Bad Bible Examples

I sat in church the other day and thought, are there any good examples of couples in the Bible? Like—Couples I would actually WANT their relationship?

·         Adam and Eve—who wants a son that kills another one? That is some kind of dysfunctional

·         Noah and his wife—after the flood, he became a drunk

·         Abraham and Sarah—lies, lies, “sleep with my maid,” lies

·         Isaac and Rebekah—each one take your favorite kid…

·         Jacob and Rachel and Leah—yeah, that list is a couple too long

·         Judah and Tamar—please, sleep with your daughter-in-law

·         Moses and Zipporah—he left his family behind while he did the whole “Lead my people” thing, and then his family was prejudice because she was “dark.” Nope.

·         Joshua and…did he marry?

·         Samson and Delilah—wait, that wasn’t even his wife. She got burned. Literally.

·         Ruth and Boaz—uh, don’t want my first husband dying so I can find an old nice guy

·         David and which one? Don’t say Bathsheba. Micah—now there is some drama

·         Solomon…Song of Solomon…again, about 999 too many involved in that relationship

·         Esther and the king and the rest of his harem—no.

·         Ezekiel and what’s her name—oh yeah, the one who died for an example to Isreal. And he couldn’t even cry about it. That one really gets me mad.

·         Hosea and I forgot her name—the one who cheated again.

·         Joseph and Mary—having God’s son and everyone thinking I was a whore? Not my calling

·         Any of the apostles and their wives: don’t want to become a widow

·         Ananias and Sapphira—die together-ish, right?

·         Paul and…oh yeah, his advice was to stay single.

My mother did remind of me of Priscilla and Aquila (which one is the girl?) that was also mentioned here: http://dtjsoft.com/the-biblical-model-for-the-marriage-relationship/  Okay—so maybe one example. But really, how many examples can I think of in real life? (five—the answer is five)

This says to me that marriage is hard, and most of the people who invest in their marriage do that and little else—not too many great stories about them. All the above people did a lot of great stuff (well, most of them), stuff that goes down in history. And most of them—at the cost of their family—or at least their marriage relationship.  

I heard a missionary story about this couple who did great things together. He was killed because of it, a martyr, and their daughter wasn’t sent to school until she was 11, suffering along with the other orphans they were helping—meaning because they shared what they had, their daughter only received one meal a day. Would I have done the same? Been a great missionary, but let my daughter suffer?

How does Luke 14: 26 (“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple”) work—which seems to have been interpreted through the years—especially by missionaries—that their work there is above their family and their marriage?