“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NKJV))

All scripture is profitable. Profitable means helpful or useful. That includes those pesky genealogies. You know, the Biblical family trees. The ones that seem to have an endless list of names we can’t pronounce and wonder why they’re there in the first place.

Yet, genealogies are useful. And they even contain hidden gems when we’re willing to take the time to look for them. For example, the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1 includes some surprising names. One of those is Rahab. We know from Joshua 2 and 6:22-25 that Rahab was a harlot who God later spared when the walls of Jericho fell. Despite her past as a harlot, she ended up in Jesus’ family tree. It just goes to show you that God can work through your life no matter what’s in your past. God is amazing!

Another genealogy is useful to answer a question I received from one of you. Someone asked, “God made Adam and Eve. They had two sons. Where did all the other people come from?” That’s a great question. Before we get to the answer, let’s start with a little background.

On the sixth day of creation, God created the first man, Adam (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7). After Adam named all of the animals, he saw that there was no one comparable to him (Genesis 2:20). So God put Adam into a deep sleep, took a rib from Adam’s side, and created woman (Genesis 2:21-22).

God presented the woman, Eve, to Adam in the first marriage (Genesis 2:22). Then God commanded them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth (Genesis 1:28).

We are then told about the first two sons that came from the union between Adam and Eve – Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1-2). After Cain murdered Abel (Genesis 4:8), Adam and Eve had a third son named Seth (Genesis 4:25).

We are also told that Cain “went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod” (Genesis 4:16 (NKJV)). Cain “knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch” (Genesis 4:16 (NKJV)). And Seth had a son named Enosh (Genesis 4:26). Where did Cain and Seth get their wives from?

We get our answer from the genealogy in Genesis 5. I confess that this particular genealogy was a stumbling block to me for many years. For some reason, I thought I had to read the Bible like other books – starting at page one through the end. In order. Because I could never seem to finish reading through this genealogy, I didn’t get very far in reading the Bible for a very long time. Of course, the Bible doesn’t actually need to be read like that.

Anyway, I later discovered that you can learn a lot from these genealogies. If we take the time to slow down and consider them, we can glean some really great information.

In this genealogy, we learn that Adam lived for 800 years after Eve bore Seth. During that time, “he had sons and daughters” (Genesis 5:4 (NKJV)). We don’t know how many sons and daughters he had because the Bible doesn’t tell us. But 800 years is a long time. Even if Adam and Eve only had children during a portion of that time, they could have had many, many sons and daughters.

We also learn that Seth begot Enosh when he was 105 years old (Genesis 5:6). Based on that fact, there would have been plenty of time for one of Adam’s and Eve’s daughters to grow up to be a marriageable age.

And yes, that means that brothers and sisters would have married at the beginning of it all and had children. While this practice is unacceptable in our society (and even by the time of Moses about 2,500 years later (see, e.g., Leviticus 18:6-18)), it was not a restriction at that time.

As AnswersInGenesis.org points out, when Adam and Eve were created, they were perfect.  It wasn’t until after they sinned that “suffering and death affected mankind and every other living thing.” [1] One thing that came with sin was mutations in people’s DNA. But since Adam and Eve had perfect genes, their children would have had few mutations. It was only when those genetic mutations increased that the likelihood of inherited disease became so great that it was dangerous to marry a close relation.

So, the next time you come across a Biblical genealogy, resist the urge to skip over it. Instead, pray. Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you something as you read through it. You may be surprised at what you learn.

* Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

[1] Dr. Georgia Purdom, “Where Did Cain Get His Wife?” Answers Magazine, July 1, 2014, https://answersingenesis.org/bible-characters/cain/creation-basics/.