just me wrote:[quote=Why did god take so long to invent marriage and why did it have to do with ownership rights? Why did god want men to own women and children? Seems like a strange fetish for a god to have.]
Marriage between man and woman, has been in place since the creation of Adam & Eve. There were times, that the current laws in regards to marriage were put aside (in order to populate the earth in the beginning, and after the flood). Lot and his daughters were another example. We also are faced with the introduction of Mongoloid and Negroid races through the mating of angels and women (Genesis 6:2). After the flood, these three races carried forward as follows;
Noah, his wife, and their three sons were Caucasian. The wives of the three sons were each a separate race (Caucasian, Mongoloid and Negroid).
God has granted 'men' the position of 'head of the household'. Scriptures tell us that the wives are to submit themselves to their husbands [It goes without saying, that the acts of the men, must glorify God.].
Understanding 'marriage' from the viewpoint of God, is very important. A man can have many wives, but a wife can only have one husband. It is not God who has limited the amount of wives a man can have. It is our 'state' laws and our churches that have done so. Everything is lawful as given to us by God as long as it is done in a righteous/godly fashion.