Essay on Polygamy

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Polygamy is That state, in which a Man has two or more wives, or a Woman has two or more husbands, at the same time. The question to be answered is this, Was Polygamy lawful under the Old Dispensation ? As the Old Dispensation embraced two periods—the Patriarchal, and the Levitical—this inquiry naturally resolves itself into two others : 1. Was Polygamy lawful to the Patriarchs ? 2. Was Polygamy lawful under the Levitical Code ? Each of these questions claims, and shall receive, a distinct answer.

I. Was Polygamy lawful to the Patriarchs ?

It will be conceded by all, that, under the Patriarchal Dispensation, there is no express permission of Polygamy, on record. Previous to the promulgation of the Levitical Code, there is no law or dictum relating even remotely to the subject, except the Great Original Law Of Marriage, found in Genesis, ii. 24, " Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh." The import of this Law will be sought hereafter. It is sufficient to remark, here, that it certainly does not contain a permission of Polygamy.

If, then, it can be shown that Polygamy was lawful to the Patriarchs, the evidence must be derived from their Practice. In examining lhi$ point, however, we must distinctly remember, that the question before us is not, Whether Polygamy was permitted, by the customs or laws of the tribes, among whom the Patriarchs lived? but, Whether Polygamy was permitted by the Law of God ?—The beat human laws authorize, and the best men sanction, conduct, which is directly prohibited by the Divine law. To argue what the Law of God is, from the Practice of men, even of the best men, seems, therefore, a hazardous course, in any case; but especially in the case in question. None of the Patriarchs lived in a regular state of society, governed by established laws ; but each was the head of his clan—a petty chieftain, acknowledging no superior. The surrounding chieftains, also, as well as the tribes whom they governed, all practised Polygamy. With these things in view, let us see what the Practice of the Patriarchs actually was, on this subject, both before and after the Deluge.

1. Adam was placed in a situation, in which Polygamy was neither lawful, nor possible.

2. No one of the Antediluvian Patriarchs, from Adam to Noah, in the line of Seth, is mentioned as a polygamist.

3. The same is true of Noah and his three sons.

4. The first polygainist on record was Lamech, the fifth in lineal descent from Cain ; and, as the Introduction of Polygamy into this world is an important event, we will examine the account given of it by Moses. The passage containing it is found in Genesis, iv. 19, 23 and 24. As the Hebrew manuscripts have no Notes of interrogation, the original is equally susceptible of the two following translations:

1st. " And Lamech took unto him two wives, Adah and Zillah. And Lamech said unto his wives, ' Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech : For I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be avenged seven fold, truly Lamech, seventy and seven fold." This is the common version; '• -<i <

2d. "And Lamech took unto him two wives, Adah and Zillah. And Lamech said unto his wives, ' Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech. Have I slain a man to my wounding, or a young man to my hurt ? If Cain shall be avenged seven fold, truly Lamech seventy and seven fold."

If we take the former version as the correct one, then the first polygamist was a murderer ; and when his two wives expressed their apprehensions lest vengeance should fall upon him for his crime, he consoles them with the reflection, that God had threatened seven fold vengeance on any one who should kill Cain. But this abrupt and most incongruous version is obviously erroneous. Moses does not intimate that Lamech had been guilty of murder, nor that his wives had any apprehension on account of it. Nor, if Lamech had been guilty of murder, would he have had any right to suppose that God would inflict on the man, who should kill him, eleven times as exemplary vengeance, as on the slayer of Cain. The only act charged on Lamech by the historian, is his Polygamy ; and when his two wives ex-pressed their apprehensions, lest, for this, some one would kill him, he might well reply, " Adah and Zillah, hear my voice ; ye wives of Lamech, hearken to my speech. Have I slain a man to my wounding, or a young man to my hurt? If God shall avenge Cain seven fold, truly Lamech seventy and seven fold." His crime then, obviously, was his Polygamy. In either case, however, Polygamy was introduced into the world under very bad auspices.

5. The second and only remaining account of Polygamy before the Deluge is found in Gen. vi. 1—7, " And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of

the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the eons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, and they took them wives of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, 'My spirit shall not always strive with man.' There were giants in the earth, in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children unto them, the same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually; and it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth."—The fact, that Polygamy became general, or that men took them wives of all whom they chose, is here obviously assigned as the cause of that universal corruption and violence, which occasioned the Deluge. These are the only two examples of Antediluvian Polygamy.

6. After the Deluge, no mention is made of the practice of Polygamy among the descendents of Hani or Japhet, though their genealogies are given; nor had any of them such a number of children, as to indicate his possession of several wives.

7. No example of polygamy is mentioned in the ten successive patriarchs in the line of Shem, from Shem to Terah the father of Abraham ; nor does the number of their children lead us to suppose that either of them had more than one wife.

8. Nahor, Abraham's brother had a concubine; but we are not told, whether during the life of his wife, or after her death.

9. Abraham had one wife, Sarah, who had no children. "Ano Sarah said unto Abraham, 'I pray thee go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her.'" This connection was no part of Abraham's plan of life. It was occasioned by Sarah's strong desire to have children, whom she could call her own. It was temporary intercourse with a bondwoman ; and ceased as soon as Hagar had conceived. The issue, as Paul tells us, was not legitimate, or entitled to inherit the property of Abraham. That Abraham—himself originally an idolater, and living in the midst of idolaters, who not only practised polygamy, but every other species of impurity—in despair also of any issue from Sarah, should have had views of marriage so far loose and incorrect, as to yield to such a proposal from his wife, is not surprising ; but it furnishes no evidence of the lawfulness of Polygamy. Abraham's marriage with Keturah did not occur until seven years after the death of Sarah. If this extemporaneous connection of Abraham with Hagar proves the lawfulness of any thing, it proves merely that a husband who was childless might lawfully, with the consent of his wife, connect himself temporarily with his female slave ; but obviously, this is not Polygamy.

10. Isaac had but one wife.

] 1. Esau, " that profane person," had three wives. " And Esau said in his heart, ' The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.'"

12. Jacob, while in the family of Laban, lived among idolaters, who practised polygamy. Laban and his children were idolaters, yet polygamy was no part of Jacob's plan of life. Leah was put upon him by a fraud, to Avhich he must submit, or hazard the loss of Rachel. He likewise told his father several direct falsehoods, and with extreme cruelty defrauded Esau of his birthright.

13. Lot, the twelve sons of Jacob, Amram, Moses, Aaron, Eleazar, Joshua, Caleb, and many others, who lived during the period in question, had each but one wife. On the supposition that polygamy was lawful, this fact cannot be explained.

We have, then, the practice of the Patriarchs on this subject before the flood, in the example of Lamech, and that of the Apostates who filled the earth with violence; and in that of Esau, and that of Jacob after the flood : four instances during the first two thousand seven hundred years of the world. In this statement of facts we find strong presumptive evidence that the Patriarchs did not regard Polygamy as lawful. Let us now inquire whether it was not expressly forbidden.

The Great Original Law of Marriage, with the occasion of its promulgation, is thus recited in the second chapter of Genesis: "And the Lord God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone : I will make an help-meet for him'—And the Lord God brought the woman unto the man, and Adam said, ' This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man'— Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife ; and they shall be one flesh."

The comment of our Saviour on this Law, in the 19th of Matthew, will help us to explain it. The Pharisees, tempting him, inquired, " Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife, for every cause."—To this he replied, " Have ye not read, that He who made them at the beginning, made them male and female; and said,— ' For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh.'—Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not Man put asunder."

The following remarks on this Law, may show on what footing Marriage was placed under the Old Dispensation.

1. The words—" For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave unto his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh"—were not, as some have supposed, the words of Adam, but were uttered by God. The language of Christ is, " He who made them at the beginning, said, ' For this cause,'" &c. The Maker of of Adam, therefore, and not Adam, said this; and the thing uttered was not a prediction of Adam, but a command of God.

2. This is the Great Original Law of Marriage binding on the whole human family. It was not a part of any Ceremonial Law, or of the National Law of Israel; but was promulgated at the original institution of marriage, to the first parents of mankind, as the representatives of the whole race. Men and women about to contract marriage were the only beings, and the very beings on whom it was binding. By the terms of it, Adam and Eve were personally exempted from its operation ; since they were already married, and Adam had no father or mother, whom he could leave. It was made, therefore, for their Posterity; and since, in its binding force on them, there are no restrictions or limitations, it was clearly given to bind the whole human family. On this point the comment of Christ is express. The Jews inquired of him,— Whether it was lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause ?—In his reply, he admits that Moses, for the hardness of their hearts, allowed divorces in certain cases; but asserts that in the beginning it was not so. He then declares,

that, except in the single case of incontinence, it is not lawful for a man to put away his wife, and marry another; and assigns four reasons for it. (1.) The fact, that God originally created but one man and one woman, and joined them in marriage; and thus expressed his own pleasure that marriage should subsist between one man and one woman. (2.) That at the time when God instituted marriage, he declared " For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave unto his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh." (3.) That that is the reason why two married persons are no more twain, but one flesh. (4.) That all who are united in marriage, are joined together by God.—Here, then, is an express recognition of this law. as the Original Law of Marriage ; as in force from the beginning; as in full force under the Levitical Dispensation, amended as it was in a single point— that relating to divorces; and, in consequence of the express repeal of that amendment by Christ himself, except for one cause, as in force with that exception, in all its original extent under the Christian Dispensation.

3. This Law in the very terms of it, as well as according to the comment of Christ, is an absolute prohibition of Polygamy. It is so in the terms of it. It declares that lawful marriage, as appointed by God, is the connection for life between twain or two, one man and one woman, and that when they are married they cease to be twain, and are one flesh. It also declares that the man who is thus united to a woman in marriage, shall cleave unto her as his wife. Before, with filial affection, he clave unto his parents as a son, and acknowledged them only; and now, with conjugal affection, he is directed as a husband to cleave unto his wife, language is capable of but one interpretation. If he is connected with any other woman, he ceases to cleave to his wife, and makes himself one flesh with a stranger. " What, know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot, is one body ?" The same is equally true, if the conneclion with the stranger were to be preceded by the forms of marriage. Any connection with another woman is leaving his wife, and ceasing to cleave to her, in the very point which the law respects. So obviously is this the only interpretation, that this very language is customarily used in the marriage ceremony, when a promise is exacted from the parties, that they will be faithful to each other.

This is equally evident from the comment of Christ. After admitting that Moses permitted Divorces, and assigning the reason for it, he first declares that the Original Law of Marriage did not permit them; and then, with a single exception,abrogates the Mosaic permission. The Original Law did not allow of divorce in any case. He allows it in one—that of incontinence. With this exception, he places the Law of Marriage on its original footing; and declares, in language which cannot be misunderstood, its real force and meaning—" He who putteth away his wife, except for incontinence, and marrieth another, committeth adultery." But in what does the adultery, thus committed by the husband consist 1 Not in the mere putting away. That might be cruelty, but it is not adultery. Not in the mere marriagecontract. If he had stopped at that, there would have been no adultery—It consisted in the fact, that, having one wife, he marries and has intercourse with another; before the first is dead or lawfully divorced. By the Original Law of Marriage, therefore, as thus explained by Christ, the man, who having a wife, marries another, before the first is lawfully divorced, is guilty of adultery. But every polygamist does this: every polygamist therefore is guilty of adultery. Of course Polygamy, according to the Original Law of Marriage, is adultery.*

The declaration of our Saviour—" Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for incontinence, and marry another, committeth adultery,"—is a sad comment on the laws respecting adultery in some of our Statute-books. According to the laws of some of the States, unlawful intercourse, between a married woman and a married or single man, is adultery; whereas unlawful intercourse, between a married man and a single woman is merely fornication. In other words, they declare that a married man cannot commit adultery, but with a married woman. Let us compare this with the express declaration of Christ, "Whosoever putteth away his wife, except for incontinence, and marrieth another, committeth adultery." In what does the adultery consist ? Not, as we have just seen, in the putting away of the first wife ; nor in the contract with the second. These are unlawful, but they are not adultery. Obviously it consists in the intercourse with the second. Why is that intercourse adultery ? Not because it is proceded by a contract. That contract, Christ pronounces ipso facto void. It consists in the fact, that the man, at the time of that intercourse, is lawfully married to a wife. He, then, who being lawfully married to a wife, has intercourse with another woman, is, according to Christ, guilty of adultery.

This conclusion is so direct, that a plain man might naturally wonder, why our laws should be as they are. The true reason is this: Our legislatures are composed exclusively of Men, and chiefly of married men, or of men who intend to marry. Of course, in the personal purity of married women, each member feels a lively interest, because he is resolved at all hazards, to guard the purity of his own wife. Intercourse with a married woman must therefore be punished with a heavy hand. But how many are there, in those august bodies, who feel, each as lively an interest in His own purity, as in that of his wife ? "Indeed!" says the law-maker "that alters the case." Our legislatures contain so many members, who are determined at all hazards not to be restrained in their libertinism ; so many others, to whom wholesome laws, relating to licentiousness, might prove occasionally inconvenient ; and so many others who are habitually civil to vice, when it does not " pick the pocket, nor break the leg;" that we can expect no laws on this subject which are not of a Mohammedan character.

To set this point in its proper light, we will suppose a Legislature of Jlaritd Women assembled to make laws for one of the States, and actually enacting that unlawful intercourse, between a married man and

A passage from Malachi should here be added, as it explains the reason of the scriptural constitution of marriage. In Mai. ii. 10—16, the prophet reproves the Israelites, with extreme severity, for their numerous divorces, and for their infidelity and cruelty to their wives. In verses 14 and 15, he declares, " The Lord hath been witness, between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hath dealt treacherously ; yet she is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. And did he not make One ? Yet had he the residue of the spirit ? And wherefore One ? That he might seek a godly seed." In other words, in the original constitution of marriage, God made one woman only, and united her to Adam, and thus appointed Marriage to be the union of one man with, one woman. He was able to have made more: why then did he create but One '? Because he foresaw, if more than one woman were created and given to Adam ; in other words, if Polygamy, and not Marriage, were established ; that a godly seed would be impossible. This is a plain declaration therefore that God forbad the Human race to practise Polygamy, because of its immoral tendency.

The Original Law of Marriage, then, prohibited Polygamy to mankind; and no repeal of that law, partial or total, is on record, under the Patriarchal Dispensation. Hence, it was then in force; and the fact, that it was violated by Jacob and Esau, by Lamech, and by the Apostates whose crimes provoked the Deluge, has been fully accounted for, without the least necessity of supposing that it had experienced either a temporary suspension, or an abrogation.

a woman whether single or married, should be punished as adultery : but that such intercourse, between a married woman and a single man should be mere fornication. What wordscould express the abhorrence of our existing legislators, at such shameless profligacy. Would they not pronounce such a body of females just fit for the purlieus of a brothel?

II. Was Polygamy Lawful under the Levitical Code?

We have seen that the great Original Law of Marriage was binding on the whole human family, and that that law absolutely prohibited Polygamy. The question then arises, was that law repealed, as to its operation on the Israelites, by the Levitical Code 1

That a single section of it, that which prohibited divorces, was repealed, is admitted. The repealing statute, however, acknowledged the general law to be in full force. Those, who contend that Polygamy was lawful to the Israelites, are then fairly called upon to point out the statute in the Levitical Code, which repealed that part of the Original Law of Marriage that forbad Polygamy. In reply to this call, three passages, beside Lev. xviii. 18, the one in controversy, have been adduced, as containing direct or implied permissions of Polygamy: those are Exodus xxi. 7—11; Deut. xxi. 15—17; and 2 Samuel xii. 7,8. We shall give each a distinct examination.

The first of these passages is as follows: Ex. xxi. 7. " And if a man sell his daughter to be a maid servant, she shall not go out as the men-servants do. 8. If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed. To sell her to a strange nation, he shall have no power; seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her. 9. And if he hath betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. 10. If he take him another wife, her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage shall he not diminish. 11. And if he do not these three unto her, then shall he let her go out without money."

The mere English reader would suppose, from this passage, that the Hebrew master was authorized to buy a female servant, to betroth her, to have connection with her, and then refuse to marry her ; that he might then betroth her to his son, if he had one of the proper age ; and that for this treatment he was required, either to send her back to her father without money, or to keep her in his own house, and render her the requisite food, clothing, and sexual intercourse. Before we admit all this, we must give the passage a close examination.

This version of the passage contains three palpable mistakes. The first is found in the eighth verse, where the English translators, by following the Septuagint rather than the Hebrew, have omitted the small but most significant particle not, and thus totally perverted the meaning of the original. In Hebrew, the word K'bi answering to not, in English, stands immediately before ft*]?"1, rendered betrothed. This reading is supported by all the manuscripts consulted by Kennicott, except one, and by all the manuscripts and editions of the Samaritan Pentateuch. It is likewise recognized in the Hebrew-Samaritan, Syriac, and Persian versions, and in that of Arias Montanus. The Arabic version also sanctions it; rendering the passage, " If it displease her master to take her to wife, let him see that she is redeemed ;" as does the Vulgate also—" If she displease the eyes of her master, to whom she had been entrusted, he shall send her back." In the same manner, the modern version of Augusti and De Wette—" Wenn sie dem Herrn missfallt, dass er sie nicht fur sich bestimmt"—" If she displease her master, so that he does not betroth her to himself," The true rendering of the 8th verse therefore is, " If she please not her master, so that he does not betroth her to himself, he shall suffer her to be redeemed. To sell her unto a strange nation he shall not have power, seeing he hath rejected her."

The second mistake is in the 10th verse, in the passage, " If he take unto him another wife." The word wife is italicized in our version, because there is no word corresponding to it in the Hebrew. It ought not to have been foisted upon the English version, because it makes a false impression; implying that the first woman was also his wife, and therefore that he had two wives at the same time: whereas, the 8th verse expressly declares that he had refused even to betroth her. Had it been rendered, " If he marry another," it would have conveyed the precise meaning of the Hebrew, viz. If he marry another woman instead of her.

The third mistake is also found in the 10th verse, in the passage—" her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish." The word FlFW, here rendered duty of marriage, occurs, in this form in no other place. Different lexicographers derive it from 515, to dwell, and from tt53>, to toil, to suffer, and in Pihel, to humble. The first of these words, 5U, to dwell, is obsolete as a verb; but, as a noun with a formative >3, llSJa, denoting dwelling, habitation, it occurs frequently. The other word tl55, denoting in Pihel, to humble, is used eleven times in connection with !"!ffl!$, a woman, but always as a verb. In seven of these, Gen. xxxiv. 2; Deut. xxii. 24; 2 Sam. xiii. 12,14, and 22; and Lam. v. 11, it denotes to humble by ravishing; and in four, Deut. xxi. 14; Ezek. xiii. 12,14, 22, it denotes to humble by illicit intercourse. In no other case, has it any allusion to the commerce of the sexes,and in these eleven instances only to unlawful commerce. If then we derive it from this word, it is impossible to render it duty of marriage. Surely that, which, when doing as a verb, is unlawful intercourse, cannot, when done and turned into a noun, be regarded as lawful wedlock. If we derive it from 515, to dwell, there is no connection between that word and duty of marriage ; nor does any derivative from it refer remotely to the commerce of the sexes. The only other derivative from that word signifies uniformly dwelling, habitation; and the word in question occurs only here.

The weight of authority in the versions, is wholly against this rendering. The three words rendered food, raiment, and duty of marriage, are rendered by Walton, in the Polyglott, as follows :—In the Samaritan Text, "alimentum, operimentum, et habitationem," food, raiment, and habitation:—In the Samaritan version by a single phrase comprehending these three— " vita ejus necessaria," her necessaries of life:—In the Syriac version by " alimentum, indumentum, et accubitum"* food, clothing, and lodging:—In. the Vulgate, by "providebit puellcE nuptias, et vestimenta, et pretium pudicitice," a rendering which precludes the supposition, that she had been married to her master, and at the same time directs him to procure for her marriage with another man. The Targumj the Septuagint, and the Arabic version, agree substantially with the English translation; the Arabic version, however, is little more than a translationof the Septuagint.

That the word in question ought not to be rendered duty of marriage, is therefore obvious for the following reasons.

Jlccubitus means either Sitting, or reclining, at table, or Lying down far sleep. As food has been already mentioned, it must here mean the latter, i. e. lodging.

1. As the girl was not married, and the master, because he disliked her, would not even betroth her, the duty of marriage was impossible. Any sexual duty, rendered in those circumstances, must have been the duty of illicit intercourse.

2. No derivation of the word, as well as no use of the word, or of any cognate word in any other case, will associate with it the idea of lawful intercourse by marriage : it having no refererence to any commerce of the sexes, but what is unlawful.

3. The weight of authorities is wholly against the rendering.

4. The other rendering, viz. habitation, lodging, is the natural rendering of a noun derived from the verb iWi to dwell, and the actual rendering of another noun derived from the same verb ; has the weight of authorities in its favour ; and is consistent with the declaration in the eighth verse, that the girl was not betrothed, as well as with common decency.

The whole passage, thus corrected, will read as follows:

7. And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the men-servants do. 8. If she please not her master, so that he does not betroth her to himself, then he shall suffer her to be redeemed: (i. e. when the opportunity of establishing her in marriage has arrived :) to sell her unto a strange nation, he shall have no power ; seeing he hath rejected her himself. 9. And if he betroth her to his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. 10. If he marry another person, he shall furnish her with food, clothing, and lodging, (or tht necessaries of life.) 11. And if he do not furnish those three, he shall let her go out free, without money.