marrying cousins?

[CoUrTnEy]

What does the bible say about marrying your relatives- specifically cousins?? wrong or right according to the bible? show us proof to back your views

[kAHANyAH]

jacob married his two cousins, leah and Rachel. Laban the father of the two was jacob's uncle - brother of his mother rebekah.

[CoUrTnEy]

so would you then say that the bible supports or allows one to marry his/her cousin?? anyone have an opposing viewpoint?

kAH said:

jacob married his two cousins, leah and Rachel. Laban the father of the two was jacob's uncle - brother of his mother rebekah.

[LadyC]

should i answer yet, or wait and see what others post? LOL, ok, i'll respond....

The Bible has a great deal to say about cousin marriage, and not once does it say anything negative. To the contrary, all references to cousin marriage in scripture are 100% supportive.

Let's look first at how the Bible defines sexual impurity, in Leviticus chapter 18. God tells us that we are not to have sexual relations with the following:

any close relative (which you will clearly see does not include cousins)
your mother
your father's wife
your sister, (whole or half) "whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere" (v.9)
your grandchild
the daughter of your father's wife (step-sister)
your father's sister (aunt) "as she is your father's close relative"
your mother's sister (aunt) "as she is your mother's close relative"
your father's brother's wife (aunt)
your son's wife
your brother's wife
with both a woman and her daughter
your wife's sister as a rival wife (to spite your first wife)
during "uncleanness of her monthly period"
with your neighbor's wife
with a member of the same sex; the Bible says "that is detestable"
with an animal; the Bible refers to this as "a perversion"

here's a few cousins who God blessed in marriage... this is not an all inclusive list though, there are others.

Zelophehad's daughters did as the LORD commanded Moses. Zelophehad's daughters, Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah and Noah, married their cousins on their father's side.
(Numbers 36: 1-11)

Milcah, one of Zelophehad's daughters, was married to her cousin Nahor. (I could be wrong... I've had other people tell me it was a different Milcah, still married to a cousin, but not one of Zelophehad's daughters.. the geneology of the Bible is hard for me to follow!) They had a grand daughter named Rebekkah. In Genesis 24:48-51, the story unfolds of how, against all odds, God's direction for her to marry her cousin's son Isaac (first cousin once removed) is made crystal clear.

Isaac and Rebekkah had two son's. Jacob was the son whom was blessed to fulfill God's prophecy that the descendant's of Abraham (Jacob's grandfather, Isaac's father) would become a great nation. Isaac instructed Jacob to marry a daughter of Rebekkah's brother. Although he immediately fell in love and became engaged to his cousin Rachel, his uncle tricked him into first marrying Rachel's sister Leah. Although God blessed Jacob greatly, Jacob suffered much grief and heartache for having married both sisters. Jacob's descendants became what is now known as the twelve tribes of Israel. (Genesis chapters 19 and 29)

In I Chronicles 23:22, Eleazar's daughters married their first cousins. Very little detail is given of this event.

[CoUrTnEy]

thank you Lady C.. i was hoping you would come back and chime in anyone else with a viewpoint on this subject?

LadyC said:

should i answer yet, or wait and see what others post? LOL, ok, i'll respond....

The Bible has a great deal to say about cousin marriage, and not once does it say anything negative. To the contrary, all references to cousin marriage in scripture are 100% supportive.

Let's look first at how the Bible defines sexual impurity, in Leviticus chapter 18. God tells us that we are not to have sexual relations with the following:

any close relative (which you will clearly see does not include cousins)
your mother
your father's wife
your sister, (whole or half) "whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere" (v.9)
your grandchild
the daughter of your father's wife (step-sister)
your father's sister (aunt) "as she is your father's close relative"
your mother's sister (aunt) "as she is your mother's close relative"
your father's brother's wife (aunt)
your son's wife
your brother's wife
with both a woman and her daughter
your wife's sister as a rival wife (to spite your first wife)
during "uncleanness of her monthly period"
with your neighbor's wife
with a member of the same sex; the Bible says "that is detestable"
with an animal; the Bible refers to this as "a perversion"

here's a few cousins who God blessed in marriage... this is not an all inclusive list though, there are others.

Zelophehad's daughters did as the LORD commanded Moses. Zelophehad's daughters, Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah and Noah, married their cousins on their father's side.
(Numbers 36: 1-11)

Milcah, one of Zelophehad's daughters, was married to her cousin Nahor. (I could be wrong... I've had other people tell me it was a different Milcah, still married to a cousin, but not one of Zelophehad's daughters.. the geneology of the Bible is hard for me to follow!) They had a grand daughter named Rebekkah. In Genesis 24:48-51, the story unfolds of how, against all odds, God's direction for her to marry her cousin's son Isaac (first cousin once removed) is made crystal clear.

Isaac and Rebekkah had two son's. Jacob was the son whom was blessed to fulfill God's prophecy that the descendant's of Abraham (Jacob's grandfather, Isaac's father) would become a great nation. Isaac instructed Jacob to marry a daughter of Rebekkah's brother. Although he immediately fell in love and became engaged to his cousin Rachel, his uncle tricked him into first marrying Rachel's sister Leah. Although God blessed Jacob greatly, Jacob suffered much grief and heartache for having married both sisters. Jacob's descendants became what is now known as the twelve tribes of Israel. (Genesis chapters 19 and 29)

In I Chronicles 23:22, Eleazar's daughters married their first cousins. Very little detail is given of this event.

[LadyC]

oops, i meant that it might be a different milcah that was the grandmother of rebekkah

and you're welcome!

oh, caleb's daughter, ahksah, married her cousin othniel. she was a prize bride... othniel won her by being the warrior to defeat... i forget what battle it was, but anyway, he won her in battle.

there's a really good christian fiction novel on the story of those two, called Caleb's Daughter. i forget the name of the author, but my mom thought it was one of the best christian historical novels she'd ever read.

[CoUrTnEy]

hey 1dell. what say you?

[kAHANyAH]

someone's been sneaking in a quick peek of BILL O'REILLY's "the o'reilly factor" . I wonder who. Hmmmm...

CoUrTnEy said:

hey 1dell. what say you?

[CoUrTnEy]

i have watched that show before. .and i do like him.. but i haven't watched enough to get that catch phrase from him.. i have heard it somewhere else before (where im not sure)

kAH said:

someone's been sneaking in a quick peek of BILL O'REILLY's "the o'reilly factor" . I wonder who. Hmmmm...

[gamaliel]

I dont know about 1st cousins, but most states it aint even illegal. Jerry Lee Lewis married his 1st cousin and all those royal familes of Europe have done it. Prince Charles and Lady Diana were far removed cousins BUT they were still cousins. I'm telling on myself here but how many of you were attracted to your cousins or even played "house" with them when you were kids?

[CoUrTnEy]

hmm.. well i have one cousin that i always thought was kinda cute.. but i guess the societial views of such a thing kept me from taking it any further than that.. I can't speak for anyone else or whether or not it's right or wrong according to the bible- but it (like many other things) is just not for me.

gamaliel said:

I dont know about 1st cousins, but most states it aint even illegal. Jerry Lee Lewis married his 1st cousin and all those royal familes of Europe have done it. Prince Charles and Lady Diana were far removed cousins BUT they were still cousins. I'm telling on myself here but how many of you were attracted to your cousins or even played "house" with them when you were kids?

[gamaliel]

I agree. Its been trained in us as taboo and while legal is frowned upon. Sometime ago I guess cousin-marrying got associated with hillbillies and poor white trash. Inbreeding can cause birth defects, but so far thats only been noticed amongst children of incest.

[LadyC]

society does instill in us some major sense of taboo... but has only done so for the last 150 years or so. prior to 1861, there were no states that forbade first cousin marriages. currently, half of our states do.

the interesting thing about how those laws came about is the reasoning beind them... would anyone believe that one of the main purposes of making such laws was to prevent a population explosion among immigrants?

genetically speaking, the sort of problems first cousins are at a higher risk for is recessive disorders... which are the least common of all genetic defects. the background risk for any (unrelated) couple to have a child with a recessive condition is 3%. first cousins have a 2.8% increased risk... it's more risky to have Invitro fertilization, or to have a child in your 30's.

[kAHANyAH]

i aint gone lie, I made out wit like 2 of my cousins. I was a lil whipper snapper when that happened. Aint know no bedda.

gamaliel said:

I dont know about 1st cousins, but most states it aint even illegal. Jerry Lee Lewis married his 1st cousin and all those royal familes of Europe have done it. Prince Charles and Lady Diana were far removed cousins BUT they were still cousins. I'm telling on myself here but how many of you were attracted to your cousins or even played "house" with them when you were kids?

[LadyC]

that's ok kah, i married mine!