Abraham and some other great men in the Bible married their relatives, right?

Leviticus 18:1-19 (NIV):

“The LORD said to Moses, ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them…You must not do as they do in Egypt…You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God…’

‘No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the LORD.

‘Do not dishonor your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; do not have relations with her.

‘Do not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; that would dishonor your father.

‘Do not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere.

‘Do not have sexual relations with your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter; that would dishonor you.

‘Do not have sexual relations with the daughter of your father’s wife, born to your father; she is your sister.

‘Do not have sexual relations with your father’s sister; she is your father’s close relative.

‘Do not have sexual relations with your mother’s sister, because she is your mother’s close relative.

‘Do not dishonor your father’s brother by approaching his wife to have sexual relations; she is your aunt.

‘Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife; do not have relations with her.

‘Do not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife; that would dishonor your brother.

‘Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. Do not have sexual relations with either her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter; they are her close relatives. That is wickedness.

‘Do not take your wife’s sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is living…’”

Adam and Eve were created perfect. After they sinned, they lost perfection but their genes were still nearly perfect. It was necessary for their children to intermarry in order to populate the earth. They and their offspring were very healthy as is evidenced by the typical life spans of 800 to 900 years. (See Genesis 5.) Whereas today, intermarriage produces children with serious genetic defects resulting in poor health, sickness, and death.

As the population of the earth grew, it became unnecessary to intermarry. By the time the Law was given, God strictly commanded against intermarriage as stated in Leviticus 18. Any close relatives not specifically identified in those verses are still off-limits. Verse six reads, “No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations.”

Did some of the patriarchs marry relatives? Yes. But if you read the stories of their lives, intermarriage usually resulted in serious problems. Problems with rivalry, infertility, jealousy, grief, etc. were directly caused by marrying relatives.  Today, intermarriage is still a sin from God’s perspective, but it is also against civil law in most countries.

What was the original skin color of humans and how did it change?

A couple of years ago we received a similar question regarding the skin color of Adam.  At the time we did some research.  We will share that research with you as we did with our previous questioner.

There is only one skin color: a brown pigment called melanin.  All of humanity has basically the same skin color, just differing amounts of melanin.  People with very little melanin have “white” skin. Those with a lot of melanin have very dark brown or “black” skin. Brown skin comes from all variations between white and very dark brown. Oriental people appear to have yellow skin because their skin is slightly thicker which gives it a yellowish shade. Geneticists have found that four to six genes, each with multiple variations, control the amount and type of melanin produced. Because of this, many variations of skin shades exist.  In fact, it is quite easy for one couple to produce a wide range of skin shades in just one generation.

To illustrate the basic genetic principles involved in determining skin shade, we can use a simplified explanation, with just two genes controlling the production of melanin. Capital A and B versions of the skin color genes code for a lot of melanin, while the small a and b versions code for a small amount of melanin.

If the father's sperm carried the AB version and the mother's ovum carried the AB, the child would be AABB, with a lot of melanin, and thus have very dark skin. Should both parents carry the ab version, the child would be aabb, with very little melanin, and thus very light skin. If the father carries AB (very dark skin) and the mother carries ab (very light skin), the child will be AaBb, with a middle brown shade of skin. In fact, the majority of the world's population has a middle brown skin shade. A simple exercise will illustrate that if each parent has a middle brown shade of skin (AaBb), the combinations that they could produce result in a wide variety of skin shades in just one generation.

 We know from the Bible that Adam and Eve were the first two people.  Based on the skin colors seen today, we can infer that they most likely would have had a middle brown skin color. Their children, and children's children, could have ranged from very light to very dark. Their descendants filled the earth. However, the world's population was reduced to eight during the Flood of Noah. From these eight individuals have come all the tribes and nations. It is likely that the skin shade of Noah and his family was middle brown, thus enabling his sons and their wives to produce a variety of skin shades in just one generation.

In Genesis 11 we read of the rebellion at the Tower of Babel. God judged this rebellion by giving each family group a different language. This made it impossible for the groups to understand each other, and so they split apart, each extended family going its own way, and finding a different place to live. The result was that the people were scattered over the earth. Because of the new language and geographic barriers, the groups no longer freely mixed with other groups, and the result was a splitting of the gene pool. Different cultures formed, with certain features and skin color becoming predominant within each group. The characteristics of each became more and more prominent as new generations of children were born, creating the so-called “races” of people that we see in the world today.