Q&R Session 1

Exodus Q&R #1

Summary:

We’re going to have Question and Response sessions roughly once a month at the end of the month to address any questions you may have from the previous weeks’ material.

Where Did Cain Get His Wife?

I know this isn’t specifically Exodus, but it was asked, and I wanted to highlight it because it gives us a chance to talk about a lot of ways we can read into a text what isn’t actually there. While this question has been around forever, it gained popularity after it was included in the 1955 movie Inherit the Wind, based on the Scopes Monkey Trial. It’s often used as a gotcha question against Christians, but a little study shows that, while it is truly a fun question to ponder, it hardly poses a problem for our faith. Below are some wrong assumptions we often bring to the text that can make this question seem harder than it is:

1. There were only four people on the earth. The Bible says Adam and Eve had several children. If each of those children had several children, the population would have grown exponentially in a very short time.

2. The brothers were young. The Bible never says how old Cain and Abel were when Cain killed Abel. If they were a bit older, there would have been more time for the number of humans around to increase.

3. Cain got his wife from Nod. The Bible doesn’t say if Cain was married before or after he went to Nod.

4. Procreating with a close family member is a genetic impossibility/guaranteed to lead to deformities. Putting aside the moral issue for a moment, incest does not guarantee deformities. Some have suggested that Adam and Eve may have had near perfect genes that became corrupted only gradually after the Fall. If this is the case, their genes would not have had any defects that could have gotten passed on even if the relationship was with a close family member.

5. Cain’s choice is a moral dilemma. While incest is illegal in our culture, it was much more common in many ancient cultures. But putting all that aside, we’re talking about a man who just murdered his own brother. The Bible is not exactly painting him in a positive light. He’s not being written as the hero we’re supposed to emulate.

6. The Law forbids incest. While this is accurate, the Cain and Abel story is thousands of years before Moses or the writing of the Torah. I cannot be jailed for violating a British law from the 1700s while living in 2022 America. Laws are only valid in the specific time and place for which they are written. Ultimately, there are two main options for where Cain got a wife. The traditional answer is that he married a close family member. With enough generations, you could say he married someone far enough removed, but that still means that someone at some point married a close relative. Either way, there are several answers as to why this is hardly a crisis of faith.

‌There is another option that suggests Adam and Eve were representatives of a human race that was already existent. This position is often taken by people who are coming from more of an evolutionary stance while still considering the Bible to be authoritative. In our circles, Creationism is a basically a separation thing, but there have been a lot of Christians who have taken an evolutionary viewpoint and still maintained a belief in the authority of the Bible. We might not agree with them entirely, but that doesn’t mean they’re unsaved or that they doubt the Bible. There are ways to reconcile that stance with the Bible. In this instance, they would say that a human race existed, and God created Adam and Eve specifically to be representatives of that race for the test in the Garden. If that were the case, the question of where any of them found spouses would be irrelevant as there would have been other humans outside the Garden. It fits the story more than you might expect it to. But either way, Cain’s wife is mentioned once and just to say she existed, so any position you take is an argument from silence. Let’s be sure to proceed with humility.

What is the significance of Egypt in the Bible?

First and foremost Egypt represents Egypt. You’ll hear a lot of preachers say Egypt represents the world and is evil. But don’t overdo the symbolism. Remember that Egypt was also a safe haven for Abraham and his wife, Joseph and his family, Jeroboam, and Mary and Joseph and Jesus for a while. It’s kind of an up and down journey in Scripture for Egypt. Sometimes the picture is somewhat positive, a lot of times it’s negative, but if you’re unsure, judge for yourself within the story without assuming it has to stand for something else. It might just be about the land of Egypt.‌

What is the meaning of I Am Who I Am in Exodus 3:14?

We’ll cover this a bit more in a few weeks when we hit chapter 3, but I will say that I think the main idea is an identity claim. There were other gods who claimed to have brought themselves into existence, but Yahweh is claiming to be the true self-existent one. And He’s getting ready to back it up with His actions through the rest of the book.

Could you explain the symbolism in the tabernacle again?

‌When a lot of preachers mention the tabernacle furniture, they often try to link each piece to Jesus. I think we’re supposed to be more keyed into is the symbolism of the tabernacle as a whole, of God’s presence with humanity. We have this idea in Christianity that God’s holiness means He can’t be around sin, but the Bible never says that. If that were true, the incarnation of Jesus couldn’t have happened. The tabernacle itself is proof that our holy God is willing to meet us in our unholy state. The tabernacle is a great example of this because there are 2 long passages in Exodus almost back to back about the tabernacle. If you’ve read through Exodus before, you may have thought it was just a really long and tedious and useless bunch of chapters talking about a building we don’t care about. But the setup of those instructions is so important. See, the instructions for the tabernacle are given in Ex 25 and some chapters following. The building of the tabernacle happens in Exodus 35 and some chapters following. There’s a key passage in between—Exodus 32. Exodus 32 is the golden calf incident. So, the significance of having the instructions given again as Moses is overseeing the construction of the tabernacle is that God is still willing to dwell with His people even after their failure. The tabernacle included seven pieces of furniture—the Altar of Burnt Offering and the Bronze Basin in the outer court; the Golden Lampstand, Table of Showbread, and Altar of Incense in the Holy Place; and the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies. Each of these pieces and even the tapestry itself was full of artistic hyperlinks back to Eden. God was trying to make a very clear point that He wanted to be reunited with humanity.

Next Week:

Pharaoh's connection to the Garden serpent, potter’s wheels and birthing stools, when 70 just won’t equal 75, and when God is ok with lying—all this and more as we study Exodus 1.

Recommended Resources:

The Bible Project’s “Why Does the Tabernacle Furniture Even Matter?” in their Exodus podcast series

The Bible Project’s “Temple Biblical Theme” video on YouTube or in the app