The Family as an institution in the twentieth century has fallen into decay. Rather than the rich, multigenerational family heritage of former generations, families in the last days of the twentieth century all to often don't even stay together for one generation. Because of this general decay in the family, we have gradually lost the understanding of the details of how a multigenerational family covenant works. These details are found in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament. The purpose of this article is to examine the practical applications of the family covenant.

THE BLESSING OF FUTURE GENERATIONS AND LAND INHERITANCE

Every covenant between God and His people written in the Bible includes provisions for succession: first, that the covenant will be continued to the future generations of the children of those who love and serve the Lord; and second, that they will inherit land as part of that covenant. We find this covenant promise from Genesis to Revelation. For example, the first covenant blessing after God created man was "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth" (Genesis 1:28). The promise makes reference to the future descendants, the "fruit," and the land they are to inherit and rule over, which is the entire earth.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Sermon on the Mount, stated that "The meek shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5). The New Covenant is heralded by Peter's sermon at Pentecost, and he concludes by saying that the promise of salvation is "to you and your children" (Acts 2:39). Revelation chapter 21 describes the new earth as "New Jerusalem," which, again, is a place. Since that chapter is referring to the time after the Final Judgement, there is not a reference to the children in future generations. However, we still find that God is not making just a spiritual promise, but that there is also a physical place that is part of the inheritance of His people. But more importantly, the future generations of children of believers are the primary inheritance of God's people.

The scriptures lead us to view the family as a vine, growing and branching into future generations (Psalm 127). The Bible portrays a sense of continuity and oneness through the generations that is rare in America today. In fact the entire Old Testament is essentially a genealogy from Adam to Jesus Christ, telling the story of God's family in the earth.

What this means is that future generations of the family line are an inherent part of God's covenant with His people. The importance of the family line continues through the New Covenant until the Resurrection and Final Judgment. Because of this, I think that the Old Testament laws pertaining to the details of family life are still applicable to us today.

It is through the continuation of the family line that the covenant blessings are manifested. This covenant promise for spiritual blessing and inheritance made it very important in Hebrew culture to have a male heir to carry on the family name. This is a tradition that is still common in many parts of the world, although it has largely been lost in the Western cultures where secularism has broken down the family.

In light of this, let us take another look at the Old Testament marriage and inheritance laws to see how we might benefit from them today.

INHERITANCE

A righteous man leaves an inheritance for his children (Proverbs 13:22). As a general rule, godly family lines are built up materially through the generations. A righteous man saves more than he consumes over his lifetime and leaves something for his sons to start their families. Inheritance gives young men the seed capital from which to start their families. Though it often came at the end of the father's life, it was common practice to give the sons a large portion of their inheritance when they began their own families.

Over the course of a man's life his productivity and skill increase as he gets older, usually peaking in his 50's or 60's. Because young men usually start families in their twenties they are at the most financially vulnerable point in their life. At that age their skills and earning potential are still low. Inheritance is a godly way of helping young men start their families without falling into debt. In this day and age it is very common for a young man to entangle himself in debt with college loans and credit cards because he is at a point in his life where his earning potential is very close to his living expenses. A wise father will help his sons avoid this trap by giving him part of his inheritance early to establish him with a career and a home.

Ideally, on of the practical results of land inheritance is that each son receives a debt free parcel of land on which to live. This provides him with the means to have food and shelter and frees him to take more risk in pursuing his career. It provides security for a young family to have a place to live without making monthly payments.

The tendency in large families is for the inheritance to gradually shrink over the generations in terms of land, provided that they are not going out and getting more land, but the inheritance will normally grow in total wealth from generation to generation of those who live righteously. This is promised throughout the Bible. We see this demonstrated with immigrants to America who worked very hard so that their children could prosper and do better than the parents. America was a place where this could actually happen which is why men left the old world in droves.

THE PORTION OF THE FIRSTBORN

The firstborn son was normally entitled to the double portion of the inheritance because he represented his father's strength, and because it was his responsibility to care for his parents in their old age. The double portion reimbursed him for taking on the added expense of caring for his parents. If the firstborn shirked his duty, whichever son cared for the parents was given the double portion of the inheritance.

The Hebrew word for "portion" is not exact, but it can be roughly determined by taking the number of sons in the family (n), adding one to that sum (n+1) and dividing the inheritance into that many portions. (Individual Portion = [total inheritance] / [n+1] ) Each son received one portion, except the firstborn, who received two. This was not just suggested guidance to the parents, it was the legal right of the children as specified by the Law. Deuteronomy 21:16-17 gives an extreme example of a man with two wives, one loved and one hated, who preferred the firstborn of the loved wife over the true firstborn son. The law required that the true firstborn receive the double portion regardless of the preference of his father. "But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his." This demonstrates that inheritance is not something left to the whim of the parents, but that there is a biblical legal requirement to divide it among the sons, and give a double portion to the firstborn.

Although the sons had a legal right to inheritance, they could also be disinherited and cut off from the family for any of the following sins: incest, idol worship, defiling the temple, blasphemy, defiling one's wife, and presumably any of the capital crimes. (Normally they would be dead and wouldn't be able to inherit anything, but today when the capital crimes are not enforced, the church and family should cut off [excommunicate and disinherit] those who commit capital sins, such as adultery, murder, kidnapping, sodomy, bestiality, etc. If they repent there is room to bring them back into fellowship or inheritance.)

It sometimes happens in contemporary American culture that if a man dies while his children are still small or is divorced and the wife remarries that the new husband adopts the children of the first husband and legally gives them his last name. While this seems like a loving thing to do for the kids, it cuts off the name of the first husband and transfers his sons into another man's line. Cutting off a man's family name was a curse in the Bible against those who committed heinous crimes such as incest and idol worship (Leviticus 20:17; 20:3). While adoption is proper in the case of abandonment or other obvious sin on the part of the biological father, it is not appropriate for the sons of a godly man with a good name, particularly if he has left an inheritance to them.

THE DOWRY

Because daughters are given in marriage and take on the name of their husband's family, there is a system described in the Bible which allows a daughter to have an inheritance without resulting in a net transfer of wealth out of the family line of her father. This is called the dowry system. It provides an inheritance to help a young woman start her own family without robbing her brothers of their inheritance.

The dowry is a daughter's inheritance, but she receives it at the time of her marriage rather than at the end of her father's life. Traditionally, Hebrew dowries consisted of property controlled by the wife in the marriage and often included cookware, furniture, jewelry, land, clothing, servants, and other things of value to her in her calling. The dowry was of significant value, usually 1-7 year's wages, and also served as a woman's insurance against the untimely death, divorce, or abandonment by her husband. This is still practiced in some parts of the world. In American culture, all that remains of this custom is that the bride's family pays for the wedding.

THE BRIDE PRICE

In Biblical culture we find that the groom or his family paid a "bride-price" to the father of the bride. This was not usually viewed as buying a wife, rather the bride-price functioned to reimburse the family of the bride for the expense of providing her with a dowry. This prevented the inheritance of the bride's brothers from becoming diluted. If the bride came from a poor family, the father could use the bride-price to purchase the items for his daughter's dowry.

The bride-price also functioned as a proof of the groom's ability to provide for his bride. It was a test of his worthiness. Though often a young man's father put up the money for the bride price, this still showed that someone in the family had the means to ensure that the new bride would be provided for. Frequently when a man and woman became betrothed, the man and the bride's father signed a contract specifying the bride-price that must be paid before the betrothal could be consummated in a wedding. This practice has been largely abandoned in the West, but persists symbolically in the custom of the engagement ring.

There are several examples in the Bible of bride-prices. Jacob paid 7 years of labor for each of his two wives; David killed 100 Philistine warriors for Michal (1 Samuel 18:25); Abraham sent a caravan of riches with the servant to win Rebecca for Isaac. There are also punitive examples of the bride price.

16 And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. 17 If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins. (Exodus 22:16, 17)

28 If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; 29 Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days. (Deuteronomy 22:28,29)

If a man seduced a virgin he had to pay 50 shekels of silver to the father of the girl because a bride-price was only paid for a virgin. (It was assumed that a woman would take her dowry with her into a second marriage if her first husband died or if she was divorced.) The seducer had to pay restitution for stealing her virginity and reducing her chances of getting married. The price of seven years of labor as an indentured servant was 30 shekels of silver. The 50 shekel fine would be closer to 11 years worth of labor, which would be high. In today's terms 11 years of labor at minimum wages would be about $110,000! Since the 50 shekels was a punitive bride-price, the average was probably substantially lower; but as you can see, it probably ran between $30,000 and $100,000 in today's terms.

HISTORICAL ABUSES

Unbiblical systems of the dowry and the bride-price exist in many cultures around the world. For example, in Confucian cultures, such as China and Korea, the family of the bride supplies a dowry, but there is no bride price paid by the family of the groom. In these cultures, daughters are often looked upon as a curse because of the large cost to the family of providing a dowry for every daughter. A man with many daughters could become financially ruined. I have a friend who taught in Korea for several years and had a girl in his class named "Shame" because she was the third consecutive daughter born to her family. This unbalanced practice leads to the preference of sons over daughters. It is wreaking havoc in China right now with the "one child per family" abortion program that has led to approximately 4 times as many men than women under age 20 since families choose to kill the little girls and keep the boys.

On the other hand, when a father requires a bride price for his daughter, but does not provide his daughters with a dowry it was viewed as if he had sold her as a servant. Exodus 21:1-11 illuminates this:

1 Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them. 2 If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. 3 If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. 5 And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: 6 Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever.

If because of debt or other reasons a man needed more money than he could pay, he could voluntarily enter a seven year period of indentured servitude. At the end of the sixth year he went free, or if his master had purchased a servant wife for him, he had the choice of fronting the money (bride-price) to redeem her and go free, or he could choose to become his master's servant for life in order to stay with his wife and children.

The rest of the passage shows that if a man accepted a bride-price for his daughter but didn't give her a dowry, she was considered a servant wife. The Bible here explains her rights. At the end of the seven years she wasn't set free like a manservant, because she was really a wife and had to be treated as such.

7 And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do. 8 If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her. 9 And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. 10 If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish. 11 And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money.

Rachel and Leah expressed the opinion that their father had sold them like slaves when Laban extracted fourteen years of labor out of Jacob, but did not endow them with an inheritance. "And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?" (Genesis 31:14)

The third abuse is found in American culture where women have no dowries and the grooms pay no bride price. People tend to place less value on things which come easily than on things which were gained at great personal expense. With a fifty percent divorce rate, it is clear that people in America do not hold marriage in high regard. The bride price and dowry system would certainly not solve the divorce problem in America but perhaps if men had to work several years in order to save the bride price so they could get married they might be a little less likely to discard the wife of their youth a few years down the road. Single mothers incur a double curse, they bear the pain of childbirth, and they also bear the curse to live by the sweat of their brow. The bride price and dowry system provides protection to women in society.

THE IMPORTANCE OF VIRGINITY IN WOMEN

There is a strong emphasis in the Old Testament on the chastity of women before marriage. This is also required of men, but for women there are different societal implications. Because there was such a strong emphasis on carrying on the name of a man through his covenant line of descendants, it was very important to be sure who his children were. By the nature of things, it is always obvious when a child is born who its mother is. But the only way to have proof of the paternity of a child, short of DNA testing, is to trust the integrity of the mother to keep her marriage vow. A woman who is promiscuous before marriage is more likely to commit adultery after marriage. For this reason the purity of unwed women had legal implications on the marriage.

The system of biblical law was designed to deal with sinful, fallen man and restore him to a right relationship with God and to provide restitution and healing to the people who were harmed by his sin. The case laws dealing with sexual immorality are written from a covenantal perspective and may seem strange or even harsh to us at first, but when we strive to understand them we find that there is a wisdom in dealing with sin which protects the family line of inheritance.

There are several laws in the Bible which provide a legal framework for dealing with sexual sins which cause damage to the covenant line. The first establishes that if a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed, and her father discovers it, the man must pay a punitive bride price of 50 shekels of silver to the father (remember that was worth 11 years of labor; see Exodus 22:16,17 and Deuteronomy 22:28,29 above).

This provides a deterrent against fornication (and as we all know it takes a large deterrent), and it guarantees that the woman will still have a dowry. Second, the father is given the choice of whether the man must marry his daughter, or may never marry his daughter. So the guy is out eleven years worth of income and there is a possibility that he will not even get to marry the girl. If the father forces him to marry the girl, he can never divorce her for any reason, which means she has incredible power to ruin his life.

Given this law, an unscrupulous man might seduce a young woman and then put pressure on her to hide it from her parents. There is a second biblical law which deals with this situation so as to prevent it.

13 If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, 14 And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid: 15 Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate: 16 And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her; 17 And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. 18 And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him; 19 And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days. 20 But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel: 21 Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you. (Deuteronomy 22: 13-29)

If a woman were promised to a man as a virgin, and on his wedding night he discovered she was not, then he could bring her before the elders in the gate. If her parents could not provide the proof of her virginity (explained below) then she was stoned to death at the door of her father's house. If the woman was proved innocent then her husband was fined 100 shekels of silver ($220,000) and could never divorce her as long as he lived for any reason. This seems harsh to us now, but executions by stoning were probably very rare. Let me explain why.

Knowing that law existed, any young woman who had been seduced would have a strong incentive to tell her father immediately. Also, it would give an incentive to a promiscuous young woman to find a rich candidate and deliberately seduce him. Then she could run to her father and say that he seduced her and her victim would have no way to prove that she was a wanton. He could end up being forced to marry a promiscuous woman, and lose eleven years of income, and he could never get rid of her.

In practical terms, sexual immorality is so attractive and easy to hide that a godly society must put a very high cost on it in order to minimize it. Otherwise families get destroyed, and as we have seen in America, once the family is destroyed the culture will soon follow. These laws make it very costly for a man to seduce a virgin. They also make it very dangerous for a man to fornicate with any promiscuous young woman because she could claim to her father that she was a virgin and he could be forced to pay the fine and marry her. The price for a woman lying about her virginity was her life.

TOKENS OF VIRGINITY

The biblical proof of virginity was that the parents provided a white cloth which the bride would lie upon while her husband consummated the marriage in the wedding chamber. The parents stood outside the closed door and took the cloth with the blood on it as soon as the act was consummated, had it notarized in some way, and kept it as proof of their daughter's purity. This could be brought up later for proof if the man defamed the purity of his wife.

This is not foolproof, as it is possible today to have a doctor sew up a broken hymen, as has happened with young women from Eastern cultures who came to America to study and then had to return home to an arranged marriage. It is also possible for a young woman to perforate her hymen while horseback riding or other activities which are rough on the pelvic area. This may partially explain why in former times women rode side saddle. A culture which values virginity is more likely to protect their daughters from anything which might call their virginity into question.

ADULTERY

Adultery, in addition to being an affront to God and a violation of a solemn covenant, has two negative temporal effects which destroy the covenant line. When a man commits adultery he is destroying the covenant of his own family, corrupting the covenant seed of another man's family (if the adulteress is also married), and increasing the number of illegitimate children in the society. In ancient Israel it took ten generations of righteous behavior before the children of a bastard could become full citizens of Israel! The Biblical penalty for adultery for a man is always death. However, for a woman who was betrothed as a servant wife (or concubine) an exception was made, because she was not free.

And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free. Leviticus 19:20

When a woman commits adultery she compromises the covenant line of her husband and brings evil into the family. Her husband no longer knows whether his children are really his. A man who does not believe his wife's children are his own will under normal circumstances be less inclined to care for them. (This is why polyandry, a woman having more than one husband, has never existed for long in a culture. The children don't get provided for by their fathers because no one knows who the father is. The children are raised fatherless and soon the culture collapses. For an example of this look at inner city America.)

The penalty for adultery in the Hebrew law was death by stoning of both of the guilty parties. This also applied to a betrothed man or woman who committed adultery, and to a woman who falsely pretended to be a virgin.

20 But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel: 21 Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you. 22 If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel. 23 If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; 24 Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you. 25 But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die. 26 But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter: 27 For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her. (Deuteronomy 22:20-27)

In all of these cases the crime destroyed the covenant line; and the penalty for sexual fraud in the marriage covenant was death.. American Christians today are quick to point out how harsh and unforgiving this was. But we must not try to be "nicer than God." If God placed such a high cost on adultery, then it must be very heinous in His sight, more heinous than we sinners tend to think it is. One obvious implication is that it is impossible to maintain a godly society when the family is in shambles. Adultery is too pleasurable and easy to get away with, combined with its highly destructive effects on the family, to tolerate it in society. When adultery and fornication are given free reign, a host of problems are unleashed, as America has so amply demonstrated. The inheritance of the godly is destroyed when there is no legal protection of the sanctity of marriage.

In order to regain a more godly culture and strong families we should take God's Word to heart on these issues and consider how we can reflect His righteousness in our own families.