Essay Sample about Marriage in Pentateuch

Marriage refers to the union of two people in a formal way. It involves a man and a woman who are willing to live together as husband and wife with the intention of creating a family (Kostenberger & Jones, 2004). Marriage is well elaborated in the first five books of the bible which are known as the Pentateuch. Marriage is a practice which has been carried forward since the time when the world was created up to the present times.

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However, there are a lot of similarities between the nature of marriage in the Pentateuch and the present day marriage. This is because the Pentateuch marriage formed a base on which modern marriages are built (Laffey, 1998). Nonetheless, there is quite a range of dissimilarities between the two forms because people tend to defy from the old nature of marriage in Genesis.

According to (Gangel, 1977), in the Pentateuch, marriage is regarded as a divine institution whose founder is God. Marriage was not out of man's imagination, but a result of God's attempt to make his creation order complete. God created a woman for Adam so that she could be a helper to him. This was the very first marriage in existence on earth and it was holy since it was blessed by God. The current society regards marriage holy. People get married in the church by a religious leader (Strong & Cohen, 2013). Religious actions such as the celebration of the Holy Eucharist are involved. However, other forms of marriages are practiced alongside Christian marriages. For instance, some people choose to have a civil wedding which lacks religious background. The civil wedding is built on legal procedures of the country in which the couple lives. Religious actions are not involved, therefore, marriage in this case is not divine. Customary marriage is also practiced by many people. These kinds of marriage are built on the traditional beliefs and customs of the participants. Traditional religious actions such as pouring libations are involved. Furthermore, "come-we-stay" form of marriage is also widespread. Here a couple starts living together like a married couple despite them not being legally married. Their marriage is earthly since it is not in line with God's standards of marriage.

In the Pentateuch, marriage is a union in which a man and a woman join and become one flesh. The woman is created out of the man's rib, and this shows that they are of the same flesh (Gangel, 1977). On the bodily level, the man and the woman become one flesh after consummating their love through their indulgence in physical intimacy and they become one even in the spiritual level. Christian marriages of today are based on this fact and couples try to their best to remain faithful to each other by avoiding extramarital affairs. However, unchristian marriages are contrary to this principle since a marriage can be a union between a man and more than one woman for instances in cases of polygamy. A person becomes one flesh with not just with one person but with all the people they get sexually intimate.

The purpose of marriage is to create companionship both in the Pentateuch and in today's forms of marriage (Ash, 2001). In Genesis, Eve was created to provide company to Adam since Adam was lonely. Marriage adds meaning to life when people live together as a family. A new family is created when both a man and a woman leave their parents and form a fresh family. In today's society, people get married so that they can have a companion who will add happiness to their lives and also be with them when they are facing life. All they seek is to have a partner whom they can share all their joys and sorrows with.

Moreover, marriage is created for the purpose of providing sexual satisfaction both in Pentateuch and in the current society marriage. Both the man and the woman complement each other in sex and from this, a new generation is created. In Genesis, God blessed marriage and ordered the man to have children hence children are as a result of God's plan. Married couples in today's society also bear children and this makes God happy.

Both parties have different roles in the marriage. This is universal for both Pentateuch and the marriage of today. The duty of the man vary from those of the woman, however, none of the genders is more precious than the other. In Pentateuch, the woman is responsible for bearing children whereas, toiling is the man's work. Ruling over the woman is also the man's work and he is the head of the family. This is because the woman was created last and out of him. Further, his headship is seen when God asks him why they ate the forbidden fruit despite him being the last to eat. On the other hand, duties are shared in modern marriages, for instance, it is a woman's duty to bear children and to act as their nanny for the rest of their lives. Women are also charged with the responsibility of keeping the house clean and some go to an extent of paying family bills. In the same vein, men are given the responsibility of bringing food to the stable and also providing financial support to the family. Important family decisions are also made by the man since he is the head of the family. The woman plays along with his rules and treats him with much respect since she subordinates him.

However, as much as this principle of man and woman having different roles in marriage is common in both forms, a little dissimilarity of either of the parties assuming all the roles is seen. This is in modern marriages whereby a man fails in his duties and the woman takes up his roles. This may be brought about by the man bring jobless and bankrupt rendering him unsupportive to his family. The woman is forced to provide for the family and this lowers the ego of the man since he sees himself inferior to the woman. Ultimately, the man seizes to be the head of the family because major decisions stem from the woman and the man has nothing to do with them (Story & Bradbury, 2004).

Sexual affairs outside the marriage are not in line with God's plan and are discouraged. This is both in Christian marriage and even in the Pentateuch. One man is meant for one wife and vice versa since marriage is divine and it is the union that binds a man and a woman into one flesh. However, God's order for marriage was later disobeyed when people engaged themselves into polygamy, homosexuality, and adultery. Polygamy goes against God's plan of one woman for one man because in it a man marries many women. Adultery breaks the commitment between a man and a woman whereas homosexuality is a revolt against God's plan of heterosexual marriage (Imielinski, 1969). Marriage these days is facing serious problems of adultery, polygamy, and homosexuality. Spouses are not able to keep their promise on faithfulness when they lust for other people and end up having sex with them. This results in breakage of marriages when one partner discovers that they are being cheated on. Sometimes this can lead to an even greater problem when the cheated partner decides to revenge by equally cheating on the other one. Consequently, there is spread of sexually transmitted infections and the couples pay dearly for their actions. The present-day society is rotten and actions of homosexuality are not frowned upon. It is a free world and marriage between people of the same sex is becoming the order of the day (Haider-Markel & Joslyn, 2005). It is weird how people of the same sex engage in sexual intercourse since this goes against the natural way of sexual relationships. Additionally, polygamy is widespread in the society where many women get married to the same man. This breeds hatred between them since each woman feels like the husband preferred to have another woman because she is not enough for him. Marriage is at a greater danger at the moment because women are fighting for their right to marry more than one man. Certainly, this is worse than polygamy and can lead to worse repercussions.

Deviance from God's rules brings big problems to people in future. This is common in both the Pentateuch and modern marriage. When people live contrary to God's expectations trouble befalls them. In the Pentateuch, Lot surrendered his daughter who was a virgin to the men of the town and as a result, his family gets into serious trouble; they are driven out of town by the angels. They are warned about the big destruction that will happen in Sodom and is told not to look back. However, lots wife feels too attached to Sodom and looks back, right away she turns into a pillar of salt. Lot and his daughter proceed with their journey and finally arrive at their destination. Subsequently, his daughters manage to get him very drank and decide to have sex with him in turns. This happens without his knowledge and it is clear that his daughters have been badly affected by the life they lived in Sodom. Out of this unclean act, a son is born. Agreeing with Carter & Glick (1976), cases of divorce are very many in the present society and are caused by adultery. On the other hand, polygamy has resulted into family rivalries and even spread of sexually transmitted infections.

Favoritism in families causes permanent harm. This is common in both the Pentateuch and modern marriage. Favoritism refers to a situation whereby one person is treated better than the rest. Favoritism is often practiced in polygamous families. In the Bible, for instance, Jacob loved Joseph more than his other sons because he was born by his favorite wife. He made him an exceptional tunic which his brothers lacked. For this reason, the brothers became more jealous of him and when he narrates his dream of reigning over them they decided to kill him. Luckily, Joseph escapes death when Judah convinces them to trade Joseph into slavery instead of killing him, this way they will gain money that can be of help to them. The unforgettable rivalries midst the twelve tribes of Israel originated from Jacob's sons as a result of their father's favoritism which had tough consequences. In the same way, in modern marriages, favoritism is practiced by the parents. This happens when a parent prefers one child over the other maybe because they see something special in him or her. A child is able to win a parent's special affection maybe by performing well in school and being obedient. Naturally, the parent ends up treating this child differently and in a better way than the rest. Subsequently, hatred arises between the children and serious trouble befalls the family especially when the unflavored child tries to hit back on the preferred one. Cases of children harming their siblings e.g. by poisoning and killing are very common these days and have all resulted from favoritism in marriages (Sprenkle, 2003).

Sprenkle (2003) says that marriage these days is problematic. It is facing a lot of problems for example divorce, materialism, lack of proper communication and negative media influences among others. All these problems arise from the fact that marriages are no longer built on a biblical teaching given by God. On the other hand marriage in the Pentateuch is a beautiful thing and none of these problems was experienced.

Additionally, marriage in Pentateuch was love oriented whereas in modern society people get married for materialistic gains. Majority of people choose getting married to a person who is wealthy just to make sure their future remains secure.

The media has negatively impacted on marriage. Movies and television programs aired online, for example, photography and advertisements where condoms and contraceptives are encouraged, have badly shaped people's mind. Young children are filled with the desire of knowing how sex is like and they end up engaging in premarital sex hence breaking their purity. Finally, all these actions have led to the increased number of failed marriages and also sexual immoralities.