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Where did Cain get a wife?

Who did Cain marry? This is a question that has baffled people for ages: If God only created two people, Adam and Eve, then how could their sons and daughters find people to marry?

Well, the Bible says that Cain did find a wife (See Genesis 4:16-17) so where did she come from?

Take a look at Genesis 3:20 "And Adam called His wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living." This verse tells us that every human being is a descendent of Eve, since she was the first woman God created and there weren't any other women at the beginning (See Genesis 2:20-25). So we see that all other women came from Eve.

The Bible tells us that Cain was the first child born to Adam and Eve (Genesis 4:1) and the Scriptures go on to say that they had other sons and daughters (Genesis 5:4). We're not told exact number of children, but Adam lived for 930 years (Genesis 5:5) so their long life spans provided them with plenty of time for a great deal of childbearing! After all, God specifically told them to "be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28) so it's safe to assume that they had a large family.

But if the human race stopped there, then we wouldn't be here today, would we? And so, we must conclude that, in order to perpetuate life, the children of Adam and Eve married one and other. But keep in mind that anyone who gets married today is, in a sense, marrying someone who is related to them because we all originated from the same two parents. (Acts 17:26)

But doesn't the Bible forbid brothers and sisters to marry? Yes, but these laws were not in effect until God gave them through Moses (Leviticus 18). We read in Genesis that Abraham married Sarah, his half-sister (Genesis 20:12) and God showed His blessing by making Abraham the father of the Israelites, and the lineage of the Messiah (Genesis 17:1-8). It was about 400 years later when God outlawed the marrying of near relatives.

Today, when two people who are closely related get married, there are genetic deficiencies that can often result, but when Adam and Eve were created, their genes weren't corrupted by sin. Since Cain was the first child ever born, he would have received genes from his parents that were nearly perfect. It must have been safe for God  to allow the first children to marry within their family. But things have changed since that time. Because of Adam and Eve's disobedience, everything in nature was tainted by sin and has been deteriorating over the millenniums of history (Genesis 3:17-18; Romans 8:22). The Lord knew in advance that this degeneration would take place because of sin, and so He made laws forbidding incest and the inner family marriages before things got out of control.