Thanks very much for the Lamech story – although it doesn’t say much for divine wisdom that the mark God put on Cain to keep people from killing him made him easy to mistake for game. But I guess it was better than his second choice, a big bulls-eye on his back.
Two wives as a sign of wickedness doesn’t make much sense in light of the patriarchal polygamy after the Flood, not to mention Solomon’s 700 wives, one of whom was also named Naamah. Is there any explicit text in the bible that forbids polygamy? Is there anything in the Jewish commentary that explains why it was common in the days of Solomon and before, but fell out of fashion?
There’s been, as you’d guess, a lot of questions about the mark of Cain. Was it a tattoo? A scar? One of the letters of the Tetragrammaton? A number of interpreters have guessed that it means he was “dark of skin” (including 19th Century Mormons, apparently).
I’m not aware of anything that expressly forbids polygamy in the Bible, and don’t know the answer to the second part of your question. Someone else will hopefully reply to it.
Thanks for that (and the rest of your post). The story puts a lot of perspective on Lamech’s quote in Genesis 4, which never really made sense. It’d be kind of like Abraham Lincoln working in “and my wife’s father once said he’d really like a pair of pearl cufflinks” into the Gettysburg Address- just a sort of outta nowhere non-sequitur.
There is nothing in Jewish law that forbids polygamy (until Rabbi Gershom declared a ban on it around the year 1000). However, it’s only proper if the man treats both wives equally. The wickedness in the Lamech story (according to Jewish tradition) is the reason that they used to take two wives was for one to bear children (who would eventually lose her beauty) and one to have fun with. The fact that Lamech’s second wife bore children as well was accidental.
It’s getting ahead of ourselves, but I consider the short passage where Leah bears Jacob one son after another, and every time says (essentially), “Ooh, maybe this will make him love me!”, to be one of the saddest things I’ve ever read.
No, because he didn’t marry them with different intentions, to withhold childbirth from one on order to preserve her beauty for his selfish pleasure. In all physical ways, he treated them equally.
TonySinclair:
Very sad indeed. But to be fair to Jacob, he was tricked into marrying her. From the very beginning, he made no bones about which sister he wanted.
I don’t have anything of my own to add to the discussion, but I’d just like to say that I’m greatly appreciating reading what others have posted, and I particularly appreciate Prof. Pepperwinkle sharing his expert knowledge with us. Keep it up!
I’d be interested in learning about the time sequencing. It seems reasonable to me to decide to include both and not worry too much about the details. After all, the sourcing on each is ancient, or so I imagine the compilers thinking. But at some point that framework was set aside and it became a task for rabbis to shore up some or all of the inconsistencies. How was that transition made? Is there any direct evidence for the earlier, “Don’t worry about it” stance? Or am I deeply misunderstanding what occurred?
Also, referencing this post from last week, what’s a good book on Biblical academic scholarship? This 2013 work is pricey though I could wait for a couple of years for cheaper used copies to become available.
And yet another request, in light of this post is there a good timeline on the internet? (A: Yes! See this staff report. But is there another recommended treatment for those with a documentary bent?) From Dex’s staff report:
That is remarkable. I should like more details, if they exist.
Thank you. I’m glad you’re enjoying the thread. The New Cambridge History of the Bible is exhaustive and not easy reading. If you have a public library I’d suggest checking it out first, rather than investing the money.
The transition was probably made over a series of redactions from possibly as early as the 6th Century B.C. to possibly as late as the 3rd Century B.C. Seven scholars will give you seven different timetables, if not eight.
The tradition is that Ezra, a descendant of Seraiah the high priest, was living in Babylon when in the seventh year (~ 457 BCE) of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, the king sent him to Jerusalem to teach the laws of God to any who did not know them. Ezra restored the Torah to Jerusalem, and this was most probably the main redaction (Ezra 7-10, Nehemiah 8).