16
shows that Lev. xviii. 18 was understood of marriage with a wife's sister: "atque ut quod dicimus sacræ auctoritatis testimonio comprobemus, præcipitur in Levitico. Turpitudinem sororis uxoris tuæ et filiæ ejus non revelabis."[1]
In the twelfth century, about 1157, we find it in the commentary of Radulphus Flaviacensis, "Quod superius de duobus fratribus, ne unam accipiant dum advivunt utrique, hoc nunc de duabus præcipit sororibus, ne uni nubant, utraque vivente. Ergo nec fratrum, si primus defunctus fuerit, uni mulieri, nec duarum sororum, si prima obierit, uni viro nuptias contradicit."[2]
In the 13th century the same interpretation is given in the "Postilla" of the famous Hugo de Sancto Caro, one of the greatest Bible students of his time,—famous as the compiler of the first concordance. On the words, "Sororem uxoris tuæ," he says: "Sed nunquid Jacob duxit duas sorores? Solut. Reverâ duxit. Sed nondum lex ista data fuerat, vel fraude suppositionis deceptus fuit. Nec esset justum ut priorem dimitteret, secundâ adveniente."[3] And on "in pellicatum," he adds: "Quasi dicat, uxore tuâ vivente non ducas sororem ejus, quia non esset uxor sed pellex."[4]
- ↑ "And that we may prove what we say by the testimony of sacred authority, it is commanded in Leviticus, 'Thou shalt not uncover the shame of thy wife's sister or her daughter.'"
- ↑ "i.e., What he had commanded above, concerning two brothers, that they should not marry one woman, whilst both brothers are alive, this he now commands with regard to two sisters, that they should not marry one man, while both (sisters) are alive." He follows St. Augustine in interpreting the prohibition verse 16, as relating to the life of the two brothers.
- ↑ "But did not Jacob marry two sisters? Solution: he did truly. But that law had not yet been given, or he was deceived by the fraud of substitution. And it would not have been just to dismiss the former at the advent of the second."
- ↑ "As if to say, whilst thy wife is living, thou mayest not marry her sister, because she would not be a wife, but a concubine."
