Superfetation is not unknown in humans wherein dizygous "twins" showing marked differences in size, embryological development and presumed age are born of different fathers. The best-known of recent cases happened in Sweden and France.
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In Stockholm, when Mrs. Bjoerlen gave birth on the same day to a black, and a blond, blue-eyed baby, her husband refused to take financial responsibility for the child which clearly was not his. In the trial Mrs. Bjoerlen admitted to having a black lover. On the same day she had known both men. In France, Mrs. Duval also gave birth to a white and a black child, and 26 year old Marseilles prostitute, Yvette Landru, gave birth to one white, one Negro, and a Chinese. Medical records are replete with cases of superfetation in humans wherein a woman with multiple ova is fertilized by sperm of separate insemination so that the offspring are not true twins but step-brothers or step-sisters. True twins result from simultaneous fertilization of one ovum by two sperm.
The most famous case of superfetation in humans is found in the Bible account of the conception and birth of Cain and Abel. Whoever reads Genesis carefully, will see it speaks of the two seeds, or offspring, right after the fall. So from the very beginning, there were two lineages: the ungodly line of Cain and the line found in Seth. Not one time is Adam called the father of Cain, who is not once mentioned in the genealogies of Adam. This is why Adam pronounced his wife "the mother of all living". Never is it suggested that Adam is the father of all living. If Cain actually would have been the first-born son of Adam, he would have had the nature of Adam who was the son of God, and a special place in God's record.
Abel was killed with no offspring; therefore the record of the genealogy goes through Seth. In this respect also, the Word of God is perfect and enlightening—Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch. Jude identifies Enoch as the seventh from Adam: Cain is absent and was not mentioned in the genealogies in Genesis, Chronicles, Luke, or Jude.
Genesis 4 is intended as a historical message. In verse 1 the connection with what precedes is very clear. The history here recorded is tied to the Paradise narrative with the conjunctive phrase, "And Adam," or "And the man," Adam is presented as being familiar to us from the preceding events, with no further introduction necessary. Also, his wife is simply presented by her name, Eve, "mother of all living," which according to Genesis; she had been given by her husband following the Fall, whence Eve bore in her womb two seeds.
This history traces the enmity God has placed between these two seeds and foreshadows the Promise. The writer must first dispose of Cain and his ungodly line that have no part in the Promise or Kingdom of God. Then he returns to Seth through whom the line of Promise is maintained. The story of Cain and Abel points out that from the very first men have been divided into two great classes, viewed in connection with God's Promise and Presence in the world.
Whilst anthropology teaches it is to the self-reliant and God-defying energy of the descendants of Cain that we owe much of the external civilization of the world, the descendants of Seth pass away and leave only this record: that they "walked with God".
Genesis 4 is the historical account of the sinful misapplication of God's command to "multiply and fill the earth" in the garden, which produced death by Eve's reasoning with Satan through the agency of the serpent, instead of waiting for God's uncompromised Word to be revealed through her husband in due season.
This is the first mention of a sexual relationship between Adam and his wife. Cain had already been conceived by the serpent prior to Adam having knowledge of his wife. Eve saw in Cain the fulfilment of the natural promise of Genesis 3:15, and looked on her first child as God Himself, the "Deliverer," Who would restore them to Eden. It is unusual for the mother to justify Cain's name by declaring "I have begotten a "MAN" with the Lord," when Cain was but a babe. To Eve, however, Cain was the "Man-child" Who would smite the Serpent. Eve did not claim to bear Cain by Adam but supposed he was gotten, acquired, or created with the Lord.
It is not said of Eve that she conceived again and bare Abel (which is the usual Scriptural way of intimating a second birth) but simply that she bore him after Cain. That a difference was from the very first put between the two is plain from the remarkable language which she applies to the first-born, "I have gotten a man from the Lord"; and indeed from the very names given the two brothers respectively. Cain signifies "acquired one." Deceived by Satan who was incarnate in the Serpent, Eve thought Cain was the Son of God, whereas she knew Abel was, and named him the son of her own husband. Abel means "a son", which well suits the first-born child of man. Hence we have the line of the serpent through Cain (falsely supposed to be the Son of God), and the line of Adam, beginning in Abel.
The etymology of Cain and Abel are quite separate. From their birth, at the same time, there was a difference put on these two sons of Eve. It was understood from Genesis 3:15 that the race was to be divided into two great sections, of which the one only was to be reckoned as truly and spiritually the seed of the woman, while the other bore the character and fell under the doom, of the seed of the serpent.
Eve regarded her first-born son as the very individual who was to be the Saviour, and understood at the same time that this Saviour was to be a divine person. Hence her words, "I have gotten a man" or "the man, the Lord," the very Jehovah—He who is God as well as man. Or, "I have gotten a man from the Lord." Clearly Eve was still deceived at the time of Cain's birth, because "that which is flesh is flesh" and as he was born by sex, Cain could not possibly be the Redeemer but was in need of redemption himself.
At all events, it is plain that in her judgment Cain was chosen rather than his comparatively lightly esteemed half-brother, whose very name in Hebrew means "vanity," or "nothingness." (Though of course, Adam and Eve did not speak Hebrew).
No other act with Adam is recorded between the birth of Cain and Abel. We are simply told, ". . . And she again bore his brother, Abel. And Adam knew his wife again; and she bore a son, and called his name Seth . . ." Since THREE sons were born from TWO acts by Adam, we know POSITIVELY that ONE of those three WAS NOT the son of Adam.
In the Garden of Eden, there were many trees, including the tree of Life and the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Fall was not caused by eating natural fruit, which was permitted. And nothing is recorded about eating an apple, we read only about partaking of fruit from the tree of Knowledge. We read, "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked: and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." Something terrible had happened, after which the man and his wife recognized their nakedness and were ashamed such that they sought to hide it from one another and the Lord. Notice, they did not bandage their eyes nor cover their mouths, but veiled their reproductive organs. Solomon said, "Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eats, and wipes her mouth, and says, I have done no wickedness."
Every man and woman understands temptation of the senses, so Eve's admission, "the serpent beguiled me, and I did eat" should be understood by every adult person. When a girl or a boy is entrapped and beguiled, we know they didn't eat ice-cream any more than eating a piece of fruit caused Adam and Eve to become conscious of each other's bodies, and Eve to be named "the mother of all living."
Paul certainly knew what happened in the Garden of Eden. Otherwise he could not have admonished the Corinthian church, "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his craftiness, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." In view of the fall, the apostle writes further, "And Adam was not deceived, but the woman, being deceived, was in the transgression."
Directly afterwards, the Lord God told Eve, "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and conception; in sorrow you shall bring forth children..." This statement tells us what really happened. Women were not condemned to indigestion, as might be supposed were the transgression gastronomic; and despite the optimistic protests of some less than innocent girls, no woman has yet conceived through swallowing an apple seed. God knew what took place, and where punishment should be pronounced. Therefore as a memorial of the original sin, women give birth in pain and sorrow, and male circumcision was the token of the Old Covenant.
To that time, the serpent had walked upright, else would the statement, "upon thy belly shall you go" makes no sense. And the Lord pronounced judgment upon the serpent for his wickedness, changing every bone in his body. And He put enmity between the seed of the Serpent and the seed of Adam. According to the testimony given here, there would be two different seeds. He spoke of the seed of the serpent, and also of its adversary, the seed which would come through the woman. In Scripture, seed speaks of offspring, and there were in Eve's womb two different seeds.
Satan cannot beget nor can he create. He is a sexless, fallen spirit-being. Therefore he had to make use of the beast which was closest to man and could even speak. Only after the curse, did the serpent lose its human form and become a reptile.
Genesis three records the conversation between the serpent and Eve. It began with the well-known question, "Yea, has God said?" The Devil always uses the same approach: planting doubts about God's Word. Thus he misconstrued it, and entangled Eve. "You shall not surely die . . . Your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Eve fell for Satan's lie, being uplifted at the possibility of teaching her husband the secret knowledge of sex—and how they might fulfil His Command to "multiply and fill the earth." Since that time the eyes of each one of us have been opened to know good and evil and we are thereby accountable to God. But what benefit was the knowledge of good and evil when separated from God?
Human attributes are found in the genes which actually lie in the chromosomes inherited through sexual reproduction. In this way, Satan was able to inject his nature vicariously through the serpent into the human race. Satan through transgression pulled the first couple into death, and their dominion on this earth was surrendered to death. Therefore the Redeemer had to come into human flesh, that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death.
God's commandment was, "Be fruitful, and multiply," and every specie was to bring forth after his own kind. But in Eve's womb was a creature, cross-bred from Satan through the serpent, and not in the original creation. Whatever does not derive from His thoughts can never submit to His will, for His Will is His Word, which is His thoughts expressed. He instituted marriage and joined the first pair together. The tragedy lies in the breaking of this first marriage when Eve usurped authority over her husband, listening to one she knew to be inspired by Satan. She then instructed her husband in this secret knowledge and gave herself to Him.
Adam knew Eve was no longer a virgin. Eve had crossed from eternity into time and was dying. She should have been burnt according to the Law which is forever written in heaven; but Adam loved her and quickly took her to himself. He was not deceived, but as a son of God he knew he could no more be lost than God could be lost. He also knew Eve was part of him, and as God must somehow redeem him if he joined her in death he would "save" Eve: a perfect type of Christ.
Thus, the fall took place when Eve gave herself to the serpent, and when Adam took her back and she had her first relation with her husband, he surrendered all under his dominion to death. From both unions, which happened in quick succession, children were born: Cain and Abel.
The apostle John also knew what happened in the Garden of Eden for he writes, ". . . not as Cain, who was of that wicked one." In this statement Adam could never have been meant. Adam was not the evil one, neither the wicked one, whose son Cain was, according to the written Word of God. The same apostle writes of the believers, ". . . because you have overcome the wicked one." Satan is meant in this place as in many other places in the Scripture by this description. In Revelation he is called "the dragon, that old serpent, who is the Devil and Satan." In many places Scripture calls the opponent of God "the wicked one," God is altogether good; Satan just the opposite. In the Lord's Prayer when we petition, ". . . lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one," we are not meaning Adam. We now know "the evil one" is the vicarious father of Cain, and origin of all ungodly things. Cain the first killer and murderer, was full of envy and jealousy; and Satan was a murderer from the beginning—not in heaven, on earth.
We also must remember that enmity was put between the two seeds, "And I will put enmity between . . . thy seed and her seed." With the aid of the serpent, Satan came into the human race to destroy God's order. And the enmity is still there.
These things are foreign to what most of us have been taught to believe as truth, but we were warned ". . . the things that the preacher is liable to teach you ain't necessarily so." And this is the one faith or understanding revealed by God throughout the Bible in all the ages concerning the Fall. God's Word never changes. bb940516.htm
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