Biblical marriage

Since this has been a hot topic in recent years, I thought we could cover marriage a la Genesis before we move on.

* Adam and Eve are never formally married. After them, marriage is called "taking a wife" which implies that it is a man's decision.

*Cain had to have married either his sister or a supernatural being, if we are to believe that Adam and Eve were the first male and female humans ever. Seth would have had the same choices as Cain. Anyone in the second generation would have had to marry a sibling or the child of two siblings. A third generation person might have had three generations to choose from: the second, third, and fourth, depending on how many children each generation produced.

*Abraham married his half-sister. Nahor married his niece. Isaac, Esau, and Jacob married cousins. Jacob's first two wives were sisters.  I don't suppose we should count the relationship of Lot and his daughters. The children of Shem, Ham, and Japheth would have had extremely limited choices in spouses.

*A bride was purchased with material goods in the case of Rebekah, and seven years of labor in the cases of Rachel and Leah. Jacob was given two more wives by Rachel and Leah. These women had been slaves. Sarah also gave her slave to Abraham.

*We have examples of love and consent with Rebekah and Isaac, and Rachel and Jacob. Abraham loved Sarah. Jacob did not consent to marry Leah and did not love her. I don't imagine he loved his wives' slaves either since he was willing to sacrifice them first if there was an attack. The slave wives don't appear to have had any choice in matter.

*Abraham, Esau, and Jacob, each had more than one wife or partner  at a time.

*Isaac and Esau did not marry their wives until the age of forty. Jacob was around fifty..

*When Tamar's husband Er died, she was expected to marry the next unmarried brother and produce an heir for her dead husband. When the second one died, she was expected to wait for the next unmarried brother, a child, to grow up so she could marry him and produce an heir for her dead husband.

*Many of Abraham's descendants married Canaanites, which was generally frowned upon.  For some reason, relatives back in Haran were more acceptable, even though they were not Yahweh worshippers. Joseph married the daughter of an Egyptian priest of Ra, and that appears to have been okay.