According to sociologists in 2011, a little more than 7 billion people lived on planet Earth. And every year this figure increases (the forecast for 2050 is 9 billion). The more people live on the planet, the more often we ask ourselves: "How did it all begin?" How many people lived on the planet in ancient times, where did they come from, and where does individuality come from in such a densely populated world? And most importantly - how to remain yourself, not be like anyone else?
Most often we are faced with the fact that the main source of information on this topic is the Bible. It is in it that it says how many children Adam and Eve had. Of course, there is also Darwin's theory and all sorts of fantastic versions of the origin of mankind. But the biblical explanation is somehow closer and clearer to us.
Why do we care
How many children did Adam and Eve have? Everyone asks this question at one time or another. And it does not matter whether we are driven by simple curiosity or we are consciously looking for an answer in order to understand how representatives of different peoples really differ so much. And sometimes they meet in the same familyalmost opposite characters, which is even more amazing. We are all so different that it is hard to imagine that all people on the planet have only two progenitors: Adam and Eve.
What is authentically known from the Bible
Mankind has been studying this book for more than one millennium. And it can be responsibly stated that the Bible does not clearly indicate how many children Adam had. That is, we all know that after the expulsion from paradise and the fall, Eve gave birth to two sons. And after another 800 years, Adam conceived a third son, Seth. The official version is limited to these three. What is difficult for a modern person to believe in? How did Adam and Eve manage to live such a long life and never conceive a child again? Even a deeply religious person will not believe in such "luck". What can we say about atheists!
And skeptics also have a quite reasonable question: if all the children of Eve are male, then how did they manage to multiply? Only women have the ability to bear children. Men in this case can only help to conceive a child, but only a woman can bear and give birth. Some experts question the very existence of only two progenitors of mankind and argue that God created more people. It's just that they were the first and "famous" for having sinned. So we only know their history and the names of the children of Adam and Eve.
What else can you read in the Bible
However, theologians still insist that the Bible has the answers to everythingquestions. You need to look for meaning in every line. In this case, it turns out that it is almost impossible to calculate how many children Adam and Eve had. After all, having expelled them to Earth, God gave the command: "Be fruitful and multiply." For 930 years of life on Earth, Adam probably conceived not three sons, but several more.
Take, for example, the facts of modern history. The Guinness Book of Records recorded a record number of children born to one woman: 58. And this is at the beginning of the 19th century! Therefore, there is no reason to doubt that the children of Adam and Eve are "badly counted" in the Bible. One of the historians who studied this issue came to the conclusion that Adam conceived 33 sons and 23 daughters. But even this is unprovable.
Sons of Adam
The names of the children of Adam and Eve are known to every more or less enlightened person. The biblical story about the fratricide of Abel by Cain teaches us not to envy and not to betray the closest and dearest people. Cain's name has become a household name for an evil, envious and dishonest person.
Returning to the question of how many children Adam and Eve had, it must be admitted that if there were only two of them, then after the murder of Abel, all people would be descendants of Cain. The Bible cannot allow mankind to descend from a sinful person in the worst sense of the word. Therefore, Cain perishes from the Flood. And then only the third official son of Adam remains - Seth, who is considered the progenitor of Noah, who survived the Flood.
It can be assumed that in order to determineThe origins of mankind are all quite simple. The children of Adam and Eve are three sons. One (Abel) died at the hands of his elder brother. Therefore, to give him, Cain, the opportunity to continue to be fruitful and sow sin on Earth would be wrong. Therefore, as a result of the Flood, he does not survive. But humanity still continues its history, which means that there was a third son. It was he, Seth, who became the successor of the human race.
Women of Adam
According to ancient tradition, the clan is conducted through the male line. Therefore, in the Bible it is very rare to find a mention of someone's daughters. Perhaps that is why we do not know any of the daughters that Adam and Eve conceived. No one has ever written about them or mentioned their names.
But, as noted above, only three sons could not breed and give life to all the peoples inhabiting the modern Earth. Therefore, the fact that Adam also had daughters is indisputable. Moreover, there is a direct indication of this: and he gave birth to sons and daughters. So we boldly assert that not all of the children of Adam and Eve are mentioned in the Bible. Probably, only those individuals were of interest to the Bible, whose life had a fundamental impact on the development of mankind.
Because otherwise the question arises again: "Where did Cain get his wife?" The Bible clearly states that when he went to the land of Nod, he was married. But since there is no hint of the origin of Cain's wife, one can only guess who she was to the fratricide: sister, niece, or someone else.
Marriages with close relatives
If we dwell on the version that the first peoplethere were two, then, no doubt, the understanding comes that the first people married and created families with their closest relatives. Literally the first generations of people, in addition to being husband and wife, were brothers and sisters to each other.
This is contrary to modern morality, when in many countries there is a ban on marriages between close relatives. But we are talking about events that took place more than two thousand years ago. Therefore, the modern principles of morality and genetics cannot be transferred to the behavior of the first generations of people.
Genetic deformities
Genetic deformities are violations and errors in the genes that the father and mother pass on to the child. Not the first day it is known that a child receives half of the genes from the father, and half from the mother. Over the millennia of human existence, an incredible number of sets of genes have accumulated, and in almost every set there are so-called "mistakes".
Modern researchers have proven that the lesser the relationship of the parents, the less likely it is to pass on the same set of these errors to the child. In nature, the strongest wins, which means that in each pair of genes the “defective” will be suppressed by the “strong”. And a person will live life calmly, being beautiful and he althy. So, if the father in the family has a crooked nose, and the mother has asymmetrical ears, then the child will most likely get a normal nose and neat ears. In extreme cases, the flaws will not be very noticeable.
Completely different thing - parents,which are closely related to each other. The set of their genetic errors is almost the same, and it is passed on to offspring with a coefficient of "2". Dad's crooked nose plus mom's crooked nose will give the baby a completely ugly face.
Prohibition on marriage of close relatives
In ancient times, no one conducted thorough research. There were few scientists and enlightened people. But even ordinary "children of Adam and Eve" began to notice such features of offspring born from close relatives. Therefore, at first, moral norms arose that condemned intimate relationships between close relatives. There was even a statement that each family needs "fresh blood". Therefore, it was customary to choose wives and husbands not even from their own village, in order to certainly avoid the relationship of parents.
Over time, most countries have introduced a ban on marriages within the same family. Even such countries as England, France and Spain began to turn a blind eye to the pedigree and traditions. After all, the purity of the blood of the nobles of these states was above all. However, the incredible number of freaks and mentally retarded children forced us to reconsider our canons and them. Now no one is surprised that the prince marries a fashion model, and the princess marries an entrepreneur. And a hundred years ago it was impossible!
Bible morality
Continuing the topic of prohibitions on closely related marriages, it should be noted that in the Bible for the first time such unions are condemned already in the time of Moses. And this is 2500 years after the fall of Adam and Eve. It is quite clear that the first generations were thatcalled "absolutes". There were no errors in the genes of Adam and Eve, because God created them in his own image and likeness. Probably, their children received the purest genes.
But for sin, God cursed people and sent them sickness, deformity and old age. It is almost impossible to say how many generations this went on, and at what point those same genetic errors appeared. However, the condemnation of marriages between close relatives came to mankind through the law of God, which was announced by Moses. As already mentioned, he lived almost three thousand years later. Of course, a very extensive database of genetic errors has accumulated over such a period of time. Given the growing population of the planet, it was quite possible to abandon closely related marriages in favor of the he alth of nations.
Conclusion
Despite a lot of research that theologians, geneticists, historians and other specialists have been doing for decades, we do not have an exact answer to the question: "How many children did Adam and Eve have?"
Genetics, who have been studying hundreds of thousands of DNA over 20 years, have come to the conclusion that it is quite possible that all people on the planet can be considered relatives. At least this does not contradict either Darwin's theory of evolution or the biblical version of the appearance of the human race.
I would only like to note that if we are all one family, then why do we so often do not understand loved ones and take offense at each other? Let's live together, relatives!
