Jacob Mair Hirschfelder

“ Pusey, whose name is no doubt familiar to most of the readers, has endeavoured to surmount the difficulty by rendering our verse: "Thou shalt not take a woman besides her sister as long as she (the former) lives," by which we are to understand that a man should never marry a second sister. But we may well ask why the sacred writer should couch such a simple command in such ambiguous and uncommon language, which certainly would not have been understood by the generality of the people, if, indeed, even by the learned. ”

“ Indeed, within the last and present centuries, there are comparatively few writers of note who have looked on the subject in any other light than that marriage with a deceased wife's sister is unquestionably lawful. ”

“ Marriage with a deceased wife's sister is clearly allowed under the Levitical law, not merely by not being prohibited, but being prohibited during the life time of the sister first taken to wife, it becomes doubly certain that it was permitted afterwards. It is even made still more clear by the reason assigned; the relation of two wives of the same man are not apt to be friendly, and Moses would not allow, either that the natural affection of sisters should be subjected to this strain, or that the inevitable animosities of the harem should be increased by previous familiar relation of sisters. ”

“ Now, what do we find to have been the practice among the ancient Jews, as far back as we are able to trace it, in regard to marriage with a deceased wife's sister? We have already stated that the Septuagint version, executed several centuries before the Christian era, and the Targum of Onkelos, or Chaldee paraphrase, made about the Christian era, have both rendered the eighteenth verse in such a manner as leaves no doubt that such a union was allowed. ”

“ The widow, too, became the ward of the surviving brother, and if she had no children the brother was obliged to marry her. This opened a wide field to intrigue and avariciousness, if the brother happened to be an unprincipled, or scheming person; who can tell what such a man might not do in order to gain possession of his brother's property, which would certainly fall into his hands with the marriage of the widow. ”

“ Before this time, brothers were probably in the practice of considering a brother's wife as part of the inheritance, and of appropriating her to themselves, if unable to buy a wife, as the Mongols do, so that this was a very necessary prohibition. For a successor prœsumptivus in thoro, whom a wife can regard as her future husband, is rather a dangerous neighbour for her present one's honour; and if she happen to conceive any predilection for the younger brother, her husband, particularly in a southern climate, will hardly be secure from the risk of poison. ”

“ The reply to this question is furnished by verse 16, where we read, "Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife; it is thy brother's nakedness." This prohibition is repeated again, ch. xx. 21, with the addition of the punishment for violating this law, that "they shall be childless." It is proper to remark here, that the expression "they shall be childless," has by many commentators been explained merely to mean that the children born of such a marriage should find no place in the public registers, so that in a civil point of view they would in reality be childless. ”

“ It is now said here, you are not permitted to marry two sisters at the same time, so that they would be united in one marriage bond; if you, therefore, have married one, then the other may not become your wife as long as the first lives. ”

“ We can, however, easily imagine of many cases arising in which such a marriage would be distasteful to the brother, and hence the law does not actually compel him, but provides rather an easy mode by which he may free himself from the obligation by merely publicly declaring before the assembled elders that he was not disposed to marry his brother's widow. ”

“ It is, however, quite possible that among the ancient Hebrews for various cogent reasons the relationship between a man and his brother's widow was considered much closer than that between a man and his wife's sister, since the wife becomes actually incorporated into the husband's family, she takes her husband's name. ”

“ The Jews, in accordance with the common ctistom prevailing in Europe, can only have one wife. This has become, since the Synod held at Worms in the year 1030, under the presidency of R. Goschon, an established law, although Moses did not prohibit polygamy." We must, however, here repeat, that although the Jews held that polygamy was not prohibited under the Mosaic law, it is nevertheless certain that the general feeling has been always against the practice. ”

“ If a man, whose wife is gone to a country beyond the sea, is informed that his wife is dead, and he marries her sister, and after that his wife comes back, she may return to him. * * After the death of the first wife he may, however, marry again the second wife. ”

“ The father, only too often swayed by the will of the stepmother, perhaps for his own peace and comfort sake, becomes gradually indifferent to the feelings and sufferings of his children, and at last entirely forgets his duties as a parent. ”

“ We do not generally lay so much stress upon the opinions of commentators — especially as orthodoxy is not always the order in our days — but rather place our chief reliance upon the usage of words in Scripture. If a word in a certain passage presents any difficulty as to its proper meaning, we generally endeavour to trace the force of it by comparing other passages in which it occurs, thus making Scripture as it were its own interpreter. ”

“ The existence of so great a diversity of opinions seems clearly to indicate that the subject must be surrounded with very great difficulties, and seeing that already so much has been said and written upon this question, it would be presumption in me to hope of being able either to advance any arguments which may not already have been advanced, or to be able to change by any reasoning already deeply-rooted opinions. ”

“ They argue that if the law forbids one degree of consanguinity, that which is equal or nearer ought to be forbidden also. There exists a great diversity of opinion as to the antiquity of this sect. According to their own writers they belong to the ten tribes that were led captives by Shalmaneser, but as neither Philo nor Josephus make mention of this sect, some writers infer from it that they could not then have existed in their times, and place their origin in the fourth or fifth century. ”

“ But objectionable as the marginal rendering is in a philological point of view, it will be found even more so when we come to examine its bearing upon other portions of Scripture, since the verse would then afford a distinct law against polygamy, whilst we have, on the contrary, undeniable proofs that no such law could have existed among the ordinances of the Pentateuch, although we have certainly reasons to believe that the prevailing feeling among the Hebrews seems to have been in favour of monogamy. ”

“ But in the remaining passage, viz., Jer. xxii. 30, the term "childless" is applied to Coniah, who evidently had children,—"Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days; for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David." And in verse 28, it is distinctly stated, "Wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not? "In modern history, too, we have, for example, the marriage of Henry the VIII. with his brother's widow, Catharine of Arragon, a marriage which, although unfortunate, was certainly not childless. ”

“ If the reader will refer to the Hebrew Bible, he will find that in the passages just quoted in each case the verse contains two clauses of three words each, thus, by the use of the sententious expression, the regular form of the construction of the lines is preserved, whilst by using the fuller expression the first clause would then have two words more than its parallel clause. Hence, in longer verses where the difference in the length of the clause is not so perceptible the full expression is always employed. ”

“ The promise of the Messiah, the seed of women, who was to bruise the serpent's head, was well calculated to inspire them with an earnest longing for the perpetuating of their families, and may have been the chief cause which led to the promulgating of this provision in order to guard as much as possible against the entire extinction of Hebrew families. ”

“ But the leaving out of the word in question would still not materially alter the sense of the verse, and would then read: "Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to cause jealousy or enmity, to uncover her nakedness beside her," for the words "לצרר (litzror) , to cause enmity, עליה (aleha) , beside her," would still imply that the sister was yet living, for, if dead, the marriage of her sister with her husband could not possibly be said "to cause enmity," nor could it be said to be "beside her." ”

“ As another objection against the adoption of the marginal reading we may urge, that Moses, in the chapter, speaks of affinity and consanguinity, and it is therefore reasonable to conclude that he speaks in our verse of one sister to another, and not of one woman to another. The rendering of the text in our authorized version, "a wife to her sister," stands then so far yet unshaken.
But nothing tends to sharpen the mind so much as difficulties, for the greater these are, the more active is the mind to find a way to overcome them. ”

“ This natural propensity of overcoming obstacles is more or less inherent in every person, and exhibits itself in every walk of life, in the pursuit of science as well as in other occupations. Difficult questions naturally call forth a variety of opinions, and the more abstuse the point the greater the scope for the exercise of ingenuity. ”

“ Cardiner is Professor of Literature and Interpretation of the O. T. in the Berkley Divinity School, Middletown, Conn., and his Commentary on Leviticus forms part of Lange's great Commentary on the Bible. J. P. Lange, D. D., is Professor of Theology in the University of Bonn, and Chief Editor of the Commentary bearing his name. ↑ The custom of marrying the brother's childless widow has been adopted from the Mosaic law by other Eastern nations, who still practise it. Olearius, speaking of the Circassians, says, "When a man dies without issue, his brother is obliged to marry the widow." ”

“ Keil and Delitzsch observe: "No punishment is fixed for the marriage with two sisters; and, of course, after the death of the first wife, a man was at liberty to marry her sister: Com. on Leviticus, vol. ii., p. 410.
Samson Raphael Hirsch, Rabbi of the religious community of Israelites in Frankfort-on-the-Main, remarks on our verse: "Es ist nun gesagt: du kannst nicht zwei Schwestern zugleich heirathen dass sie in einem Ehebund zusammen vereinigt seien. Wenn du daher eine geheirathet hast so kann die andere, so lange die erste lebt, nicht deine Gattin werden. ”

“ But with the exception of this sect, the Jewish people as a whole held marriage with a deceased wife's sister not only permissible, but in some cases desirable. Upon this point all Jewish commentators and critics are perfectly agreed. ”

“ Leaving then the exegetical path, and for a moment taking a glance at the subject from a utilitarian point of view, here no mist any longer dims the prospect, but all is clear and serene; for we venture to say, there is no one, however great his conscientious scruples regarding the lawfulness of such marriage may be, but who will admit that such alliances from this standpoint are most desirable. The lifelong misery which is often entailed upon children by a second marriage is, alas, only too well known. ”

“ It is, of course, quite legitimate for a critic to leave the beaten path, and strike out a new theory for himself, but in doing so it is unqestionably of the highest importance that it should be placed before the ordinary reader in such a manner as to enable him to form an intelligent opinion regarding its soundness. ”

“ How often are children driven from their happy homes and sweet associations, driven into the wide world among strangers, just at the time when they most need the counsel and fostering care of parents. ”

“ Such an easy mode of escaping from an unwelcome obligation would have tended to render the injunction to a great extent nugatory had not provision been made to brand the man as a traitor to his brother's family for allowing personal consideration to outweigh a solemn duty he owed to a deceased brother. ”

“ In July, 1806, there assembled in Paris, in accordance with an Imperial decree, one hundred and ten Jewish deputies from France and Italy. The object of the Congress was, to reply to a number of questions that would be submitted to them by Imperial Commissioners in regard to some doctrines of the Jewish Church. On Tuesday the 29th, the Imperial Commissioners appeared before the Assembly, and submitted twelve questions, the first of which was as follows: "Are the Jews allowed to marry several wives?" ”

“ Need we, then, wonder that a mother, concerned for the welfare of the dear ones she leaves behind, should be solicitous that her loss, though it can never be fully replaced, should yet in a measure be deprived of the sting which such a bereavement inflicts. This she can best hope for from a loving sister who, thus doubly united in the sacred bond of relationship to her children, will make them feel that —
"All are not taken ”