20
HEBREW LIFE AND CUSTOM
kinship through the mother to the reckoning of it through
the father, doubtless was only brought about very gradu-
ally. In the betrothal of Isaac and Rebekah ɪ it is not
clearly understood at the time that Rebekah shall go to
Isaac. The fact that she does so is represented as her
own decision.2 Another trace of the time when the wife
normally remained with the clan is found in the fact that
the nuptial tent is regarded as the wife’s, not the husband’s.2
The later nuptial canopy {huppa) may be regarded as a
survival of this.
In any case, whether the bride remained with her clan
or took up her abode with her husband, a purchase price
was paid to her father or male guardian* This indeed is
not definitely stated in the story of Rebekah, though it is
not improbably hinted at in the presentation of valuables
to her brother and mother.5 The comparative novelty of
a wife’s accompanying her husband instead of remaining
with her own people is clearly shown in the story of Jacob.
Laban, though he cannot deny that Jacob has paid a price
for Leah and Rachel, insists that Jacob has no right to
take them away from him,6 and that their children belong
to him, whereas Leah and Rachel, reasonably enough from
our point of view, maintain that their father by accepting
a price for them has forfeited any claim to them.7 Be-
trothal was regarded as binding.8
The earliest record of a wedding being celebrated by a
feast is the story of Jacob,9 but it may doubtless be regarded
as a common custom. Of some of the ceremonies at such
a feast we get a glimpse in the account of Samson’s wed-
ding, a riddle and a wager.10 The association of brides-
‘ Gen. xxiv. 45 ff. ’ Gen. xxiv. 58.
8 Gen. xxiv. 67, xxxi. 33 ; Judges iv. 17 ; see W. RobertsonSmith,
Kinship and Marriage, p. 168.
4 Gen. xxix. 15 ff., xxxi. 15, 43 ; Exod. xxii. ι6,17 ; ɪ Sam. xxviii.
23 f. ; 2 Sam. iii. 14.
5 Gen. xxiv. 53. 6 Gen. xxxi. 43 ; cf. ver. 31.
, Gen. xxxi. 14-16. 8 Deut. xxii. 23 fΓ.
, Gen. xxix. 22 ; cf. Jer. vii. 34. ” Judges xiv. 12 f.
BETROTHAL
21
maids with the bride is found as early as the story of
Samson.1 The mention of certain girdles worn by the
bride 2 suggests that the unfastening of these by the hus-
band was a ceremonial act. A feature common to the
stories both of Jacob and Samson is that the marriage con-
tract was not final till the bridegroom and bride had
cohabited for a week.3 Laban is afraid that Jacob may
decamp leaving on his (Laban’s) hands a daughter not
legally married, and Samson having left before the week
is up,4 the father of the woman he has espoused considers
the marriage as null, and gives her to another husband.5
In any case the parents normally arranged the marriage,6
though Esau married in defiance of his parents.7
In the Greek period when the magnificence of Solomon
was popularly related as a set-off against both Persian and
Greek splendour,8 the bridegroom seems to have played
the part of Solomon, and his procession to fetch his bride
was an imitation of a royal progress.’
ɪ Judges xiv. ɪo ff. ; cf. Ps. xlv. 14. , Jer. ii. 32.
3 Gen. xxix. 27 ff. ; Judges xiv. 12, ι8.
4 The correct rendering in Judges xiv. 18 is not ‘before the sun
went down ’ but ‘ before he went in to the (bridal) chamber ’.
s Judges xiv. 20.
6 Gen. xxiv. ι-4, xxxiv. 4-8; Judges i. 12 f., xiv. ɪ f. ; ɪ Sam.
xviii. 23, 25. 7 Gen. xxvi. 34 f.
8 i Kings iv. 21 ff., x. 14 ff. ’ Cant. iii. 6-ιι.