held by the family, such as houses, lands, and cattle. For in ultimate analysis the head of the household group is the only owner of the property. He is "the proprietor of his wife, or wives, children, slaves, cattle, houses, lands, etc.''27

A brief study of the word ba'al will serve as a good illustration of what we mean. The Hebrew designation for the proprietor of a house and its inmates is ba' al habbayit.28 Ba'al also occurs in the sense of husband. This is evidenced by the equation of ba'al with ish.29 The wife of such a ba'al is sometimes spoken of as the beʻulat-baʻal, or beʻula.30 The idea of possession may be readily deduced from a comparison of ba'al ishsha with ba'al hashshor. Ex. 21: 3 obviously refers to the possessor of a wife, and Ex. 21:28 to the owner of an ox. The word ba' al may be even applied to a creditor or property holder.31

Whatever may be said concerning the elevated social position and independence of the Babylonian woman in business affairs, it will ultimately be made clear that the woman, notwithstanding this, is a property which can be acquired by purchase, the buyer receiving full marital rights in return. Perhaps it will be surprising to note that the Code of Hammurabi, in which business relations are main

27

Wallis, Sociological Study of the Bible, 41; cp. Journal of Sociology (1908-09), XIV, 324.

29 Judg. 19: 22 f.

22 Sam. 11:26; Hos. 2: 18.

30 Gen. 20: 3; Deut. 22: 22; Isa. 54: 1; 62: 4.

a1 Deut. 15: 2.

tained independently by women, throws interesting sidelights on the linguistic phenomena just considered. Every shade of meaning given to the Hebrew ba'al has its parallel in the Code. Thus, be-el bitim32 denotes the owner of a house, and be-el ash-sha-tim33 means the possessor of a wife. The act of 'taking' a wife is usually expressed by the third person singular of the verb aḥazu,34 whilst in the Neo-Babylonian period the idea of posession is given greater prominence by the synonymous usage of aḥazu and rashu, 'to possess. '35 There can be no

of the word bel

question as to the fundamental idea in such combinations as be-el amtim,36 be-el wardim,37 and be-el alpim.38 The be-el hu-bu-ullim3 is a creditor. Ownership is no less implied in the following expressions: be-el eqlim,40 be-el she'im, be-el kirem,42 and be-el shi-bu-ul-tim.43

From our discussion of the maternal system of ancient Arabia it would appear that mother-kinship is a direct lineal descendant of a rather loose marriage relation. Mut' a marriages are condemned by

32 16, 25, 120, 125.

33 husband,' 129.

34 i-hu-uz, 128, 144-146, 148, 162–163, 166-167.

35 Meissner, B.A.P., 147.

36 'owner of a maid servant,' 119.

37'owner of a slave,' 17, 20; cp. Sum. lugal belu, 'possessor, owner;' Meissner, op. cit. 119.

384 owner of an ox,' 245-247.

39 48, 151.

40 6 'owner of a field,' 42-44, 46-47, 49-50, 57-58, 62-63.

41 6 owner of grain,' 120.

the prophet of Islam for the reason that baʻal marriage with male kinship had already become the dominant form of marriage among the upper classes of Arabian society. According to Robertson Smith ba'al marriage or marriage of dominion was constituted by capture or by purchase. Indeed there is abundant evidence to show that marriage by capture was far from being an obsolete institution even in Muḥammad's day: 'O ye people, strive to be lenient toward your wives; for they are with you as captives of war. '45 It is not at all unlikely that the attempt to place marriage by capture on an equal footing with marriage with a betrothed virgin belongs to a period when capture was gradually supplemented by purchase.46 In marriage by contract or purchase the woman loses her personal freedom and is handed over to the suitor in return for a compensation paid to her father, the girl thus becoming the property of her buyer. A verb commonly used in Arabic to express the bondage of the woman in marriage is malaka, 'to rule, govern, possess. Full marital rights having been procured by purchase, every possible precaution is taken by the ba' al48 of the woman to guard his precious possession with a jealousy which will brook no interference in his newly acquired property rights.* But the husband's power over his be'ula wife was by no means absolute. She could neither be sold.

947

49

nor treated as a slave. Wherever practicable the woman's clansmen would do their utmost to protect her in any such contingency which might arise.

As to the occurrence of ba'l in Arabic literature, it may be said that the Hebrew and Babylonian uses of the word can be easily reproduced from the extant data. Thus the bal of a house offers a corresponding parallel to the baʻal habbayit50 of the Hebrew. So again, ba'l is used to convey the idea of possession or ownership in expressions like 'the possessor of a wife' and 'the owner of a beast. '51 In the Qur'an ba'l generally means 'lord,' 'husband. "52

In ba al marriage the wife becomes the property of her husband.53 Her rights of property and inheritance are reduced to a minimum as a result of the part played by the mohar in nearly every marriage ceremony. Upon payment of the 'purchaseprice' to her father or male guardian the woman passes into the ownership of her husband. Gifts received from the husband as well as a few female attendants given to the bride by the father were usually retained by the woman as her personal property.54 The nature of these gifts might vary from a small trinket to a thousand or more sheqels of silver.55 Budde56 quotes Halévy as saying that the eleven hundred sheqels of silver possessed by

50the proprietor of a house.'

61 Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon, I, 1, p. 228.

62

63

Cp. ba'ala, 'he (a man) became a husband.'

Smith, Kinship, 92.

54 Gen. 16: 2; 30: 4,9.

55 Judges 17: 1 f.

Judges, p. 114.

Micah's mother had probably been inherited by the widow from her deceased husband. But this is entirely conjectural. There is not the slightest allusion to inheritance in the context. It would be just as plausible to assume that the money in question corresponds to the beraka" of Judges 1:12-15 and Joshua 15:19.58 The identification of Achsah, the daughter of Caleb, with a branch of a Kenizzite clan named Othniel59 does not invalidate the sociological evidence furnished by these two passages. We, therefore, conclude that the value of the beraka bestowed upon the daughter would largely depend upon the father's wealth. The Shunammite spoken of in 2 Kings 4:8 f. is a woman of prominence very likely because she is the espoused wife of a man of substance. To all appearance she is in possession of considerable personal property and hence the expression, ishsha gedola, which evidently signifies a wealthy woman.60 The biblical records are silent as to the extent of this property. At all events it appears to have been presented to the Shunammite either by her husband or by her father. An instructive example of the latter is found in 1 Kings 9:16 where the city of Gezer is presented to Solomon's Egyptian wife as her dowry from Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. The Hebrew term shilluḥim, 'dismissal,' properly denotes the parting gift which is given to a betrothed virgin upon her being sent away by the parents.61