Apologists will say that God allowed it because the people would have it no other way. So God 'caved' in this resepct for the good of the nation I guess.
-Sab
What is the reasoning of Israelites being allowed to have concubines?
by EmptyInside 25 Replies latest jw friends
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aSphereisnotaCircle
Apologists will say that God allowed it because the people would have it no other way. So God 'caved' in this resepct for the good of the nation I guess.
This is the explanation i have heard. An apologists used this excuse on a recent thread dealing with the israelites wiping out entire tribes but saving the virgin girls to keep as wives.
When god is on your side you can justify ANY behavior.
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mindmelda
I hates to tell you but in the Bible, all women were property. That didn't change in the United States until the 1920s when women were given the vote, well, technically. All of a woman's property and her money became her husband's upon marriage until fairly recently.
Why do you think that that phrase "husbandly owner" is used so much in the Hebrew scriptures? Under Jewish law, women and children were property. Men were supposed to treat them well, but legally, that is what they were. How else could a man sell his daughter into slavery if he didn't own her first?
Even the Christian wives were property, the Greek, Roman and Jewish societies they lived under all regarded women legally as property.
Women expected to be treated like property, and hence, sold to a man to do with as he pleased. The bride price is the payment a man paid for a wife, making her his property. When you pay for something, it's yours.
Even in Greek and Roman society, women and slaves had pretty much the same status. Strangely, some wealthy courtesans had almost equal status to a man because no man owned them and they had wealth, so it didn't belong to their husbands. That gave them a unique status in those socieites. The same was true in feudal Japan...only the wealthier geishas or onegai had almost equal status to males....for the same reason.
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blondie
Interestingly, according to the WTS, if a concubine gave birth to a man's first son, he inherited the firstborn son's rights under the Law.
***INSIGHT BOOK it-1 p. 495 Concubine ***Among the Hebrews a concubine occupied a position in the nature of a secondary wife and was sometimes spoken of as a wife. It appears that concubines were slave girls, one of three kinds: (1) a Hebrew girl sold by her father (Ex 21:7-9), (2) a foreign slave girl purchased, or (3) a foreign girl captured in warfare (De 21:10-14). Some were the slave girls or handmaids of the free wife, as in the cases of Sarah, Leah, and Rachel.—Ge 16:3, 4; 30:3-13; Jg 8:31; 9:18.
(The WTS also said that God had a concubine....evidently making it okay in their minds)
Figurative
Use. The apostle Paul likens Jehovah to the husband of a free wife, the "Jerusalem above," who is the "mother" of spirit-begotten Christians, as Abraham was husband to Sarah. He compares the relationship of Jehovah to the nation of Israel represented by its capital city Jerusalem to that of a husband and a concubine. Through the Law covenant Jehovah was ‘married’ to Jerusalem as a "servant girl," a ‘concubine,’ analogous to the relationship of Abraham to the slave girl and concubine Hagar.—Ga 4:22-29; compare Isa 54:1-6.-------------------------------
The WTS did not officially end polygamy until 1947...........
*** Proclaimers (jv )chap.13 p.176 Recognized by Our Conduct***
Even though customs affecting marriage and family life differ from one land to another, Jehovah’s Witnesses recognize that the standards set out in the Bible apply everywhere. As their work got under way in Africa in this 20th century, the Witnesses taught there, as they do everywhere, that Christian marriage allows for just one marriage mate. (Matt. 19:4, 5; 1 Cor. 7:2; 1 Tim. 3:2) Yet, there were hundreds who accepted the Bible’s exposure of idolatry and gladly embraced what Jehovah’s Witnesses taught concerning the Kingdom of God but who got baptized without abandoning polygamy. To correct this situation, TheWatchtower of January 15, 1947, emphasized that Christianity makes no allowance for polygamy, regardless of local custom. A letter sent to the congregations notified any who professed to be Jehovah’s Witnesses but who were polygamists that six months was being allowed for them to bring their marital affairs into harmony with the Bible standard. This was reinforced by a discourse given by Brother Knorr during a visit to Africa that same year.
*** w95 9/1 p. 25 "Love Never Fails" ***I married Olabisi Fashugba in February 1941 and knew enough not to take any additional wives. But until 1947 when the missionaries came, polygamy was common in the congregations. Polygamous brothers were told that they had married more than one wife in ignorance. So if they had two or three or four or five wives, they could keep them, but they should not take any more. That was the policy we had.
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LongHairGal
Mindmelda,
Very informative posts! Times were brutal back then in bible times, and, yes, women were property. Because the JW religion goes by the old testament so much, they have serious problems with regard to modern women and their independence. This is probably why I detected certain attitudes because I am a single woman who works - and answers to NO one.
Certain idiots there definitely had a problem about this!
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peaches
new idea.....in case one of the women got a case of crotch rot,,,,there would be a spare.....
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sd-7
crotch rot
That just sounds nasty, and I'm afraid to ask....but I'll just take it as it is and say I get the point. Disturbing, though...
I figured the justification was that until Christ, the Jews could get away with everything, including treating women like cattle. Jesus didn't treat women like that, assuming you believe the Gospel record.
I mean, what's the reasoning in killing a bunch of guys to get their foreskins and using them to BUY a woman as your wife? Samson said, "If you had not plowed with my young cow, you would not have solved my riddle." His 'young cow' was his wife-to-be, or wife, or something. I'm pretty sure that's NOT how women would prefer to be addressed, as a young heifer.
What's the reasoning in allowing a man to marry a woman he just raped?
What's the reasoning in a lot of things? If we can recognize the wrongness in something, surely God would be able to and would never have legislated for such treatment of beings he created to complement man. Which begs the question, was God actually involved in this as much as many have been led to believe?
Man says to woman: here's the deal--I hunt/farm, and you bend over/take it. Woman says: Crap. Okay. Just don't be surprised if you get a tent pin in your a-- someday.
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Darth plaugeis
When I was young I envied they had this ..... as I got older, I don't need to embarrass myself in front 30-40 or more than 100 woman. Saying sorry to 1 woman is all I can stand.
Some days I hate my penis!
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St George of England
Also they were allowed to use prostitutes! This can be seen at Gen 38:12-26 where Judah mistook Tamar for a prostitute and had sex with her for the price of a sheep. Dual standards.
George
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daniel-p
If ISraelites weren't allowed to have concubines, the Jewish God would have less reason to be so duplicitous! We can't have that!