Page:The ancient interpretation of Leviticus XVIII. 18 - Marriage with a deceased wife's sister is lawful.djvu/54

 words, "in her life-time," require the inference also, that when the cause for not taking a wife's sister ceases, the prohibition ceases also, and the marriage is lawful. In Dr. Robinson's article above referred to, he assigns his reasons for rejecting the proposed transposition of the words, "in her life-time," in the following words:—"There are, however, some who, admitting that this verse can relate only to the wife's sister, yet give the latter clause of it a different interpretation, and suppose that it forbids taking one sister to another, to vex her all her life, or as long as she lives. In other words, the clause, 'her life-time,' is referred to the nearer, and not to the more remote verb. It is, then, not a prohibition, but a restriction, of polygamy. And in this view it is said, 'The passage does not contain the slightest intimation that one sister may be married after the death of the other.' This interpretation was apparently first proposed by Calvin in his Commentary on this portion of Leviticus, and has been followed by Patrick, Gill, and a few other commentators. It proposes a different grammatical construction, viz., to refer the clause, her life-time, 'to the nearer, and not to the more remote verb.' But, if this principle be correct, then there is a still nearer verb to that, so that it would read, 'To uncover her nakedness all her life long,'—a meaning which the supporters of this view would hardly admit, but which necessarily follows from the principle. Besides, when there are here three verbs in immediate succession, by what law of grammar or syntax can this clause be made to refer to the middle one alone, rather than to either of the other two? The truth is, the meaning of the Hebrew is here perfectly simple and obvious; as is also the literal English version: 'And a wife to her sister thou shalt not take, to vex, to uncover her nakedness, besides her, in her life-time.' Here the first verb prohibits; the second assigns a reason; the third defines; and the words, 'in her life-time,' limit the prohibition: a wife to her sister thou shalt not take, to be a source of rivalry and jealousy, so as to do her the duty of marriage, besides the wife, in the wife's life-time."—Bibliotheca Sacra, 1843, pp. 296, 297.

The next objection is one that looks formidable. It purports to be nothing less than the judgment of the Universal Church, and is thus enunciated in the title prefixed to Dr. Pusey's Evidence, "Marriage with a deceased wife's sister prohibited by Holy Scripture as understood by the Church for 1,500 years." It is urged