Y. Proscribed DegTces and Lmcs of Intermarriage. — 1. There were no prescribed degrees within which a man was forbidden to marry in the pre-Mosaic period. Oq
Table of Degrees of Marriage prohibited by the Mosaic Law, in the asccudiug and descending scales.
MARRIAGE
ISO
MARRIAGE
the contrary, the fact that Adam married " bone of his bone and tlesh of his flesh/' and that his sons married their own sisters, ratlicr engendered an aversion to mar- ry out of one's own kindred. Hence we find that Abra- liam married his half-sister (Gen. xx, VI) ; Nahor, Abra- ham's brother, married the daughter of his brother Ha- ran, or his niece (Gen. xi, 29) ; Jacob married two sis- ters at the same time, who were the daughters of his mother's brother (Gen. xxviii, 2 ; xxix, 26) ; Esau mar- ried his cousin Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael (Gen. xxviii, 8, 9) ; Araram married his aunt Jochebed, his fa- ther's sister (Exod. vi, 20) ; and Judah married his daughter-in-law, Tamar, the widow of his own son ((ien. xxxviii, 2G-30). This aversion to intermarriage with strangers and other tribes, which made Abraham pledge his faithful steward by the most sacred oath not to take for his son a wife from the daughters of the Ca- uaanites (Gen. xxiv, 2-4) ; which occasioned such " a grief of mind" to Isaac, because his son Esau married Hittite women (Gen. xxvi, 34, 35) ; and which was the cause of great dissatisfaction in the family of Moses when he married a Midianitish woman (Exod. ii, 21); was afterwards greatly increased on the ground of dif- ference of creed. The same feeling of aversion against intermarriage (tTriyajui'a) with foreigners prevailed among other nations of antiquity, and may also have been the cause why marriages with the nearest of kin were practiced among them. Thus the Athenians were allowed to marry half-sisters by the father's side (Corn. Nepos, Prcef.; Cimon, i; VlutaxcYi, Cimon, iv; Themis- tocl. xxxii) ; the Spartans married half-sisters by the same mother (Philo, De spec. leg. p. 779) ; and the As- sj-rians and Egyptians full sisters (Lucian, Saci'iff. 5 ; Diod. i, 27 ; Philo, J)e spec. leg. p. 779 ; Selden, De jure naturcdi et gentium, v, 11). In later times, when the de- sire to preserve purity of blood, which was the primary cause for not intermarrj'ing with alien tribes, was su- perseded by reUgious motives, the patriarchal instances of epigamy recorded without censure during this period became very inconvenient. Hence means were adopted to explain them away. Thus the marriage of Judah with a heathen woman, the daughter of Shuah, a Ca- naanite (Gen. xxxviii, 2), is made orthodox by the Chal- dee Paraphrase, the Midrash (Bereskith Rabba.c.\xx:s.v), the Talmud {Pesackim, 50 a), Rashi (ad loc), etc., by explaining i3"D3 to mean X"i:in, merchant, as in Job xl, 30 ; Prov. xxxi, 24 ; and the Jerusalem Targum finds it necessary to add that Judah converted her to Judaism (tniiJI). The marriage of Simeon with a Canaanitess (Gen. xlvi, 10) is explained away in a similar manner (comp. Bereskith Rahba, c. Ixxx ; Kashi on Gen. xlvi, 10).
2. The regulations next introduced in this respect are of a twofold nature :
a. The most important change in the Biblical gamol- ogy is the INIosaic law about the prohibited degrees among the Israelites themselves. While in the pre- Mosaic period no prohibition whatever existed against marrying one's nearest and dearest relatives, the Mosaic law (Lev. xviii, 7-17; xx, 11, etc.) proscribes no less than fifteen marriages within specified degrees of both consanguinity and affinity. In neither consanguinity WOT affinity, however, does the law extend beyond two degrees, viz. the mother, her daughter, aunt, father's wife, father's sister, sister on the father's side, wife of the father's brother, brother's wife (excepting in the case of a Levirate marriage), daughter-in-law, granddaughter, either from a son or daughter, a woman and her daugh- ter, or her granddaughter either from a son or daugh- ter, and two sisters together. The preceding table ex- hibits these degrees. We must only remark that the sciuarcs stand for males, the circles hr female.% the trian- gles within the squares for ilece a sed, the numbers refer to the order in which they are enumerated in Lev. xviii, 17, and that the husband and wife, who form the start- ing-point, are represented by a double scjuare and double circle.
It will be seen from the foregoing table that, while some kindred are j^roscribed, others are allowed, e. g. a father's sister is forbidden while a brother's daughter is not. This has occasioned great difficulty in tracing the principle which underlies these prohibitions. Philipp- son is of opinion that it may be deduced from the re- marks which accompany the respective vetoes. The stepmother is proscribed because " it is thy father's na- kedness" (Lev. xviii, 8) ; the son's or daughter's daugh- ter because it " is thine own nakedness" (ver. 10) ; the father's or mother's sister because she is the " father's or mother's flesh" (vers. 12, 13) ; and the brother's wife be- cause " it is the nakedness of thy brother" (ver. 16). " From this it is evident," this erudite rabbi submits, " that, on the one side, son, daughter, and grandchild are identified with the father, while, on the other side, broth- ers and sisters are identified with each other, because they have one and the same source of life. Accordingly, we obtain the following data. All members proceeding from a common father or mother constitute one issue, because they possess together the same source of life ; while the ascendants and the descendants in a straight line form one line, because they have one after the other and from ectch other the same soiu'ce of life ; and hence the law — 1. Two members of the same issue, or two members of the same line, are not to intermarry, be- cause the}' have the same source of life. But inasmuch as the ascending is the primary to each descending is- sue, and the descending the derived to every ascending, an ascending issue may press forward out of the straight line, or step down into the following, i. e. the primary into the one derived from it ; while the succeeding can- not go backwards into the foregoing, i. e. the derived into the primary. Now, as the m^an is the moving cause in carnal intercourse, hence the law — 2. A male member of the succeeding issue must not marry a female mem- ber of the preceding issue, while, on the contrary, a male member of the preceding may marry a female of the succeeding issue, provided they are not both of a direct line. Half-blood and step-relations make no difference in this respect, since they are identified, both in the issue and in the line, because husband and wife become iden- tified. It is for this reason, also, that the relationship, which the wife always assumes in marriage with regard to her husband, is such as a blood relation bears to her; hence it is, for instance, that a brother's wife is pro- scribed, while the wife's sister is allowed. Thus the principle of the Mosaic proscriptions is a profound one, and is fully borne out by nature. Connubial intercourse has for its object to produce a third by the connection of two opposites ; but that which proceeds from the same source of life is merely of the same kind. Hence, when two, origmally of the same kind, unite, it is contrary to the true design of copulation, and can only proceed from an overpowering and excess of rude and animal passions. It is a desecration of the nature and morality of man, and the highest defilement" (Israelitische Bibel, i, 588 sq. ; Sd.ed.Leipz. 1863).