The Truth About Biblical Marriage (Part 1): From Polygyny to Property Contracts, Dismantling the Myth of "Traditional Values"
Whenever society discusses the definition of marriage, "returning to Biblical tradition" is always the loudest slogan of the conservative camp. But have you ever wondered what it would be like if you actually "traveled" back to the Biblical era and attended a wedding? You might be shocked, confused, or even outraged.
In his book God and Sex, Harvard biblical scholar Michael Coogan points out a key fact: the world of marriage in the Bible is practically another planet compared to modern society.
If we were to truly "follow the Bible exactly," marriage would be filled with polygyny, property transactions, arranged marriages, and an extremely rigorous patriarchal structure. This article will take readers deep into the social background of the Bible to dismantle those over-beautified myths of tradition.
1. The Original Purpose of Marriage: The Family as a "Production Tool"
In modern culture, marriage is inextricably linked to "romantic love." Two people fall in love, explore compatibility, and finally decide to marry. But in the Biblical era, this was not the mainstream model at all.
In ancient Israel, the primary function of marriage was not emotional exchange, but producing offspring, specifically male offspring.
In an environment of harsh survival where infant mortality rates were as high as 50%, children were precious economic assets and labor.
"Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them." (Psalm 127:4-5)
This metaphor, which compares children to "tools of combat," reveals the survival pressures of the society at that time. Because infant mortality was extremely high (up to 50%), ancient Israelites generally did not practice birth control. Marriage was like an investment in the survival of the family; a woman's value was largely determined by her fertility.
This also explains why "infertility" in Biblical narratives was a severe curse or shame (such as the struggles of Sarah, Hannah, and Leah). The establishment of the marriage system was essentially to ensure the transmission of family genes and the inheritance of property, rather than for the union of two souls.
2. On the Controversy of Abortion and Fetal Status
Precisely because reproduction was so important, modern anti-abortion debates often try to find evidence in the Bible. However, Coogan points out that the Bible actually never directly mentions abortion.
Interestingly, those who support pro-choice often cite the law in Exodus 21:22-25: if two men fight and hit a pregnant woman, causing a miscarriage, but the woman herself is not injured, the perpetrator only needs to pay a fine. This implies that in Biblical law, the fetus does not possess a status of "life (person)" equivalent to an adult; otherwise, the punishment would be "life for life."
Conversely, those who oppose abortion cite the sentimental descriptions in Job or the Psalms about God knitting life in the womb. But these scriptures are more like retrospective poetic associations of divine providence than scientific or legal statements. In fact, if God truly and precisely controlled every fetus in the womb, how could the extremely high natural miscarriage rate of that time be explained? Biblical authors did not have a unified view on "fetal status"; they were more concerned with the continuation of the family.
3. Marriage as a "Property Contract": Bride-price, Power, and Transfer
In the Bible, marriage is legally referred to as berît (contract/covenant). This was not a romantic agreement between two individuals, but a new power agreement between two male heads of households.
The Logic of Bride-price
Marriage involved the transfer of property. The groom or his father had to pay a bride-price to the bride's father, which was actually a "compensation" for the bride's family losing labor and fertility.
- Labor Transaction: To marry Rachel, Jacob worked for seven years for his uncle Laban. As a result of being tricked into marrying Leah, he worked another seven years.
- War Trophies: To marry Saul's daughter Michal, David was required to pay "a hundred Philistine foreskins" as a bride-price. David ultimately brought back two hundred, which was a bloody display of military force.
- Commodity Value: The prophet Hosea once "bought" back his wife for fifteen shekels of silver, a homer and a lethek of barley.
Betrothal and Ownership
Biblical law viewed "betrothal" as a transfer of ownership. Once betrothed, a woman legally became the "property" of her fiancé. If she had a relationship with someone else at this time, it was considered "adultery" rather than simple premarital sex, because the victim was the man who owned the property rights to her.
This patriarchal color still remains in modern Western weddings: the ceremony where the father "gives away" the bride to the groom is essentially a symbolic evolution of the ancient property transfer.
4. The Daily Life of Biblical Heroes: The Forgotten Polygyny
If you declare that "monogamy" is the only Biblical paradigm, then you are actually denying the "Biblical life" of Abraham, Jacob, David, and Solomon.
- Abraham: Had Sarah, Hagar, and Keturah.
- Jacob: Simultaneously had two pairs of sisters/concubines (Leah, Rachel, and their handmaids).
- David: Had at least eight or more official wives, as well as countless concubines.
- Solomon: Legend says he had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. While this carries literary exaggeration, it reflects the social reality of polygyny as a symbol of power.
Polygyny was not only legal in the Biblical era but was also a symbol of social status. Biblical law even specifically regulated inheritance in polygynous families: if a man has two wives (one loved, one unloved), he cannot deprive the firstborn son of the "unloved wife" of his inheritance rights (Deuteronomy 21:15-17). This proves that polygyny was the norm in the legal framework, not an exception. If the Bible truly provides a "uniquely unchanging" marriage model as some people claim, then supporting polygyny seems to have more "scriptural basis" than supporting same-sex marriage.
5. Sex and Politics: The Brutal Function of the Royal Harem
Under a monarchical system, sexual acts were often a declaration of power. Taking possession of a predecessor's harem was equivalent to declaring that one had inherited the throne.
- Absalom: To declare a successful rebellion, he publicly had relations with David's concubines on the roof of the palace.
- Solomon: When his brother Adonijah requested to marry Abishag, David's last attendant, Solomon immediately ordered his brother's execution because he knew the political coup attempt behind this request.
- David: In his old age and frailty, he needed the virgin Abishag to "keep him warm." When David could not be intimate with her, it became a signal of his political failure and the decline of his power.
In these power games, women were extremely dehumanized, becoming symbols to mark the rise and fall of power.
Conclusion: Unfreezing the Shackles of "Tradition"
From Michael Coogan's research, we see that marriage in the Bible is not a static, perfect sacred picture, but a complex system deeply embedded in the ancient Near Eastern patriarchal system, economic logic, and power games.
When we talk about "traditional marriage values" today, we are often selectively sampling, filtering out the parts that make modern morality uneasy. However, acknowledging the patriarchal nature and inconsistency of Biblical marriage is not to deny faith, but to liberate us from the "shackles of the letter." At the same time, it records how humans have tried to transcend these limitations.
In the next part, we will explore the violence of "ethnic boundaries" and how Jesus and Paul began to reshape this rigid system.