How does the bible define marriage.

[Hank77]

What does one flesh mean besides sex?

If I may answer this as well......
A man cleaves to his parents before marriage they are the closest people to him. They are bond together both biologically and through a relationship that is not like any other.
He is told to leave his parents and cleave to his wife. She now becomes the one who is the closest person to him. This relationship is so close that the man is told to care for his wife as he does his own life and his own body.

In the words of Adam Clarke in his commentary....
1. These two shall be one flesh, shall be considered as one body, having no separate or independent rights, privileges, cares, concerns, etc., each being equally interested in all things that concern the marriage state.
2. These two shall be for the production of one flesh; from their union a posterity shall spring, as exactly resembling themselves as they do each other.
Genesis 2 Clarke's Commentary

 

[Sammy-San]

If I may answer this as well......
A man cleaves to his parents before marriage they are the closest people to him. They are bond together both biologically and through a relationship that is not like any other.
He is told to leave his parents and cleave to his wife. She now becomes the one who is the closest person to him. This relationship is so close that the man is told to care for his wife as he does his own life and his own body.

In the words of Adam Clarke in his commentary....
1. These two shall be one flesh, shall be considered as one body, having no separate or independent rights, privileges, cares, concerns, etc., each being equally interested in all things that concern the marriage state.
2. These two shall be for the production of one flesh; from their union a posterity shall spring, as exactly resembling themselves as they do each other.
Genesis 2 Clarke's Commentary

Your explanation doesn't explain what getting married actually means.

For example, in the Old Testament, especially during the days of Adam and Eve in early civilization, were there judges and ministers?

rights/ privelidges/ benefits and obligations change from one culture to another. Marriage - Wikipedia

The definition of marriage varies according to different cultures, but it is principally an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually sexual, are acknowledged.

 

[JackRT]

To my way of thinking marriage is a covenant between two loving people who wish to live together exclusively for life. It is people who marry people. Church and or state merely act as witness to this covenant. The Christian church did not even require church weddings until the 12th century. Prior to that weddings were primarily for the powerful and the rich and that was primarily for the formal consolidation of power and wealth.

 

[Sammy-San]

Actually the Law of Moses allows for more than one wife at the same time. We can know this because the Law says that if a man took another wife and denied his first wife her rights as his wife then she was allowed to leave him. Ex 21:10-11.
Also the brother or next closest kin of a man who had died was to marry the brother's widow and bear children with her. We see this in Ruth and in the Law, Deut. 25:5-9.

Did Adam and Eve or Issac and Rebecca have a religious ceremony?

God made covenants with people before the Law of Moses. Noah and Abraham both had covenants with God.
I wouldn't call marriage an Institution, it is a personal relationship between a man and a woman.

Were there judges and ministers in ancient israel?

Is same sex marriage forbidden because allowing people to marry who cannot ethically have sexual relations violates the sanctity of it? Obviously homosexuality is a sin, but getting married isn't essentially a sexual union. For example, 16. All That Heaven Allows: Homosexuality and the Meaning of Love

In any case at no time in history did God ever permit marriage across all relations — for example, it was never morally permissible for a man to take his daughter, or for a man to marry his mother.

By extension, these prohibitions have been extended to forbid marriages between people related in the ways mentioned.

 

[Hank77]

Were there judges and ministers in ancient israel?

Yes

 

[Hank77]

Is same sex marriage forbidden

Yes

 

[Sammy-San]

Yes

Was it forbidden for the reason I mentioned?

Like is it a counterfeit version, or a "bad" version of marriage?

 

[Sammy-San]

Yes

What about Cain getting married?

 

[Hank77]

Was it forbidden for the reason I mentioned?

Like is it a counterfeit version, or a "bad" version of marriage?

Yes

 

[Hank77]

What about Cain getting married?

I don't understand the question. If you want an answer you will have to provide more detail.

 

[Sammy-San]

I don't understand the question. If you want an answer you will have to provide more detail.

Was it a judge or a minister?

 

[Sammy-San]

Yes

Counterfeit version?

My question was-was close relatives marrying forbidden in the Bible for the same reason same sex marriage is? I believe people marrying who are forbidden ethically to have sexual relations violates the sanctity of it.

16. All That Heaven Allows: Homosexuality and the Meaning of Love

In any case at no time in history did God ever permit marriage across all relations — for example, it was never morally permissible for a man to take his daughter, or for a man to marry his mother.
By extension, these prohibitions have been extended to forbid marriages between people related in the ways mentioned.

13. On the Nature of the Marriage Union

It would seem by consideration of this that the existence of a “one-flesh” relation does not determine the existence of marriage. It may call for it (marriage) in the case of “premarital sex,” but it is not the marriage itself. It is a “right of marriage.” The most we could say is that it is necessary, but not sufficient to make a marriage.

 

[Sammy-San]

Yes

What makes a covenant a marriage? There are a lot of covenants in the Bible.

 

[Hank77]

What makes a covenant a marriage? There are a lot of covenants in the Bible.

A covenant is an agreement, contract if you will, where both sides agree on what is stated in the covenant.
For a Christian a marriage covenant also agrees with God's word for it to be legal.

 

[Sammy-San]

A covenant is an agreement, contract if you will, where both sides agree on what is stated in the covenant.
For a Christian a marriage covenant also agrees with God's word for it to be legal.

What did that mean in OT times?

 

[Hank77]

What did that mean in OT times?

It means the same thing.

 

[Sammy-San]

It means the same thing.

Did the priests marry people then?

 

[Hank77]

Did the priests marry people then?

The only marriages that I know of that are in the OT were not before a priest. The Law of Moses doesn't even describe any ceremony that must be performed. At least not one that I have read, interpreted that why, nor read about on Jewish sites that describe the laws. There are many, many other priestly duties described in detail in the Law.

 

[Sammy-San]

The only marriages that I know of that are in the OT were not before a priest. The Law of Moses doesn't even describe any ceremony that must be performed. At least not one that I have read, interpreted that why, nor read about on Jewish sites that describe the laws. There are many, many other priestly duties described in detail in the Law.

So what did them getting married mean? There couldn't be legal unions without governments, in the sense of a legally

My other question was this.
16. All That Heaven Allows: Homosexuality and the Meaning of Love

Incest (vv. 6-18). Specifically, Leviticus 18 forbids sex with parents or children, siblings, and other close relatives. (Note that “uncovering the nakedness” of another does not mean merely seeing them in the nude, but is a euphemism for sexual intimacy.) The prohibitions here are as general and categorical as they could be. All such sexual acts are forbidden, regardless of how the two people involved feel about each other, or how old or young they are. By extension, these prohibitions have been extended to forbid marriages between people related in the ways mentioned. Obviously, these prohibitions have nothing to do with ritual taboos.

I am not asking why sexual sin is sin. Based on marriage not being essentially a sexual union, why were marriages between people related in those ways forbidden?
13. On the Nature of the Marriage Union

It would seem by consideration of this that the existence of a “one-flesh” relation does not determine the existence of marriage. It may call for it (marriage) in the case of “premarital sex,” but it is not the marriage itself. It is a “right of marriage.” The most we could say is that it is necessary, but not sufficient to make a marriage.

 

[Sammy-San]

Before Judaism and Christianity, there was creation, and God performed the first marriage. It was Adam who prophetically defined marriage as one man and one woman who "shall be one flesh" (Gen 2:23,24), but in doing so he also prophesied about the mystery of the union of Christ and His Church (the Lamb's Wife) (Eph 5:30-33). The institution of marriage is worldwide, and goes back all the way to creation, but Christian marriage is supposed to typify the union and communion of Christ and His eternal Wife.

Based on marriage not being essentially a sexual union, why are certain forms of marriage unbibical?