Biblical Temporary Marriages

[CecilW]

Ok, time for the web footed teddy bear to stirrrrrrrrrrrr the pot ...

A while back, mention was made of "temporary marriages" in Islam.

Sir BumbleBerry asked me (notice how I cleverly sidestep responsibility for my own chronic inquisitiveness) whether there was any such thing in the Bible? ("Huh? Huh? Ya SURE?")

Ummm. Maybe ... Guess we need clever minds on this, while I wrestle with Easy Sudoku puzzles.

It seems that a man could become an indentured servant in Israel for a period of up to 6 years. During that time, his master could give him a wife who he, the master owned. The offspring of the union would belong to the master, rather than the indentured servant and, truth to tell, so still would the wife.

When the time of servitude was completed, the indentured man had two choices. He could leave, thus ending the marriage, which by law made it temporary. Alternatively, he could say, "I love my wife and kids. And the master ain't too bad either. I'll stick." That led to an awl through the ear, probably followed by the wearing of an earring, which would then have been a sign of servitude rather than decoration for a male, would it not?

At any rate, this would seem to, by God's law, institutionalize a temporary marriage situation, though with powerful incentives to make it permanent.

I think I lost the bet. Had to go buy Sir BumbleBerry another Giant Lollipop, Walgreen's, $1.00. Flat, about 6" across, multicolored? He loves the silly things. Won't let my have one, though, cause I'm diabetic. The stinker!

 

[Anonymous]

Hey Cecil,

soooo interesting, kinda sad though. A bit related: I was watching a documentary I got from the library called (well here's link):
http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom ... 80,00.html

and it had a story of a free black guy who noticed a slave woman and her kids working in a plantation (back in the day). He loved the woman so much and he had lots of money and said to the owner "Please sell me this woman and her kids". The owner said he would never sell any of his slaves so the man moved into the plantation and became as a slave all the days of his life so he could live and love this woman. If that is not LOVE I don't know what is. That is what I would want for myself! I'm sure the rest of the ladies on here know what I'm talking about. This is a true story by the way. Great documentary with great original music (real old time slave spirituals!)

Maria

 

[CecilW]

WOW!

Now, where do we go to actually SEE this video?

 

[Anonymous]

Hey again,

well i checked it out of the public library. Its a documentary. There were still some ex slaves alive in the 30's when they sent out some government survey types with typewriters and wrote down word for word everything these people had to say about their lives when they were slaves. These narratives are in library of congress. The documentary shows photos of some of them and has some celebrities dramatizing the narratives as if they were monolugues. It's pretty nice. Thye talked about how they married and how the babies didn't belong to them. Even how the courting was so innocent! They talked about sometimes the slave owners forced marriages to get certain characteristics in baby slaves and they talked about how some slaves were sorry they were liberated becasue they had very caring owners. It's good stuff. Here's another link to parts of the documentary on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qEbIqdQ ... re=related

Maria

 

[Mark C]

It seems that a man could become an indentured servant in Israel for a period of up to 6 years. During that time, his master could give him a wife who he, the master owned. The offspring of the union would belong to the master, rather than the indentured servant and, truth to tell, so still would the wife.

When the time of servitude was completed, the indentured man had two choices. He could leave, thus ending the marriage, which by law made it temporary...

Absolutely, Cecil! I have made the "opposite" point for quite some time as well. Not that the marriage is "temporary", in other words, but that a marriage licensed by Caesar ("another master"), by definition, follows those rules of slavery. The wife and children belong to the master. (And if you don't believe that, just ask the slavemaster - Child Protective Services et al. :evil: )

But your example shows clearly why so many "christian marriages" [sic] are equally temporary! (And it says volumes about why the Founders wisely made sure there was NOTHING in the Constitution about marriage!)


Blessings in Him,

Mark

 

[nathan]

OK, so I'm putting together Mark and Cecil's points to come to this conclusion of my own:

1) Our only "master" today should be the Lord. Not Caesar, not some slave-owner. Hopefully He is our wives' master also.
2) The only way to leave our marriages where we both serve the same Master is for us to leave our master also. (Or for the other party to leave us and the Master.)
3) Since you DO NOT want to leave this Master, therefore there should be no (Biblical anyway) temporary marriages today.
Q.E.D.

 

[ravmoshe]

I agree with Mark and Cecil The point was to take something temporary and make marriage eternal, which superseded the slavery issue.
rm

 

[sweetlissa]

So to take this one step further, does this then mean that marriage equals slavery when it is ordained by man rather than God?

Just curious

 

[CecilW]

2) The only way to leave our marriages where we both serve the same Master is for us to leave our master also. (Or for the other party to leave us and the Master.)
3) Since you DO NOT want to leave this Master...

GOT IT!!! Where do I sign up to get my ear righteously pierced? And what should I use for an earring? A cross stud? :ugeek:

 

[Mark C]

My understanding has long been that the "fashion" of ear piercing, particularly among males, traces directly from the tradition of slavery. There's a certain irony there, of course.

But as for the Biblical situation, Cecil - I have long prayed with each of my wives that He would take an awl and pierce my own ear with his awl, into the doorpost of His house, and that we would serve Him forever. Joshua had it right...


Blessings,
Mark

 

[brYce]

1) Our only "master" today should be the Lord. Not Caesar, not some slave-owner. Hopefully He is our wives' master also.

I think it is entirely possible that a man might become a servant of another man. That probably wouldn't happen in our countries, but most of the world is very poor. If both the men were Christians and they wanted to base their relationship around the Torah then perhaps a man would choose to work for another man to pay off his debts and such. Perhaps the master would love him so much that he would want him to join his family and marry off one of his daughters to him?