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You're certainly correct in that the federal government shouldn't be involved in marriage (the 10th amendment makes this clear) because the States never delegated that power to it. Moreover, it is quite arguable if the states have the legitimate authority to regulate marriage -- you see, marriage is not a right, but a rite [and that's debatable]:

rite

a formal or ceremonial act or procedure prescribed or customary in religious or other solemn use: rites of baptism; sacrificial rites.
a particular form or system of religious or other ceremonial practice: the Roman rite.
(often initial capital letter) one of the historical versions of the Eucharistic service: the Anglican Rite.
(often initial capital letter) liturgy.
(sometimes initial capital letter) Eastern Church, Western Church. a division or differentiation of churches according to liturgy.

right

a just claim or title, whether legal, prescriptive, or moral: You have a right to say what you please.
Sometimes, rights. that which is due to anyone by just claim, legal guarantees, moral principles, etc.: women's rights; Freedom of speech is a right of all Americans.
adherence or obedience to moral and legal principles and authority.
that which is morally, legally, or ethically proper: to know right from wrong.
a moral, ethical, or legal principle considered as an underlying cause of truth, justice, morality, or ethics.

If you want to cite marriage in America as having Judeo-Christian roots and assert [implicitly or explicitly] the import of the ceremony then you have to explain the marriage of Isaac & Rebekah:

(Gen 24:61-67)
Then Rebekah and her maids rose up, mounted the camels, and followed the man; thus the servant took Rebekah, and went his way. Now Isaac had come from Beer-lahai-roi, and was settled in the Negeb. Isaac went out in the evening to walk in the field; and looking up, he saw camels coming. And Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she slipped quickly from the camel, and said to the servant, “Who is the man over there, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

Pretty light on ceremony there… plus the portions immediately prior indicate much more that it was more a social arrangement than any sort of religious rite.

You're certainly correct in that the federal government shouldn't be involved in marriage (the 10th amendment makes this clear) because the States never delegated that power to it.

I am well aware that the 14th Amendment has long been a thorn in the sides of libertarians, but this very much DOES make it a federal issue.

Moreover, it is quite arguable if the states have the legitimate authority to regulate marriage -- you see, marriage is not a right, but a rite

What exactly DO you think the states have a right to regulate?

If you want to cite marriage in America as having Judeo-Christian roots and assert [implicitly or explicitly] the import of the ceremony then you have to explain the marriage of Isaac & Rebekah

You mean a marriage that occurred BEFORE God gave Moses the Law?

Actually, marriage is a God-given private right. Everything that does not interfere with the liberty of another IS a God-given right. And our rights and powers are limited on a federal level only by expressed powers delegated to the federal government by the Constitution. The federal government has no power to enforce our rights other than on a legitimate case-by-case basis in the Supreme Court (or lower federal courts). Giving the feds power to enforce our rights is to expand their power exponentially. That is why they are so eager to do it.

It is totalitarian states like the USSR that "creates" and lists the rights of individuals. That is why the first Ten Amendments are not a "bill of rights" but an expressed sampling of God-given rights already there. That is why the words in those amendments say things like "Congress shall not abridge" or "the right shall not be violated".

In totalitarian countries, State creates rights, the State then expands its power to enforce, and the State may take away those rights at any time. America is exceptional because it acknowledges the beginning point in the affairs of man as the INDIVIDUAL's God-given (not man-given) unalienable rights.The Constitution is aimed at binding the federal government to ensure it stays within those LIMITED rights and powers DELEGATED by the Constitution via the states and the people.