death, but those in the line of Christ are brought to glory and eternal life with Christ.

[1] Utley, Robert James. 2001. How It All Began: Genesis 1–11. Vol. Vol. 1A. Study Guide Commentary Series. Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.