Are You Married?

[EzraLB]

I have a question about an issue that was recently brought up on another website during a discussion on CI. Someone posited the contention that marriage is impossible and not recognized by Yahweh unless a woman is a virgin at the time of marriage, and used the following as a reference:

https://areyoumarried.wordpress.com/

I know it's written by a Judeo-Christian babbler, and my instinct tells me that it can't possibly be true. Of course he cited Romans 7:2 and Deuteronomy 22:13, etc.

In response to this--and tell me if I'm wrong--was that I used the first couple, Adam and Eve as an example. Clearly, Eve was seduced by the serpent prior to when Adam "knew" Eve. Out of that act, Eve bore Cain. After that Adam "knew" Eve and she bore Abel. Yahweh would not have recognized a marriage between Eve and the serpent because it was a mixed-race coupling, thus freeing her from the law on that point. Whereas her subsequent marriage to Adam would have been recognized by Yahweh, despite the fact that she was no longer a virgin.

Is there anything in Scripture that specifically states that Yahweh will not recognize a marriage between a man and a non-virgin? I can't find any such thing.

Why did Yahweh command Hosea to marry Gomer, a woman "of harlotry" except to show an example of sin and redemption? It would seem to me that Yahweh is more concerned that a marriage takes place between two Adamites of "one flesh" than He is about strict issues of virginity.

A Judeo-Christian would probably claim that it's better for a White man to marry an Asia virgin (if he can find one) than it is to marry a White non-virgin who is truly repentant.

I've listened to Bill's podcast on adultery and fornication in Corinthians, but I didn't hear anything that specifically dealt with the issue of virginity and marriage. I understand that virginity in marriage is preferable, but is it required in all cases to be a legitimate marriage in all cases?

[Joe]

Hos 1:2 The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.

I think this is telling Hosea to marry a woman of Ephraim, as they went into idolatry ...which since Israel was married to Yahweh God is adultery. And Yahweh will not marry another people.

I think you are right about marriage, but there is a difference between Yahweh's permissive will and His sovereign will. Meaning that virgins being married is ideal, but for the hardness of our hearts divorce was permitted in the Law of Moses.

[Heather]

I thought the strict virgin law applied to Levites? What about widows? They couldn't present themselves as virgins if they weren't, but I didn't see how it was unrecognized by God.
Israel whored around for some time without the bill of divorcement and offers of repentance.

[ElleJay]

I thought the strict virgin law applied to Levites?

Heather, Below is the passage you are referring to:

And he shall take a wife in her virginity. A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife. Neither shall he profane his seed among his people: for I the LORD do sanctify him.
(Leviticus 21:13-15)

Elle

[wmfinck]

I did address the material in this website in a couple of podcasts, a long time ago on my old and now discontinued Monday night Open Forum program.

The issues raised by the "Are You Married" site are specifically addressed here:

Marriage and Scripture - Christogenea Forum Call 06-20-11
http://christogenea.org/podcasts/marriage-and-scripture-christogenea-forum-call-06-20-11

And maybe also here, but I do not remember:

1 Corinthians Chapter 7 & Marital Relations - Christogenea Forum Call 03-14-11
http://christogenea.org/podcasts/1-corinthians-chapter-7-marital-relations-christogenea-forum-call-03-14-11

Or perhaps here (LOL, sorry!):
Israel, Sin, the Law and Marriage Revisited
http://christogenea.org/podcasts/israel-sin-law-and-marriage-revisited

Yahweh accepted the offspring of unions in which the wives were not virgins. One example is Seth, another is Solomon. If I remember properly, the authors of the site in question ignore God's permissive will and take into consideration only His sovereign will.

The requirement in the law to have a virgin for a wife applied only to Levites. Men of other tribes could expect a bride to be a virgin, but it was not a requirement in the law and therefore it is the prerogative of the man as to whether he would accept a maiden who was not a virgin.

Paul said that widows who were not really widows should marry. In other words, there were evidently women who no longer had husbands for one reason or another, and who therefore claimed to be widows while perhaps they were not really widows.