No very clear information is given as to the rela- tive status of wives and concubines, rrfv. woman, is sometimes used as a general term for a wife or concubine (Gn 30^) ; sometimes for \vife as distin- guished from concubine (1 K IP). The words ntij (in Hex., chiefly ED), nri^p (in Hex., chiefly JP), and ^jJi'S, seem to be practically synonymous when used of concubines. In households where the person of every female slave was — witl. few ex- ceptions— at the dispo.sal of the master (Benzinger, 162), and where the relative status of the women depended chiefly on his favour, definite and nicely graduated distinctions were impossible. Amongst modern Mohammeilans, a man may cohabit with any of his female slaves who is a Mohammedan, a Christian, or a Jewess ; and, conversely, he cannot have as a slave a woman whom he acknow- ledges to be within the prohibited degrees of marriage (Lane, Arabian Nitjhts, i. 55, 56). The only definite advantage claimed by wives over concubines is that their children should inherit a larger share, or even the whole, of their father's property, e.g. Sarah's claim for Isaac (Gn 21'"). Nevertheless the wife, because her position was the result of her husband's favour, and was often guaranteed by powerful relatives, would often enjoy superior consideration, and exercise a greater influence. Sarah, R.achel, and Leah had slave- girls, nin;:^ {shcphdliulh), who were their own pro- perty; and when these became concubines, tliey were still under the authority of their mistresses. Polygamy is both recognized by the law and de- scribed in the history ; nearly all the kings and judges of whom we have particulars have a large Iiarem. Ace. to Justin (jrn//)/io, 134), even in his time Jewish teachers permitted each man to have four or five wive8(cf. Jos. Ant. XVII. i. 2 ; Mishna, Kci/u.ihin, ii. 7, etc.). But considerations of ex- pense and the ajiproximately eciual numbers of the two sexes place narrow limits on polygamy. Nowack {Jlcb. Arch. i. 159) points out that Ab- raham and ElUanah have two wives, that n-i)! 'adversary' is a technical term for one of two wives, and that Dt 21"''- speaks of two wives, one beloved, the other hated. He thinks that such
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FAMILY
bigamy would be very common. In the nature of the case, a large proportion of the population must have been monogamous ; cf. the cases of Adam (Gn 2»-»«), Noah and his sons (6'8 7" 8"), Lot (19">), Isaac, and Joseph. Probably, the monogamy of these patriarchs is narrated as an example. The family q^uarrels arising out of polygamy are suffi- ciently illustrated from the familiar examples of Sarah and Hagar, Rachel and Leah, Hanii.ih and Peninnah, and the famUy history of David (cf. Sir 37" 26' where dtTifTJXo^ = rriy). On the other hand, Heb. family life must be judged from the point of view of the ancient East, and not from that of the modem West. From the former, there was nothin" immoral in polygamy, and the status of wives and concubines was neither regarded by otlier.s nor felt by themselves to be humiliating. The acrostic on the Capable Woman, 'esheth hayil (Pr 31'°""). testifies to the honourable position of the faithful wife.
We have little Information as to the marriages of slaves ; apparently, the tie between them was not very binding. A couple who had come into a master's possession as a married couple were to be released together at the end of six years ; but if, after a man became a slave, his master married Lim to another slave, and children were born, the man either went away alone, or remained a slave for the sake of his family (cf. NLaebiaqe, Woman).
(c) Parents and Children. — The etymologies of 31J father, dn mother, are quite uncertain ; they are common to most Sem. languages, are appar- ently connected with the terms for father and mother in the Aryan and other families of lan- guages, and are probably older than the triliteral roots. [3 son and its fern, ns have been somewhat improbably connected with njj to build ; tliey too, also, are probably older than the triliteral roots. The father was supreme over the children ; he could dispose of the daughter in marriage (Gn 29), [but (Lv 19^) he might not make her a prostitute], and arrange his son's marriage (Gn 24), or sell his chUdren as slaves (Ex 21') — where, however, the father is forbidden to sell his daughter to a stranger (Neh 5"). The power of die and death is attested by the proposed sacrifice of Isaac, the case of Jephthah's daughter, and the practice of sacrificing children to Molech (Lv 18^' 20^'°, 2 K 23", Jer 32"). The utmost respect and obedi- ence to both father and mother are insisted on in Ex 20", Lv ig*, Dt 5'«, Pr l^ 6» 19=« 20-« 232^ 28--' 30"- ", cf. Ezk 22', Mic 7'. Similarly, Ex 21>»- ", Lv 20' direct that any one smiting or cursing father or mother shall be put to death ; Dt 27" invokes a curse upon any one who is disrespectful to father or mother. Pr 13^" etc. insist on the duty of strict domestic discipline, though doubtless the ' rod ' may be understood as including other cjias- tisement "besides corporal punishment (cf. Pr 17'"). Dt 21"'" directs that a stubborn and rebellious son, a glutton and a drunkard, is to be stoned to death by his fellow-citizens, on the testimony of his father and mother given before the elders. Such laws really imposed limits on the authority of the father ; he must not himself put his son to death, but must procure his punishment by a public legal process. The constant coordination of father and mother in such passages practically places the mother on the same level ^vith the father with regard to the children. Indeed, polygamy makes each mother much more important to her own children than their father is. In a polygam- ous family, each mother and her children form a sub - famuy, — Jacob's wives and concubines have separate tents (Gn SI''), — the management of which is in the hands of the mother. Hence the early education and training of chUdren was