5 Reasons Cain and Abel were over a Hundred Years Old.

For some reason the first thing to pop into my head almost every time I envision Cain and Abel is a couple of guys possibly in their early twenties.  Maybe you can relate, but is it Biblical?

Well, no.

Reason #1 Adam and Eve were the best fit to reproduce.

 

Adam and Eve were made on day six of the creation week.  They were crafted by a perfect God and brought into a perfect world.  There was no such thing as disease or illness.  There was still pain to be experienced in child birth, but it was far less than what is experienced today (Genesis 3:16).

 

There bodies were made perfectly for the purpose of reproduction so that they could fulfill the great command of God to fill the earth and subdue it (Genesis 1:28).  Also, because they were made directly by God they were the strongest and healthiest humans to have ever lived.  Thus, Adam and Eve were the most capable of bearing an abundance of children.

Adam and Eve were equipped with the possibility of having a child every year for a huge portion of their lives.  It is likely that Eve alone gave birth to several hundred children during her life.

 

Reason #2 Cain was Adam and Eve's first child.

 

Cain was the firstborn son of Adam and Eve.  The Bible does not give us a clear indication that Abel was indeed second, but we can be confident that Cain came first (Genesis 4:1).

 

Reason #3 Cain and Abel were both well of age to perform specific tasks.

 

These two brothers were old enough to understand their sinful condition before the Holy God because they are seen bringing offerings to the LORD (Genesis 4:2-5).

 

Reason #4 Seth was the very next child to be born after the death of Abel.

 

When was Seth born?  At the very end of Genesis chapter four in verse twenty-five we see that Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old.  This means that one hundred and thirty years after day six of creation, Adam and Eve gave birth to Seth. 

 

Since Cain was the very first child and supposing he was born within a year after the marriage of his parents, then the passage suggests that Cain could be about 129 years  old.  Again, there was nothing to prevent Adam and Eve from starting early.  There were no contraceptives nor was there anything preventing pregnancy.

 

Do you think it is weird that Cain, the son of Adam and Eve, could have always been just nine months younger than his parents?  Nowadays we cringe at the thought of the mom or dad only being maybe fourteen years older than their child, but I think Cain broke the record.

 

Reason #5 There were many people upon the earth.

 

By the time of Abel's death, there were possibly several thousand people upon the earth.  Genesis 4:14-17 is the conversation that God had with Cain just a short time after killing his brother.  When God curses Cain something happens.  There is an interesting statement made by Cain as he is communicating his concerns.  Cain told the LORD, "I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."

 

Let me ask you a question.  If the only people in the world were you, your now dead brother, maybe two or three other brothers and sisters, and most importantly mom and dad, would you say what Cain said?  I doubt it.  If you would say anything of the sort, then I reckon you would more than likely say, "and if my family finds me they will kill me."

 

Cain's statement implies more than just his immediate family.  The implication is of course mom and dad, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, his own wife, and because of the one hundred and thirty year gap of time, it is highly likely that Cain even had grandchildren and great grandchildren.

 

Cain had a legitimate fear that "whoever" found him would kill him.  A lot of people can be born in a hundred and thirty years (many of them Cain probably never even met) and because of how much time had gone by, at the very least a few thousand people were dwelling upon the earth.

 

Conclusion

 

Again, we are not given all of the details, so I am just stating the possibilities.  We know that Cain was a married man (Genesis 4:17) and in all likelihood so was Abel.  These were not men who were in their teens or early twenties.  These were men who had lived on this earth for well over a hundred years.