40. Woman's Tent Marriage

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1. The expression “Sarah’s tent” may mean nothing more than her apartment in the principal tent of the encampment (see Gen 18:9-109And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. 10And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. (Genesis 18:9‑10); Judges 4:1818And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle. (Judges 4:18); and see note on Song of {s 22221}Solomon 1:55I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. (Song of Solomon 1:5), #474), though it is sometimes customary for the women to have separate tents of their own, as seems to have been the case with Leah and Rachel. Genesis 31:3333And Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the two maidservants' tents; but he found them not. Then went he out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent. (Genesis 31:33). This would doubtless be desirable where there were more wives than one.
2. There is no evidence of any special religious forms in these primitive marriages. The preliminaries referring to dowry and similar financial matters being satisfactorily arranged, the man took his wife as Isaac took Rebekah. The essence of the marriage ceremony consisted in the removal of the bride from her father’s house to that of the bridegroom or of his father.