Law vs Tradition in the OT

Happy New Year, you glorious MAD BAD saints! I, my wife, and everyone from our church in Orlando send big joy, loud cheers, and a whole lot of grace your way for the new year!

I took a two week hiatus and rested some. While I was gone, I did a Christmas sermon like every other pastor in America, and I noticed something weird. Some Christian books and articles failed to make a distinction between what is the law and what is just a Jewish tradition. So weird.

Take the subject of marriage in the Old Testament, for example. A writer might see a verse in Psalms or the prophets referencing nuptial feasts or brides in white with a veil, and they’d often assume that was required by the law. They’re like, “See this reference to a bride wearing a veil? That was part of the law back then!”

What are you talking about?

You have the law in your Bible. You can look it up.

In Israel, there were laws and there were traditions. Their traditions were not required and sometimes observed. They’re just traditions. If you were to read what the law said about marriage, you’ll be reading a lot about sexual sins (Deut. 22 & 24, Lev. 18 & 20). That was what the law was primarily focused on when it came to marriages. Everything Israel did outside of the law, those were simply traditions born out of their history, not the law.

For example – do you remember the story when Abraham sent a servant to get a bride for Isaac, and he found Rebekah by a well? When the servant brought her home and she first saw Isaac, she put on a veil (Gen. 24:65). That veil was meant as a token of humility, modesty, and subjection to her new husband.

That veil became a tradition in Israel, not the law.

If they had a nuptial feast, the bride usually wore a veil because of Rebekah, because they, too, wanted to show their modest subjection to their husbands. There was no law requiring a nuptial feast and a bride with a veil. That was a tradition. Traditions are not required and not everyone observed them. Not everyone had a nuptial feast. Not every bride was decked out with jewels like a queen. Not every bride wore a veil. Those were all Jewish traditions.

There were no laws about how two people would date and get married. Sometimes, marriages were arranged. Sometimes, two people met and fell in love and wanted to get married. As soon as Jacob saw Rachel with her sheep, he was done for. He gave water to her sheep. He kissed her. Then he cried. (What a sap.) He went to her house and began negotiating with her father, Laban, to have Rachel in marriage (Gen. 29). Hagar selected a wife for Ishmael (Gen. 21:21). Abraham sent out a servant to find a wife for Isaac (Gen. 24). Samson asked his parents to procure him a wife (Judges 14:2).

Then there was the matter of a dowry. The law required a dowry in only one case – if, for example, a couple of kids lose their heads, neither are betrothed, and they’re intimate outside of marriage. That wasn’t the end of the world, but there were consequences. The law required the boy to take her as his wife, although a father could refuse that, and in that circumstance, the father’s decision had to be honored. Regardless of whether the father allowed his daughter to marry him or not, that boy would be required by law to give her father what’s called the dowry of virgins (Exo. 22:17). That was 50 shekels of silver (Deut. 22:29). A shekel means weight. A shekel of silver was a weight of silver. 50 shekels is about 20 ounces of silver, which is $62.90 per ounce, which totals $1,258.

In any event, pre-marital relations was the only occasion under the law in which a dowry was required. But the dowry had become a tradition in Israel, not a requirement by law in every marriage. In the OT, a dowry was just a gift given to the father for allowing his daughter to marry him. The dowry varied greatly in the OT. In Gen. 24, you remember the servant who found Rebekah for Isaac. He gave her, “jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and… he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things” (Gen. 24:53). Despite that, the family still asked Rebekah if this was what she wanted and if she agreed to go with this servant to marry Isaac. And Rebekah agreed. Do you remember when David wanted to marry Saul’s daughter? Saul refused a dowry and demanded 100 foreskins of the Philistines. He didn’t actually want the foreskins. He wanted David to die in battle. So what did David do? He slew 200 Philistines and brought their foreskins to Saul.

Nothing says, “I love you” quite like 200 foreskins of your enemy.

There were also traditions about nuptial feasts and parties to celebrate marriages (Gen. 29:22, Judges 14:12, Est. 2:18, Matt. 22:1-10). Not everyone had a nuptial feast. As soon as Isaac saw Rebekah and the servant told him all that happened, he took Rebekah into his mother’s tent, and she became his wife; and he loved her (Gen. 24:67).

When there were wedding celebrations, the bride was usually decked out. She was usually veiled, as we mentioned earlier. The bride was also usually dressed in white (Rev. 19:8), sometimes embroidered with gold thread (Psa. 45:13-14), adorned with jewels (Isa. 61:10), and covered with perfumes (Psa. 45:8, Son 4:10-11). The bride was given gifts (Psa. 45:12). There was a custom that she’d also be given a handmaid (Gen. 24:59, 29:24, 29:29). There are references to musicians and singers and dancing (Gen. 31:27, Jer. 7:34). The next morning, Psa 19:5 describes for us the bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. LOL

Those were all traditions.

In Joseph and Mary’s case, they were betrothed. Fascinating to me, the law never defined what it meant to be betrothed and how that process worked. They knew being betrothed meant they had already agreed to marriage, which was as binding as being married, and this agreement was done before two or three witnesses to make the marriage binding. It’s like going to the justice of the peace and getting legally married before the wedding and the honeymoon. Considering Joseph’s reputation, he no doubt had given a dowry to her father, as was tradition, and when Mary became pregnant with Jesus, they’re waiting for the wedding celebration, the nuptial feast before consummating their marriage. Because they were already betrothed, Joseph had a legal right to have Mary killed or to put her away privily or privately.

You have to make a distinction between what is the law and what are Jewish traditions in the OT. You don’t have to assume something was part of the law. You can look it up.