Shadow X wrote:
BTW if you have an example of marriage before the bible... by all means, please produce it.
1 3000-2999 BCE or around 2980 Regent Queen Neithotep of Egypt. Chief wife was Queen Berenib, but Neithotep was the mother of his heir, Djer.
2 Around 2500 BCE Possible Queen Khent-Kaues I of Egypt. She was daughter of Menkau-Ra during the 4th dynasty, and married her brother Shepses-Kaf who succeeded his father to the throne.
3 Around 2295 BCE Regent Dowager Queen Iput of Egypt. She was the last of the 5th dynasty and married Faro Teti of the 6th Dynasty.
4 Around 2250-45 BCE Regent Dowager Queen Ankhesenmeryre I of Egypt. Together with her sister, Ankhesenmeryre II, she was married to Pepi I.
5 Ca. 2180 BCE Queen Nitocris of Egypt. She was daughter of Pepi II in the 6th dynasty, who became Queen, while her husband Meren-Ra II was not the pharaoh, at least for some time.
6 1939/38-1909 BCE God's Wife of Amon and Queen Neferu of Egypt. Neferu was the consort and Queen of Pharaoh Amenemhat I.
7 Around 1800 BCE Politically Active Queen Sabitu of Mari (Egypt). Also known as Szibitu, she acted as a regent during her husband, king Zimri-lim's numerous wars.
8 1594-after 1550 BCE Politically influential Queen Tetisheri of Egypt. She was a Queen during the 17th Dynasty in Thebes, and was the commoner wife of pharaoh Senachtenre (1594-1592). [/list=1]
9 Code of Hammurabi, c. 1780 BCE - Book written by the King of Babylonia - discusses marriage and its purpose within society.
Now can you post me a single scripture in the Bible that details a marriage ceremony? You seem to think biblical marriage is so dominant in the Bible yet a ceremony is never recorded. The Bible gives more details on how to build an ark than how to get married.
Just one scripture please. Maybe about how a bride wears white or how her father gives her away to her future husband. How about the brides maids and the best man any mention of them in the Bible? Come on, not even a single solitary reference about the exchanging of rings?
Here Comes the Bride, or the Wedding March as it is known, was written by a German composer named Richard Wagner in 1848
The Bible does mention a canopy but... No one today really knows why and how the canopy is supposed to fit into a marriage ceremony. How about the cutting of the cake or the throwing of the garter belt and rice? Tin cans on the back of the car and of course the "just married" sign.
What about strippers at the bachelor and bachelorette parties?
The Bible is totally silent on the marriage ceremony... So how much importance did the writers of the Bible place on marriage really then?
Oh but you could sell your 12 year old daughter to some old over the hill male for a cows and a few goats...
You have absolutely no grounds with which to claim marriage is a Biblical invention. Even some heterosexual and homosexual animals team up for life.