The lyrics from Frank Sinatra's song, "love and marriage/go together like a horse and carriage/this, I tell you brother/you can't have one without the other" are what most 21st young adults in the United States view as an essential pairing for a good marriage to occur. Within my cohort of females, we tend to view practices such as arranged marriages as barbaric practices that we as "enlightened" females would never deign to participate in. We, as 21st females, get to choose, and the concept of "love" for marriage implies that two individuals are both choosing to join together as one entity. If we can't marry for love, why get married at all...
However, what we tend to forget is that not all women are afforded the same set of circumstances that allow for "freedom" to chose to marry for love. Throughout the world, and within the confines of the Biblical narrative, women marry because of political alliances, exchange of power dynamics, necessary for child bearing, escape from impoverished circumstance, or for money in her family coffers. A woman may have the choice in all these situations, but those choices may be between a rock and a hard place, not exactly the most desirable of options!
An interesting thought though, women in the Old Testament may or may not have "loved" their husband, but there is plenty of examples of their husbands "loving" them. Issac loved Rebekah (Gen 24:67), Jacob loved Rachel (Gen 29:18), Jacob even "loved" Leah (Gen 29:30), Samson loved Delilah (Judges 16: 4), and Elkanah loved Hannah (1 Samuel 1:5). Why would the authors of scripture specifically mention the feelings of some men towards their wives or "women"? Did this signify a stronger feeling than what Abraham might have felt for Sarah or what David felt for his wives?
| Just some humor to end this blog on! |
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