concubine

Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

(lying with). In the Jewish economy, a secondary wife, betrothed according to custom (Gen. 21:14; 25:614And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. (Genesis 21:14)
6But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country. (Genesis 25:6); Ex. 21:77And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do. (Exodus 21:7); Deut. 21:10-1410When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the Lord thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive, 11And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife; 12Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails; 13And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife. 14And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her. (Deuteronomy 21:10‑14)). Concubinage repudiated in N. T. (Matt. 19:4-94And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 7They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? 8He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. 9And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery. (Matthew 19:4‑9); 1 Cor. 7:2-42Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. 3Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. 4The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. (1 Corinthians 7:2‑4)).

Concise Bible Dictionary:

These were a class of inferior wives: they were at times personal servants given by wives to their husbands from their great desire for children, who then accounted the children of the servant as their own, as it was with Rachel and Leah. Such cases may have been comparatively rare, and would in no way account for the prevalence of men having concubines. Deuteronomy 21:1111And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife; (Deuteronomy 21:11) gives the root of it: a man saw a beautiful woman and lusted after her. God seems to have simply allowed it: as the Lord said about their easy way of writing a bill of divorcement: Moses permitted it “because of the hardness of your hearts.” When God spoke of Israel having a king, one of the things forbidden to him was that of multiplying wives, lest his heart be turned away (Deut. 17:1717Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. (Deuteronomy 17:17)). This alas, was the very fall of Solomon, who had 700 wives and 300 concubines, and they did turn away his heart (1 Kings 11:33And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. (1 Kings 11:3)). In the Canticles we read of 60 queens and 80 concubines and virgins without number; but there was one, a choice one, the only one of her mother, that excelled them all—the bride of the song (Song of Solomon 6:8-98There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number. 9My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. (Song of Solomon 6:8‑9)). Esther 2:1414In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's chamberlain, which kept the concubines: she came in unto the king no more, except the king delighted in her, and that she were called by name. (Esther 2:14) and Daniel 5:22Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein. (Daniel 5:2) show that concubinage was a custom also among the heathen. Christianity disallows such evil, and recognizes the relationship as established of God, and hence the sanctity of the marriage tie in those whom God joins together.

Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew Words:

Number:
3904 (find all occurrences in KJV Bible)
Transliteration:
lchenah
Phonic:
lekh-ay-naw’
Meaning:
(Aramaic) from an unused root of uncertain meaning; a concubine
KJV Usage:
concubine