The marriage, from the time of the engagement through to the uniting of bride and groom in his father’s home, was all of private, family arrangement without priestly or Levite participation (outside of the tribe of Levi itself). The right and duty to solemnize marriages was not assigned to the priestly family of Aaron or the Levite temple servants at all. 29:18-30) Neither did Jehovah God in all his hundreds of laws to his chosen people Israel order and outline a religious marriage ceremony for them. (a) What did the law not outline regarding marriages? (b) Marriage was what kind of affair and how was its binding nature emphasized?Ĥ There is no account of a religious ceremony for Isaac’s son Jacob when marrying Leah and Rachel. There was no religious ceremony about it, although God’s will was sought and recognized all the way through.Ĥ. But his taking her as wife was witnessed by more than four, and it was registered in the records of Abraham’s theocratic establishment and, of course, it is recorded in the Bible today.
#JEHOVAH WITNESS BEDROOM LAWS LICENSE#
So a marriage license was not necessary in his case. Isaac’s father Abraham, the head of the theocratic organization, had authorized it and Jehovah God who was looked to for guidance had directed the steps of the marriage procedure all the way. 24:2, 54, 59-61, 66, 67, NW) Isaac had not taken out any marriage license, any more than it is necessary to do so in some countries today.
Thus he took Rebekah and she became his wife.” But this taking of her as wife had public witnesses, namely, Abraham’s marriage agent and “the men who were with him” and Rebekah’s “nurse” and her other “lady attendants.” ( Gen. “After that Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother. Isaac was walking alone, meditating, and the servant brought Rebekah to him and related to Isaac just how he had obtained her for him. As God’s prophet, Abraham was his accepted priest for a large household, but there is no record that he was there when his oldest servant brought Rebekah from Mesopotamia to Isaac in the Negeb of Palestine. What does the Bible show regarding the manner in which Isaac’s marriage took place?ģ No, marriage is not a sacrament requiring the presence and performance of a religious clergyman or a Christian minister. This leads to the question, By whom may valid Christian marriages be solemnized? Is a civil or nonreligious marriage just as binding as a religious one, or is marriage a sacrament and so valid only when religious?ģ. The two genealogical records of Jesus were doubtless copied from the town records of Bethlehem by Matthew and Luke. It was also registered at the city or village recording office, and births resulting from the marriage union were also recorded there. Yet the marriage was valid and recognized by Jehovah God. But one thing is to be noted without fail, that from the days of Abraham forward there was no priest, Levite or other religious official present to perform any marriage ceremony.
Reasonably, then, these Jewish Christians carried over their marriage customs and arrangements from their former Jewish social system to the new Christian system of things. What facts regarding marriages are apparent from the Bible record?Ģ It must be remembered that the first Christians were Jews, or Israelites, even as Jesus himself was.
She waited for him, all dressed up in her prettiest, ready to be given to him by her father or guardian.- Matt. The bride did not keep her betrothed lover waiting before she put in appearance. Happy were those who were invited to the wedding evening meal. So the wedding became public property and was registered on the public consciousness, and on his bringing her home there was a wedding feast that was joined in by all the invited, as arranged by the bridegroom’s parents. There was a procession homeward by the couple amid a joyful group of celebrators. Then on the wedding evening the bridegroom went to the bride’s home and took her away to her new home. They do show that after the marriage was arranged for by the parents and through a go-between or marriage agent there was an engagement period of about a year in the case of virgin girls. The books of the Bible written expressly to and for Christians give no form of marriage ceremony for them. What wedding customs prevailed among the Israelites?