BIBLE CONTRADICTIONS: MARRIAGE

1. Marriage approved: Genesis 1:28; 2:18; Matthew 19:5; Hebrews 13:4

Marriage disapproved: I Corinthians 7:1, 7-8

Nowhere in I Corinthians does Paul “disapprove of marriage.”

Actually, one could just as well take I Corinthians 7:2b (which the author of this contradiction conveniently ignores) a little out of context to prove the exact opposite: “each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.”

2. Adultery forbidden: Exodus 20:14; Hebrews 13:4

Adultery allowed: Numbers 31:18; Hosea 1:2; 2:1-3

Considering that adultery consists of a married person having sex with someone other than their husband or wife, quoting Numbers 31:18 to say that the Bible allowed adultery is utter nonsense. That passage says that the Israelite soldiers may take captured Midianite women as (slave-)wives if they are virgins.

The example of Hosea is a little more problematic. The New Oxford Annotated Bible introduces the book with the warning: “Not all aspects of Hosea's life are clear, and it remains debatable whether one can deduce actual biographical facts from the descriptions of chs. 1-3.” However, in the text God tells the prophet Hosea to marry a promiscuous woman and later to take her back after she had left as an enacted parable showing how God will forgive Israel for her idolatrous ways. Note that (a) this is a unique situation and not a general injunction; (b) Hosea's wife is never commended for her actions; (c) the “parable” only works if her adulterous ways are labeled as evil and against God's will, and (d) Hosea himself did not commit adultery by marrying her.

3. Marriage or cohabitation with sister denounced: Deuteronomy 27:22; Leviticus 20:17

Marriage with sister blessed by God: Genesis 17:16; 20:11-12

The Genesis passages refer to Abraham's marriage to Sarah. When King Abimelech took a liking to Sarah, Abraham, out of fear of the king, encourages him in his courtship by saying that Sarah is his sister. Abimelech subsequently is told the truth by God and confronts Abraham. Abraham says that he was not lying since Sarah was his half-sister by his father Terah.

The problem is that in the biblical accounts, we only have Abraham's word as proof that Sarah was indeed his half-sister. It is just as likely, according to many Bible scholars, that Abraham is lying again to justify his first lie. One strong piece of evidence to support that possibility is that when Terah's children are listed in Genesis 11:27-30, there is no mention of Sarah (called Sarai at that time) except as Terah's daughter-in-law.

4. A man may marry his brother's widow: Deuteronomy 25:5

A man may not marry his brother's widow: Leviticus 20:21

Leviticus 20 gives the blanket prohibition against a man having sexual relations with his sister-in-law, presumably whether she is still married, divorced or widowed. But, as often in the OT legal regulations, exceptions to the rule are given later on in the text. For example, see (a) Leviticus 14:1-20 on the cleansing ritual for lepers, followed by the less expensive ritual for those who are too poor to afford all the necessary animal sacrifices and (b) the prohibition against eating winged insects in Lev. 11:20 followed by exceptions in 11:21-23 for those that hop.

In this case involving marriage, Moses later in Deuteronomy describes the one exception to the rule, and that is in the very specific case where a married man has died without leaving an heir to his property. If he has a brother living with him at the time, the brother is to marry his widowed sister-in-law with the sole purpose of begetting a child who will be treated as his brother's child, not his own. This situation is known as a levitate marriage.

As Kaiser summarizes, “...this is the single exception since it aids in fostering the goal of godly families. God can and did permit and bless such exceptions. Only he can modify his own directives for his good purposes.”