Marriage - Its Origin and Purpose

MARRIAGE FROM THE TIME OF ADAM TO THE FLOOD

Before Adam and Eve died, they had sons and daughters.  (Genesis 5:4) Their first son, Cain later married a female relative.  Cain's descendant Lamech was the first man mentioned in the Bible as having two wives.  (Genesis 4:17, 19)  From the time of Adam to the time of Noah, only a few people worshipped Jehovah. Some of those faithful ones were Abel, Enoch, and Noah and his family.  In Noah's time, "the sons of the true God began to notice that the daughters of the men were beautiful," says the Bible."  "So they began taking wives all whom they chose."  But this was unnatural, and those angels and woman had sons who were violent giants called Nephilim.  During that time, "man's wickedness was great on the earth"  and "every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only bad all the time." -Genesis 6:1-5. 

Jehovah said that he would bring a great flood to the earth to destroy all the wicked people.  "Noah, a preacher of righteousness," told those people about the coming Flood.  (2 Peter 2:5) But they did not listen to Noah because they were too busy with their daily lives, including getting married.   Jesus compare Noah's time  to our time. (Read Matthew 24:37-39.) Today, most people do not listen to our message about the good news of God's Kingdom.  We are preaching this message before this wicked world is destroyed. What lesson can we learn from the time of the Flood?  We should not let things such as marriage and having children become so important to us that we forget that Jehovah's day is close.

Next time: Marriage -Its Origin And Purpose/MARRIAGE FROM THE FLOOD TO JESUS' DAY

From The Watchtower magazine