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Straitway Newsletter: “One” Wife
Pastor Dowell has done it again!! CLICK THE LINK to receive the .pdf where Pastor Dowell of Straitway Community breaks down the verses that say “one” wife in the (so-called) New Testament!
The clarity is REAL!
wife
/wīf/
noun
noun: wife; plural noun: wives
-
a married woman considered in relation to her spouse.
In Hebrew, the word “isha/ishah” means both woman and wife, interchangeably.
con·cu·bine
/ˈkäNGkyəˌbīn/
noun
historical
noun: concubine; plural noun: concubines
-
(in polygamous societies) a woman who lives with a man but has lower status than his wife or wives.
Pilegesh (Hebrew: פילגש) is a Hebrew term for a concubine with similar social and legal standing to a recognized wife, often for the purpose of producing offspring.
Zonah(Hebrew:זונה) is a Hebrew term for a prostitute. (there is a female AND male pronunciation — FYI)
Often, Hebrew Israelite women and men are in a battle over concubinage. Men are quick to say that a woman’s virginity is a factor as to whether or not she is a wife or a concubine. The women are made to feel shame for any past they may have; it seems that there is no area for repentance and teshuvah in this topic.
Many who are Hebrew Israelites now were not always awake to who they were. They were born and raised Christian or something else. They lived their lives however they saw fit , and then found out they were Hebrew. Then they turned away from their old ways, striving for righteousness.
But often, a woman is told that, if she is not a virgin when she marries, then she is not a wife — she is a concubine.
When you ask what a concubine is, you may receive a variety of answers — a concubine is a slave-wife, a concubine is a woman who is not a virgin, a concubine is a wife without covenant, a concubine is a girlfriend, a concubine is a woman who has children from another relationship, a concubine is a woman that’s not good enough to be a wife but you still want to bed her.
Whatever the case may be, there is scriptural evidence implying some of these. Others are simply personal opinions of the masses often accepted as fact.
Concubine as a slave-wife: Often in scripture we see a slave girl being taken and lain with, and children are made from that woman. A slave has no choice to consent to or decline to do what is their master’s wish — if a man had a slave girl, and he wanted to lay with her, he could and she would become his concubine. If a woman had a slave girl and she wanted her husband to lay with her, he could and she would become his concubine.
Female slaves were given over to any man to whom her master wished to gift her.
Slavery is not legally done today, so this idea is archaic among us, at best.
(A female slave can become a concubine, but being a concubine does NOT mean you are suddenly a slave! We are all to be dutiful servants of our husbands if we observe the Torah or the Quran, but you are NOT a slave. Even queens were servants to their kings.)
Concubine as a non-virgin: You will hear that a woman who is a non-virgin is only able to receive concubine status with her husband, and not full-wife status (thereby conversely saying that virgins get full-wife status). You will hear many reasons why — some will say if a woman had sex with a man and lost her virginity, then she is THAT man’s wife. The reasoning behind this is because to many Israelites, sex equals marriage. They will pull out verses to support this claim. But they are neglecting other verses on the matter — while sex is needed to complete the marriage “ceremony”, you also need an agreement between parties that this is what you will be to each other, and you need witnesses to the agreement. When a man took an unmarried/unbetrothed Daughter of Israel in a field, he had to pay her father the bride price and basically complete the ceremony. If not, he was seen as having defiled her and messed with her status in society. Sex is not ALL you need to do to be considered a wife.
So think about people’s younger sexual conquests — no, sisters, you are not married to those men if there was no agreement with them that that is what you were doing. No, brethren, you are NOT married to those women if there was no agreement with them that that is what you were doing. (and you know that was not the agreement you had with those people — outside of the righteous Hebraic construct, many things occur and sexual promiscuity is had by both genders.)
Let me point out some non-virginal women in scripture that, when married, were described as wives and not concubines (because scripture is very explicit in titles — what’s there is there and what isn’t there can only be speculated on) —
Ruth (Book of Ruth — widowed; she becomes a wife of Boaz in the end)
Abigail (1 Samuel 25 — widowed; becomes a wife of King David)
Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11)
Bathsheba is a particularly interesting case — while being married to Uriah, Bathsheba committed adultery with King David, which is a sinful act, and became pregnant. Then David had Uriah killed so that he could have Bathsheba as his wife. Never was Bathsheba referred to as his concubine. …and scripture was very clear as to who was concubine and who was not.
Concubine as a wife without covenant:The Babylonian Talmud (the Talmud being a Jewish book that doesn’t hold any one rule for or against anything, and is largely a book of debate and opinion) states that a concubine is a wife without covenant: (from Wikipedia:)”the difference between a pilegesh and a full wife was that the latter received a marriage contract (Hebrew:ketubah) and her marriage (nissu’in) was preceded by a formal betrothal (“kiddushin”), which was not the case with the former. According to R. Judah, however, the pilegesh should also receive a marriage contract, but without including a clause specifying a divorce settlement. (this final line I can agree with — I believe people should understand the nature of their relationship and that things should be clear and concise to the point that it could be written out and both parties would be in agreement on what’s written on that paper)
Concubine as a woman who has children from another relationship: This belief has no foundation in scripture. I can’t find evidence anywhere — a woman who was a widow and had children could be made a full-wife to a man if he wished it.
Kohanim have restrictions on who they can and can’t marry, but not every man is a priest. If you are a Kohan/Cohen, you should be fully aware on your marital restrictions according to Torah, and you should abide by them. A Kohan cannot marry a zonah or a divorced woman (Lev. 21:7) and a kohan gadol (A HIGH priest) cannot marry a widow, a divorced woman, a zonah, a non-Hebrew or converted woman, OR a non-virgin (Lev. 21:13-15). Notice there’s a difference between a priest and a HIGH priest — not every priest is a high priest (the rules in this chapter for the high priest begins at verse 10).
As I mentioned earlier, scripture is very clear on what women were concubines or not. It did not hinge on whether or not that woman was a virgin, it hinges on what that woman’s agreement was with that man. The Most High never frowned on a woman being a wife OR a concubine. And in Hebraic society, being a concubine was NOT seen as a bad thing — she was a wife, she respected and submitted to her man as her husband and her head.
What a woman must do is make sure she understands the relationship she has with her man. I am big on things being clear and concise — I don’t like to be confused as to what we are to each other. I think a woman should request clarity and transparency, and if she agrees with the terms of that relationship, those two are able to do whatever it is they chose per that agreement according to Torah. (of course there are prohibited marriages, but the only one that hinges on a woman’s virginity is that to a Kohan gadol)
KNOW YOUR TORAH IF YOU’RE GOING TO LIVE BY IT, AND YOU WON’T EVER BE DECEIVED.
This is a lesson written by the Elder Mōréh Qănăă, in a polygyny group on Facebook. I felt it was post-worthy and preservative-worthy. So I copied and pasted it and I give him major accolades and praise The Most High for the knowledge this man has imparted! Hope you enjoy it as I enjoyed it.
Shalom (a greeting of Peace). My name is Qanaa Bén Yehuwdah. I am an Elder, and a “Moreh” (Teacher) within the African Hebrew Community in the American diaspora. I joined this group to help contribute to the dialog on “Polygyny” from a Biblical perspective. Yet before on may intelligently discuss “polygyny” thy must first understand the origins of “Monogamy” and who gave it to us, and why they enforce it by law!
From a Scriptural standpoint, there is no difference between “Monogamy” and “Polygyny”. However, there is a profound difference between European/Western Marriage, and African and middle-eastern Marriage. Namely, that the European/Western paradigm of “matrimony” is by definition, and institution negotiated to support and perpetuate what I like to call “matronage”.
Let’s first look at a few of these words:
PATER: (pronounced pay-tur), a noun defined as father . ORIGIN Latin, and later Germanic (English).
PATRIARCH: noun, characteristic of a system of society or government controlled by men.
PATRON: noun, a person who gives financial or other support to a person, organization, cause, or activity : ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French, from Latin patronus ‘protector of clients, defender,’ from pater, patr- ‘father.
It is clear by these European definitions, that men traditionally held authority in their homes as fathers and patrons, and in their Governments as Patriarchs.
Now, look at these European definitions:
MATER (pronounced may-tur) a noun defined as mother . ORIGIN Latin, and later Germanic (English).
MATRIARCH: adjective, a woman who is the head of a family or tribe. • an older woman who is powerful within a family or organization : a domineering matriarch.
MATRON: noun, a married woman, esp. a dignified and sober middle-aged one, in charge of domestic arrangements.
Okay, now let’s look at “inheritance” within the same European paradigm:
MATRILINEAL: adjective, kinship to the mother or the female line. ORIGIN late Middle English : via Old French from Latin matrimonium, based on mater, matr- ‘mother.’
PATRILINEAL: No such word exists!
PATRIMONY, adjective, property inherited from one’s father or male ancestor. ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French patrimoine, from Latin patrimonium, from pater, patr- ‘father.’
MATRIMONY: noun, the state or ceremony of being married; marriage : a couple joined in matrimony | the sacrament of holy matrimony. ORIGIN late Middle English : via Old French from Latin matrimonium, based on mater, matr- ‘mother.’
In aggregate, it should be clear that the European family paradigm is one of men and women inheriting from the fathers, men paying dowry for brides, and marrying into HER family’s possessions through matrimony. It is the family line of the woman, that controls marriage, and wealth, not the man’s. He controls the woman, and by extension, HER matrilineal inheritance.
The Roman Emperor, Diocletian and co-Emperor Maximilian passed strict anti-polygamy laws in 285 AD that mandated monogamy as the only form of legal marital relationship, as had traditionally been the case in classical Greece and Rome.[citation needed] In 393, the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I issued an imperial edict to extend the ban on polygamy to Hebrew communities.
Christian European insistence on monogamy and its enforcement arose as a consequence of 16th Century Islamic incursions into Central Europe and the advent of European colonialism within the Americas, Africa and Asia, which exposed European Christians to cultures that practiced polygamy. As a consequence, nominal Christian male bigamists were subjected to unprecedented harsh punishments, such as execution, galley servitude, exile, and prolonged imprisonment.
Protestantism dropped the Catholic imperative of Matrilineal control of property, which was instituted by Rome to guarantee Papal control of land-based taxation, but in British Colonies (occupying other countries by force) land ownership was strictly Patriarchal, yet marriage remained Matrimonial.
This is what governs American Marriage til this very day! Monogamous Marriage is the legally enforced European restriction on how many sons a man may legally produce, thus insuring that no “Clan” may rise to the stature of “nation” over many generations, within the borders of any European, or American Country. This is also why divorce, and abortion are legal in the United States.
Now, the European Paradigm of Monogamous Matrimony is failing all but the most financially sound marriages, and many of those are divorces just waiting to happen, as the pressure to “satisfy” and entrain one’s spouse becomes the only marital benefit that most couples can afford!
Contrary to “hypothetical” belief. Multi-Wife marriages produce more prosperity, greater emotional security for both mother and children, and more unanimity of internal family values, that monogamous give-me-what-I-want marriages. In fact, nearly all Monogamous marriages in the United States are based on pure harlotry! That is to say, trying to cultivate a sexual attraction, into a committed relationship based on the fulfillment of “expectations”. What s “crap-shoot” that is, and there is no mediator to keep anyone objective! Done with all of that madness…
How many parents of daughters raised to expect monogamy, have been able to deliver a bride that has had less than 5 men run through her before marriage? How can girls be allowed to have sex with multiple partners, be taught to restrain themselves to a single husband, without expecting him to justify why she should not leave him and move on to the next man, every day of his life?
Conversely, the man who marries more than one woman does not “move on” he builds up, and they build up with him unless THEY decide to leave.
It’s feast season again for the Hebrews and other Torah Observers of the world.
And it’s raining today. And when it rains in the fall, and it is chilly and muddy, all I can think of is Sukkot.
Man. There were a lot of things wrong with the assembly we built up back in the day. A lot of things, which is why so many of us left and now the assembly is pretty much defunct.
But one thing I can say about us is that, when we would observe the feasts, we would REALLY observe those feasts!
At first we would buy lamb chops. Then the next year we made sure it was from a kosher store. Then the next year (because the butchers in the kosher store would give it to those they knew were Jews first and then tell the rest of us they had none. It’s understandable to protect and assist your own FIRST, but that doesn’t mean I have to continue to shop there…) we felt we were better off if we bought a lamb and slaughtered it ourselves.
My husband and Marcus and Gene and Paul would get together and bless the lamb, and my husband would perform the ritual slaughter. He had a super-sharp knife that they’d blessed, and he would cut the throat almost to the back, and then allow the blood to drain out from the lamb’s body.
My children would play with “Sheepie” for the week or so before he was to be slaughtered; sometimes it was a “petting zoo” atmosphere, as friends (we’re all “city folk”, or “hood folk”, and are simply not used to seeing a farm animal in someone’s backyard just chilling like that, lol) would bring their children to see the lamb and pet it.
After a couple of years of doing that, Cedric started joining us, and even when he moved to NYC, he would make an effort to come down for Passover.
As for Sukkot, at first it was a backyard thing, then when we finally split up (at that point we were split in two, for the most part – WE left, and then Marcus left, and Cedric came with us because he was OUR friend), we finally started doing it out in the openness of wooded land over near Joe Pool Lake.
Every year we have sukkot, it rains on us, whether we are in someone’s backyard or near the lake.
It rains and some people’s tents get flooded.
It rains and your feet or wet in your shoes all the time.
It rains and the hem of your skirt is consistently moist and muddy.
So you’re cold all the time, even tho you’ve got on long-johns and a hoodie.
We could hear coyotes and owls hooting in the night… my mother in law came with us once and she and my daughter shared a tent while my then-toddler son and even younger then-baby son shared the tent with my husband and I.
One night it rained sooo badly that when I got up to use the restroom (aheheh, a bucket that in the morning you need to take it out and pour it deep in the woods and then go clean it out), the floor of our tent was like walking on a waterbed mattress!! All waves and such.
I remember one year, the single women’s tent was so flooded all their blankets and pillows had to be hung over fences all the next day, and they had to take their clothes to be washed.
But FORGET all the discomfort – it’s STILL a wonderfully blessed time.
It’s as if the discomfort is GOOD for you.
We are definitely city/hood people. But there was no complaining among us. We TRIED, we tried our bests to observe the feasts! Everynight there was a lesson, every night there was food cooked by some set of women or some family or some group of men. Every day people were cleaning, or off showering somewhere – some of us that had jobs would gone on and go to work if they were unable to spend the entire feast at the campsites. We would bible study ALL DAY LONG, we would discuss bible all day, all night.
There were courtings, night time flirting (by cell phone – one young sister in the single sisters’ tent, texting back and forth with a young brother in the single brothers’ tent). There were slightly quiet, night time games of volley ball where people were REALLY competitive, oh my, my my lol. There were even GHOST stories – because scriptures don’t say they don’t exist, they say don’t TALK to them. So A LOT of people have those unexplained stories and you know the campsite is the best place to do that…
One year we got together with a bunch of other groups and had sukkot, and we met some really nice/interesting people, who “knew how to make fire” lol (oh my goodness so many city folk are gonna be SCREWED when the SHTF!) and they made this bonfire and my husband and them (he’s from an island, he can do stuff many city/hood guys can’t lol) would go into the woods, cut some wood and then bring it back and toss it on the bonfire and we just sat around having discussions and such.
Now, it’s just us, our little family…and it used to be Marcus with us, but now he’s married (HE WHO FINDS A WIFE FINDETH A GOOD THING!). And we’re trying to move out of town… and others have completely just fallen away, haven’t even done a Shabbat in a couple of years…
it makes me sad. And when I see signs of the feasts, American-style, Texas-style, lol, Dallas-style…I get all nostalgic, like now. When I see that big moon in the sky, I get all wistful and memories pop up. I’m not afraid of a little rain anymore; I go where I want in the rain. I don’t even need an umbrella anymore lol.
I miss it.
It seems the poison that seeped up (really it was there from the get-go but when things are allowed to fester…you know…they decay and the healthy parts must break away) is out and away for the most part.
It would be NICE to be able to all come BACK, RETURN, TESHUVAH/TESHUBAH and do it AGAIN, like the old days.
We’d gotten really good at it.
We learned A LOT about the world, and the Word of The Most High. Every year it was a test on how we would survive, should something horrible happen to our society at some point.
People learned to make fire. People learned that a little rain ain’t TOO bad, when you know how to keep warm. People learned how to slaughter and gut an animal, if need be. People learned how to get along with others that they would otherwise NOT be living with.
I miss it. And no matter what anyone can say, I refuse to allow the poison disrupt the GOOD memories I have of us, and what we were…
Alright I’m done. YHWH bless, have a good feasttime!
Sister Wife is a 2000 documentary that follows the Hebrew Israelites, an African American community that immigrated to Israel and practices polygamy. The men can have up to seven wives. The film follows a couple that’s been married for 21 years as they decide to take on another wife.
(Some of these will have biblical references and some will not)
I will begin with the earliest classification.
na’arah – (plural ne’arot): Girl or young woman
baht – (plural bahtot): daughter
betulah – (plural betulot): married/unmarried virgin
almah – (plural alamot): virgin, unmarried, sexually ripening (“pubescent”) woman
isha – (plural nasheem): wife; literally, woman
pilegesh – (plural pilgasheem): concubine (Song of Songs 6:8)
emah – (plural emote): mother
malkah – (plural melakhot): queen (Song of Songs 6:8)
gevirah – noble woman/queen mother
agunah – a woman whose husband’s whereabouts are unknown (an abandoned woman) (Romans 7:2)
noefet – adulteress (na’aph is the act of committing adultery)
zonah – non-virginal harlot/prostitute (Dt. 23: 18-19)
gerushah – divorcee (literally exile/stranger…)
I found these interesting.
The classification betulah and almah as often used interchangably in scripture.
But a zonah cannot be an almah. (duh?) The two cannot be used interchangably.
I personally MISSED THIS?
I didn’t even see this on the radar?
But even if it’s just this video, I’m glad I saw it. I loved every minute of it, I loved the older family that’s been together 30+ years and how they’re doing well and they’re HAPPY and NORMAL, I loved seeing the spokesperson for the polygamy advocacy group… LOVED IT.
AWESOME.
Enjoy!!!
Shalom!
I created two new videos that revolve around jealousy and the poly mindset.
The first one is
And the second upload is this one (with my face on it lol)
Shalom!
Well, a young woman on youtube contacted me with some questions and I was so intrigued by our dialogue that I just put it out on the table for her. She was shocked and I asked for a picture of her to show hubby, who was also shocked.
She sent a picture and he finds her very attractive.
We have been chatting back and forth for about a month or so now. We only recently exchanged numbers. My husband will call her as soon as we have a moment; if you were not aware we are currently in our holiday season. We follow the moon by eye-sight, so we coincide with the kairite jews and the yemenites who do not follow any rabbinically created hebrew calendar. So for us, Sukkot is starting Sunday night, October 4.
We will be out at Joe Pool Lake with HUNDREDS OF OTHER PEOPLE. Some are families we already know.
We invited our potential out but she has to work. Another time; she is many states away.
None of us are “used” to long distance relationships.
I really hope this works out. I pray for Yah’s Will to be done in the matter and I pray that, if this be His Will, that she be a good match for our household.
If no one’s seen her blog, there is a young lady who is wife #3 that has a blog, called Megan’s polyblog. She just found out she’s pregnant, 6 months into the marriage. They’re all happy.
Since we have been in a time of repentance I’ve had to do alot of soul searching. I have to make sure that I am where I need to be, spiritually. It is very hard, still living in the world and not being “of” the world. This walk certainly can get lonesome. I AM peculiar amongst my friends, to the point where they pick at me about it.
I mentioned possibly going to an associate’s pool party. The reply “There’s pork in the pool.”
I mentioned possibly going to this lounge in town, Joyce Lounge. The reply “Sounds like a religious lounge.”
When we through our little W&C get together alot of people didn’t come. Apparently someone speculated that it would be a “religious” thing.
Wow.
So. I am alone.
But y’know what?
YAHSHUA SAID I WOULD BE ALONE.
He said you’d lose your family and friends, following Him.
So I can’t be TOO bad off, right?
I Praise His Name. I Bless the Name of YAHWEH!
WHATEVER HIS WILL IS, I am happy to follow Him.
We will have a good Sukkot. I am praying that all goes well for us out there and that Yahweh is glorified in our fellowshipping and worshipping of Him. And I pray that we are all edified in our understandings of things…
Shalom for now…
I am so tired of the hidden wickedness amongst…certain people…
*ahem*
My thing is this — IF we are supposed to be Yahweh’s chosen people —
why can’t we be REAL with the fact that we are ALL sinners.
Every Man woman child moreh rabbi preacher pastor teacher prophet.
WE ARE ALL SINNERS.
We haven’t STOPPED being sinners just because we know Yahweh. WE CANT. We’re still in the flesh and you know Yahshuah said if you even THINK it, you’ve done it.
Let’s get something straight — I worship NO MAN.
I read scripture and I do what Yahweh says I need to do in order to be counted amongst His people.
At least I ATTEMPT to.
The ONLY man I go to for scriptural understanding is MY HUSBAND. Because I am commanded to do so.
I also take 1 Thess. 5:27 (? I think?) seriously when I QUESTION EVERYTHING. Just because you say it’s there don’t mean it’s there. Just because you say it means that doesn’t mean it says that.
I HAVE TO READ IT FOR MYSELF, STUDY IT FOR MYSELF, UNDERSTAND IT FOR MYSELF.
I may not like it; it may not be MY way (like the whole pork thing lol. Before my current understanding I was a SERIOUS pork eater lol), but it’s YAHWEH’S WAY and that’s what matters.
I can’t just take what a man would say.
because, like the old adage says “Power CORRUPTS. And Absolute power corrupts ABSOLUTELY.”
If ANYONE is going to teach me ANYTHING, they have to humble themselves and ADMIT that they are sinners just like me, and that they, too, are still learning…
I feel that a true assembly of Yahweh is a constantly growing and ever changing thing. Because we haven’t learned everything. Sometimes things come up and you find out — oh, you all, as a group, haven’t been doing what you’re supposed to do. It is then that you need to change it. UPGRADE!
I do alot of teaching. I know how people feel about women preachers. I’m not a preacher; don’t get me started. As I said before, everything I ever SAY I pass it by my husband, who is OFF THE CHAIN with the scriptural knowledge. If he hasn’t approved it, I do not publicly state it. Period. Full-stop.
But I DO do alot of teaching. Let’s face it; there are some things I have studied and learned that I like to pass on to others. So I do a lesson or a few.
I don’t know what I’m about to say, where I’m about to go with this.
But one of my next lessons is going to be about FALSE PROPHETS.
Stay away from them.
Shalom. Laila tov.
Coarse: A Blog 