How OT Jews handled marriage

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RedTent

RedTent

Banned
#1
Oct 31, 2011
8,200
182
0
#1
Most people think we are not to follow the laws of the Jews, but I was curious about how the laws that regulated married life worked out. Most Jews don't follow these, now, but there is a group in New York that do. I read a report on their family life. I read other works about this, including how it worked out in the middle ages.

Actually, they are the same laws we have in the NT such as to love your wife as yourself and obey your husband. The Jews wrote instructions beyond what OT scripture gives, a sort of commentary and instruction book on how to act out what the bible says.

According to what I read, these ways of handling marriage works out in giving a foundation for a wonderful life. One instruction says that God counts tears, so they are not to make each other cry.

Sabbath starts at sundown on Friday night. Friday dinner is a celebration of Sabbath and family. There are many instructioons about it, part of it is a recitation of a prayer that praises the wife for what she has done for them during the week.

There are lots of other ways they are told to handle marriage. I was favorably impressed.

I hope lots of cc posters will comment.
 
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kenisyes

Guest
#2
#2
Well, when one of the laws has to be that adultery merits capital punishment, one has to wonder how well the system worked.
 
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Songbird_7

Guest
#3
#3
I would certainly love it if my family sang a song of appreciation to me :) I know people who celebrate the Jewish feasts, but I don't know how far beyond that they follow the old laws. Personally, it's not for me, but if others want to live that way I have no problem with it (unless they are trying to stone people for picking up sticks on the Sabbath). I think if we follow Christ's commandments, we are going to mutually love and respect one another. There is quite a bit of instruction in the NT for how families should live. God's plan is certainly what's best, and we can see the results of sinful living in the destruction of the family in our world.
 
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Songbird_7

Guest
#4
#4
I will say this, though. Someone at our church gave a message explaining the marriage ceremony of the Jews and I was totally fascinated. They put such emphasis on the bride being pure and the bridegroom honoring her and coming with such celebration....I wish I had been able to experience a marriage like that!
 
RedTent

RedTent

Banned
#5
Oct 31, 2011
8,200
182
0
#5
=kenisyes; Well, when one of the laws has to be that adultery merits capital punishment, one has to wonder how well the system worked.
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Don't think that tells how God's suggestions for a happy marriage works, it says that people have always been the same. Besides, lots of OT people lived with adultery and weren't stoned. Course, people thought men were so special they didn't need to live by the rules, they weren't stoned.

What I have wondered about is God's freedom with giving the death penalty. Some say it proves that God is a cruel God and those 613 laws He gave are to be ignored. I'm wondering if it doesn't mean that sin kills in a forever way, and God wants to not only give His son for our salvation, but protect us from the people determined to keep it in their lives, and teach it to others. God certainly wanted to rid the earth of idol worshippers, or people who would murder so they endangered those who were His.
 
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kenisyes

Guest
#6
#6
RedTent said:
Don't think that tells how God's suggestions for a happy marriage works, it says that people have always been the same. Besides, lots of OT people lived with adultery and weren't stoned. Course, people thought men were so special they didn't need to live by the rules, they weren't stoned.

What I have wondered about is God's freedom with giving the death penalty. Some say it proves that God is a cruel God and those 613 laws He gave are to be ignored. I'm wondering if it doesn't mean that sin kills in a forever way, and God wants to not only give His son for our salvation, but protect us from the people determined to keep it in their lives, and teach it to others. God certainly wanted to rid the earth of idol worshippers, or people who would murder so they endangered those who were His.
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You have the correct conclusion. Torah is the blueprint of the universe. We think of it as Law, meaning laws on us (like speeding or parking in the wrong place), It's the laws of the universe. For God to tell them to a people makes the people special. First they know Him in a special way, as they do not have to guess what actions will bless them, because He has told them specifically. Second, because they know Him, they become an example to the world that a nation can be blessed.

In Hebrew, the usual word for death does not mean to "cease functioning". It means to be "cut off" (from life). So just like kosher meat is based on chewing the cud (symbol of meditating on God's word), and cloven hooves (meaning to walk in heaven as you step on the earth), death is prescribed so that the example that adultery cuts you off from God's blessings, is preserved for the rest of the (BC) world.

That's what's right and what's wrong with the whole OT law: what's right is we are told God's master plan and what sacrifices it takes to be in step with it. What's wrong is no one but Jesus can take on becoming that example that the Jews under the Law were offered the chance to be. (That's why He fulfills it.) That's what's right and wrong with Jewish marriage: The Law tells us what it ought to be, Jesus empowers us for real love so that it can be.
 
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violakat

Guest
#7
#7
kenisyes said:
Well, when one of the laws has to be that adultery merits capital punishment, one has to wonder how well the system worked.
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If you knew you would be stoned to death for adultery, would you be more likely to commit it?
 
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violakat

Guest
#8
#8
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In looking at your second response, I'm adding this. Yes, we can't live up to God's law, because we are sinners. However, some would say the Law is a reflection of our lives and how desperately we need a savior. It's like telling someone who's blind and walking around in a vast hole trying to get out "that hey your in a hole, but I can get you out." The blind person has to choose to trust or not. Just like we have to choose to trust or not. But in order for the blind person to trust, he needs to know that he's in a hole, and until he's told that, he may never realize what he needs.
 
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kenisyes

Guest
#9
#9
violakat said:
If you knew you would be stoned to death for adultery, would you be more likely to commit it?
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It doesn't seem to stop murder in our culture.
 
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violakat

Guest
#10
#10
kenisyes said:
It doesn't seem to stop murder in our culture.
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The thing is, I don't usually see murderers get killed until maybe years down the road, if even then. And instead, those waiting for death row, end up in prison, living the good life quite frequently. And then frequently, their judgement get overturned. Now, if our culture actually showed they meant what they said when it came to crimes, I think you would see a lot of change.
 
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kenisyes

Guest
#11
#11
violakat said:
The thing is, I don't usually see murderers get killed until maybe years down the road, if even then. And instead, those waiting for death row, end up in prison, living the good life quite frequently. And then frequently, their judgement get overturned. Now, if our culture actually showed they meant what they said when it came to crimes, I think you would see a lot of change.
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I've heard both arguments: yours in this post, and the one Jesus uses when He writes in the sand.
 
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violakat

Guest
#12
#12
kenisyes said:
I've heard both arguments: yours in this post, and the one Jesus uses when He writes in the sand.
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Kenisyes, I feel like we are both derailing Red's thread. I'm going to start anther thread, so we can continue this discussion. I'm going to try and copy and paste everything we said here, and then post my response.
 
RedTent

RedTent

Banned
#13
Oct 31, 2011
8,200
182
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#13
Songbird_7 said:
I will say this, though. Someone at our church gave a message explaining the marriage ceremony of the Jews and I was totally fascinated. They put such emphasis on the bride being pure and the bridegroom honoring her and coming with such celebration....I wish I had been able to experience a marriage like that!
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Following how God tells us to honor women, and the special places so many women in the bible had is such a special study.

Instructions to obey the husband is part of God's plan, but instructions to the husband is also part of the plan. Neither are to harm the other, emotionally, physically, or verbally.

I have been to several protestant weddings that said that they dedicated their life to each other under Christ, mentioning that Christ came first in their life and their marriage was under Him. Each of those marriages have been very successful, too.
 
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