The legal rights of the wife are noticed in Exod. xxi, 10, imdcr the three heads of food, raiment, and duty of marriage or conjugal right. These were defined with great precision by the Jewish doctors, for thus only could one of the most cruel effects of polygamy be avert- ed, viz. the sacrifice of the rights of the many in favor of the one whom the lord of the modern /lanm selects for his special attention. The regiUations of the Tal- mudists, founded on Exod. xxi, 10, may be found in the Mishna {Ketub, v, 6-9).
MARRIAGE
V88
MARRIAGE
X. The allegorical and typical allusions to marriage ha%-e exclusive reference to one subject, viz. to exhibit the spiritual relationship between God and his people. The earliest form, in which the image is implied, is in the expressions " to go a wlioring," and '• whoredom," as descriptive of the rupture of that relationship by acts of idolatry. These expressions have by some writers been taken in their primary and literal sense, as pointing to the licentious practices of idolaters. But this destroys the whole point of the comparison, and is opposed to the plaiu language of Scripture : for (1) Israel is de- scribed as the false wife "playing the harlot" (Isa. i, 21 ; Jer. iii, 1, 6, 8) ; (2) Jehovah is the injured husband, who therefore divorces her (Psa. Ixxiii, 27; Jer. ii, 20; Hos. iv, 12 ; ix, 1) ; and (3) the other party in the adultery is specitied, sometimes generally, as idols or false gods (Deut. xxxi, 16 ; Judg. ii, 17 ; 1 Chron. v, 25 ; Ezek. xx, 30; xxiii, 30), and sometimes particularly, as in the case of the worship of goats (A.V." devils," Lev. xvii, 7), Mo- lech (Lev. XX, 5), wizards (Lev. xx, 6), an ephod (Judg. viii, 27), Baalim (Judg. viii, 33), and even the heart and eyes (Xumb.xv,39) — the last of these objects being such as wholly to exclude the idea of actual adulter^^ The image is drawn out more at length by Ezekiel (chap, xxiii), who compares the kingdoms of Samaria and Ju- dah to the harlots Aholah and Aholibah ; and again by Hosea (chap, i, iii), whose marriage with an adulterous wife, his separation from her, and subsequent reunion with her, were designed to be a visible lesson to the Is- raelites of their dealings with Jehovah.
The direct comparison with marriage is confined in the O. T. to the prophetic writings, including the Can- ticles as an allegorical work. See Canticles. The actual relation between Jehovah and his people is gen- erally the point of comparison (Isa. liv, 5 ; Ixii, 4 ; Jer. iii,14; Hos.ii,19; Mal.ii,ll) ; but sometimes the graces consequent thereon are described under the image of bridal attire (Isa. xlix, 18 ; Ixi, 10), and the joy of Jeho- vah in his Church under that of the joy of a bridegroom (Isa. Ixii, 5).
In the N. T. the image of the bridegroom is trans- ferred from Jehovah to Christ (Matt, ix, 15 ; John iii, 29), and that of the bride to the Church (2 Cor. xi, 2 ; Rev. xlx, 7 ; xxi, 2, 9 ; xxii, 17), and the comparison thus established is converted by St. Paul into an illus- tration of the position and mutual duties of man and wife (Eph. V, 23-32). The suddenness of the Messiah's •appearing, particidarly at the last day, and the necessity of watchfidness, are inculcated in the parable of the Ten Virgins, the imagery of which is borrowed from the cus- toms of the marriage-ceremony (Matt, xxv, 1-13). The Father prepares the marriage-feast for his Son, the joys that result from the union being thus represented (Matt. xxii, 1-14; xxv, 10; Rev. xix, 9; comp. Matt, viii, 11), while the quaUtications requisite for admission into that union are prefigured by the marriage-garment (Matt, xxii, 11). The breach of the union is, as before, de- scribed as fornication or whoredom in reference to the mystical Babylon (Rev. xvii, 1,2, 5).
XI. Lilerature. — The most important ancient litera- ture on all the marriage questions is contained in the third order (110) of the Mishna, five tractates of which treat respectively — 1. On tlie Levirate law ; 2. On the marriage-instrument; 3. On suspicion of having violated the marriage-bond; 4. On divorce; and, 5. On betroth- al. To these must be added the (iemaras or Talmuds on these tractates. Mainnmides devotes six tractates of the second volume of his Jad lla-Chazuha to Biblical and Talmudic gamology, giving an abridgment of the traditional enactments. Jacob ben-Asher occupies the entire third volume of his Tur, called Kben lla-Ezar, with marriage in its various ramifications, and gives a lucid epitome of the aficiont code. • Of modern writers are to be mentioned Michaelis, Commentaries on the Laws of Moses, i, 450 sq. ; ii, 1 sq.; Saalschtitz, Das Mosaische Recht, ii, 735 sq. ; by the same author, A rchaohfjie der IIfbra.tr, ii, 173 sq. ; Ewald, Die Alterthumer der Volkes
Israel, p. 218 sq.; Geiger, Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift (Frankfort-on-the-Main), iv, 36 sq., 345 sq.; Judische Zeitschrift (Breslau, 18G2), i, 19 sq., 253 sq. ; Stein and Siissldud's Israelitischer Volkslehrer, i, 192 ; iv, 282, 301, 315; v,323; vi,74; vii,264; viii,73; ix,171; Frankel, Grundlinien des Mosaisch-tahnudischen Eherechts (Bres- lau, 1860); Leopold Low, Ben Chananja, vol. iii- vi. Among the writers on special points we may notice Be- nar}', De Ilehr. Leviratu (Berlin, 1835) ; Redslob's Levi- ratsehe (Leipz. 1836) ; and Kurtz's Ehe des Hosea (Dor- pat, 1859). See Woman.