Facebook Post by Blake Ostler
One of the most misunderstood passages in scripture is Matt 22: 23-32. It deals with Levirate marriage or the duty under Jewish Law to marry the wife to the brother of his deceased brother. In this passage, the Sadducees challenge the notion of the resurrection (which they did not accept) by asking about the quandary of who the wife will be married to in the resurrection if she has been married to 7 brothers who die consecutively:
"23 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”" NIV
Note the assumptions. Assumption #1: marriage continues after death and the resurrection. #2. Polygamy is appropriate because the brother's prior marital status does not change the duty to marry his deceased brother's wife. #3 The wife cannot be married to all 7 brothers at once in the resurrection and so the resurrection is not possible.
Note Jesus's response -- which doesn't say what Evangelicals and Catholics think it does:
"29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’[b]? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”"
Note how Jesus deals with the assumptions. First, Jesus does not reject assumption #1. He does not reject the marriage because it won't survive death. Rather, Jesus implicitly accepts that assumption. He does not reject assumption #1. Rather, he states that there is no issue because brothers will not die after the resurrection and so it is not an issue.
Second, Jesus does not reject assumption #2. Rather than argue that the notion of Levirate marriage is unacceptable because it entails polygamy, he implicitly accepts that such marriage is in fact the duty of the brothers who have a deceased brother.
Jesus rejects assumption #3 -- but not for the reason assumed by the Sadducees. Rather, Jesus rejects assumption #3 by pointing out that the Sadducees have missed an obvious fact: there will be no duty to marry a brother's wife in the resurrection because brothers will not die. Note that he emphasizes this issue by pointing out that God is the God of the living and the resurrection is to be alive after death. He states that no wife will "marry or be given in marriage" _'not that marriages don't survive death. At the resurrection people will "neither marry nor be given in marriage" -- but they will continue in the marriages they contracted under the covenant in life. In other words, Levirate marriage is not a duty in the resurrection because the first brother to whom she was married will be alive. All are like angels -- not subject to death at all in the resurrection.
Rather than attacking plural marriage or eternal marriage, this pericope actually supports the view that they are recognized by Jesus!
The worst take on this passage that I have seen is that given by Daniel McLellan who argued that it means that the author of Matthew thinks that marriage itself is not accepted by Jesus. That is a complete misunderstanding of this passage and Levirate marriage. In fact, Ruth was married to Boaz in a Levirate marriage.
No comments:
Post a Comment