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Discussion Forum : Scriptures and Doctrine : Wife? Concubine? What's the difference?

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 Wife? Concubine? What's the difference?



I wondered if anyone can explain this to me, since I was reading in Judges 19 that the Levite's concubine was also referred to as his wife by her father, and the father as the Levite's father-in-law.

Then there were the other mothers of Jacob's children, who are never referred to as concubines because they were also employees.... or, is that co-incidental? :-?

There are also places where a person has more than one wife [i]and[/i] concubines. :-o

At the back of my mind I have the idea that the Levite should never have had a concubine in the first place... but... that may be a detail. ;-)


Any light will be gratefully accepted. Thank you.

 2007/11/24 2:26









 Re: Wife? Concubine? What's the difference?

Hi Linn

Interesting question...

As far as I understand, a concubine was a slave-wife. She [u][i]was[/i][/u] a proper wife, but didn't have the same status as the free woman. Paul of course allegorises this in Galatians.

You will know of course the importance in that culture of having sons. From the Biblical accounts, it seems it was the custom for a girl to be given a slave (or maybe more than one?) as a maid when she married. The maid would act as "insurance" so that (especially if the wife failed to have children) her husband could marry the maid as well.

From the accounts of Abraham and Sarah, and of Jacob with Rachel and Leah, it seems that the husband had no rights to these slave girls, they belonged to the wife. The wife alone had the right to [i][u]give[/u][/i] the girl to her husband as a wife, the husband couldn't just take her.

Any children of this union would legally be the chief wife's, not the concubine's. And presumably, if the chief wife had a son afterwards (as with Sarah) that son, not the son of the slave, would inherit his father's property.

However, when Abraham sent Ishmael and Hagar away he was in effect divorcing Hagar and disowning Ishmael. When he married again after Sarah's death he also sent the sons of these wives away, but with an inheritance (Genesis 25). Ishmael and his mother, on the other hand doesn't seem to have been given anything except a few provisions for the journey.

If the chief wife (or wives) had no sons the son of the slave would inherit instead. Or even the senior slave, whether his master's son or not, if there was no-one else to inherit.

Genesis 15[color=990000]2 But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, thou hast given me no offspring; and a slave born in my house will be my heir.”[/color]

I think it was probably very unusual that Abraham hadn't taken a concubine before, as he and Sarah had been married for many years without children. To me it says a lot about Abraham's great love for her.

In the time of Moses, God gave strict laws governing treatment of female slaves who were taken as concubines. I was especially struck by the parts underlined:

Exodus 21:
[color=990000] 7 “When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. 8 If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed; he shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt faithlessly with her. 9 If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter. 10 If he takes another wife to himself, [u]he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights[/u]. 11 And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.[/color]

Even if he takes another wife who is not a slave he must not neglect his concubine in any way!

Deuteronomy 21
[color=990000]10 “When you go forth to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God gives them into your hands, and you take them captive, 11 and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you have desire for her and would take her for yourself as wife, 12 then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and pare her nails. 13 And she shall put off her captive’s garb, and shall remain in your house [u]and bewail her father and her mother a full month[/u]; after that you may go in to her, and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. 14 Then, if you have no delight in her, you shall let her go where she will; but [u]you shall not sell her for money, you shall not treat her as a slave, since you have humiliated her[/u].[/color]

Slavery was a fact of life, yet a girl was allowed to mourn and had her rights, including the right to her freedom if she wasn't treated properly. Most slaves in other cultures of those days had no rights.

Blessings

Jeannette

 2007/11/26 6:55









 on a lighter note

When she was a child, a friend, who grew up on a farm, thought Solomon must be a farmer in a big way, because he had hundreds of [i][u]concubine[/u][/i] harvesters!

Jeannette :lol:

 2007/11/26 6:57









 Re: on a lighter note

Wife legal , concubine illegal.

Wife moral, concubine immoral.

wife divine, concubine satan.

 2007/11/26 8:13









 Re:

The very word "Concubine" sounds like a Farm Machinery.

On a serious note though. My Dad had a wife and I suppose a concubine (which is my Mother). We all lived under one roof. The wife had 10 children and my Mother had 5. Oh by the way the wife and the concubine are Sisters. My Mother who was 10 years younger than the wife, raised the wife's children and helped them with the school work etc..She was also the baby sitter. When not in the house, she would do farm work. I can still see her carrying two 16 litre pails of chicken feed to one end of the barn while carrying my youngest Sister in her womb. When not in the barns, she was in the field, sowing or weeding. Dad abused her physically, mentally and spiritually. Though he's dead now, the wife remarried and my Mother built her own house on the estate that was divided up between the wife and the concubine. This could make a good mini series. I have very few good memories living in that atmosphere. One good thing while in that mess, I found the LORD.

I thought I mentioned this modern day version of a concubine Linn. I hope this helps.

 2007/11/26 9:35









 Re:

chandras... Your answer is correct. However, I notice that you always require people to respond to your questions with scripture to back their opinions... yet you usually dont.

Could you please give us some scripture to back up your latest post?

Krispy

 2007/11/26 9:39









 Re:

Quote:

chandras wrote:
Wife legal , concubine illegal.

Wife moral, concubine immoral.

wife divine, concubine satan.

Hi Chandras

You are mistaken that a concubine was illegal. In those days it was perfectly legal. Although it wasn't a good thing it was part of that culture, and as I said, a concubine did have rights as a wife - she wasn't just her master's "bit on the side". He was her husband and responsible for her, even if she had a very lowly status in society.

Jeannette

 2007/11/26 17:56









 Re:

Quote:

Compliments wrote:
The very word "Concubine" sounds like a Farm Machinery.

On a serious note though. My Dad had a wife and I suppose a concubine (which is my Mother). We all lived under one roof. The wife had 10 children and my Mother had 5. Oh by the way the wife and the concubine are Sisters. My Mother who was 10 years younger than the wife, raised the wife's children and helped them with the school work etc..She was also the baby sitter. When not in the house, she would do farm work. I can still see her carrying two 16 litre pails of chicken feed to one end of the barn while carrying my youngest Sister in her womb. When not in the barns, she was in the field, sowing or weeding. Dad abused her physically, mentally and spiritually. Though he's dead now, the wife remarried and my Mother built her own house on the estate that was divided up between the wife and the concubine. This could make a good mini series. I have very few good memories living in that atmosphere. One good thing while in that mess, I found the LORD.

I thought I mentioned this modern day version of a concubine Linn. I hope this helps.

HI Compliments, you must be from a culture where this is acceptable (unless your family was Mormon.

But praise God that He used even this difficult upbringing to bring you to Himself.

What about your mother? Maybe we should pray for her...

In Uganda, in the 1970's, they had a Scripture Union conference at the school where I was. At one point the students were asked to write down questions for the guest speaker. There was one which asked what was wrong with having a multiple family of this kind. The speaker asked if the questioner came from such a family. The answer was "no". He said, "I thought so. [u][i]If you were you wouldn't ask that question![/i][/u]"

Although I did read a book by an Iranian lady whose father had several wives. She grew up in the days when the Shah ruled. She said that she had a very happy childhood in a large compound where each wife had her own house with her children, and their husband lived in a bigger house in the middle. Perhaps because of having separate houses and a kind husband, they all seemed to get on well.

However, I'm sure that is [i]very[/i] much the exception!

Jeannette

 2007/11/26 18:13









 Re:

Do you feel Hagar wife or concubine?

Gal 4:22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a
bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
4:23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he
of the freewoman was by promise.

 2007/11/26 19:49









 Re: Wife? Concubine? What's the difference?



Jeannette, I appreciate all the time you've taken to reply in detail from scripture. I do feel clearer.

Does this explanation mean that Solomon's many concubines would have been provided for as if they were all [i]wives?[/i]


I have to do some research on the story of Abraham and may have a question after that.

 2007/11/26 21:29





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