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FAMILY FAMILY
of marriage that chiefly prevailed in old Arabia. Th ehusband
acquires his property by purchase. Them5hdr paid by the ancient
Hebrews, as by the ancientArabs, and by the Syrian fellahin of the
present day,on betrothal, is simply the purchase-money paid to
theformer proprietor-the father or guardian (cp MAR-RIAGE, I). With
the payment of this purchase-money the marriage becomes legally
valid, and allrights over the bride pass to the purchaser.
This is seen most clearly in the terms of the law relating tothe
seduction of a betrothed virgin, that is, one who has alrcadybeen
purchased by her future husband. Th e compensation tobe paid was
fixed exactly on the same scale as for a marriedwoman (Dt. 22 233);
looked at from the present point of viewit made no difference
whether the marriage had been consum:mated or not ; the violation
of the rights of private propertywas equally great in both
cases.
Originally, as Robertson Smith (Kin.,2 8 ) rightlyobserves, such
a 6a'aZ marriage must have been amarriage by capture. Before a
daughter of the tribecould be sold into such slavery, the slavery
of womanmust have become fixed as a firmly rooted usage invirtue of
the established fact that ordinarily wives wereobtained by plunder
from abroad or as captives in war.Such women were of course, in the
strictest sense, theproperty of the husband, the slaves of their
master.We know that down to Mohammed's time marriage bycapture was
extremely prevalent ; and, as was only tobe expected, we have clear
traces that it was notunknown in ancient Israel. In this way, we
are told,the Benjamites who had escaped extermination wereprovided
with wives (Judg. 21). Here (the date of thenarrative is
immaterial) capture in war (v . 108)standsalongside of capture (in
peace) at the annual harvestfestival at Shiloh (v . 1 9 8 cp DANCE,
It is safe toinfer that at the festival in question there
survivedancient customs which owed their existence to areminiscence
of marriage by capture in the strict senseof the word. Such customs
belong to the samecategory as those found among the Arabs, which
plainlyare designed, after the wife has ceased to be
capturedreally, to represent the practice figuratively (see
MAR-RIAGE, 3) . D, moreover (Dt.21,mj?), has specialregulations
(whatever we may choose to make of them)as to the manner of
entering into a valid marriage witha prisoner of war-regulations
which certainly haverelation to an ancient custom. By the fact of
becomingthe lawful married wife of her master, the captive
woman passes into the ranks of the free women (as faras it is
possible for any woman to be free ; see 4) ;she is no longer liable
to be sold as a slave by hermaster ; if he divorces her she becomes
free. The ruleof old Arabia was precisely similar.
Obviously,however, a certain stigma attached to marriage bycapture
as soon as it had been supplanted in generalusage by marriage (by
purchase) with a tribeswoman.Laban reproaches Jacob for his
stealthy flight on theground that he had carried off his daughters
with himas if they had been captives taken in war (Gen.3126).
Though the wife at marriage passes into the powerofher husband,
her position is not otherwise changed-4, Legal at least for the
worse-and accordingly
The unmarriedwoman in the house of her parents, alsowoman' is
under tutelage ; she is the property of
her father or guardian. Amongst the Arabs, forexample, her
guardian can make her his wife or marryher to his sou without
having to pay any mfihci?: Inlike manner, to take another instance,
two fathers canexchange daughters as wives for their sons.
Th e seduction ofan unbetrothed virgin is from this point ofview
regarded as an injury to property, and, very significantlyis dealt
with by the law in that connection only. A virgin ikvalued at a
higher figure than a widow or a divorcee. Th eseducer has to pay to
the father, as compensation, the amonntofm8hltlrwhich the father
would otherwise have been entitledto at her marriage (Ex.22 15
[16]). The father, however, is underno compulsion to give the girl
in marriage to the seducer;otherwise the way to force a marriage
would be only too plain.
I499
6).
position of she feels no degradation.
Such an encroachment on his rights h e is entitled to resist ;
soalso in old Arabia.
Whilst thus treated as a valuable chattel, woman wasnot
originally at all regarded from the point of view ofworking
efficiency. The ancient Semites never apprai sedher SO low. Women
were looked upon rather aspotential mothers, destined to give the
tribe the mostpriceless of all gifts-namely, sons. On the number
of
its spears depended in those primitive times the wholepower and
dignity of clan and tribe. Therefore it wasthat the tribe did not
willingly allow its women to passby marriage into another tribe so
as to enrich it withchildren. Later, indeed, when a sedentary life
hadbeen adopted, views changed and at the present timewhat the
fellahin grudge is the working efficiency whichby marriage is
transferred from their own to anotherfamily.
The onesidedness of the marriage relation comes into5. Special
prominence especially at three points :points. ( a )where there is
polygamy, (6 )where there
is divorce, an d (c) where there is inheritance.( a ) In a
condition of society where the husband isregarded as owner of the
wife, naturally no limit is setto his powers of acquisition. He can
own as manywives as his means allow him to purchase and maintain.He
can also acquire secondary wives and make hisfemale slaves his
concubines at his pleasure. In this
there is felt to be so little of reproach to the first legalwife
that instances are not wanting in which sheherself promotes the
arrangement (as in the cases ofSarah, Leah, and Rachel). The great
antiquity ofthis custom (and thus also of the patriarchal
system,see KINSHIP, 9) is shown by the fact that the word(22%)for a
secondary wife is common to all the Semiticlanguages (see
ADVERSARY).
On the other hand the wife is very zealously guarded.Though she
is hy no means shut up as in the Islam of to-daythe custom of
veiling-which doubtless originated in the circldof ideas that we
have been considering-is very ancient (Gen.24 65 20 25). Adultery
is punished with death, and if thehusband has suspicions he can
subject his wife to the ordeal of
jealousy (Nu.5 11-30; see JEALOUSY, ORDEAL OF). Undersuch
conditions the only case in which the husband can he
guiltyofadultery is when he seduces the wife of another man.
CpMARRIAGE, 4.
(6 ) The right ofdivorce is equally onesided in favourof the
man. It .is always in his power to forgo hisright s of property and
to send his wife back to herhome, if only he is prepared at the
same time to send
back the mfihir. The wife, on the other hand, has nomeans of
obtaining a separation from her husband, orof forcing a
divorce.
(c) Neither the unmarried nor the married woman iscapable of
inheriting. In 6a'aZ marriages and underthe patriarchal system the
tendency to limit women'spower of ownership and inheritance is
easily intelligible.What belongs to the woman goes out of the
family ather marriage. Thus in Israel daughters had no rightof
inheriting along with sons (see LAW AND JUSTICE,18), and women's
right of property was confined towhat they had received as a gift;
the wife of goodposition retains at her marriage (for example) the
rightto the female slaves who have been given to her as herpersonal
attendants on leaving her father's house (Gem1 6 2 6 3049). Even
these, however, in the last resort,rank as part of the husband's
property disposable byinheritance. Numerous indications tend to
show thatin ancient Israel when a man died his womenkindpassed to
the heir in the same way as the rest of hisproperty (cp MARRIAGE.
8).
Strictly, however, this right of property over thewife is not a
right over her person : it is a right toenjoy her society and have
children by her. Thehusband cannot, for example, sell his wife
(though hecan sell his children) into slavery (Ex. 217). Hecannot
sell even the concubine whom he Has bought asa slave, or gained as
a prize of war. Thus , even froma purely legal point of view, the
position of a woman
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