Cain and Abel

I have read Cain and Abel were twins, your opinion please. Provide scriptures to substantiare your answer. Opinions also.

Hi ((Gatita)),

Appartently over the net it is prevalent the persons that believe that to be the case. I have never in my years of being a Christian ever heard it till now.

Here is my response: Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Were Cain and Abel Twins?

Alice C. Linsley


Susan Burns, a regular reader of Just Genesis and a fellow member of Open Anthropology Cooperative, has written an interesting and informative piece on Cain and Abel. She and I agree that the textual evidence suggests that Cain and Abel were twins. Here is what Susan has written:

"Genesis 4: Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, 'I have gotten a man with the help of YHWH'. She again bare his brother Abel. The Hebrew word used for again (yasaph) is an adverb meaning to continue to do a thing. Yasaph implies that Eve gave birth to Cain and continued to do the same thing by giving birth to Abel. In other words, Cain and Abel were twins. The profession of Abel was shepherd and Cain was a farmer and city builder.

http://jandyongenesis.blogspot.com/2010/12/cain-and-abel-were-twins.html

Cami, I hadn't given this topic any consideration until yesterday. And like you, never heard of this before, However, while researching I learned something new. For some reason or another many have never been taught it or perhaps ignored this teaching. The scriptures never indicated Eve became pregnant a second time and without a record of a second pregnancy how lse was Abel born? Perhaps this is the source of the conflict between Cain and Abel. Jealousy is the source of the majority of sin today. And its results are devastating. Cain was judged by God and then forced into becoming a lonely scorned man and condemned by God.

Thanks for bringing this topic to our attention. We have much to learn.

Blessings, Rebecca

The way I could see that they were twins is that:
Gen4:1 ¶  And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
2  And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
Later...25 ¶  And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.
Here it states that Eve conceived in 4:1, and later she bare a son Seth, meaning that she conceived.  Since conceived is mentioned once in Gen 4:1, many believe that Cain  and Able were twins, since she bore them, but appears to have conceived once.

From Strong's Hebrew Dictionary:

H3254
יסף
yâsaph
yaw-saf'
A primitive root; to add or augment (often adverbially to continue to do a thing): - add, X again, X any more, X cease, X come more, + conceive again, continue, exceed, X further, X gather together, get more, give moreover, X henceforth, increase (more and more), join, X longer (bring, do, make, much, put), X (the, much, yet) more (and more), proceed (further), prolong, put, be [strong-] er, X yet, yield.

The word used in Genesis 4:2 has multiple meanings; one of which is "conceive again." Although I love Genesis and wholly agree that it is literal history, I find this passage inconclusive. This is also the ONLY time in the OT that this exact word is used in reference to birth; so we have no exegesis:

Gen_4:2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
Gen_4:25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.
Gen_29:33 And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because the LORD hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon.
Gen_29:34 And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi.
Gen_29:35 And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she said, Now will I praise the LORD: therefore she called his name Judah; and left bearing.
Gen_30:7 And Bilhah Rachel's maid conceived again, and bare Jacob a second son.
Gen_30:19 And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son.
Gen_38:4 And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she called his name Onan.
Gen_38:5 And she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him.
Hos_1:6 And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.