to return to her home and people, she chose to remain with her husband's family and nation and to adhere to his religion. Esther is a political heroine, while Athaliah and Jezebel seize power, as women did upon occasion in other states. In the Proverbs we hear what a good thing a good woman is; what a bad thing a bad woman or wife is. This might all be equally well said of husbands, but it is not said, because it was not in the mores to think of men in the same light. The model woman[1] is an industrious housewife. Woman is a coadjutor to man, though, according to the story in Genesis, she brought woe upon him. "The status of woman is characterized by the fact that she was always the property of some man"; she was the property of her father, who sold her to her husband. Her duty was to bear children and do household work. The man was not bound to exclusive fidelity; the woman was, under penalty of death. A priest might not mourn for his wife,[2] for she was not as near to him as his family kin, including his unmarried sister. This excluded his married sister, as if she went into the kin of her husband, which is inconsistent. A widow did not inherit from her husband, but the heir must care for her. A woman's vow required the confirmation of her father or husband.[3]
A man could have concubines and slaves; it was, however, a very important effect of the later strict endogamy of the Jews that these could be only Jews, and were, therefore, in a protected status, and were nationally equal to the wife; but the case of a war-captive, necessarily a foreigner, at the mercy of the captor, is allowed for.[4] Polygamy was the current usage[5]; divorce was easy at
1 Prov. 31. 2 Lev. 21:1; Ezek. 44:25. 3 Num. 30:4: cf. Buhl, D. F.: Die Socialen Verhältnisse der Israeliten, 30. 4 Deut. 21:10. 5 Deut. 21:15.
