Betrothing

Biblical betrothal functioned as a binding legal contract between families that conferred the full legal status of marriage even before cohabitation began. A betrothed woman was legally called a 'wife,' and unfaithfulness during betrothal was treated as adultery with its corresponding penalties (Deut. 22:23-24). The betrothal agreement was typically made by the fathers of the couple and involved payment of a bride-price (mohar) to the bride's family as formal ratification. In later Second Temple practice a formal declaration before witnesses could also serve.

The betrothal period — customarily about a year — served to allow preparation of the couple's dwelling while the bride remained in her father's house. Joseph's discovery of Mary's pregnancy during their betrothal (Matt. 1:18-19) placed him in a legally precise dilemma: she had technically violated what was legally equivalent to marriage, making him entitled to a formal divorce proceeding. Joseph's decision to 'put her away quietly' (Matt. 1:19) rather than pursue public legal process reflects his righteousness and mercy before the angelic revelation clarified the situation. The NT also uses betrothal as a metaphor for the church's relationship to Christ, presenting Paul as a matchmaker who presented the Corinthian church 'as a pure virgin to her one husband' (2 Cor. 11:2).