A wife has no right to deny her Ba'al "owner" sex. He owns her.
It doesn't matter if someone is a full on "torah keeper" or just follows the "moral aspects" of the bible. Husband in Hebrew בעל ba'al means "owner".
The only reason the text specifies that a man may not diminish the sexual visits of his 1st wife when he takes another is because, well, that's clearly what can naturally happen; it's a protection for the wife not a hint that she doesn't need to do the same.
The bible is being merciful to the earlier wife/wives by stipulating that the guy better start eating dates or something if he's planning on getting another one.
There is no need to enunciate that an אדון adon "master" or בעל ba'al "owner" has rights to do as he pleases; it's linguistically clear in the original languages (to people living then/speaking the language of the bible).
It would be equivalent to requiring the text to inform us that a "butcher" has the right to slaughter kosher animals; we know already, it's implicit in the term shochet "butcher."
Also, there is no need for the text to stipulate that the wife must also not reduce the owner's conjugal rights since there is not a situation where she will be getting it elsewhere.
*** endless debate spiral disclaimer ***
My comments do not address the foolishness of being a bad master/owner; there are separate teachings that speak to that. Nevertheless, one of the primary utilities of marriage (especially for young fellas) as taught by the Apostle Paul is to prevent people from burning with desire. For a wife to have the right to deny that to her husband flies in the face of this protection-mechanism against sin.
Of course there is another commandment to "do to others as you'd have them do to you" which husbands ought to consider before forcing their wives to do something they don't wan to do; but this is another matter of
conflicting commands visa vi "wives submit to your husbands." The "do to others" command cuts both ways though so this can result in an endless cycle i.e. "wives should not deny sex to their men who are hormone driven."
It doesn't matter if someone is a full on "torah keeper" or just follows the "moral aspects" of the bible. Husband in Hebrew בעל ba'al means "owner".
The only reason the text specifies that a man may not diminish the sexual visits of his 1st wife when he takes another is because, well, that's clearly what can naturally happen; it's a protection for the wife not a hint that she doesn't need to do the same.
The bible is being merciful to the earlier wife/wives by stipulating that the guy better start eating dates or something if he's planning on getting another one.
There is no need to enunciate that an אדון adon "master" or בעל ba'al "owner" has rights to do as he pleases; it's linguistically clear in the original languages (to people living then/speaking the language of the bible).
It would be equivalent to requiring the text to inform us that a "butcher" has the right to slaughter kosher animals; we know already, it's implicit in the term shochet "butcher."
Also, there is no need for the text to stipulate that the wife must also not reduce the owner's conjugal rights since there is not a situation where she will be getting it elsewhere.
*** endless debate spiral disclaimer ***
My comments do not address the foolishness of being a bad master/owner; there are separate teachings that speak to that. Nevertheless, one of the primary utilities of marriage (especially for young fellas) as taught by the Apostle Paul is to prevent people from burning with desire. For a wife to have the right to deny that to her husband flies in the face of this protection-mechanism against sin.
Of course there is another commandment to "do to others as you'd have them do to you" which husbands ought to consider before forcing their wives to do something they don't wan to do; but this is another matter of
conflicting commands visa vi "wives submit to your husbands." The "do to others" command cuts both ways though so this can result in an endless cycle i.e. "wives should not deny sex to their men who are hormone driven."
