Cousin Brides Among the Hebrew

 

The Virgin Mary with a spindle. The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew describes how Mary and the other Temple virgins were spinning purple thread in the Women's compound when the Angel Gabriel appeared to her.

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

Cousin brides played a significant role in the building up of the early Hebrew clans. There are numerous references to cousin brides in the Bible. Keturah was Abraham's patrilineal cousin. ("Patrilineal" means they have a common male ancestor.) Zipporah was Moses's patrilineal cousin, and Hannah was Elkanah's cousin. The Virgin Mary was Joseph's cousin bride.

Eleazar’s daughters married their cousins, the sons of Kish (1 Chron. 23:22). Other cousin brides include Naamah, Mahalath, Rebekah, and the five daughters of Zelophehad who married the "sons of their father's brothers" (Num. 36:11).

Isaac married his cousin Rebekah, Jacob married his cousin Rachel, and Joseph apparently married his cousin Asenath, the daughter of Rachel's brother Potiphar, a high official in Egypt and a priest of On.

The maternal ancestry of the Hebrew rulers is traced through the cousin brides. The pattern is found among the early Hebrew rulers listed in Genesis 4 and 5 and is evident in the diagram below.

Lamech’s daughter Naamah (Gen. 4) married her patrilineal cousin Methuselah (Gen. 5) and named their first-born son Lamech after her father. This is called the "cousin bride's naming prerogative". The cousin-bride’s naming prerogative is a distinctive feature of the marriage and ascendancy pattern of the biblical Hebrew. This custom necessitates speaking of two different individuals named Lamech: Lamech the Elder and Lamech the Younger.

The pattern is shown in this diagram. The daughter of Lamech the Elder (Gen. 4) married her patrilineal cousin Methuselah (Gen. 5) and named their first-born son "Lamech" after her father. This is called the "cousin bride's naming prerogative". These individuals are designated as "Lamech the Elder" and "Lamech the Younger."

The naming custom suggests that Cain and Seth married cousins since their firstborn sons are named Enoch/Enosh/Enos, after their maternal grandfather, a contemporary of the historical Adam.

The cousin bride's naming prerogative is seen in the repetition of names. Kain's daughter married her cousin Enosh and named their firstborn son Kenan, a variant of Kain/Cain. Likewise, Irad's daughter married her cousin Mahalalel and named their firstborn son Jared, a variant of Irad. Lamech's daughter Naamah married her cousin Methuselah and named their firstborn son Lamech after her father.

The variant spellings of the names Kain/Kenan, Irad/Jared are due to the fact that Hebrew has no vowels and the I and the J are often interchanged in translations between Greek and Hebrew.

Joseph and Mary

As Joseph's cousin bride, Mary had the prerogative to name her only son after her priest father, Joachim. However, her angelic visitor had given her instruction concerning his name. According to Luke, Gabriel told Mary, “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus."

Whose Household?

In 1949, Claude Levi-Strauss recognized from his study of tribal peoples that mother and son do not always belong to the same household. This is the case with the biblical Hebrew. The first-born son of the cousin bride belonged to the household of his maternal grandfather after whom he was named or titled. 

This sheds light on why Zipporah, rather than Moses, circumcised their first-born son. Zipporah was Moses's second wife, and a Midianite. His first was a Kushite bride. The Midianite clans were descendants of Abraham by his cousin wife Keturah (Genesis 25). The son who was circumcised by Zipporah did not belong to the household of Moses. He belonged to the household of his maternal grandfather, Jethro, the priest of Midian. That son should have been circumcised by his maternal grandfather. For some reason this did not happen, and Zipporah was not happy about the situation.

First and Second Brides

Typically, high ranking Hebrew rulers had two wives. The wives resided in separate settlements that marked the ruler's territorial boundaries. The Hebrew ruler-priest was wedded to his first wife while he was still young, probably around the age 18. His second wife was taken as he approached ascendancy to rule over his father’s territory, probably no younger than 40. This means that the children born to the first wife were considerably older than the children born to the second wife.

Sarah and Abraham were married while they still lived in the territory of their father Terah. Sarah’s barren state delayed the birth of Abraham’s proper heir, Isaac. This meant that the children born to Keturah were older than Isaac. However, none of the six sons born to Keturah (Gen. 25) were regarded as Abraham’s proper heir according to the marriage and ascendancy pattern of the early Hebrew. The proper heir was the first-born son of the first wife. 

The first wife was usually as half-sister, as was Sarah to Abraham (Gen. 20:1-16). This was the bride of the man's youth. The firstborn son of this wife was the man’s proper heir. As the heir approached ascendancy to his father's territory, he took a second wife. Typically, this bride was a patrilineal cousin, as was Rebekah to Isaac.

It appears that two wives were an essential part of establishing and maintaining territorial boundaries among royal persons. That this practice pertained to exceptionally high-status persons is evident in that the pattern is associated only with rulers such as Abraham, or ruling families such as that of Jesse, the father of King David and the grandfather of King Solomon.

Consider the Song of Songs which speaks of two royal brides. One bride is described as “dark as the tents of Kedar” (1:5) and the other is described as “fair as the moon” (6:10). This is typical of the territorial claims of high kings in the Ancient Near East. The brides represent the east and the west, the territorial boundaries observed by the solar arc, the symbol of the High God’s rule over the Earth. This dark-light reference to two wives identified the Hebrew king's authority with the authority of the High God.

The names of Lamech’s two wives Adah and Tzillah are another example. Theodore H. Gaster noted that the east-west arrangement is suggested by the names Adah (dawn) and Tzillah (dusk).

The Importance of Cousin Brides

The ascendant ruler’s second wife was a patrilineal cousin. This marriage came much later than the first marriage to the half-sister bride. This explains Abraham’s urgency, as he faced death, that a cousin bride should be found for Isaac (Gen. 24). Isaac’s marriage to Rebekah would have come late in his life. The bride of his youth would have been a half-sister, the daughter of Abraham and Keturah.

The Bible does not identify Isaac’s first wife. Her presence is suggested by the fact that Isaac was living near Beersheba when Abraham’s servant arrived from Padan-Aram with Rebekah. Beersheba was where Keturah resided with her children.

It has been noted that the twin boys assigned to Rebekah may have been the first-born sons of Isaac’s two wives. This aligns with the social structure of the early Hebrew. Since Esau was Isaac’s proper heir, he would have been the first-born son of Isaac and his half-sister bride. Rebekah would be the mother of Jacob, a sent-away son. This also aligns with the social structure of the early Hebrew, as the son of the cousin bride belonged to the household of his maternal grandfather and would reside there after coming of age. This occurred with Jacob who went to live with his maternal uncle (avuncular residence).

Preservation of land holdings

The biblical Hebrew kept arable land within the patrilineage. Marriage to patrilineal cousins was one way to keep the land, with its water rights, within the Hebrew caste. The land was part of the marriage dowry. The early Hebrew ruler-priests held large territories with major water systems for irrigation. The scarcity of arable land explains the custom of marriage to the Bint Amm (daughter of my uncle) among Arabic speaking populations in the Middle East.

Related reading: The Hierarchy of Hebrew Sons; Terah's Two Wives; Royal Sons and Their Maternal Uncles; Hebrew Rulers with Two Wives; Sovereignty and Two Wives

Cousin Brides

Alice C. Linsley


In the ancient world, cousin marriage was a common practice for ruling families. Cain and Seth married cousins who named their first-born sons after their father, Enoch/Enosh/Enos. Enoch the Elder would have been a contemporary of the historical Adam. Enoch is a royal title derived from the ancient Akkadian first-person pronoun: anāku. Likely, this is a reference to the royal first person.

The cousin brides played a significant role in the building up of the early Hebrew clans. There are numerous references to cousin brides in the Bible. Eleazar’s daughters married their cousins, the sons of Kish (1 Chron. 23:22). Other cousin brides include Naamah, Keturah, Mahalath, Rebekah, Zipporah, and the five daughters of Zelophehad who married the "sons of their father's brothers" (Num. 36:11).

The maternal ancestry of the Hebrew rulers is traced mainly through the cousin brides. The pattern is found among the earliest known Hebrew rulers listed in Genesis chapters 4 and 5 and throughout the Bible.

The diagram below draws data from Genesis 4 and 5. Lamech’s daughter Naamah (Gen. 4) married her patrilineal cousin Methuselah (Gen. 5) and named their first-born son Lamech after her father. This custom necessitates speaking of two rulers named Lamech: Lamech the Elder and Lamech the Younger.

Tracing Descent by the Cousin Bride’s Naming Prerogative

The cousin-bride’s naming prerogative is a distinctive feature of the marriage and ascendancy pattern of the biblical Hebrew. Of the ruler’s two wives, the second bride was a cousin who named her first-born son after her father. The cousin bride’s naming prerogative is evident in the naming of Lamech the Younger (Gen. 5) after his maternal grandfather, Lamech the Elder (Gen. 4). Methuselah (Gen. 5) married his patrilineal cousin Naamah.

The same pattern is found with Amram who married his cousin Ishar/Izhar/Ishara, a descendant of Kohath and the Horite Hebrew ruler Seir (Gen. 36). She named their first-born son Korah after her father according to the cousin-bride’s naming prerogative. The word “Korah” refers to a priest who has shaved his body for ritual purposes. Numbers 16:1 mentions Korah, son of Izhar/Ishara. Some insist that Izhar was a male because some versions of the Bible refer to her as a “son of Kohath” rather than a descendant. However, the name is related to the Hebrew isha, meaning "woman" and is the name of a goddess venerated by the Hurrians, Horites, and Hittites.

There are numerous examples of the cousin bride’s naming prerogative in the Bible. These can be identified by the repetition of a name or royal title. There are two named Nahor, two named Esau, two named Korah, two named Sheba, two named Joktan, and two named Asshur.

The diagram below draws data from Genesis chapters 10 and 11. It shows evidence of intermarriage between the lines of Ham and his brother Shem. Nimrod married his cousin, a daughter of Asshur. She named their first-born son Asshur, after her father. The word “Assyria” is derived from the royal name Asshur. Asshur the Elder is the son of Shem. Asshur the Younger is the son of Nimrod, a Kushite kingdom builder.

One of Noah’s descendants was Terah, the father of Abraham, Nahor, and Haran. Terah’s cousin bride was a daughter of Haran the Elder who ruled over a territory in Haran (southeastern Turkey). She named their first-born son Haran. Had he not died in Ur (Gen. 10:28), Haran the Younger would have served as a high official in the territory of his maternal grandfather.

Abraham’s cousin bride was Keturah (Gen. 25). She bore him 5 sons: Zimran, Jokshan (Jachin/Joktan), Medan, Ishbak, Shuah, and Midian. These Hebrew clans continued to intermarry long after Abraham’s time. Moses’s cousin wife Zipporah was a descendant of Midian.

The biblical Hebrew traced lineage with a particular focus on prominent or "righteous" ancestors. Both male and female ancestors are remembered, though male ancestors are more commonly named in the biblical texts as they assume governance over their fathers’ territories or become high officials in the territories of their maternal grandfathers.

Noah is said to have married his sons to cousin brides. The Qumran Scroll known as "Genesis Apocryphon" is a midrash on Genesis. Here we find evidence for the caste endogamy of the early Hebrew. Noah states in Column 6:

"Then I procured wives for my sons from among the daughters of my brother, and I gave my daughters to the sons of my brother in accordance with the eternal law."

As cousin brides are usually the second wives in the early Hebrew marriage pattern, it is likely that Ham, Shem, and Japheth had two wives each. The first wives would have been half-sisters.

Related reading: The Cousin Bride's Naming Prerogative; Terah's Two Wives; Hebrew Rulers with Two Wives; Royal Sons and Their Maternal Uncles; Royal Women and the Exercise of Power

God's Mercy and Cain's Demise

Alice C. Linsley

This Biblical Archaeology Society article asks "Did Lamech Kill Cain?" Genesis does not tell us how any of the rulers listed in Genesis 4 and 5 died. It does reveal that the lines of Cain and Seth intermarried as has been demonstrated through scientific analysis of the marriage and ascendancy pattern of these rulers. This means that Cain is one of Jesus Christ's ancestors!

The diagram below shows how this "Lamech the Elder" had two wives. His daughter Naamah married her patrilineal cousin Methuselah and named their first born son Lamech after her father, according to the cousin bride's naming prerogative.

John Byron, professor of New Testament at Ashland Theological Seminary ponders Cain's demise in “Did Cain Get Away with Murder?” which appeared in the May/June 2014 issue of BAR. "Byron explains that ancient interpreters were not afraid to change the story of Cain in the Bible to fit with their sense of justice, ensuring that he was adequately punished for killing his brother Abel."

One interpretation, found in 12th-century France, credits Lamech with killing Cain. However, the first Lamech named in Genesis lived four generations after Cain.

St. John Chrysostom held a very different view and one that is more consistent with the overarching emphasis of divine mercy shown to sinners like Cain, Moses, and David, all of whom were murderers.

Cain murdered and tried to hide his crime from God. He deserved death, yet God showed him mercy by sparing his life. Cain was sent away from his people and God showed him grace by placing a mark on him as a protecting sign. Reflecting on this great mercy shown to his ancestor, Lamech challenges God to show him greater mercy. If grace was shown to Cain (7), then Lamech, the Elder, by confessing his sin, claims a double measure of grace (77). He claims to be avenged by God "seventy and sevenfold." His grandson Lamech, the Younger is assigned a triple measure of grace because he is said to have lived 777 years (Gen. 5:31). "And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy seven years."

John Chrysostom commented on the unfathomable grace expressed through the story of the Elder Lamech. He wrote: “By confessing his sins to his wives, Lamech brings to light what Cain tried to hide from God and by comparing what he has done to the crimes committed by Cain he limited the punishment coming to Him.” (St. John Chrysostom’s Homilies on Genesis, Vol. 74, p.39. The Catholic University Press of America, 1999.)

Chrysostom’s interpretation is consistent with what is communicated throughout the Bible about God’s love and mercy, yet his view is not referenced in any Bibles. Instead, most Bible footnotes stress that God wiped out Cain’s line in the flood, a view which is not supported by the regnal information in Genesis 4 and 5 which reveals that the lines of Cain and Seth intermarried. Scientific analysis of the king lists supports Chrysostom's interpretation, as shown by tracing the increase from the number 7 assigned to Cain to the number 777 assigned to Lamech the Younger.

St. John Chrysostom recognized that the story of the Lamech the Elder and Lamech the Younger is about God’s mercy shown to sinners. He placed the emphasis exactly where it should be.

Related reading: The Life Spans of Methuselah and Lamech; The Pattern of Two Wives; Cain as Ruler; The Genesis King Lists; Enoch: Angelic Being of Deified Ruler; Sent-Away Sons; Genesis in Anthropological Perspective; Decoding the Genesis King Lists