Women And The Law In Ancient Israel

The importance of marriage to the Ancient Israelites is clear enough in the Bible, but nowhere is there any information on the ceremony itself and it is likely that custom varied from one locale to another. In Leviticus 18 there is a list of prohibited relationships (a man cannot marry his sister, etc.). These appear less concerned with the dangers of inbreeding and more concerned with ensuring that no woman can be related to a man in more than one way; for example, a woman cannot be both an aunt and a wife to the same man. A man was permitted to marry his dead wife's sister since he was no longer related to her.