Today's Scripture Reading (February 5, 2025): Numbers 25
Sometimes, people marry because they love each other. I sincerely hope that if you are married, that love is the reason for your union. I know some argue that sometimes arranged marriages can work out better than couples who marry for love, and the rising divorce rate in the West would seem to support that idea, but I still think that marrying for love is the ticket to a happy life. The trick is to keep working on your marriage and your love. Love can be starved out of a marriage if it is ignored, and I believe that that is the real story of the rising Western divorce rate.
However, marrying for love or enjoying an arranged marriage between families are not the only reasons for a marriage. Some marry for money. It happens, although this reason is often left to the gossip corners of our world. I am not sure I have ever heard a young blond woman admit that she married that older man because he was rich, and that was the only reason for the marriage. (And yes, that is the usual direction but not necessarily the only direction the married-for-money action usually goes.) I will not make any accusations focused on couples in our contemporary society.
However, one of the most common historical reasons for marriage might be the marriage-for-power union. It happened frequently among more affluent families and even nations. King Solomon had seven hundred wives, and I would guess that most of them were marriages that he and those around him hoped would consolidate power. The concept is that it is harder to declare war on your in-laws than it is on some unsuspecting stranger. As a result, nations became allies through marriage. It is also why most of the royal families were related to each other at the outbreak of World War 1. The World Wars of the Twentieth Century ended even the ceremonial rule of the various Royal families throughout most of Europe. At the outbreak of World War I, there were three crucial Kings on the thrones of critical European nations. George V reigned in the United Kingdom, ascending to the throne in 1910 following his father's death. Czar Nicholas II ruled in Russia from 1894 until his execution in 1917. Kaiser Wilhelm II was King over Germany from 1888 until the royalty was abolished in 1918, just two days before the war's official end on November 11, 1918. What we sometimes forget is that Nicholas and George were first cousins. Nicholas also married another of George's first cousins, making the two men related by both blood and marriage. Wilhelm of Germany was also a first cousin to George. Nicholas and Wilhelm were third cousins, but there are stories of the three boys spending time together as children, even though the oldest (Wilhelm) was nine years older than the youngest (Nicholas). You have to wonder, if the three Kings were more than just ceremonial Kings at the outbreak of World War I, if maybe they would have met in a sandbox somewhere and decided their differences in some other way than dragging the world into a shooting war. At least, that would have been the hope of the marriage-for-power scheme.
Zimri was a political leader within Israel, ruling over the tribe of Simeon. The woman who had died with him was named Kozbi. Kozbi was the daughter of a Midianite tribal leader. It is not hard to figure out what the thought process was with this union. This was a marriage-for-power blending that Zimri hoped would give him a leg up on the other Tribes of Israel. The problem was that it would have produced a division in Israel that wasn't supposed to exist. And it was evidence that at least this Israelite leader was depending more on foreign tribes than the God who had brought them out of their slavery in Egypt.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Numbers 26
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