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@lmorchard
Created May 12, 2012 16:58
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Some homework on the snarky Biblical marriage image I shared on facebook

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17m7ymo0bc12hjpg/original.jpg

Panel 1:

Bunk. Genesis 2:24 doesn't say any of those things. Especially not about arranged marriages or stoning. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%202&version=NIV#en-NIV-55

Panel 2:

Genesis 38:6-10 sounds like it's about "Levirate" marriage, wherein a brother is obliged to take on his widow-in-law. That sounds relatively protective of women, in a context where women have few rights otherwise. I guess the widow could refuse, but it probably wouldn't end well for her. I don't think that much of Genesis 38 sounds like a good model for marriage in America. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%2038&version=NIV#en-NIV-1126

Panel 3:

No Bible reference here, and I can't point to anything off the top of my head that supports this panel about concubines.

Panel 4:

This seems to me as a pretty raw deal for women. Deuteronomy 22:28-29 describes a compulsion on a man who rapes a virgin and is caught. The woman in question doesn't seem to have many options, but I can see in historical context where the arrangement is slanted in her favor. Today, though, requiring a rapist to pay the father and take the victim as a wife is pretty weak as a punishment. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+22&version=NIV#en-NIV-5499

Panel 5:

Pretty weak. Genesis 16 does not tell a story about a man acquiring a wife's property. Instead, it's about a wife offering up one of her slaves as a surrogate womb to her husband, because she herself is barren. Reads more like a story about slavery than about marriage. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%2016&version=NIV

Panel 6:

Numbers 31:17-18 sounds to me like the men are keeping the virgins for themselves, which I could see read as either wives or platonic servants. But, if there's no expectation that the virgins become wives of the victors, why slay all the women who've been with men? http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=numbers%2031&version=NIV#en-NIV-4682

Deuteronomy 21:10-14 is about how men should treat women amongst defeated enemies. The victorious man is allowed to take an enemy woman as his wife, as long as he lets her mourn the dead and take care of herself. And, if he later decides she's not so great, he has to let her go free and can't sell her. But, I'm not really seeing where in there the woman has much choice. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2021&version=NIV#en-NIV-5458

Panel 7:

No Bible reference here, and I can't point to anything off the top of my head that supports this panel about polygamy.

Panel 8:

Exodus 21:4 says more about slavery than marriage. It says that a master can give a male slave a wife. But, if the male and female slaves have children, only the man can go free after 7 years. The wife and children belong to the master. It doesn't say that the female slave must submit to the male as a wife, but it seems like a pretty raw deal all around. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2021&version=NIV#en-NIV-2082

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