What Does the Bible Say About What Is A Concubine?
Scripture reveals that concubines were secondary wives with lower legal status, documented in the Old Testament but never endorsed as God's ideal design for marriage.
Scripture on What Is A Concubine
Genesis 22:24
Old Testament
"His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also had sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maakah."
2 Samuel 5:13
Old Testament
"After he left Hebron, David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him."
1 Kings 11:3
Old Testament
"He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray."
Judges 19:1
Old Testament
"In those days Israel had no king. Now a Levite who lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah."
Matthew 19:3-6
New Testament
"Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?' 'Haven't you read,' he replied, 'that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female, and said, For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.'"
The Bottom Line
A concubine was a woman in a relationship with a man that was recognized but legally inferior to marriage — God's pattern points to one man, one woman, one covenant.
Try Today
Honor marriage as God designed it by treating your spouse or future spouse as your one and only covenant partner.
Prayer
Jesus taught us to pray with bold confidence, saying 'Ask and it will be given to you' (Matthew 7:7).
Father, thank You for creating marriage as a sacred covenant between one man and one woman. I confess that our world has complicated what You made simple and beautiful. Help me honor Your design for marriage in my own life and relationships. Give me wisdom to pursue Your best, not just what's culturally acceptable. Guard my heart to treasure covenant love above convenience. In Jesus' name, Amen.
📚 Read Genesis 1-2 for God's original design for marriage
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