Have you ever read through the Old Testament and stumbled across the word concubine, you’re only to have a “wait, what?” moment?

It’s a fair reaction, especially if you’re trying to make sense of some of the messier parts of Scripture. From Abraham and Hagar to the heartbreaking story in Judges 19, the Bible doesn’t shy away from telling us about concubines. 

As someone who’s spent quite some time with her head in the Scripture, I’ve seen this topic spark a lot of debates. And honestly, it makes sense because when we hear concubines today, our minds go to places very different from those living in ancient Israel.

In the Bible, a concubine was a woman who had a recognized relationship with a man, typically of lower status than a wife, and often served as a secondary partner for purposes of companionship and bearing children. Read on the discover one of the Bible’s more eye-opening reminders: that God often worked in the middle of deeply flawed social structures. 

In this article, we’ll walk through what concubinage looked like in biblical times, why it was practiced, how it was different from marriage, and what (if anything) God had to say about it.