The Bible does not hide the fact that patriarchs, judges, and kings had concubines.
It records it plainly, names the women involved, and shows the consequences of those arrangements without flinching.
What it never does is endorse concubinage as God’s design for humanity.
Understanding the difference between what God permitted and what God intended is the key to reading these passages honestly.
What the Word “Concubine” Actually Means
The Hebrew Behind the English Translation
The word translated “concubine” throughout the Old Testament is the Hebrew pilegesh.
Scholars note that pilegesh is not a native Hebrew term. It is a loanword borrowed from surrounding cultures to describe a relationship foreign to Israel’s original covenant structure.
Its function in the text is consistent: a pilegesh was a woman in a legally recognized sexual relationship with a man, occupying a rank below that of a primary wife.
The English word “concubine” comes from the Latin concubina, rooted in concumbere, meaning “to lie with.”
That Latin framing imports a sense of informality that does not always match the biblical usage, where pilegesh relationships carried legal standing and social acknowledgment.
What the Role Involved in Practice
A concubine was not a mistress in the modern sense. She was not a secret arrangement hidden from society.
She lived in the household, was recognized by the community, and bore children who appeared in genealogies.
“Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, ‘Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.'” — ESV, Genesis 16:1–2
Hagar’s arrangement with Abraham followed recognized ancient Near Eastern custom, documented in law codes such as the Code of Hammurabi, where a barren wife could give her servant to her husband for the purpose of producing heirs.
How a Concubine Differed from a Wife
The Legal and Ceremonial Gap
The primary difference between a wife and a concubine was not moral but structural.
The Babylonian Talmud records the distinction: a wife received a ketubah, a formal marriage contract specifying her rights and divorce settlement, along with a recognized betrothal ceremony.
A concubine received neither.
She had the man’s household recognition and legal protection but lacked the formal covenant documentation that distinguished a primary marriage.
Rashi described it this way: wives came with formal betrothal and a marriage contract; concubines came with betrothal but no contract.
What the Law Protected and What It Did Not
The Mosaic law acknowledged concubinage and built protections around it without endorsing it.
“If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do. If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself, he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her.” — NIV, Exodus 21:7–8
These laws did not celebrate the system. They recognized vulnerable women within it and set limits on how far their exploitation could go.
A concubine could not be abandoned, mistreated without consequence, or sold to a foreigner.
“He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.” — NASB, Proverbs 18:22
The singular “wife” in passages like this reflects the standard God held before his people, even when practice fell far short of it.
Why God Permitted It in the Old Testament
The Difference Between Permission and Approval
God permitting something and God approving it are not the same statement.
Jesus drew this distinction when addressing divorce.
“He said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.'” — ESV, Matthew 19:8
The same framework applies to concubinage.
God did not introduce the practice. He did not command it.
He regulated it, the same way a government might regulate a harmful industry rather than ban it outright when the culture is not ready.
The Structural Realities Behind the Permission
Women in the ancient Near East had almost no independent economic standing.
An unmarried woman without a father, brother, or husband was genuinely vulnerable to destitution and worse.
The concubine arrangement, whatever its moral problems, provided shelter, legal identity, and household status to women who would otherwise have had nothing.
God’s law built protections into that reality rather than leaving women exposed while waiting for the culture to adopt a better model.
What the Stories Show About the Consequences
The biblical narratives about concubines are almost uniformly tragic.
Hagar was used and then cast out with her son. Bilhah was violated by Reuben. David’s concubines were publicly defiled by Absalom in an act of political humiliation.
Solomon’s 300 concubines were part of an accumulation that the text directly links to his spiritual downfall.
“And his wives turned away his heart.” — NIV, 1 Kings 11:3
Scripture does not celebrate these outcomes. It records them as warnings.
Was Having Concubines a Sin in the Bible?
The Honest Answer
The honest answer is: yes, in most cases, though the text applies moral pressure through narrative consequences rather than explicit condemnation.
God’s design for marriage was established at creation and has never changed.
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” — ESV, Genesis 2:24
The singular “wife” was intentional. Jesus quoted this verse directly in Matthew 19 when asked about marriage and divorce, confirming it as the permanent standard.
What the New Testament Settled
The New Testament removes all ambiguity.
Overseers and deacons are required to be “husband of one wife” in 1 Timothy 3:2 and Titus 1:6, applying the creation standard explicitly to church leadership.
Paul’s teaching in Ephesians 5 grounds marriage in the relationship between Christ and the church: exclusive, covenant, and self-giving.
There is no version of concubinage that fits that framework.
“However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.” — NASB, Ephesians 5:33
What Grace Has Always Been Doing
God worked through imperfect men throughout the Old Testament without endorsing their imperfections.
David sinned grievously and faced the consequences. Abraham’s household fractures from the Hagar arrangement echo through Genesis for generations.
The biblical record does not clean up these stories. It uses them to point toward a better covenant and ultimately the relationship between Christ and his bride: exclusive, faithful, and permanent.
Concubinage was never the plan. It was the accommodation. The New Testament closes that accommodation entirely.
A Prayer on God’s Design for Marriage and Relationship
Lord, the Bible does not hide the ways your people fell short of your design.
Patriarchs, kings, and judges all fell into patterns you never intended.
And yet you did not abandon them or the women caught in those broken arrangements.
Teach us to read these stories honestly: as warnings, not blueprints.
Where relationships have been built outside your design, bring conviction and grace in equal measure.
Restore what is broken. Protect what is vulnerable.
And anchor every covenant made before you to the model you set at creation: one man, one woman, one flesh.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
Frequently Asked Questions on Concubines in the Bible
Who had concubines in the Bible?
Abraham, Jacob, Gideon, David, and Solomon are among the most prominent figures recorded as having concubines. Solomon had 300 concubines alongside 700 wives. The practice was most common during the patriarchal period and the early monarchy, among men with sufficient wealth to maintain large households.
Did God approve of concubines in the Bible?
No. God permitted concubinage by regulating it through the Mosaic law, but he never commanded or praised it. The biblical narratives consistently show concubinage producing conflict, grief, and spiritual compromise. Jesus affirmed the original one-man-one-woman standard as the permanent design from creation.
What rights did concubines have in the Bible?
Concubines had legal household recognition, protection from abandonment and mistreatment under Mosaic law, and their children appeared in official genealogies. However, they lacked the formal marriage contract and covenant ceremony given to primary wives, placing them in a legally inferior but not entirely unprotected position.
What is the difference between a concubine and a wife in the Bible?
The primary difference was legal and ceremonial, not necessarily moral. A wife received a formal marriage contract and recognized betrothal. A concubine had household status and legal protection but no marriage contract. Both relationships were socially acknowledged, but a wife held a higher standing and stronger legal protections.
Are concubines mentioned in the New Testament?
The Greek word for concubine does not appear in the New Testament. The New Testament instead reinforces God’s original design: one husband, one wife. Paul’s requirements for church leaders to be “husband of one wife” in 1 Timothy 3:2 effectively ruled out both polygamy and concubinage for those in leadership.
Sources and Scholarly Background
Wenham, G. J. (1987). Genesis 1–15: Word Biblical Commentary. Thomas Nelson.
Block, D. I. (1999). Judges, Ruth: New American Commentary. Broadman & Holman.
Hamilton, V. P. (1990). The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1–17. Eerdmans.
Emadi, S. (2022). Why did God allow polygamy? Untangling Old Testament sexual ethics. Desiring God.
Staff writer. (2024). What is a concubine? Bible meaning and examples. Christianity.com. Salem Web Network.
Staff writer. (n.d.). Concubine. GotQuestions.org.
Hobson, T. (2017). Concubine versus married woman in the Bible. Patheos.
Staff writer. (n.d.). What is a concubine in the Bible? Jack Wellman Blog. Patheos.
Staff writer. (n.d.). Concubines. Apologetics Press.
Walton, J. H. (2006). Ancient Near Eastern thought and the Old Testament. Baker Academic.
Staff writer. (n.d.). Concubine. Bible Study Tools. Salem Web Network.
Matthews, V. H., & Benjamin, D. C. (1993). Social world of ancient Israel. Hendrickson Publishers.
