The Hebrew Selection of Marriage Partners

1989 photograph of a Bedouin couple.

(Photo credit: American Colony Photo Department)

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

The Hebrew ruler-priests selected marriage partners only from their widely dispersed caste members. Hebrew marriages were arranged to the benefit of the households of both the bride and the groom. Matches were not based on romantic love. Deliberation about suitable partners were conducted under the authority of the fathers, village elders, clan chiefs, and sometimes the king. The king of Egypt arranged the marriage of Asenath to Joseph, Jacob’s sent-away son. Asenath was the daughter of a high-ranking priest of Heliopolis (Gen. 41:45). This is an example of caste endogamy because both Asenath and Jacob were Hebrew.

The selection of marriage partners took into consideration political alliances, distribution of wealth, and the necessity of heirs. Some marriages served to raise the status of a family. There were many potential matches because there were many Hebrew clans other than Jacob’s clan (the Israelites). Priority was given to marriages within the three-clan Hebrew confederations such as Ham, Shem and Japheth, or Og, Gog and Magog, or Huz, Buz and Uz.

It seems that in Abraham’s time, deliberation about marriage partners involved a modular system with a cycle of between 9 and 12 possible matches. In this system, X represents a firstborn son, and the possible matches are between 9 and 12 blood related females, drawn from the three clans of the confederation, and considered in a fixed order of rotation.

A bride selected from the pool of possible females within the confederation typically would be a half-sister in the case of the ruler’s first marriage and a patrilineal cousin in the case of the second marriage. The bride for the next male in the Hebrew hierarchy of sons would be considered in the rotation, beginning with the next female in the rotation after the last match was made.

The numbers 9 -12 are based on the evidence that the early Hebrew had a military organization of 3 clans: my clan, my brother’s clan, and my cousin’s clan. This narrowed the pool from which a consanguine bride could be chosen. This is a method of exclusion.

A similar way of excluding potential marriage partners is found among Hindus who practice clan exogamy. Marriage is prohibited between members of clans with the same totem. The most common totems are those of animals regarded as sacred, such as the tiger, the cobra, the calf, and the elephant. Totems of Hindu clans can also be trees and other plants.

Animal totems are evident in the names of the Horite Hebrew listed in Genesis 36. These include Zibeon (the hyena), the father of Anah (the wild donkey), Aiah (the kite), Dishan (the gazelle), the father of Aran (the wild goat), and Akan (the roe), the son of Ezer. Totemic names include Cheran (the lamb) and Shobal (the young lion). The role played by the early Hebrew totemic organization has yet to be clarified. However, it is evident that the totems played a role in alliances by marriage, both by inclusion and exclusion.

It is possible that the account of Laban's insistence that the older sister (Leah) must marry before the younger (Rachel) alludes to a modular system. Laban insists that in his country, the younger daughter cannot marry before the older daughter (Gen. 29:16-30). Jacob, who was sent to live with his maternal uncle, agreed to work for Laban for seven years in return for marriage to his youngest daughter Rachel. However, on their wedding night, Laban switched Leah for Rachel. Laban claimed that in his country it is not permitted to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one.

Here a late hand on the text would have us believe that the marriage customs of the Hebrew in Paddan-Aram were different than the Hebrew customs in Jacob’s homeland in Edom. However, the biblical data revels that the early Hebrew consistently adhered to the same marriage and ascendancy pattern with its hierarchy of sons and daughters regardless of where they lived. Firstborn sons of ruling wives ranked at the top, followed by the firstborn sons of high-status concubines. High-status Hebrew daughters, such as the never-mentioned daughters of Abraham, would have been married to high-ranking Hebrew rulers, priests and clan chiefs.

Related reading: The Hebrew were a Caste; The Hebrew Hierarchy of Sons; Hebrew Rulers with Two Wives; Totemism - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia; Using Totems to Trace Ancestry and Marriage Ties