I think we need to be very clear exactly what we are taking from the Jewish sources, and what we are not. For myself (rightly or wrongly), at this stage I would
- Use Jewish references to learn the definition of what terms meant to the audience during scriptural times
- but NOT necessarily accept their take on right & wrong, if that wasn't also indicated by scripture.
In scripture we don't see any example of a concubine having the right to terminate the relationship - the only sort-of-relevant example is the Levite's concubine, who has run back to her father's house, and her husband goes there to persuade her to come home with him. That says nothing about whether she had the right to do so. On the contrary, David's 10 concubines who he shut away appear to have been bound to him for life regardless, there is no hint that they could have decided they didn't like that treatment and just walked off.
So I think it is reasonable to conclude from such references that the word pilagesh / concubine means a woman who is in a relationship with a man but without a ketubah / written contract. That just gives us a definition we can use to understand scripture better.
I don't think it is reasonable to accept that the relationship between her and her husband is any less permanent than a marriage relationship - unless someone else can show a scriptural example? All I see is instruction not to put away your woman, and for women to not leave their husbands, which seem to apply to all men & women with no distinction as to contract. Any suggestion that a concubine has the "right" to just leave seems to directly contradict these scriptures.
- Use Jewish references to learn the definition of what terms meant to the audience during scriptural times
- but NOT necessarily accept their take on right & wrong, if that wasn't also indicated by scripture.
In scripture we don't see any example of a concubine having the right to terminate the relationship - the only sort-of-relevant example is the Levite's concubine, who has run back to her father's house, and her husband goes there to persuade her to come home with him. That says nothing about whether she had the right to do so. On the contrary, David's 10 concubines who he shut away appear to have been bound to him for life regardless, there is no hint that they could have decided they didn't like that treatment and just walked off.
So I think it is reasonable to conclude from such references that the word pilagesh / concubine means a woman who is in a relationship with a man but without a ketubah / written contract. That just gives us a definition we can use to understand scripture better.
I don't think it is reasonable to accept that the relationship between her and her husband is any less permanent than a marriage relationship - unless someone else can show a scriptural example? All I see is instruction not to put away your woman, and for women to not leave their husbands, which seem to apply to all men & women with no distinction as to contract. Any suggestion that a concubine has the "right" to just leave seems to directly contradict these scriptures.