Does Genesis 4:17 prove that there were other people on earth before Adam and Eve?
Let’s read that text first:
“And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch.” Genesis 4:17
Many assume that Adam and Eve only had three children—Cain, Abel, and Seth. The beginning verses of Genesis 5 tell us that Adam and Eve had Cain, Able, and Seth in Adam’s first 130 years of life. However, Genesis 5:4 reminds us that in his remaining 800 years he had “sons and daughters.”
So, the answer is simple: The first few generations of people born after Creation lived for hundreds of years, and the Bible does not say when or at what age Cain met his wife. Hundreds of years could have passed, and therefore, Cain’s wife must have been his relative—possibly even one of his sisters.
This was not unheard of nor looked down upon in early biblical days. Unlike today, birth defects and flawed genes were not an issue back in those days. Those who were born soon after Creation still had nearly perfect genes, explaining why they lived for hundreds of years.
Based on closer study and evidence, we can conclude that Adam and Eve were the first humans, and that Cain, Abel, and Seth were their first offspring. But Cain’s wife would have been a product of Adam and Eve somewhere down the line.