Concubine vs. Wife

At the time Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines, marriage was defined as simply having sex with an unmarried or unbetrothed woman, and she was married unless her father "utterly refuse to give her unto him":

1 Kings 11:3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.

Exodus 22:1-7 And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.

So at that time, a woman could not have become a concubine simply by "cohabitation of a man and woman without legal or formal marriage" as modern dictionaries now define it. According to the very Word of God on which our putative Christian nation is based, a woman who becomes a concubine and then has sex with a man becomes his wife, not his concubine.

Clearly there's much more to this than our "religious leaders" want us to know about the difference between a wife and a concubine. The following Verses of Scripture help to bring clarity to this key issue:

1Ch 1:32 Now the sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine: she bare Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And the sons of Jokshan; Sheba, and Dedan.

1Ch 7:14 The sons of Manasseh; Ashriel, whom she bare: (but his concubine the Aramitess bare Machir the father of Gilead:

2Sa 20:3 And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, and fed them, but went not in unto them. So they were shut up unto the day of their death, living in widowhood.

1Ch 3:9 These were all the sons of David, beside the sons of the concubines, and Tamar their sister.

[note: not only did David not have sex with many of his concubines, but sons of his wives are listed as his heirs, while sons of any concubines are excluded]

A concubine, then, is a woman who cannot be married to an Israelite man because she is a "nikro" or foreign, non-Israelite woman.

con⋅cu⋅bi⋅nage

[kon-kyoo-buh-nij, kong-]

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Use Concubinage in a Sentence

–noun

1.	cohabitation of a man and woman without legal or formal marriage.

2.	the state or practice of being a concubine.

Origin:
1350–1400; ME; see concubine, -age

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To Concubinage

con·cu·bi·nage

(kŏn-kyōō'bə-nĭj, kən-)

Law Cohabitation without legal marriage.
The state of being a concubine.

Main Entry: con·cu·bi·nage
Pronunciation: kän-'kyü-b&-nij
Function: noun
: the relationship between persons who are cohabiting without the benefit of marriage —used esp. in the civil law of Louisiana —compare COMMON-LAW MARRIAGE
NOTE: Under Louisiana law, concubinage does not give rise to any rights in the parties to each other's property.

Language Translation for : Concubinage

Spanish: de hecho,

German: eheänliche Gemeinschaft,

Japanese: 内縁の