📖 Biblical Definition
Bride price (Hebrew mohar) is the biblical custom of the groom paying a price to the bride's father at betrothal — not buying the bride but ratifying the covenant by tangible cost. Jacob worked seven years for Rachel (Gen 29); David paid a hundred Philistine foreskins for Michal (1 Sam 18:25); the Mosaic law set a default price for a virgin (Ex 22:17, Deut 22:29). The pattern carries forward typologically: Christ's blood is the bride-price for His church.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
(Hebrew mohar.) The biblical bride-price; ratifies the marriage covenant by tangible cost. Christ's blood as the antitype.
expand to see more
Hebrew mohar — the bride-price paid by the groom to the bride's family. Cultural functions: ratification of the covenant, demonstration of the groom's ability to provide, security for the bride if widowed.
Christ as antitype: ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold... but with the precious blood of Christ (1 Pet 1:18-19). His blood is the bride-price for His church.
📖 Key Scripture
Genesis 29:18 — "And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter."
Exodus 22:17 — "If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins."
Acts 20:28 — "Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."
1 Peter 1:18-19 — "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold... but with the precious blood of Christ."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern weddings have lost the ratification-by-cost dimension; the bride-price typology preserves a picture of the cross that Scripture honors.
expand to see more
Acts 20:28 is striking: the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. The Husband paid the bride-price; the church is His by both betrothal and purchase. The cross is bride-price language as much as it is sacrifice language.
The household's appreciation of the typology deepens its understanding of Christ's love. The Bride was not free; she was bought. The price was not silver; it was blood. The Husband's sacrifice ratified the eternal covenant.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew mohar (bride-price); Greek peripoieō (to acquire).
expand to see more
Hebrew mohar — bride-price; the dowry paid by the groom.
Greek peripoieō — to acquire, purchase; the verb in Acts 20:28.
Usage
"The Husband paid the bride-price; the church is His by betrothal and purchase."
"The cross is bride-price language as much as sacrifice language."
"Not silver; blood."