February 5, 2015

HELLO CAIN’S WIFE

Genesis 4:17 Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch.

When I read this verse with the intention of writing this post one question came to mind.

She’s important because why??? (yes, that’s exactly how I thought it and how I wrote it in my notes…)

I continued to think about why she would even be mentioned.
Who was she really?
She is unnamed. Not significant enough to be named but the fact that she is mentioned at all tells me that there is something to be learned from her. She is mentioned in one line as if a passing comment.

Let’s start by listing some attributes:

she had to have been a daughter
she was a wife
she was a mother

About her being a daughter:
There seems to be so much controversy around the question…. Where did Cain’s wife come from?
Here are some resources that helped me answer that question for myself.

The gist of the story is that Cain’s wife must have been his sister or niece. Apparently incest wasn’t considered incest yet. Actually there was nothing wrong with it for a few hundred years. I’m guessing that it started causing defects or something because it was happening all throughout Genesis and Exodus. Until one day in Leviticus (the third book of the Bible) God said “no, no, no, not in my house!!!” and a law was written against it. Leviticus 18 has a whole string of “Do not have sexual relations with…”
I know some people may find it far fetched… but either you believe the Bible to be true or you don’t… no gray area!

About her being a wife:
The thought occurred to me that Cain’s wife stayed with him even though he was a murdered. She stayed by his side in spite of the fact that he lost all favor before God. She stayed with him through exile. I imagine she had to leave her friends, her family, the people who raised her and loved her.
That makes me sad for her.
I wonder, what did she cling to? Did she continue loving God even though Cain turned his back on God?
Now, I am not a wife so I really have no authority to speak on this however I’m going to say it anyway.
I’ve often heard respectable women and men in ministry tell God fearing women married to non-believing men to continue loving, respecting, praying and living by example in their marriages. I truly believe that God will totally Show Up and Show Off. If you happen to be in that situation take heart! Hope on! Love your husband, respect your husband and most importantly pray for your husband! I believe that God will nudge his heart, remove the scales from his eyes and save his soul!

About her being a mother:
I feel that this is significant! In the one line that she is mentioned she is called a wife and a mother. She bore Cain a son whom he named Enoch.
[Not to be confused with Enoch from Genesis 5 who was so close to the LORD that he was taken up to heaven.]
Cain built a city named after Enoch. I bet she was proud of this honor to her boy. After her one liner a list of generations is mentioned before the story pauses on Lamech and his two wives who we will be meeting next week. One commentary states that this information is included in the story to refer back to the beginnings of the Cainites. Loads of history that I’m not going to get into. Even still it shows that she is significant as the mother of that lineage. Read more on it here.

Towards the beginning I questioned Cain’s wife’s significance. I think that sometimes we as women question our own significance. I know I’ve dealt with identity issues. Who am I? Why am I? What am I for? The answer to all those questions… JESUS. I am the daughter of a KING! I am created with purpose to be of blessing and to glorify said KING. I am loved and honored by said KING. I am and so are you!

My Prayer for you:
Father God, how easy it is to feel like Cain’s wife. Like our lives are just one liners. Like we are a side comment that most people overlook without a second thought. How grateful I am that to you we are more than one liners. To you we are fearfully and wonderfully made. To you we are significant, cherished and delighted in. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for making our stories significant even if in a quiet way. We are still important to you! I pray that you may press that thought on our hearts daily. Please give us daily reminders of your love for us. Help us see how you pursue and romance each and every single one of us in such a way that is personal and unique to our individual spirits and hearts. In Jesus name, Amen.

Memory Verse: Isaiah 43:4a
Isaiah 43: 4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you.