With the breaking up of the old gentile organization the power and influence of woman rapidly declined. The matriarchate disappeared and the patriarchate took its place. Man, being an owner of private property, had an interest in having legitimate children to whom he could will his property, and ~he, therefore, forced upon woman the prohibition of intercourse with other men~.
But for himself he reserved the right of maintaining as many concubines as his means would permit beside his legitimate wife or wives, and their offspring were regarded as legitimate children. The Bible furnishes important evidence on this subject in two instances. In the first book of Moses, 16, 1 and 2, it says: “Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children; and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram: Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing; I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.” The second noteworthy evidence is found in the first book of Moses, 30, 1; it reads as follows: “And when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said unto Jacob: Give me children or else I die. And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel and he said: Am I in God’s stead who has withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? And she said: Behold my maid, Billah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees that I may also have children by her. And she gave him Billah, her handmaid, to wife, and Jacob went in unto her.”
Thus Jacob was not only married to two sisters, the daughters of Laban, but both also gave him their handmaids to wives, a custom that was not immoral according to the moral conceptions of the time. His two chief wives he had married by purchase, having served their father Laban seven years for each of them. At that time it was the general custom among the Jews to purchase wives, but besides they carried on a widespread robbery of women from nations conquered by them. Thus, for instance, the Benjamites robbed the daughters of Shiloh. The captured woman became a slave, a concubine. But she could be raised to the position of a legitimate wife, upon fulfillment of the following command: She had to cut her hair and nails and exchange the garments in which she was captured with others given to her by her captors. Thereupon she had to mourn for her father and mother during an entire month, her mourning being destined to signify that her people were dead to her. These regulations having been complied with, she could enter into wedlock. The greatest number of women were owned by King Solomon, who, according to the first book of Kings, chapter 11, had no less than 700 wives and 300 concubines.