Marriage Myths, Part 3 - Poor Widow?

 

For today’s post, we will tackle the next form of marriage portrayed in the graphic – levirate marriage. This is certainly one of the stranger forms of marriage to be presented by our graphic, and is sure to generate some good discussion. But as we ‘take every thought captive’ on this issue, we'll see that all is not as it appears. In the process,  a foundation will be laid that will help us more quickly explain and defend other types of ancient marriage.

First, what is levirate marriage? Simply put, levirate marriage occurred in ancient culture (and by the Bible’s prescription) when a woman was made a widow. It was incumbent on another male in the family (a brother of the widow’s husband) to take over the position as husband and fulfill the associated responsibilities. That includes procreation, obviously. But it is telling that one of the graphic’s 2 complaints has to do with sex - as if that is the most important objection or purpose of marriage. Even then, however, it is not a valid complaint - I am not aware of any requirement, Biblical or otherwise, that a wife through levirate marriage was required to submit sexually. (is this what the graphic was implying by its objection to “submission” in our prior look at traditional marriage?)

Let’s face it, though –there still seem to be legitimate reasons to be spooked by such an arrangement. If you have one, can you imagine copulating with your brother or sister-in-law? Or being required to marry them? Probably not – it hardly seems to be an ideal situation to us in modern America. So why would it have been so important – a duty, in fact – for people in ancient Israel to obey this mandate? (Gen 38:8) Why would Onan be punished, by God, for not having fulfilled this duty? (Gen 38:10) Why would women even be subject to the (perceived) torture of such an arrangement? 

The problem with such objections, as you will continue to see throughout this series, is they show complete ignorance of what ancient life was like. Regarding sex, what we value as ideals for marriage are based on modern concepts of romantic love. Some of those ideals include sex as something shared for mutual benefit of both partners. And this is seen to be an objectively better ideal for marriage. But this was not  so in the ancient world. Sex mainly served the purpose of procreation, and if you consider how high death rates were, you would know why! As much as 60% of children born would likely not even see puberty and be able to reproduce. [1].  Providing children to a family, then, was clearly much more vital than personal or individual pleasures!

Though we shudder to think of marriage in this way, relationships in general were not as personal to the ancients as they are to us. In fact, brothers and sisters often had closer relationships than husband and wife might! [2]  And this is for multiple reasons – one being that husbands were the labor force for a labor-intensive lifestyle. Second, psychology as we know it was not part of ancient thought. People did not dream about what could be, worry about what was or stress over what would be best for them. Rather, they accepted life as is, tried to make the most of it and were concerned with what was best for everyone. Arranged marriage, then, may not have been personal but it was extremely practical. This makes ancient marriage less glorious than our ideals in the West, but also not nearly as barbaric as skeptics like to think.

Aside from this, it is important to note that a woman without a husband in the ancient Near East was an outcast. Husbands were a guaranteed way to ensure descendants. Not just any children, but children that would maintain the family reputation (the core value of ancient people). And children born by a brother-in-law's involvement was believed to be the closest way to ensure children were genetically similar to the father. [3] And in this sense, levirate marriage served as an ideal equivalent to surrogate motherhood. 

Beyond that, however, marriage to the brother-in-law was needed for more practical reasons. A woman’s reputation was embedded in the husband's family. [4]  Once married, she became part of the husband’s family and lost all ties with her birth family. Any support she might receive in old age, or any land to be inherited (signs of security and status) came only from that family. So marrying within that family was the only guarantee to receive this support. 

Of course, while this explains the role or purpose of levirate marriage, it does nothing to address the full Biblical context. As much as it may be trendy to say “Look, this is in the Bible!” and decry it as an odd way to live, it is misguided to even do so to start with. Why? Many years after the events recorded in Genesis, the laws given by Moses (Lev 18:16) forbade a man to marry his brother’s wife. For this reason, rabbinic tradition shows us levirate marriage, in practice, only became required when the husband had no descendants. [5] And even then, a husband had the right to refuse levirate marriage (Deut 25:7-10). So it is not clear how widely practiced this form of marriage would have been (though it was not uncommon to end up a widow!)

In the end, it is tough to find levirate marriage objectionable. The benefits of it discussed so far may explain why it has been practiced by countless societies, and is still practiced in some parts of the world today. So we should be careful to judge these situations, as none of the concerns raised are things we need to worry about in the US. We have a tremendous ability to ensure births are successful, carrying family names on for generations. We also do not lose reputation or inheritance by being unable to provide children. And when people reach old age, we have social and government support for them.  But these remained real concerns in the ancient world, and levirate marriage addressed them – to the benefit of everyone.

Below is the TektonTV video on this subject.

[1] Malina, Bruce J., and Richard L. Rohrbaugh. Social-science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003. 237. Print.

[2] ibid. 31

[3] "WOMEN AND THE LAW IN ANCIENT ISRAEL." WOMEN IN THE ANCIENT WORLD. James C. Thompson, B.A., M.Ed., July 2010. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. <http://www.womenintheancientworld.com/index.htm>.

[4] Malina, Rohrbaugh. Social-science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels. 30.

[5] "Levirate Marriage." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Feb. 2012. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levirate_marriage>.