Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Leviral marriage

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Leviral marriage
  • Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2005 15:50:01 -0500

Dar Bill,

> I think we can make a good argument that, although this was tolerated by
God, it was not his original purpose, which seems to have been
mongamous, as in Genesis 2:24 which mentions only one wife.

I think this is projecting later beliefs on to the text.

HH: Genesis 2:24 speaks of a physical and emotional union between two people, a man and a woman. There is no discussion of more than one wife, and that of course would interfere with the one flesh union of the man and woman.

As a number
of list members have pointed out polygamous marriages are just accepted
in the texts as being a normal part of life. Whether than be wives or
some combination of wife, wives, concubine or concubines. Beyond that
there is 2 Sam 12:8 KJV:-

``And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy
bosom...''

If you are going to make the case that the writer(s) thought God's ideal
was monogamous marriages why would they include a verse which portrays
God as actively taking Saul's wives away from him and giving them
to David?

HH: A lot of OT language attributes to God the providential reality, whatever it was. God is sovereign, so all events are ultimately due to Him, whether He actually approves of them or not, if He allows them. God does not approve of individuals hating one another, but Psalm 106: says about the Egyptians:

Psa. 105:25 whose hearts he turned to hate his people, to conspire against his servants.

HH: God allowed and indirectly caused this hatred by blessing Israel. David as the new king had a certain right, according to Near Eastern thinking, to take from the harem of the deceased king. So God gave David circumstances that put him in that condition, but we do not know that he took Saul's wife. Saul had only one wife (1 Sam 14:50). He had one concubine, whom Abner took (2 Sam 3:7). But what suggests this kind of language to be providential rather than a specific divine intent is that God forbid the Israelite kings from multiplying wives:

Deut. 17:17 He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.

HH: David already had more than one wife before he even became king.

Monogamy came to us from the Romans, not from either the
Jews or the Christians.

HH: This is not what the NT says in the person of Jesus:

Matt. 19:3 ¶ Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?"
Matt. 19:4 ¶ "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,'
Matt. 19:5 and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'?
Matt. 19:6 So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
Matt. 19:7 ¶ "Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?"
Matt. 19:8 ¶ Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.

For purely numerical reasons I expect monogamy was the more common
form of marriage, there appears to be nothing in the texts which
elevates that above polygamous marriages.

HH: The fact that God prohibits kings from multiplying wives suggests that it was an inferior practice. It is fraught with complications and unhappiness in the biblical narratives.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page