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Re: orion Divorce and poligamy in NT and DSS
Judith - I plead guilty to orthographic mistakes, but did I also understand
you correctly as saying that DSS do not prohibit polygyny?
At 10:42 AM 3/1/98 -0400, you wrote:
So the issue is
>ONLY this: whether, like the Hebrew Bible, the DSS, the NT, and other
>Jewish texts of that time permit polygyny (or at least take for granted
>its occurrence in their societie).
>
>To this, the answer sould seem to be yes, they know it's happening and no,
>they do not excoriate it in specific terms -- though the NT may do so by
>implication, especially in the Pauline discussions of marriage law.
Here's the passage from Damascus Covenant that is generally taken to refere
to polygyny (are you then proposing a different interpretation?) :
DC IV-V (G. Vermez' translation)
"The builders of the wall ... shall be caught in fornication twice by
taking a second wife while the first is alive, whereas the principle of
creation is, Male and female created he them*. Also, those who entered the
Ark went in two by two. And concerning the prince it is written, He shall
not multiply wives to himself**; but David had not read the sealed book of
the law which was in the ark for it was not opened in Israel from the death
of Eleazar and Joshua, and the elders who worshipped Ashtoreth."
* (Gen. 1:27)
** (Deut. 17:17)
Best regards, Asia