Anciently as well as in modern times, it would be hard to overstate the central role of marriage and family to Judaism.Īn informal review of the literature reveals that Latter-day Saint authors most frequently refer to marriage in the Old Testament in the context of plural marriage or levirate marriage. In fact, marriage and family have been one of the primary defining institutions of Judaism for millennia. Historically, Judaism, marriage, and the family have been almost inextricably intertwined. To understand the sacred literature of the Jews, it is essential to understand that Israel’s relationship to their God is seen as a marital relationship. In fact, one of our faithful scholars commented, “I am not aware of any specific reference to eternal marriage in the Old or the New Testament.” However, what the Old Testament fails to teach didactically, it often illustrates powerfully throughout its narrative. With such apparent paucity of information on marriage in general, the Old Testament would seem even less likely to reveal much concerning eternal marriage. In fact, the words marry and marriage appear only six times in the entire volume (see Genesis 38:8 Exodus 21:10 Numbers 36:6 Deuteronomy 25:5 Psalm 78:63 Isaiah 62:5).
Īt first thought, the Old Testament may not come to mind as a rich source from which to study marriage and its centrality to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Perhaps that explains why marriage becomes the ultimate paradigm for the relationship between God and the Jewish People. More than the sacred literature of any other people, the Torah is the story of family, of marriages, and not prettied-up versions, either, but the stuff of real marriages-love, romance, anger, deceit, honor, faithfulness, distrust, infidelity, companionship, intimacy. Goodman is an associate professor of Church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University.
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