It's About Time

Marriage is one of those weird things in the Bible. The biblical viewpoint on marriage seems to change every so often, but there’s some actually good reasons for that, ranging from the reality of the times to philosophical issues that were being raised. In light of the recent legal victories it may be enlightening to look at those reasons.

In the early days of the Jewish nation, prior to the Exodus, marriage was originally for inheritance purposes. Originally, in a small tribe, where everyone shared everything, marriage was simply a ritual to establish that two people cared about each other, and to allow the relationship to grow. If the relationship died, it was nothing for both sides to go different ways, with the children going with the mother. With tribal support divorce didn’t really matter.

However, as people acquired more property and it was important to keep that property in the family. In order to make sure that the lines of inheritance were clear, and so steps needed to be taken to insure that. Entire sections of contract law were created, and marriage became part of that. It’s interesting how much of Leviticus and Deuteronomy look at inheritance and what happens when one part of a couple dies. It didn’t help that marriage was seen as a way to cement alliances, which also acted to increase the length of marriages; the alliance would only last as long as the marriage, so long marriages were obviously encouraged.

It’s also about this time that marriage went from being a matter of convenience to a life-long commitment; easy divorce complicated inheritance in a barely literate society. It was just too hard track couples that could split and remarry with someone else, so the commitment increased to facilitate the new laws. Also, there were advantages to both parties; the security gained from the arrangement helped both sides. Although initially there were a number of simple permutations, such as a man having a wife and a lover, who could be a woman or man as long as the lover was kept hidden; when exposed the relationship became a problem.

This is also started nailing non-heterosexual long-term relationships. Since marriage was seen as an adult relationship, and a way to continue the species, getting married was seen as more important than same-sex relationships, and so same-sex relationships were seen as distractions; nice distractions, but not really important compared to the business of procreation. As such legal steps started being taken to eliminate them from society. Even in the New Testament, when divorce was okayed, the idea was that marriage was for procreation, and that the idea of romance was for the young, especially as it would interfere with being properly devoted.

Over the millennia the idea that marriage was for heterosexuals did nothing but gain strength. Although there were exceptions, such a ceremony where monks could swear their love to each other, in general marriage itself was only for mixed couples. This started losing strength in the 1800s, as there more homosexual long-term relationships and the couples were willing to risk prison sentences, death, even deportation for their love. Although the inheritance laws could easily handle the situation, tradition had sunk in too deep for lawmakers to really do anything about reversing it.

Backing up a step: Less modern societies, such as Native American tribes, were more allowing of same-sex relationships. There were two reasons for this: The first is that inheritance rules didn’t really exist; most property was shared by the tribe, as were child-rearing duties, and so who was in love with who didn’t really matter. There is also that once sexuality was determined gender didn’t matter; it was just easier that way. In essence, as long as you acted like you were expected to, and contributed to the tribe, you were good to go. Once you started being of no use, sexuality really didn’t matter. So less modern groups had fewer problems with a person’s sexuality as it didn’t matter as long as they were pulling their weight.

It really wasn’t until the late 1960s that homosexual marriage became an issue. It really became an issue when the AIDS virus hit and homosexual partners were unable to console their partners. This really started adding fuel to the fire, as the rights for married couples became highlighted and tossed in the face of homosexual partners. At this point the gay marriage movement really started taking off. There were plenty of set-backs, such as DADT and DOMA as well as state amendments defining marriage as only possible between men and women. Although civil unions were allowed, they didn’t have the full force of an actual marriage, especially on any level that really matters. It was a gesture, but ultimately a hollow one. Even as states decided that they would allow gay marriage, DOMA ensured that those marriages would only be legal in states where gay marriage was legal. Worse, California passed Proposition 8, important because other states eventually follow its lead.

With the repeal of DADT, the striking down of DOMA, and the elimination of Proposition 8 from the playing field, gay marriage has an actual chance of spreading. Although the struggle is just beginning at least it has a chance now. We are no longer dependent on marriage for inheritance, and those laws can handle just about anything. Although there are still the zealots holding us back, those zealots are becoming quieter every year. We will eventually get to the point where love is all that matters, but that day is still a few years off. Hopefully we will get to that point sooner than later; it has definitely been a long time coming.