[7] However, in the late Babylonian period, there are reports that concubines could be sold. The inhabitants of (the town of) Jabesh Gilead are then slaughtered as a punishment for not joining the 11 tribes in their war against the Benjaminites, and their 400 unmarried daughters given in forced marriage to the 600 Benjamite survivors. The group pass up a nearby non-Israelite town to arrive very late in the city of Gibeah, which is in the land of the Benjaminites. "[9] It was illegal for unmarried women, prostitutes and slave women to wear a veil in the street. Her heartbreaking story is recorded in Judges 19-21. Hagar was hurt by this decision, as was Sarah. It’s “a non-Semitic loanword borrowed to refer to a phenomenon not indigenous to Israel,” according to Baker’s Dictionary of Biblical Theology. In many cases, taking a concubine was akin to a marriage. If he changed his mind after they were married, she had to be granted her freedom. [32][33][34] The concept was expressed in the 11th century by historian Dudo of Saint-Quentin in his semi imaginary History of The Normans. concubine synonyms, concubine pronunciation, concubine translation, English dictionary definition of concubine. Law A woman who cohabits with a man without being legally married to him. Christianity.com is a member of the Salem Web Network of sites including: Copyright © 2021, Christianity.com. During the Old Assyrian Period, Assyrian marriages were generally monogamous. Genghis Khan, Ögedei Khan, Jochi, Tolui, and Kublai Khan (among others) all had many wives and concubines. [1] In slave owning societies, most concubines were slaves,[4][dubious – discuss] often called "slave concubines". [115], In some context, the institution of concubinage diverged from a free quasi-marital cohabitation to the extent that it was forbidden to a free woman to be involved in a concubinage and the institution was reserved only to slaves. – (Lewis, 146)[12], Concubines would be kept in the pharaoh's harem. Webster’s Dictionary gives us this definition for a concubine: “a woman with whom a man cohabits without being married: such as (a) : one having a recognized social status in a household below that of a wife (b) : mistress.” A daughter of concubine could not marry a wife-born son of the same class. These women were called concubines, and they often were treated better than the man’s wife. In the Bible, a concubine was a woman acquired by a man as a secondary wife. From the Eastern Han period (AD 25–220) onward, the number of concubines a man could have was limited by law. Abner, a rival to King Saul's throne, slept with Rizpah and defiled her. Nene, wife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was known to overrule her husband's decisions at times and Yodo-dono, his concubine, became the de facto master of Osaka castle and the Toyotomi clan after Hideyoshi's death. Concubinage was not part of God’s dream, but because human life now involved sin, God made laws to protect vulnerable women from further oppression, knowing a sinful world would always include broken relationships between men and women. The term “concubine” in the Bible refers to a slave wife. French-speaking and practicing Catholicism, these women combined French and African-American culture and created an elite between those of European descent and the slaves. Finally, the 200 Benjaminite survivors who still have no wives are granted a mass marriage by abduction by the other tribes. [106] These relationships appeared to have been socially accepted in the colony of Jamaica and even attracted European emigrants to the island. The word concubine comes from the … [83] Children of concubines are generally declared as legitimate with or without wedlock, and the mother of a free child was considered free upon the death of the male partner. [15] By the mid 4th century concubines could inherit property, but, like wives, they were treated as sexual property. [57] Female slave-servants or slave-performers could be elevated to the rank of concubine (called khavas, pavas) if a ruler found them attractive. [24] Researchers have suggested that Vikings may have originally started sailing and raiding due to a need to seek out women from foreign lands. ", "Sex Slaves – The Dirty Secret Behind The Founding of Iceland", "Kinder, Gentler Vikings? This woman, however, remained a slave and never gained the status of a second wife. A woman’s status as a concubine was higher than a slave but lower than a wife. In parallel though, the late imperial Roman law improved the rights of the classical Roman concubinatus, reaching the point, with the Corpus Iuris Civilis by Justinian, of extending inheritance laws to these unions. For more Old Testament Bible verses on God’s heart for monogamous marriage, see also: Psalm 128, Proverbs 5:15-19; 18:22, and Ecclesiastes 9:9. [3], Concubinage has existed in all cultures, though the prevalence of concubinage and the rights and expectations of the persons involved have varied somewhat, as have the rights of the offspring born from such relationships. 8 synonyms for concubine: mistress, courtesan, kept woman, paramour, odalisque, courtesan, doxy, paramour. [7] In slave-owning societies, most concubines were slaves, but not all. NAS Exhaustive Concordance. Sarah did not trust God to provide a son in his perfect timing, so Sarah gave Hagar to her husband Abraham to have a child. [87] Others contend that concubines in Islam remained in use until the 19th century. [59], Abraham had a concubine named Hagar, who was originally a slave of his wife Sarah. Empress Myeongseong managed to have sons, preventing sons of concubines getting power. 13, 2007, pp. In contrast, their younger half-siblings by concubine Zhao, Jia Tanchun and Jia Huan, develop distorted personalities because they are the children of a concubine. Apart from working in the home and providing sexual companionship, a major role for a concubine would be to produce children, to increase the work force in a household. [24][25] Concubinage for Vikings was connected to slavery; the Vikings took both free women and slaves as concubines. In the past, the woman involved in a concubinage was referred to as a concubine (/ˈkɒŋkjʊˌbaɪn/ KONG-kyoo-bine), while the man simply as "lover" or "patron" (depending on the asymmetry of the couple). "[42] Wives brought a dowry to a relationship, but concubines did not. 1. Primarily, non-Muslim women taken as prisoners of war were made concubines as happened after the Battle of the Trench,[100] or in numerous later Caliphates. in the Bible denotes a female conjugally united to a man, but in a relation inferior to that of a wife. The word concubine is a gender specific noun for a woman; a word for woman who lives with a man but has lower status than his wife or wives. Yanagihara Naruko, a high-ranking concubine of Emperor Meiji, gave birth to Emperor Taishō, who was later legally adopted by Empress Haruko, Emperor Meiji's formal wife. concubina, a concubine; from con-, with, and cubare, to lie), the state of a man and woman cohabiting as married persons without the full sanctions of legal marriage. In the Bible, a concubine was a woman acquired by a man as a secondary wife. A Gentile captive taken in war (Deuteronomy 21:10-14), “The rights of the first two were protected by the law, but the third was unrecognized and the fourth prohibited. [79] Islam furthermore endorsed educating,[80] freeing or marrying female slaves if they embrace Islam abandoning polytheism or infidelity. These provisions in the law were meant to protect concubines from further oppression, but the Bible records a few stories about the reality concubines and wives experienced. “These provisos may not have furnished a remedy against all the wrongs of a weak, and, no doubt, an oppressed class; but they were important mitigations of the existing usages, and protected the slave-concubine to a considerable extent,” according to the Pulpit Commentary. [41] A concubine's treatment and situation was variable and was influenced by the social status of the male to whom she was attached, as well as the attitude of his wife. A band of wicked townsmen attack the house and demand the host send out the Levite man so they can rape him. [47], Despite the limitations imposed on Chinese concubines, there are several examples in history and literature of concubines who achieved great power and influence. Rizpah was a concubine of King Saul. 1. [40] The purchase of concubine was similar to the purchase of a slave, yet concubines had a higher social status. Learn how and when to remove this template message, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History 2008, "Vikings Might Have Started Raiding Because There Was a Shortage of Single Women", "The Real Reason for Viking Raids: Shortage of Eligible Women? 2. [108] One reason for taking non-white women as concubines was that free white men outnumbered free white women, although marriage between races was not illegal. Concubines in the patriarchal age and beyond held an inferior rank—they were “secondary” wives. [citation needed], In Louisiana and former French territories, a formalized system of concubinage called plaçage developed. With slavery being recognized as a crime against humanity in the United States law, as well as in international customary law, the legal basis of slavery is repudiated for all time and therefore repudiates any rights of owner-rapists had had to exercise any proxy sexual or other consent for their slaves.[109][110][111][112]. from The Century Dictionary. Mingdai Yanjiu 明代研究 (Ming Studies) 11.2008:58. Find more ways to say male, along with related words, antonyms and example phrases at Thesaurus.com, the world's most trusted free thesaurus. Her purpose was to provide a male heir in the case of a barren wife, to provide more children in general to enhance the family’s workforce and wealth, and to satisfy the man’s sexual desires. [6], In Mesopotamia, it was customary for a sterile wife to give her husband a slave as a concubine to bear children. [21][22], The relationship between a free citizen and a slave or between slaves was known as contubernium. They are recorded in 1 Kings 11:1-8. [39] From the earliest times wealthy men purchased concubines and added them to their household in addition to their wife. A gigolo is a male prostitute. NIV Starting Place Study Bible, “Why Did David Have So Many Wives and Concubines?” pg. In the morning, the Levite finds her when he tries to leave. [64][65] Since it was regarded as the highest blessing to have many children, wives often gave their maids to their husbands if they were barren, as in the cases of Sarah and Hagar, and Rachel and Bilhah. Genesis 25:6 suggests that Keturah was Abraham’s concubine. The term comes from Latin concubinatus,[2] the institution in ancient Rome that regulated the cohabitation of free citizens who did not want to enter into a marriage, similarly to modern day civil unions. slavery). This is because when personal ownership of slaves was enshrined in the law, an enslaved person had no legal power over their own legal personhood, the legal control to which was held by another entity; therefore, a slave could never give real and legal consent in any aspect of their life. Many historical accounts in the Old Testament range from disturbing to horrifying, lacking a happy ending or moral theme beyond “don’t do what they did.” The Spirit of God did not lead writers of the Bible to include these stories to show that God condoned their sin and that’s how God’s people should live. [43], During the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), the status of concubines improved. Throughout history, there have been instances when it was considered acceptable for an important man to keep a woman, not his wife, as a mistress. [36], The ideology established by Patristic writers largely promoted marriage as the only form of union between men and women. Poverty was not part of God’s dream, but because human life now involved sin, God made laws (Deuteronomy 15:1-18) to protect the poor from further oppression, knowing a sinful world would always include poverty (Deuteronomy 15:11, John 12:8). A Hebrew girl sold by her father (Exodus 21:7), 2. While most Ancient Egyptians were monogamous, a male pharaoh would have had other, lesser wives and concubines in addition to the Great Royal Wife. According to the Babylonian Talmud,[62] the difference between a concubine and a legitimate wife was that the latter received a ketubah and her marriage (nissu'in) was preceded by an erusin ("formal betrothal"), which was not the case for a concubine. [5] Concubines of men of lower social status could be either freeborn or slave. She is usually a willing participant in the relationship and may be of any social status. They would not relent, so he “took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go” (Judges 19:25). [citation needed] Three generations of the Jia family are supported by one notable concubine of the emperor, Jia Yuanchun, the full elder sister of the male protagonist Jia Baoyu. "Polygamy and concubinage were also allowed in ancient Israel and seem to be have been quite common in the patriarchal period (age of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), but after that most marriages of commoners were monogamous.”. Joseon monarchs had a harem which contained concubines of different ranks. What are synonyms for concubine? When slavery became institutionalized in Colonial America, white men, whether or not they were married, sometimes took enslaved women as concubines; children of such unions remained slaves. Answer: In the Bible, a concubine is a woman who lives with a man as if she were a wife, but without having the same status as a wife. Define concubine. Why didn’t God step in to say this practice is harmful and should not be done by God’s people? Historical Old Testament accounts should be approached and applied differently than, for example, Apostolic letters in the New Testament. Harem definition, the part of a Muslim palace or house reserved for the residence of women. Synonyms for concubine in Free Thesaurus. Whatever the status and rights of the persons involved, they are always inferior to those of a legitimate spouse, and typically the rights of inheritance are limited or excluded. [92] According to Zeyno Baran, this kind of temporary marriage provides Shi'ite men with a religiously sanctioned equivalent to prostitution. Sikainiga writes that one rationale for concubinage in Islam was that "it satisfied the sexual desire of the female slaves and thereby prevented the spread of immorality in the Muslim community. “Concubines and Conjugal Rights. pp. ", "PILEGESH (Hebrew, ; comp. [2][19] The institution was often found in unbalanced couples, where one of the members belonged to a higher social class or where one of the two was freed and the other one was freeborn. A key purpose of the Law of Moses was to show the depth of sin and that no human could completely satisfy the law (Galatians 3:19, Hebrews 10:1-10). The preferred castes were Gujjar, Jat, Ahir and Muslim noble women amongst other touchable castes. Murat Iyigun, "Lessons From the Ottoman Harem on Culture, Religion & Wars", University of Colorado, 2011, "Sexual Relations Between Elite White Women and Enslaved Men in the Antebellum South: A Socio-Historical Analysis", J. M. 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