JU19-2: What Exactly Was A Concubine In The Bible?

“In those days, when there was no king in Isra’el, there was a certain Levi living on the far side of the Efrayim hills who took a woman from Beit-Lechem in Y’hudah to be his concubine.  But his concubine was unfaithful to him and left him to go to her father’s house at Beit-Lechem in Y’hudah, where she stayed for some time, four months. Then her husband went after her to persuade her to return; he had his servant with him and a pair of donkeys. She brought him into her father’s house; and when the girl’s father saw him, he was glad to meet him.”-Judges 19:1-3

Alrighty, let’s get our bearings here.

So we have a certain Levite who took a woman from Bethlehem in Judah to be his concubine.

However, the two of them got into some kind of fight.

So the concubine left her Levite husband and returned to her father’s place.

After four months passed, the Levite went after her in order to make amends.

He must have really missed her companionship because it was quite a long journey to travel from the northern hill country all the way down to Bethlehem in Judah.

Since traveling alone in those days was dangerous he also brought a house servant with him as well as two donkeys.

One of the donkeys was for the woman to ride back with him if he was able to win her back.

The Levite would also have prepared several gifts for both the concubine and her father.

Upon arrival, it turns out the Levite’s trip was a success!

The concubine invites him into the home and the father is happy to see him.

In other words, the father was glad his daughter would be going back with her husband.

Now he wasn’t glad in the sense that he wanted to get his daughter out of his house.

We have to understand ancient Middle Eastern culture to grasp what’s really going on here

The father was glad because it was considered a big dishonor for a family to have their daughter get married or in this case become a concubine and then have it not work out.

If things concluded in a divorce, it brought great shame on the whole family…

And it didn’t matter whose fault it was.

So the father of this concubine was greatly relieved his daughter’s husband had returned to fetch her back.

The Levite stayed for a few days and then on the 4th day as he was preparing to leave, the father in law begged him to stay longer.

Again, this was a Middle Eastern hospitality thing.

To receive a visitor into one’s home was very rare and the customs of the day required taking good care of a guest (providing plenty of food and shelter) and making the most of their time together.

The Levite agrees to stay another night but then on the 5th day he takes his concubine and departs in the afternoon.

Now a quick word about what exactly a concubine was.

Contrary to popular opinion, they were not in-house prostitutes or mistresses.

Nor were they slaves.

The Hebrew word for concubine is PILEGESH (פילגש) and they were like 2nd class wives.

Among the Israelites, men commonly acknowledged their concubines, and these women enjoyed the same rights in the house as legitimate wives.

In the Scriptures, it was normal for the man to be referred to as a husband.

Probably the main difference between a concubine and a regular wife was that a wife had more rights and received an official marriage contract (KETUBAH). 

But again, concubines were NOT slaves who were acquired as playful sex objects…

And they could not be mistreated any more than could a proper legal wife.

So the typical Western understanding of a concubine referring to an unmarried sexual partner or a “mistress” is flat-out WRONG.

Both King David and his son Solomon possessed (and enjoyed) many concubines numbering in the hundreds.

And it was NOT a sin or adultery.