A Brief History of Biblical Marriage

Date: January 6, 2025

This article is a brief overview of the history of Biblical marriage. The following details are a mix of Biblical reference and my personal point of view. This article is not legal advice and should not be taken as legal advice. The author of this article is not a licensed attorney.

In the beginning when our Heavenly father spoke all things into existence, He had a plan for His people to enter into marriage covenants. Through Adam and Eve He created a one man/one woman relationship model that has thrived since then.

In the early days of man, marriage occurred with a very simple process. When a man took a woman and consummated the relationship they were now married. The woman assumed the role as a wife and the man assumed the role as a husband. Since then, multitude upon multitude of human cultural influences have based marriage around a series of ceremonial processes.

Despite any cultural influence, if you are a follower of Jesus as I am, your marriage process should reflect God’s process in entering into a marriage covenant with us, His Bride. That’s right, the Bible outlines a spiritual marriage process that we today can model our wedding after.

When Jesus walked the Earth, the Jewish people practiced a wedding ceremony that many today still practice. In fact, my Wife Melissa and I modeled our wedding ceremony as close this model as possible. I must say it was a quite fulfilling experience.

In this process, a groom would approach the father of a woman in which he would like to make his bride. He would offer the woman’s father a contract. This contract in Hebrew is known as a Ketubah.

The Ketubah included the outline of what the prospective groom would offer not only to the woman, but even a price to paid to the woman’s father. The price paid to the father wasn’t because the woman was for sale but because the father would have to make up for the work done by his daughter once she was married and gone.

The decision was up to the woman to accept the man’s Ketubah. Upon acceptance, she would drink from a cup (known as the cup of love) and enter into an engagement period with the man. This engagement period is known as a betrothal period. During this time the two would be considered as a married couple but would not live together for about a year. They would stay loyal to each other while planning and prepare for their wedding ceremony.

At a moments notice, usually about one year after entering into the betrothal, the father of the groom would sound a horn. No one knew the day or the hour in which the groom’s father would choose. At this time the groom would send for his bride. She would be taken away from her father’s home and brought to the home of the groom’s father.

During the ceremony, the groom would now drink from a cup with the bride. This was the final step, making the two an officially wedded couple.

After this, there would be a 7 day “close in” period in which the couple and their wedding party group would celebrate the union. Once complete, the two were now publicly known as a wedded couple.

Today this marriage process is gaining more and more popularity. There is a docudrama known as “Before the Wrath” that is a wonderful depiction and explanation of a Galilean wedding. I would suggest every Bible believer to watch it.

Christians all over America are making valiant efforts on returning to our Biblical roots. Marriage is a gift that our Heavenly Father gave us out of love. Since the inception of marriage, a very evil force has worked diligently to distort it’s purpose and glory.

Myself and the team fo Yokeasy are working diligently to restore marriage. Marriage is precious. Marriage is righteous. We, the Bible believers must push hard to restore marriage and push for Biblical marriage values.

The fight is not about whether marriage is about one man and one woman. The fight is about empowering society with the truth on marriage and how it represents a process of beautiful salvation. Not happiness or loyalty, but eternally adjoined with Jesus, our savior.

Please read our other articles and should you know any friends or family seeking marriage, please encourage them to enter into a marriage covenant rather that contractual adhesion marriage. Thank you for reading.