Concubinage

How Nave’s arranged it

• LAWS CONCERNINGExodus 21:7–11Leviticus 19:20–22Deuteronomy 21:10–14
• Concubines might be dismissedGenesis 21:9–14
• Called WIVESGenesis 37:2Judges 19:3–5
• Children of, not heirsGenesis 15:4Genesis 21:10
• Practiced by
• AbrahamGenesis 16:3Genesis 25:61 Chronicles 1:32
• NahorGenesis 22:23Genesis 22:24
• JacobGenesis 30:4
• EliphazGenesis 36:12
• GideonJudges 8:31
• A LeviteJudges 19:1
• Caleb1 Chronicles 2:46–48

The passages, in Bible order (26)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 16 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Genesis 15:4

   Then the word of the LORD came to Abram, saying, “This one will not be your heir, but one who comes from your own body will be your heir.”

   ›Commentary on Genesis 15:41 voice

   But if the words of Abraham are not enough to correct, consider the word of God, who condemns such a mode of transmitting inheritance. "This man shall not be your heir," he says, "but the other who will come out from you, he will be your heir." Who is this other of whom he speaks? In fact Hagar too bore a son, Ishmael, but he is not speaking of him. Instead, he is speaking of holy Isaac. For this reason he added "who will come out from you."

   Everything gathered on Genesis 15:4→

   Verse page →Original language →

2. Genesis 16:3

   So after he had lived in Canaan for ten years, his wife Sarai took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to Abram to be his wife.

   ›Commentary on Genesis 16:31 voice

   “It was not because he was ablaze with the heat of some unbridled passion, not because he was overcome by the charm of seductive beauty that Abraham gave preference to a relationship with a slave girl over the conjugal bed, but through a desire to procure a posterity and to enlarge his progeny. After the flood the human race was still numerically sparse. Hence it was also a matter of moral obligation that no one be seen to have failed to render the debt to nature.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 16:3→

   Verse page →Original language →

3. Genesis 21:9–14

   But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking her son,

   ›Commentary on Genesis 21:9–142 voices

   “(Chapter 21, Verse 9) And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she bore to Abraham, playing. What follows, with his son Isaac, is not present in the Hebrew. Therefore, this is interpreted in two ways by the Hebrews: either that she made idols out of play, according to what is written elsewhere: The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play (Exodus 32:6); or that she claimed the rights of the firstborn against Isaac, as if he were older, through play and jest.

   “Mocking - What was implied in this mocking is not known. St. Paul, Gal 4:29, calls it persecuting; but it is likely he meant no more than some species of ridicule used by Ishmael on the occasion, and probably with respect to the age of Sarah at Isaac’s birth, and her previous barrenness. Jonathan ben Uzziel and the Jerusalem Targum represent Ishmael as performing some idolatrous rite on the occasion, and that this had given the offense to Sarah. Conjectures are as useless as they are endless.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 21:9–14→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. Genesis 21:10

   and she said to Abraham, “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac!”

   ›Commentary on Genesis 21:102 voices

   “Then Sarah, who showed no envy in any matter that concerned herself, became envious in this matter concerning her son. She was not envious of Hagar whom she had given to her husband.

   “Cast out this bondwoman and her son - Both Sarah and Abraham have been accused of cruelty in this transaction, because every word reads harsh to us. Cast out; גרש garash signifies not only to thrust out, drive away, and expel, but also to divorce; (see Lev 21:7); and it is in this latter sense the word should be understood here.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 21:10→

   Verse page →Original language →

5. Genesis 22:23

   And Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight sons to Abraham’s brother Nahor.

   Verse page →Original language →

6. Genesis 22:24

   Moreover, Nahor’s concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

   ›Commentary on Genesis 22:242 voices

   “And his concubine, whose name was Reumah,.... Not an harlot, but a secondary wife, who was under the proper and lawful wife, and a sort of a head servant in the family, and chiefly kept for the procreation of children; which was not thought either unlawful or dishonourable in those times such as was Hagar in Abraham's family: she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah, of whom we have no account elsewhere; only it may be observed, that here Maachah is the name of a man, which sometimes is given to a woman, 1Ki 15:13.

   “His concubine - We borrow this word from the Latin compound concubina, from con, together, and cubo, to lie, and apply it solely to a woman cohabiting with a man without being legally married. The Hebrew word is פילגש pilegesh, which is also a compound term, contracted, according to Parkhurst, from פלג palag, to divide or share, and נגש nagash, to approach; because the husband, in the delicate phrase of the Hebrew tongue, approaches the concubine, and shares the bed, etc., of the real wife with her.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 22:24→

   Verse page →Original language →

7. Genesis 25:6

   But while he was still alive, Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east.

   ›Commentary on Genesis 25:62 voices

   “Unto the sons of the concubines - Viz., Hagar and Keturah, Abraham gave gifts. Cattle for breed, seed to sow the land, and implements for husbandry, may be what is here intended. And sent them away - while he yet lived - Lest after his death they should dispute a settlement in the Land of Promise with Isaac; therefore he very prudently sent them to procure settlements during his lifetime, that they might be under no temptation to dispute the settlement with Isaac in Canaan.

   “In this all, which he settled upon Isaac, are perhaps included the promise of the land of Canaan, and the entail of the covenant. Or, God having already made him the heir of the promise, Abraham therefore made him heir of his estate.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 25:6→

   Verse page →Original language →

8. Genesis 30:4

   So Rachel gave Jacob her servant Bilhah as a wife, and he slept with her,

   ›Commentary on Genesis 30:41 voice

   “So, lest she nag him, asking him every day for children, Jacob, who was sent from his parents to take a daughter of Laban, agreed to take the foreign woman.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 30:4→

   Verse page →Original language →

9. Genesis 36:12

   Additionally, Timna, a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz, gave birth to Amalek. These are the grandsons of Esau’s wife Adah.

   ›Commentary on Genesis 36:121 voice

   “Timna was concubine to Eliphaz - As Timna was sister to Lotan the Horite, Gen 36:22, we see how the family of Esau and the Horites got intermixed. This might give the sons of Esau a pretext to seize the land, and expel the ancient inhabitants, as we find they did, Deu 2:12. Amalek - The father of the Amalekites, afterwards bitter enemies to the Jews, and whom God commanded to be entirely exterminated, Deu 25:17, Deu 25:19.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 36:12→

   Verse page →Original language →

10. Genesis 37:2

    This is the account of Jacob. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was tending the flock with his brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah, and he brought their father a bad report about them.

    ›Commentary on Genesis 37:21 voice

    “These are the generations - תלדות toledoth, the history of the lives and actions of Jacob and his sons; for in this general sense the original must be taken, as in the whole of the ensuing history there is no particular account of any genealogical succession. Yet the words may be understood as referring to the tables or genealogical lists in the preceding chapter; and if so, the original must be understood in its common acceptation.

    Everything gathered on Genesis 37:2→

    Verse page →Original language →

11. Exodus 21:7–11

    And if a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as the menservants do.

    ›Commentary on Exodus 21:7–111 voice

    “A man might, in accordance with existing custom, sell his daughter to another man with a view to her becoming an inferior wife, or concubine. In this case, she was not “to go out,” like the bondman; that is, she was not to be dismissed at the end of the sixth year. But women who were bound in any other way, would appear to have been under the same conditions as bondmen. See Deu 15:17.

    Everything gathered on Exodus 21:7–11→

    Verse page →Original language →

12. Leviticus 19:20–22

    If a man lies carnally with a slave girl promised to another man but who has not been redeemed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment. But they are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed.

    ›Commentary on Leviticus 19:20–221 voice

    “A woman that is a bondmaid - Had she been free, the law required that she should be put to death; (see Deu 22:24); but as she was a slave, she is supposed to have less self-command, and therefore less guilt: but as it is taken for granted she did not make resistance, or did consent, she is to be scourged, and the man is to bring a ram for a trespass-offering.

    Everything gathered on Leviticus 19:20–22→

    Verse page →Original language →

13. Deuteronomy 21:10–14

    When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God delivers them into your hand and you take them captive,

    ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 21:10–142 voices

    “But nevertheless I also intellectually have "gone out to war against my enemies, and I saw there" in the plunder "a woman with a beautiful figure." Whatever we find said well and reasonably among our philosophical enemies, or we read anything said among them wisely and knowingly, we must cleanse it. We must remove and cut off all that is dead and worthless. It is as if one were trimming the hairs of the head and the nails of the woman taken from the spoils of the enemy. Only then would you take her as a wife.

    “The regulations which now follow in the rest of this and throughout the next chapter bring out the sanctity of various personal rights and relations fundamental to human life and society. Deu 21:10-14. The war supposed here is one against the neighboring nations after Israel had utterly destroyed the Canaanites (compare Deu 7:3), and taken possession of their land.

    Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 21:10–14→

    Verse page →Original language →

14. Judges 8:31

    His concubine, who dwelt in Shechem, also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.

    ›Commentary on Judges 8:312 voices

    “And his concubine that was in Shechem,.... Which was not an harlot, but a secondary or half wife; such were generally taken from handmaids, and of the meaner sort, and were not in such esteem as proper wives, had not the management of household affairs, only a share in the bed, and their children did not inherit.

    “Abimelech’s mother was not reckoned among the wives, being, probably, one of the Canaanite population in Shechem Jdg 9:28: neither was Abimelech himself reckoned with the 70 other sons of Jerubbaal (Jdg 9:24. Compare Jdg 11:1-2).

    Everything gathered on Judges 8:31→

    Verse page →Original language →

15. Judges 19:1

    Now in those days, when there was no king in Israel, a Levite who lived in the remote hill country of Ephraim took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.

    Verse page →Original language →

16. Judges 19:3–5

    her husband got up and went after her to speak kindly to her and bring her back, taking his servant and a pair of donkeys. So the girl brought him into her father’s house, and when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him.

    Verse page →Original language →