Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Read, James C" <K0434995 AT kingston.ac.uk>]

I thought no-one challenged that polygamy was perfectly acceptable in 
the hebrew community. Saying that kings were exceptions is unfounded
as Isreal's kings sat on yah's throne and were therefore an example to 
the community. Although, you could say that it was easier for the wealthy 
to be able to support more than one wife.

In fact no christian scripture speaks directly against polygamy, except 
for perhaps Paul's letter to Timothy were overseers of the flock are 
described as having to be husbands of *one* wife. It is likely that 
monogamy was forced into christian thought by the roman influence.

Also Islam, which is largely based on mosaic traditions, accepts multiwived 
families and so personally I see no reason whatsoever to doubt that such 
was acceptable under the mosaic law covenant. 

-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org on behalf of Dr. Joel M. Hoffman
Sent: Fri 10/14/2005 8:36 PM
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [b-hebrew] polygamy
 
I'll be the first to admit that my expertise lies in language, not
historical anthropology, but why is everyone so quick to assume that
the ancient Hebrews were monogamous in the light of so much evidence
to the contrary.  Indeed, polygamy survived in common practice until
last century in many parts of the Jewish world.  It seems to be taken
for granted in the Torah.  And the leaders of Ashkenaz some 1,000
years ago specifically tried to put an end to polygamy.

-Joel M. Hoffman
 http://www.exc.com/JoelHoffman
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Date: Sat, 15 Oct 2005 21:21:05 +0200
From: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
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Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Leviral marriage - prepositions & grammar
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Hi Vadim,

Roman law forbade polygamy. This did not necessarily obligate citizens (or
kings) of client states, but Herod did his best to emulate Roman customs.

As far as the Bible - you have not quoted a single example of l'ishah
unequivocally meaning anything "less" than a legal wife.


Yigal
----- Original Message -----
From: "Vadim Cherny" <VadimCherny AT mail.ru>
To: "Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
Cc: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, October 14, 2005 6:27 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Leviral marriage - prepositions & grammar


> Shalom Yigal,
>
>> Herod walked a fine line between Oriental despotism and Roman "rule of
>> law". A Roman could only have one wife at a time, so Herod was careful to
>> dispose of one before marrying anothe.
>
> Other monarchs in the Roman world did not care. Polygamy, I think, had to
> do less with fine feelings than with the practical issues of inheritance
> and--in the case of kings--of regency. Also, common people would have find
> it difficult to provide for several wives.
>
> I do think that 'verb lo l'isha' etymologically means something like
> concubine, or property-wise lighter than marriage. In time, it might
> acquire either colloquial sense, close to concubine, or archaic and
> ceremonial sense. Russian, "take into [the circle of one's] wives" became
> ceremonial. Both interpretations are meaningful in the case of Rivka,
> though each remains a more or less possible conjecture.
>
> The point is, however, that the preposition l in 'verb lo l'isha' is
> meaningful; not just "became a wife" (instrumental), or "took a wife"
> (accusative), but perhaps, "took for a wife," "took similarly to a wife"
> or something like that, an idiom originally different from simple "took a
> wife." Since "verb lo l'isha" is an idiom, it seemingly does not prove
> instrumental case for l'nephesh in Gen2:7. I still assert that l is always
> dative, and hih l always mean that subject becomes close to the object,
> but not strictly an object; thus, similar to it.
>
> Vadim
>
>