Habsburg Jaw and Cain’s Wife

Genesis 4:17
“A scientific paper, published in December 2019, appears to have proved conclusively that the Habsburg Jaw was caused by dangerous inbreeding within the House of Habsburg.

The Habsburg family ruled many parts of Europe for many centuries. Habsburgs ruled the Holy Roman Empire from Frederick III in 1452 to Charles VI in 1740 – although the related but mixed Habsburg-Lorraine family then took over. They also ruled Spain from Emperor Charles V in 1516 to King Charles II of Spain. Inheritance practices could easily have resulted in portions of these fragile European lands passing to other families, so it became the norm for both branches of the Habsburgs – and smaller branches in Bohemia (now Czechia) and Croatia – to choose spouses from among their own family.

So, if the Habsburg’s close intermarriages caused such problems, how could Cain marry his sister? The answer is simple – in that second generation of humans on earth, harmful genetic mutations had not sufficiently multiplied to cause danger. So the biblical position makes complete sense, as usual, and the Mosaic law against such intermarriage was not given for over 2,500 years.

Prayer: Lord, when we read Your word in the Bible, we have complete confidence that we are reading the truth. Thank You, Lord. Amen.

Author: Paul F. Taylor