Kinship in Ancient Israel

I. Kinship

A. Definition

Kinship refers to the social and cultural patterns we place on the biological features of procreation. Kinship deals with four fundamental areas of human life:

1. Selection of marriage partners
2. Marriage bond
3. Family of procreation
4. Extended family

The social and cultural patterns of kinship are distinct for each cultural group. Our views of the family do not correspond to the ancient Israelites' view of the family. Thus it is critical for us to have a model of Israelite kinship, if we want to understand the many biblical references to the family. A brief summary of the distinctions between U.S. American kinship and ancient Israelite kinship are summarized in Observations on Kinship and Marriage.

We can construct a model of Israelite kinship by examining the biblical and Near Eastern laws relating to marriage and the family, analyzing the kinship features of the biblical stories, and employing cross-cultural models of kinship that correspond to these data. For the primary texts covering the laws of marriage and the family, see:

Biblical Laws on Kinship and Marriage

B. Procreation

As discussed in previous lectures, male/female relations in ancient Israel were shaped by the agricultural metaphor of seed and field. A woman was valued in this relationship for her procreative potential. She provided the necessary "field" for the man to plant his seed.

Because of the identification of women with fields in the context of procreation, all Israelite women fall into one of two classes:

Bound Women	Emancipated Women
Minor Daughter	Emancipated Daughter
Wife	Divorcée
Levirate Widow	Widow with Children

Each of the women in the class of "Bound Women" is bound to some man in relation to her "procreative potential" - that is, their "field" belongs to some man. A minor daughter is bound to her father; a wife is bound to her husband; and a levirate widow is bound to her dead husband's kinsmen (especially the Levir).

"Emancipated Women," on the other hand, are in control of their own procreative potential. The divorcée and the widow with children belong to no man; they own their own "field." The result, however, is often poverty, especially if her children are too young to support her and she has no other kin ties. Prostitution was often the only source of income for a woman to support herself and her children.

Although women were regarded as full persons - for example, the murder of a woman carried the same penalty as the murder of a man - in relation to their proceative potential bound women were treated like property.

Men in their relations with women had two main concerns that had an impact on the Israelite understanding of kinship:

1. Concern with the seed: Men have a need for heirs, particularly sons, to pass on their seed - the spark of life.
2. Concern with keeping the fields within the family: Men desire to keep outsiders off their land, and thus prevent the breakup of the family estate into increasingly smaller units.

C. Strategies

The Israelites practiced two different strategies of marriage depending on the purpose of the marriage relationship.

The most common strategy of marriage was endogamy, which is marriage within the kinship group. The purpose of endogamy is descent: to produce an heir and a lineage. Endogamy is preferred in order to keep women and property within the family.

In early Israel endogamy was limited to what we often call the "extended family." However, by the late post-exilic period (under the dominance of the Persian empire), the family was extended to include the whole "family of Israel." This redefinition of "family marriage" served to solidify the communal identity of the post-exilic community in opposition to its many non-Judean neighbors. Biblical texts that emphasize the importance of Judean endogamy during this late period are Ezra 9-10 and Nehemiah 13.

The other marriage strategy that Israelites practiced is known as exogamy, which is marriage outside of the kinship group. The purpose of exogamy is alliance: to form personal relations with other kinship groups. In the story of Shechem and Dinah (Genesis 34), for example, Shechem claims that his marriage to Dinah will make the people of Shechem and the family of Jacob "one people."

The Israelite kinship system is usually called "patriarchal," meaning "rule of the father," but this designation is not helpful. Most societies are patriarchal is some sense. Rather, the Israelite kinship system is both patrilineal and patrilocal. That is, descent and lineage are traced through the father, and married couples live near the husband's father rather than the wife's father (which would be matrilocal).

II. Marriage

A. Who Can You Marry?

The Israelites preferred the marriage strategy of endogamy with a preference for the paternal parallel cousin. Often called Father's-Brother's-Daughter marriage, this form of marriage aims to keep daughters and property within the narrowest limits of the family.

Although preferable, the paternal parallel cousin is not always a possibility. All paternal cousins are viable candidates for marriage. In ancient Israel, as with many endogamous cultures, cousins are actually defined more broadly than we define them. A cousin is essentially any relative who is not a member of your natal family.

Maternal parallel cousins, often called cross-cousins, are also acceptable, but not preferable. In many cases, however, the paternal cousins and the maternal cousins are identical.

Leviticus 18 and 20 outline the limits of marriage by detailing those family members one cannot marry (or literally, have sexual relations with). In these lists the distinction needs to be made between blood-relatives where sex is improper, and other relations where one is infringing on the procreative property rites of another.

It is interesting to note that no reference is made to one's own daughter. We might assume that she was also "off limits," but because her procreative potential belonged to her father, the law could not legislate against her father "taking" her.

The accompanying diagram illustrates who is and who is not a potential sexual partner according to the Israelite codes of incest.

B. The Marriage

Marriage is the exchange of property rights. The groom's family gives a bridewealth (a form of indirect dowry) to the bride's family in exchange for access to her "field." Once the bridewealth is paid, the woman is married: She is betrothed before consummation, and she is a wife after consummation.

Monogamy is the ideal, but the goal of marriage - either descent or alliance - might necessitate multiple wives.

Primary wives are those women who bring property into the marriage in the form of a dowry. It is a form of indirect inheritance. Although the husband will have use and control of this property, it cannot be alienated from the wife without her permission. Upon her death, the property goes to her children. She also lives off this property if her husband dies. If her husband divorces her, she takes the property with her (except in the case of adultery in which case she forfeits her property).

Secondary wives are women who bring no property into the marriage. In the Bible they are often called "concubines." A man will take a secondary wife primarily when his primary wife is unable to bear children. When a man takes a secondary wife, he cannot neglect or alienate his primary wife.

Marriage contracts in the ancient Near East often included a provision in case the wife is unable to bear a child. Compare an Old Assyrian marriage contract:

Laqipum has married Hatala, daughter of Enishru. In the country (i.e., Central Anatolia) Laqipum may not marry another woman - but in the city (i.e., Ashur) he may marry a hierodule. If within years Hatala does not provide him with offspring, she herself will purchase a slavewoman, and later on, after she will have produced a child by him, he may then dispose of her by sale wheresoever he pleases. Should Laqipum choose to divorce her, he must pay her five minas of silver; and should Hatala choose to divorce him, she must pay him five minas of silver. Witnesses: Masa, Ashurishtikal, Talia, Shupianika.

Because marriage is the exchange of property, the wife has an obligation to provide a child. Her "field" is at the center of the exchange. If she is barren - that is, her field is unproductive - then it is her family's obligation to supply a productive "field."

C. Status of Wives

The wife's status in the family is primarily dependent upon her ability to produce an heir, but she also has status related to the property she brings into the family.

A wife is a stranger in her own home. This is true even if she is a cousin, though not as extreme as others. A husband's loyalty is first to his mother, then his sisters, and finally to his wife. This is the result of the son's socialization as a child. A mother gives her most devoted attention to her son. He is her future - he provides the status she needs in the family, and he will provide for her in her old age. The son grows up as a "mama's-boy." The son also grows up defending and protecting the honor of his sisters, and he is intimately involved in the selection of husbands for them. His wife, on the other hand, is a literal stranger. After puberty, boys and girls are separated. He probably only knows his wife through the reputation of her family.

The corollary to this process of socialization is that the wife's allegiance is first to her son. Because her son gives her status and power within the house, she is devoted to the needs of her son above all else - even over the needs of her husband. In families with multiple wives, the women fight on behalf of the status of their sons. Each wife wants her son to be the favored and the heir of the father, for this provides greater status for the woman.

A wife's allegiance is also to her mother. As a result, the mother-in-law is an obstacle. Her bond to the wife forms a source of power over against the husband.

D. Inheritance

All children receive some inheritance from the conjugal fund - that is, the total family property. Sons receive direct inheritance. Younger sons may receive their share before the father dies, often when they get married. Their share of the inheritance is usually in the form of moveable property. The land is usually reserved for the heir. All non-heirs will eventually move away from their father, though usually not far.

The eldest son receives a double portion of the inheritance, and serves as the father's heir. He will carry on the lineage of his father. The double portion of the inheritance is essentially his share and his father's share. As a result, he often does not receive his inheritance until the father dies. The heir lives with the father, and takes over for the father after he dies. When he marries, he brings his wife into his father's house. He usually lives in an adjoining room until after his father dies, at which time he moves into the main part of the house.

Daughters also receive their fair share of the inheritance, but not directly. They receive their inheritance in the form of a dowry - which remains bound to them, but is used by their husbands. The story and legislation in Number 27 and 36 indicates that daughters with no brothers may also receive property as heirs, but only if they marry in the kingroup. Why might this be important?

When the conjugal fund is split up, the children share in their mother's dowry, and split their father's property with children from other mothers. Children from primary wives thus receive greater inheritances than children from secondary wives. As a result of this arrangement, there is a financial disincentive against polygyny. Children of secondary wives reduce the overall size of, and hence weaken, an individual's inheritance.

If the father dies with no heirs, his nearest male kin becomes his heir: his brother, nephew, or cousin. Because the wife is viewed as property, she becomes the wife of the nearest male relative (the Levir) - she becomes a "levirate widow." Their first child born to the levirate widow from her union with her husband's male kin will considered the heir of her dead husband. If the Levir refuses to accept her, he can release her to another, more distant, male relative.