It is a remarkable thing how the writers of Scripture never do what churches are so temped to do, which is put people on a pedestal. To illustrate how grittily honest the biblical writers are about human nature, answer this question: Who in the Bible would you say had the best marriage?
Adam and Eve had their honeymoon in paradise, and it all went down-hill from there. Abraham lied that Sarah was his sister – twice – and impregnated her servant, Hagar. Isaac and Rebekah spent their marriage battling because he favored Esau and she favored Jacob. Jacob had children by two wives and the wives’ servants. About all we know of Moses’ wife, Zipporah, is that they had an argument over circumcising their son and she called Moses a “bridegroom of blood.” David was a disaster as a husband; Solomon was worse. When Job’s life got hard, Mrs. Job told him to “curse God and die!” I am not making this up: Someone online said they thought the best marriage in the Bible was between Noah and Joan of Ark.
In fairy tales, life is a difficult adventure until you get married – and then you live happily ever after. But nowhere in the Bible do a couple get married and then live “happily ever after.” Marriage doesn’t save anyone. Only Jesus does that.
-- John Ortberg in “The Me I Want to Be”
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