IV. Polygamy ami Concubinage. — 1. Though the his- tory of the protoplasts — in which we are told that God in the beginning created a single pair, one of each sex — seems to exhibit a standard for monogamy, j-et the Scriptures record that from the remotest periods men had simultaneously several wives, occujiying either co- ordinate or subordinate positions. Against the opinion that Lamech, sixth in descent from Adam through Cain, introduced polygamy — based on the circumstance that he is the first who is recorded as having married two wives (Gen. iv^, 19) — is to be urged that (1.) Lamech is the first whose marriage or taking of a wife is recorded, and consequently it is impossible to say how many wives his five progenitors had ; (2.) The mention of Lamech's two wives is incidental, and is entirely owing to the fact that tlio sacred historian had to notice the useful inven- tions made by their respective sons Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-Cain, as well as to give the oldest piece of rhyth- mical composition which was addressed to the wives, cel- ebrating one of these inventions ; and (3.) If polj-gamy had t)een for the first time introduced by Lamech, the sacred writer would have as distinctly mentioned it as he mentions the things which were first introduced by Lamech's sons. The manner in which Sarah urges Abraliam to take her servant Hagar, and the fact that Sarah herself gives the maiden to her own husband (n'i'i<b) to be his wife, the readiness with which the patriarch accepts the proposal (Gen. xvi, 1-4), unques- tionably show that it was a common custom to have one or more secondary wives. In fact, it is distinctly
mentioned that Nahor, Abraham's own brother, who had eight sons Ijy Milcah, his principal wife, and conse- quently did not require another wife for the purpose of securing progeny, had nevertheless a secondary wife (12J3^S), by whom he had four sons (Gen. xxii, 21-24). Besides, it is now pretty generally admitted that Gen. XXV, 1 describes Abraliam himself to have taken anoth- er or secondary wife in the lifetime of Sarah, in addition to Hagar, who was given to him by his principal wife, as is evident from Gen. xxv, 6 ; 1 Chron. i, 32, and that he could not have taken her for the sake of obtaining an heir. If any more proof be wanted for the preva- lence of polj'gamy in the patriarchal age, we refer to Esau, who, to please his father, married his cousin Ma- halath in addition to the several wives whom he had (Gen. xxviii, 8, 9) ; and to Jacob, who had not the slight- est scruple to marry two sisters, and take two half-wives at the same time (Gen. xxix, 23-30; xxx, 4, 9), which would be unaccountable on the supposition that polyga- my was something strange. Though sacred history is silent about the number of wives of the twelve patri- archs, yet there can be little doubt that the large num- ber of children and grandchildren which Benjamin had at so early an age (Gen. xlvi, 21 ; Numb, xxvi, 38-41; 1 Chron. vii, 6-12 ; viii, 1), must have been the result of poh'gamy ; and that Simeon, at all events, had more than one wife (Exod. vi, 15). The extraordinarj' rate at which the Jews increased in Egypt implies that they practiced polygamy during their bondage. This is, moreover, corroborated by the incidental notice that Asher, Judah's grandson, had two wives (1 Chron. iv, 5 with ii, 24); that Caleb, Judah's great-grandson, had three principal and two subordinate wives (1 Chron. ii, 9, 18, 42, 46, 48) ; that Aharaim, probably Benjamin's great-grandson, had three wives (1 Chron. viii, 8-11); and that Moses had two wives (Exod. ii, 21 ; Numb, xii, 1) ; as well as by the fact that the Mosaic legislation as- sumes the existence of polygamy (Lev. xiii, 14 ; Deut. xxv, 47). StUl, the theory of monogamy seems to be exhibited in the case of Noah and his three sons (Gen. vi, 18 ; vii, 7, 13 ; viii, 16), of Aaron, and of Eleazar.
In judging of this period we must take into regard the following considerations : (1.) The principle of mo- nogamy was retained, even in the practice of polygamy, by the distinction made between the chief or original wife and the secondary wives, or, as the A.V. terms them, " concubines" — a term which is objectionable, in- asmuch as it conveys to us the notion of an illicit and unrecognised position, whereas the secondary wife was regarded by the Hebrews as a wife, and her rights were secured by law. The position of the Hebrew concubine may be compared with that of the concubine of the early Christian Church, the sole distinction liet^veen her and the wife consisting in this, that the marriage was not in accordance with the civil lavf. in the eye of the Church the marriage was perfectly valid (Bingham, A nt. xi, 5, § 11). It is worthy of notice that the term pillegesh (^5^3 ; A.V. "concubine") nowhere occurs in the Mo- saic law. The terms used are either " wife" (Deut. xxi, 15) or " maid-servant" (Exod. xxi, 7) ; the latter apply- ing to a purchased wife. (2.) The motive which led to polygamy was that absorbing desire of progeny which is prevalent throughout Eastern countries, and was es- pecially powerful among the Hebrews. (3.) The power of a parent over his child, and of a master over his slave (the posfestas patria and dominicu of the Romans), was paramount even in matters of marriage, and led in many cases to phases of poh'gamy that are otherwise quite unintelligible, as, for instance, to the cases where it was adopted bj' the husband at the request of his wife, under the idea that children born to a slave were in the eye of the law the children of the mistress (Gen. xvi, 3; xxx, 4, 9) ; or, again, to cases where it was adopted at the instance of the father (Gen. xxix, 23, 28 ; Exod. xxi, 9, 10). It must be allowed that polygamy, thus legal- ized and systematized, justified to a certain extent by