religious Jews, and it cannot be doubted that these operated with such effect that the polygamous theory was, in the case of the most part of the people, disregarded, and practically the Jews of Christ’s time were monogamists. In the first place, marriage amongst the Jews had run the same course as among the rest of mankind, and that course had been steadily in the direction of monogamy; the accumulated experience of the race everywhere crystallised itself in a practical acceptance of monogamous marriage. Polygamy was but a survival from a distant and primitive phase of social development, and its disappearance was one of the best-assured consequences of social advance.
"While Hebrew society in Old Testament times represents an advanced stage in the evolutionary scheme, viz. that in which polygyny and paternal government are the dominant forms, the Old Testament literature has nevertheless been largely drawn upon in the discussion, on the ground that it embodies survivals from the diverse customs of prehistoric times."[1]
One conspicuous instance may be noted.
- ↑ See Hastings' "Dictionary of the Bible," vol. iii. p. 263.
