Page:The ancient interpretation of Leviticus XVIII. 18 - Marriage with a deceased wife's sister is lawful.djvu/15

 that when the first wife is dead, it is lawful to marry her sister. Others, on the contrary, render the Hebrew, according to the margin of our Bibles, "Neither shalt thou take one wife to another to vex her, to uncover her nakedness beside the other in her life-time," and infer that simultaneous polygamy is forbidden — that is, that it is forbidden to take a second wife whilst the first is living, but that when she is dead it is lawful. The first question is, then, In which of the two senses did the Apostolic Churches receive this verse? To pursue this inquiry profitably, we must remember that the Church of the Apostolic times consisted at first entirely of Jews; subsequently of two branches — the Church of the circumcision, all Jews, and the Churches of the Gentiles. The Jewish Churches, zealous of the Law, having possessed it from their forefathers, and having been brought up in the national interpretation of its precepts, would naturally continue to interpret them as they had done before, unless particularly warned against so doing. Now, the national interpretation of Lev. xviii. 18 at that time, was that which was favourable to marriage with a deceased wife's sister. The Jews as a body were, in the time of the Apostles, divided into Hebrews and Hellenists — the former speaking Aramaic, and retaining Hebrew as the language of the Synagogue and the schools; the latter speaking Greek, understanding but little of Hebrew — if they are to be judged by Josephus and Philo — received the LXX. as an inspired translation of the Hebrew text, and their great authority in matters of religion and divinity. How, then, did these two great bodies of the Jews interpret Lev. xviii. 18? Did they accept the version preferred by our own translators, and therefore placed in the text of our English Bibles, or that assigned to the margin? And do they agree or differ in their reception? Happily these questions can be answered satisfactorily, as there