Who was Cain's wife?

Most anyone who has read the Bible or hangs around people who read the Bible is likely to run into this question.

That question is the formulation of one of many criticisms of Genesis.

The critique goes like this: Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel. Abel is killed by Cain. Cain goes on to get married and have children. So where did Cain find a wife?

Logic says Cain would have to have married his sister or a niece.

An internet search of "who was Cain's wife" yields LOTS of web pages. Some use that question to trash Christianity and others come up with a response defending Christianity. Check it out if you have the curiosity.

Below are summaries of three explanations I read and discussed with a few theology minded friends.

One defense is that indeed INCEST was OKAY in the initial phases of human existence because genetic damage as a result of the FALL had not accumulated to the point of being a problem. Thus, Cain would have married a sister or a niece. Such additional children of Adam and Eve are mentioned in Gen 5:4 and since Adam lived a long time (930 years) and we assume Eve lived quite long as well so they probably had LOTS of children.

The linkage of genetic damage to the Fall is consistent with a holistic approach to humanity. The Fall is about disobedience and there are spiritual consequences. But there are also other consequences that affect our humanity: getting the ground to produce food became difficult and childbirth is painful (physical) and there is conflict between men and women (emotional and psychological).

Thus, after the Fall, in the physical realm, genetic damage built up and at some point, incest became problematic.

One wonders also if the prohibition against incest has basis in emotional harm to those involved in the context of disruption of family structures? Given that life spans are reported to be so much longer in the early part of Genesis and the potential for have such large numbers of children, the disruption to family structures would be reduced and once a large population has been generated the opportunity for marriage with individuals of greater familial distance is more likely.

In any case, by the time of Moses and the Law, incest was explicitly prohibited (Leviticus). However, one must wonder if that was merely a codification of an earlier conclusion. Perhaps even in some middle to later part of Genesis, incest became NOT kosher. As we all know in Genesis there is a lot of polygamy going on and we know that is NOT right.

However, we can say this for sure: God's grace is greater than our sin. Jacob's polygamy was wrong and the constant bickering between his wives is the practical proof that polygamy is a bad idea. Yet, God used him and his family anyway. Whether Abraham's incest was explicitly wrong at that era of Jewish history I don't know but if it was, again God used him anyway.

There are at least two other resolutions to the who was Cain's wife problem.

One idea suggests that there were other humans besides the line of Adam which is hinted at in Gen 6:1-4. It would be safe to say that this is very speculative and not all would make that conclusion from the unusual descriptions of these beings. Theologically, it is also problematic if we believe in the unity of the human race in that we all descend from Adam and Christ is the perfect Adam to effect our redemption.

A third solution is of course that Adam and Eve and other early Genesis persons are non-literal in that they are the personifications of "everyman" and "everywoman" thus incest isn't an issue as the early chapters are generic to describe the human condition i.e. God is the Creator, how sin entered the world, conflict between men and women, sibling rivalries, etc. etc. etc.