It is a well-known fact that Jacob and Esau were twins within Scripture, but what is not commonly known is that Cain and Abel were also thought to be twins. This is because we can see that the usual way of accounting for multiple births was that the conception and then the birth of each child is mentioned (Read Genesis 29:32-33). In other words, like with Leah, there are two conceptions, and two births noted
Yet, in in Genesis 4, we can read that the births of Cain and Abel are noted as:
“And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. And she again bare his brother Abel.“
Genesis 4:1-2 (KJV)
There is only one conception mentioned, but two births. The Hebrew word for “again” is asaph, meaning to add something. Therefore, in this case, the birthing of Abel was added to the birthing of Cain. And so, although it doesn’t explicitly state that Cain and Abel were the first set of twins in the Bible, the text certainly implies it
However, regardless of whether they were twins or simply brothers, we all know what happens next…
Categories: Genesis
