Historical Context: Adoption in Ancient Israel
If the cultures surrounding Israel practiced adoption as a mainly economic solution, how did adoption manifest in Israel? There are no written guidelines for adoption in the Old Testament; indeed there is not even a word in Hebrew that translates to adoption. But there are several examples of adoption in the Old Testament, though they vary in motivation and method. Interestingly, all of the examples in the Old Testament bear remarkable significance in the history of Israel, even though there is no section of the law defining or regulating the practice. “Thus, whether or not there were formal adoption proceedings in the world of the Old Testament, it is clear that elders took responsibility for people who were biologically the sons and daughters of other people. In the case of Moses and Esther that responsibility clearly included care and guidance; in the case of Joseph’s sons, Jacob presumably makes them not only his wards but also his heirs along with Reuben and Simeon and his other sons.”1 The identity and inheritance of two of Israel’s tribes (Ephraim and Manasseh) came about through adoption, and twice the nation was saved through the actions of Israelites who had been adopted as children.
The first example of adoption in the Old Testament, however, fits more in line with the cultural practices of the day than with any specific instruction by God. In fact, in many ways this example highlights disobedience to God, and the resulting issue of inheritance causes problems throughout Israel’s history. Abraham adopted Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in his household, in order to secure the succession of his property. He formed a similar relationship with Ishmael, his son through the surrogate of Hagar. Both of these ‘solutions’ to Sarah’s barrenness fit into the surrounding cultures’ concept of adoption. The fact that both of these men were disinherited upon the birth of Isaac also fit well within the cultural norm of adoption at that time.
Though Jacob was blessed with twelve sons, he adopted the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, at the end of his life. “Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine.”(Gen 48:5) In the division of property at Jacob’s death, these two adopted sons are granted more land than Joseph’s brothers: “And to you I give one more ridge of land than to your brothers.”(Gen 48:22) So even before God gives the law to the Israelites, they are using adoption in ways slightly beyond the common practices of the cultures around them.
One exceptional example of adoption in the Old Testament is the adoption of Moses by Pharaoh's daughter. Like the previous cases outlined both in other cultures and in the account in Genesis, Moses has living parents. Pharaoh has decreed “to all his people” that Hebrew boys must be thrown into the Nile to drown.(Exod 1:22) Moses’ mother keeps the child for three months, but then makes a show of following the law. Instead of throwing her son into the Nile, however, she places him carefully into a waterproof basket and places him as close to land and safety as possible, watched from a distance by her daughter.(Exod 2:3-4) Is it mere coincidence that Pharaoh's daughter happens to be bathing in the Nile? It is possible to speculate that she reacted to her father’s decree by intentionally going down to the Nile in the hopes of saving some of the doomed Hebrew babies, though the Bible makes no mention of her motivations. The fact that she sends the child to the Israelites to be nursed and cared for supports this idea, as it may not have been safe to bring a Hebrew infant directly to the palace because of her father’s decree.
Whatever her motivations in coming to the Nile, Pharaoh's daughter certainly had pity on the child and intervened to save it from death.(Exod 2:6-9) This is the first instance in the Bible where an adoption takes place in the interest of the child rather than in the interest of the adoptive parent(s). From the cultural evidence of the Ancient Near East, this focus on the needs of the child rather than the needs of the adoptive parent is rare. The education and status that this adoption gave Moses played a vital part in the role God had for him. As foster-brother to Pharaoh, Moses was able to gain access to the king with a frequency that was nothing short of miraculous, especially considering how unwelcome his requests and warnings must have been.
The other great example of adoption in the Old Testament, and the one which exemplifies the normative practice of adoption in Israelite culture, is the case of Esther and Mordecai. Again, no term translatable as ‘adoption’ is used, but the meaning is clear. “The root of the Hebrew phrase that is translated “adopted her” is laqah, and the phrase means literally ‘took her for himself.’ It is unclear whether this represents any kind of legal adoption or (perhaps more likely) a kind of foster care provided by Esther’s relative in his role as part of the extended family.”2 Esther is the first person mentioned in the Bible who is a full orphan; both of her parents are dead. “He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.”(Esther 2:7)
Esther and Mordecai are cousins, though there is clearly a large age difference between them. Mordecai is an established man of business, and Esther is most likely in her early teens at the time of the story. Also, the fact that he took her as his daughter, rather than as a wife, indicates that she was very young when her parents died. Since Israelite culture was built around large, extended families (whole tribes tracing their lineage back to a common ancestor), most orphans would have had a safety net of extended family to care for them. “The care of orphans was probably the responsibility of the extended family. The caregivers certainly would have included (perhaps especially) women, but there is no evidence of legal or institutional formulas by which such arrangements were formalized.”3 The fact that Mordecai alone is responsible for Esther may be a result of the fact that the story occurs during a time of captivity, and the tribes were more scattered than they had been in Israel.
The examples of adoption in the Old Testament reveal that God has nothing against the practice; indeed, two of His main instruments in saving the nation of Israel are adopted. But God is not content to leave His instructions to implication only. Tomorrow’s post will examine those instructions in greater detail.
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1. David L. Bartlett, “Adoption in the Bible,” in The Child in the Bible, ed. Marcia J. Bunge, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2008), 383.
2. Bartlett, 382.
3. Bartlett, 382.
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