CONCUBINE, in a scriptural sense, means a wife of second rank (clhm, or ti raisin).
The position thus sustained did not interfere with that of the wife, nor did it entail disgrace on her who sustained it. The concubine had her own place, her own rights, and her own duties. As a general rule she was a slave in the house, and assumed her position in obedience to the will of her master or mistress, without any ceremonial. Her sons ranked below those of the wife, and could inherit from their father only by his will (Gen. xxi. to ; xxiv. 36 ; xxv. 6). The unfaith fulness of a concubine was regarded as whoredom (Judg. xix. 2; 2 Sam. iii. 7, S), but it was not punished as was that of a wife (Lev. xix. 2o). Such a case, however, as that mentioned (Judg. xix.), where not only is the possessor of the concu bine called her `husband' (ver. 3), but her father is called his father-in-law and he his son-in-law (4, 5), shews how nearly the concubine approached to the wife. Hired women, such as uxores mercen arix conductor ad tempus ex pacto,' whom Am mianus Marcellinus attributes to the Saracens (xiv. 4), were unknown among the Hebrews. A con cubine, though a slave, could not be sold, but, if her master wished to part with her, must be sent away free (Dent. xxi. 14). Such concubines had Nahor (Gen xxii. 24), Abraham (xxv. 6), Jacob (xxxv. 22), Eliphas (xxxvi. 12), Gideon (Judg. viii. 31), Saul (2 Sam. iii. 7), David (2 Sam. v. ; xv. 16 ; xvi. 21), Solomon (I Kings xi. 3), Caleb (1 Chron. ii. 46), Manasseh (ib. vii. 14), Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 21), Abiah (2 Chron. xiii. as), and Belshazzar (Dan. v. 2).
To judge from the conjugal histories of Abra ham and Jacob (Gen. xvi. and xxx.), the immediate cause of concubinage was the barrenness of the lawful wife, who in that case introduced her maid servant, of her own accord, to her husband, for the sake of having children. Accordingly we do
not read that Isaac, son of Abraham, had any concubine, Rebecca, his wife, not being barren. In process of time, however, concubinage appears to have degenerated into a regular custom among the Jews, and the institutions of Moses were di rected to prevent excess and abuse in that respect, by wholesome laws and regulations (Exod. xxi. 7-9 ; Dent. xxi. To- t4). To guard their adult male offspring from debauchery before marriage, parents, it appears, used to give them one of their female slaves as a concubine. She was then con sidered as one of the children of the house, and she retained her rights as a concubine even after the marriage of the son (Exod. xxi. 9, so). When a son had intercourse with the concubine of his father, a sort of family punishment, we are informed, was inflicted on him (Gen. xxxv. 22 ; I Chron. v. i).
In the Talmud (tit. Ketuboth), the Rabbins differ as to what constitutes concubinage ; some regard ing as its distinguishing feature the absence of the betrothing ceremonies (sponsalia), and of the (libellus dotis), or portion of property alloted to a woman by special engagement, and to which she was entitled on the marriage day, after the decease of the husband, or in case of repudia tion ; others, again, the absence of the latter alone. [Otho, Lex. Rabbin. Phil. p. 151 ; Sel den, 7us Nat. et Gentt. v. 7, 8 ; De Successionibzes iii.; Uxor. Hebr. etc.; Michaelis, Laws of Moses, vol. i. p. 455-466].