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“Marriage” From
Boyd’s Bible Dictionary
:
(husbanding). Monogamous (
Gen. 2:18-24; 7:13
18
And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
19
And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
20
And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
21
And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22
And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (Genesis 2:18‑24)
13
In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; (Genesis 7:13)
). Polygamous (
Gen. 4:19; 6:2
19
And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. (Genesis 4:19)
2
That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. (Genesis 6:2)
). Forbidden within certain degrees (Lev. 18; Deut. 27); and with
foreigners
(
Ex. 34:16
16
And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods. (Exodus 34:16)
). Monogamy re-instituted (
Matt. 19:5-6
5
And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
6
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. (Matthew 19:5‑6)
;
Mark 10:5-10
5
And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.
6
But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
7
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;
8
And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.
9
What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
10
And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. (Mark 10:5‑10)
).
“Wedding” From
Boyd’s Bible Dictionary
:
[
MARRIAGE
“Marriage” From
Concise Bible Dictionary
:
This is
God
’s institution: He said it was not good that
man
should be alone, and He provided a suitable help for
Adam
in the person of
Eve
. Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones, and
flesh
of my flesh: she shall be called
Woman
(
isha
), because she was taken out of Man (
ish
). Therefore shall a man leave his
father
and his
mother
, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (
Gen. 2:23-24
23
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (Genesis 2:23‑24)
). This declaration of union was confirmed by the
Lord
, who, in quoting the above, added, “Wherefore they are no more
twain
, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man
put
asunder” (
Matt. 19:5-6
5
And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
6
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. (Matthew 19:5‑6)
;
Mark 10:7-9
7
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;
8
And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.
9
What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. (Mark 10:7‑9)
). It is confirmed also by being taken as a
type
of the sacred union of the Lord with the
church
: “We are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great
mystery
: but I speak concerning Christ and the church” (
Eph. 5:30-32
30
For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
31
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
32
This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:30‑32)
).
All this shows that God’s institution of marriage was the union of one man and one woman, the
two
, and only two, becoming one. What is more than this is not of God, but is of human lust. This order was first broken through by
Lamech
, the sixth from Adam, who had two wives. Long after this instances are recorded of wives, on account of their great desire for
children
, giving their maid servants to their husbands: an act that would now be judged as most unnatural in a wife.
Sarai
gave her Egyptian
handmaid
to
Abram
“to be his wife” (the same word for “wife” being used for both Sarai and
Hagar
), and God said He would make of
Ishmael
a great nation.
Jacob
’s two wives gave their handmaids to their
husband
, and thus he had four wives. God reckoned the
twelve
sons of these four women equally as sons of Jacob, and they became the heads of
the
twelve tribes
. It might have been thought that God would not have blessed the issue of these unions, but He did: there is no record of any
law
having been given on this subject.
In early
times
marriages were also contracted between near relatives. This was altered by the
law of
Moses
as well as restrictions introduced as to
divorce
, though even under the law, because of the hardness of their hearts, Moses allowed them to put away their wives for any cause, “but from the
beginning
it was not so,” and from the
time
the Lord was on
earth
it was not to be so any longer (
Matt. 19:5-9
5
And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
6
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
7
They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
8
He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
9
And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery. (Matthew 19:5‑9)
). The choice of persons to be appointed as bishops and deacons in the church, was restricted to those who were the husbands of “one wife” (
1 Tim. 3:2,12
2
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach; (1 Timothy 3:2)
12
Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. (1 Timothy 3:12)
;
Titus 1:6
6
If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. (Titus 1:6)
). God has providentially so ordered it in all countries called
Christian
that a man is allowed to have but one wife; and in the best of those countries a man cannot divorce his wife except when she herself has already broken the marriage bond. Instruction is given in the
Epistles
to both: the wives are to be in subjection to their husbands, and the husbands are to love and cherish their wives, even as Christ the church (
Eph. 5:28-29
28
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
29
For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: (Ephesians 5:28‑29)
).
It is not now known how the negotiations were conducted that led to a man and woman being
betrothed
, or
espoused
, or what were the ceremonies usually attending it. The betrothed couple were at once looked upon as husband and wife, as seen in the case of
Joseph
, who thought of divorcing his espoused wife
Mary
(
Matt. 1:18-19
18
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
19
Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. (Matthew 1:18‑19)
). In the
East
a man does not usually see his espoused wife until they are married (as
Isaac
did not see
Rebecca
and had no choice in the matter), the engagement, and the amount of
dowry
to be paid by the husband to the
bride
’s father, being arranged by the relatives.
Of the ancient marriage ceremonies very little is known. On the
night
of a marriage the young women went forth with lamps or torches to meet the
bridegroom
and to escort him to the
house
of the bride, as in Matthew 25. Such processions have been seen in modern times, and the same cry has been heard, “Behold the bridegroom.” They had marriage
feasts
, as in the
parable
of Matthew 22 (when a special garment was provided for each of the guests), and as the one to which the Lord, His mother, and His disciples were invited at Cana, where the Lord made the water into
wine
(
John 2:1-11
1
And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:
2
And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.
3
And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.
4
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.
5
His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
6
And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.
7
Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.
8
And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.
9
When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,
10
And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.
11
This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him. (John 2:1‑11)
).
The
assembly
has been espoused as a chaste
virgin
to Christ (
2 Cor. 11:2
2
For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:2)
); and it waits for that glorious time when it will be said, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the
Lamb
is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.... arrayed in fine
linen
, clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of saints.... Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage
supper
of the Lamb” (
Rev. 19:7-9
7
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
8
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
9
And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. (Revelation 19:7‑9)
). The Lord will also have an earthly bride during the
kingdom
(
Hos. 2:7
7
And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now. (Hosea 2:7)
). See also the
Song of
Solomon
.
“Wedding” From
Concise Bible Dictionary
:
See
MARRIAGE
.
Strong’s Dictionary of Greek Words:
Number:
1062
(
find all occurrences in KJV Bible
)
Greek:
γάμος
Transliteration:
gamos
Phonic:
gam’-os
Meaning:
of uncertain affinity; nuptials
KJV Usage:
marriage, wedding
Call: 1-630-543-1441
“Study to show thyself approved unto God, … rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
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