This post is going to cover 4 different marriages. Since none of the wives’ are named, we can only imagine from their husbands what kind of marriages they had. Lets start with Cain.
If you remember right, Adam and Eve had Cain. Cain decided that he would kill his brother Abel. God was NOT happy about this, so He drove Cain away telling him he will be a wanderer. So he settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived. (Genesis 4:17) Now there is a lot of speculation on where Cain found his wife. Some say since Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters, she was his sister. But given the longevity of the time, I think she was probably his sister or possibly a close relative.
Cain and his wife had Enoch which means initiative. This shows that God was still present in their lives. Then Cain built a city east of Eden and named it Enoch after his son. This is pretty much all we have Biblically on their marriage. But it makes me wonder, were they married when Cain killed his brother? Did she grieve the loss of her brother in law? Or did they meet when God drove Cain out and made him a wanderer? Did Cain have anger issues all of his life? When she was pregnant, did she thank God over and over for redeeming them for Cain’s sin? Oh how I would love to sit down, learn Cain’s wife’s name and share a cup of coffee!
Ok, so because Cain killed his brother Abel. God gave Adam and Eve a baby boy and they named him Seth. Seth was Adam and Eve’s godly son, who the seed of redemption would come through aka Jesus! Even though Seth’s wife is not named in the Bible, I would love to think she was devoted to God just like Seth. Because she has a key role in how the lineage of Christ happened too! Anyway, Seth and his wife had Enosh. Then men began to call upon the Lord, we do know that worship already existed, Genesis 4:26 implies that men were beginning to address God formally in prayer and thanksgiving around the time of Enosh’s birth. Maybe this is the first “fellowship” with other believers/couples around this time? Did Seth’s wife make a great food spread while everyone came to tell how God was speaking to them? I love this!
So let’s fast forward a little bit. Enosh had Kenan, who had Mahahel(say that name 10 times fast!), who in turn had Jared, who welcomed into the world Enoch. (Genesis 5:6-24) Another Enoch? I’m thinking this name was pretty popular!
This Enoch was married to….his wife! His “no named” bride welcomed into the world Methuselah. The really neat thing about Enoch was, he was spared death all together. One day he was walking with God on earth, the next day he was gone. Disappeared. Never to be seen again. Put this one on your list of questions to ask God when you get to heaven. He was so intimate with God, was God like “I want you in heaven pronto!”? And was his wife still living? Did she search for days for her husband? Or did she see him disappear? Did he rise up to heaven like Jesus did? Or did he just vanish? Did she send a search team to look for him or did God speak to her quietly and tell her? Was she just so proud to call Enoch her husband, seeing firsthand his walk with God? Was her husband an inspiration to her in her own closeness and walk with God? I could go on and on with the questions..but lets keep going.
Enoch’s son Methuselah had Lamech, and Lamech had Noah. Have you heard that name before? (if you haven't you might have heard of his ark and God’s flood….oh yes, rings a bell now! :))
Noah had God’s favor, he was righteous, blameless and walked with God. God, at this point, was extremely upset in the actions of man. He said the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of their hearts was only evil continually. God was sorry that He made man on the earth, and was very grieved in His heart. (Genesis 6:5-6) I would like to think that since Noah had God’s favor, that his wife walked with God as well. And that they together lived righteous before the Lord. However, that is not mentioned in the Bible. God’s plan was to blot out man and animals(from creeping things to birds of the sky) via flood. Since Noah had God’s favor, God told Noah His plan and gave him instructions to build the ark and bring two of every animal(male and female). Side note: I love how God said “try to keep them alive” in verse 19. Like you have a big responsibility, please make sure they are all alive when they come back to actual ground! God made a covenant with Noah and his family, Noah and his wife had 3 sons at this time: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. His covenant made sure that Noah’s wife, sons and their wives were safe from the flood. This makes me think that Noah’s wife was close to the Lord as well. We as one flesh with our husbands, should have the same interests as each other. I wonder how the conversation went: “Hey hun, just got done with God’s ark. Yes, I followed His instructions! The animals are about to arrive. Can you please run out and get enough food for all of us? And we need to be thinking of where to put everyone, call our daughters in law they can decorate. Yes, yes, Shem is helping. No, Ham won’t forget the bedding. Oops, yeah I will make sure Japheth brings clean clothes.” After the flood, God promised US that He would never blot out man like that again. Also, after the flood Noah retired to farming and planting a vineyard. Now, we don't know if his wife was still living. But I like to think they had a wonderful retirement, embracing God’s beauty.
Abram, who we will be studying next, was married to Sarai.(YAY! We have a named WIFE!) Abram is a descendent from Shem, Noah’s son. If you want to jump ahead to all of the wonderful things we will learn from Abram and Sarai, later known as Abraham and Sarah, their story starts at the end of Genesis 11 and goes through to Genesis 25.
There is however, a part of Genesis 6 that needs to be covered. If you have been following along in Genesis, I do not want anyone to get this confused or want to get into a theology debate, but I feel the need to “touch” on this. Verse 2 states: The sons of God saw that the daughter’s of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whoever they chose. This was in the heightened time of wickedness. The sons of God in this verse do not mean humans, it puts emphasis on angelic vs. human contrast. We do know that our struggles here on earth are not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12, paraphrased) These fallen angels(Job 1:6; 2:1) were violating the God-ordained order of human marriage. Now, before you get upset and/or scared, if you have salvation in Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit(Ephesians 4:30) meaning this cannot happen to you..EVER! Also, verse 4 states the Nephilim were on the earth in those days. They are not the offspring of the fallen angels and beautiful daughters. They were strong men(some say giants) that were overpowering. The word Nephilim actually means to fall, indicating that they were strong men who fell on others in the sense of overpowering them. If you would like more information on any of this Biblically or questions on how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, please comment or email me at enthralledbyjill@gmail.com.
Until next time, thank you so much for reading! I love every minute of this! To God be the Glory!
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