MARRIAGE AMONG THE ANCIENT ISRAELITES. 331 



Moreover, when we look into the marriages mentioned in 

 Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, we find that they exhibit the 

 same peculiarity as do those mentioned in Genesis. They could 

 all take place if the Israelites were exogamous, and had descent 

 in the female line, while many could not possibly take place if 

 they were exogamous, and had descent in the male line. It is 

 needless to multiply examples, and the two following will be 

 sufficient. (Joshua, xv, 17 :) Othniel, son of Kenaz, the brother 

 of Caleb, married Caleb's daughter. (II Chronicles, xi, 18 :) Reho- 

 boam, son of Solomon, (1) Mahalath, his first cousin on the father's 

 side ; (2) Abihail, his father's first cousin ; and (3) Maachah, his 

 first cousin on the father's side. There may be some doubt about 

 the last wife. In II Chronicles, xi, 20, and I Kings, xv, 2, she is 

 called the daughter of Absalom ; but in II Chronicles, xiii, 2, she 

 is called the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. 



It may be objected that the Israelites could not have been ex- 

 ogamous because they were endogamous ; but the fact is that they 

 were not endogamous till after the Babylonian captivity, and were 

 not endogamous in the true sense even then. Endogamy is that 

 law which allows marriage only between persons who are recog- 

 nized as being of the same blood ; and though, after the captivity, 

 the Israelites made a law against marrying foreigners (Ezra, x ; 

 Nehemiah, x, xiii ; I Esdras, ix), yet at the same time they ob- 

 served the Levitical law forbidding marriage within certain de- 

 grees of consanguinity. They had thus an endogamy of nation- 

 ality, coupled with exogamy within the nation. 



But even this external endogamy, so to speak, did not exist 

 before the captivity, for the evidence that the Israelites did 

 marry foreigners is overwhelming. There was marriage with 

 foreign women taken in war, and rules governing the procedure 

 in such cases. Then of individual examples we have the follow- 

 ing : Abraham took Hagar, an Egyptian, and Keturah, an Arab 

 (Genesis, xvi, 3, and xxx, 1). Esau married a Hittite and a Hivite 

 (Genesis, xxxvi, 2). Judah married Shuah, a Canaanitish woman 

 (Genesis, xxxviii, 2). Joseph married Asenath, an Egyptian 

 (Genesis, xli, 45) ; and Moses, Zipporah, an Ethiopian (Exodus, ii, 

 21, and Numbers, xii, 1). Simeon married a Canaanitish woman 

 (Exodus, vi, 15). 



The first limitation of marriage with foreigners is found in 

 Deuteronomy, vii, 1-3, where the Israelites are forbidden to inter- 

 marry with seven nations — the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, 

 Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. But the Israelites 

 did not obey this prohibition * (Judges, iii, 6, and I Kings, xi, 2), and 



* We suppose here, for the sake of argument, that the prohibition existed at this time, 

 though there are good reasons for believing that Deuteronomy was really written by Jeremiah. 



