# H6370 - pilegesh **Strong's:** [H6370](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h6370/) ยท BLB lookup **Pronunciation:** pee-LEH-ghesh **Part of speech:** feminine noun (the masculine sense "paramour" is also listed) **OT occurrences:** 37 times in 35 verses **Derivation:** uncertain; probably a non-Semitic culture-word shared around the Mediterranean, often linked to Greek *pallakis* and Latin *paelex*. The connection is a widely-cited scholarly hypothesis, not settled etymology. ## Semantic range A *pilegesh* is a **secondary or lower-ranked wife**, a recognized conjugal partner who holds a marital bond but lower legal and social standing than the primary free-born wife (Hebrew *ishah*). She is not a mere chattel slave: her union is marriage-like and her children can be reckoned as legitimate heirs. 1. **Secondary wife of a patriarch or king**, often given from among the household maids or taken as a bond of alliance: Bilhah and Zilpah, the handmaids of Rachel and Leah, function as concubines whose sons (Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher) become tribal patriarchs (Genesis 30; 35:22); Abraham's concubines (Genesis 25:6); Keturah is called both wife and concubine. 2. **Royal concubines** as part of a king's household, whose possession carried dynastic-political weight: Saul's concubine Rizpah (2 Samuel 3:7); David's ten concubines (2 Samuel 15:16; 16:21-22; 20:3); Solomon's many concubines (1 Kings 11:3). 3. **The Levite's concubine** of Judges 19, whose abuse at Gibeah is narrated as an outrage (*nevalah*) that ignites civil war. ## Concubine versus slave The theologically and apologetically important point is that *pilegesh* names a **relationship** status, not a property status. A female slave is an *amah* or *shiphchah*; a *pilegesh* is a wife of lower rank. A woman could be of servile origin and elevated to concubine (Hagar, Bilhah, Zilpah), but the concubine as such: - has a recognized conjugal bond (in Judges 19 the man is her "husband," her father his "father-in-law"); - bears legitimate, inheriting children; - is protected by law: a slave-wife is owed food, clothing, and conjugal rights on pain of her freedom (Exodus 21:10-11), and a captive-wife may never be sold or enslaved (Deuteronomy 21:14). "Sex slave" is therefore a category error; "lower-status wife" is accurate. See the fuller treatment in the [Biblical Marriage Consent Objection Defeater](/codex/biblical-marriage-consent-objection-defeater/). ## Apologetic load 1. **Defusing the "concubine equals sex slave" charge.** Atheist objections to David's concubines (2 Samuel) or to biblical polygamy trade on collapsing *pilegesh* into chattel slavery. The lexical and legal data resist that collapse: the concubine is a wife of secondary rank with children and protections. See [Did God Cause the Rape of Davids Wives Objection Defeater](/codex/did-god-cause-the-rape-of-davids-wives-objection-defeater/) and [OT Polygamy Objection Defeater](/codex/ot-polygamy-objection-defeater/). 2. **Descriptive, not prescriptive.** Concubinage is a feature of the patriarchal world the Old Testament *records* and consistently shows breeding strife (Hagar and Sarah; Reuben and Bilhah, Genesis 35:22; David's house), never the creational monogamy ideal of Genesis 2:24. The canonical trajectory moves away from it. 3. **The victims are mourned, not celebrated.** Where a concubine is wronged (the Levite's concubine, Judges 19; David's violated concubines, 2 Samuel 20:3), the narrator registers it as horror or tragedy, not divine approval. ## Notable verses - Genesis 22:24, Nahor's concubine Reumah - Genesis 35:22, Reuben lies with Bilhah his father's concubine (a claim on succession) - Judges 19, the Levite's concubine and the outrage at Gibeah - 2 Samuel 3:7, Abner and Saul's concubine Rizpah (a succession-charged act) - 2 Samuel 15:16; 16:21-22; 20:3, David's ten concubines, taken publicly by Absalom, then kept as widows - 1 Kings 11:3, Solomon's 300 concubines ## See also ### Lexicon - [H6031 - anah](/codex/h6031-anah/), the verb "humble/violate" used when a woman is wronged - [H5772 - onah](/codex/h5772-onah/), the conjugal-rights obligation owed to a wife or concubine - [H5039 - nevalah](/codex/h5039-nevalah/), the "outrage" word applied to the Gibeah concubine ### Concepts and defeaters - [Biblical Marriage Consent Objection Defeater](/codex/biblical-marriage-consent-objection-defeater/), the consent-in-biblical-marriage question - [Did God Cause the Rape of Davids Wives Objection Defeater](/codex/did-god-cause-the-rape-of-davids-wives-objection-defeater/), David's concubines - [Deuteronomy 21 Captive Bride Objection Defeater](/codex/deuteronomy-21-captive-bride-objection-defeater/), the captive-wife (protected, not chattel) - [OT Polygamy Objection Defeater](/codex/ot-polygamy-objection-defeater/), concubinage within the polygamy question - [OT Sexual-Violence Laws](/codex/ot-sexual-violence-laws/), the Torah-legal framework