Corpus-Paul

["maertens" <maertens AT waika9.com>]

Jim,

Your point of view is very interesting and, as the rabbis, rely also on Gen
1. They taught that most noachic commandments were given to Adam.
The link between the Damascus Covenant and the Gospels is very interesting.
But is the text used in the Gospels against adultery or against divorce?
(This is maybe not a question for this list).
As you pointed out, the Damascus Covenant is an execption in promoting
monogamy. In rabbinic Judaism, polygamy was permitted, although there was a
tendency towards monogamic mariage. According to A. Cohen, Le Talmud (Paris,
Payot, 1991 - sorry, I don't have acces to the original English), one rabbi
said, a man may marry as much women as he wants (Yeb 65a). For another one,
he could only have 4 espouses (Yeb 44a). The high priest, on the other hand,
only could have one wife (Yoma 13a). And it doesn't seem that the rabbis
were polygamic. One has to note that the Levirate system implies polygamie.
Akiba, for who marriage was based on love, opposed to levirate marriages (L.
Finkelstein, Akiba, Scholar, Saint and Martyr, N.Y., Atheum, 1978, 190). So
fornication does not necessarily imply monogamic marriage. So where did
Christianity get the idea of a monogamic marriage? Did Paul defend a
monogamic marriage because he writes especially to Gentiles (is it wrong to
say that polygamy was forbidden for roman and greek civilians?) and that he
wishes to offer a "biblical" foundation to their practice?

Greetings,

Philip