[155] Ibid. p. 425.
[156] Norman, The Real Japan, p. 184. Griffis, Religions of Japan, p. 318.
From various quarters of the ancient world we hear of the rule that the husband shall command and the wife obey. The Lord said to the woman, “Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”[157] How great the husband’s power was among the Hebrews we do not know exactly. He could divorce his wife if she did not please him because he had “found some uncleanness in her,”[158] whereas a wife could not legally separate from her husband.[159] In later times her condition evidently improved.[160] From the old Jewish point of view it is surely surprising to find Sirach putting the companionship of a wife not only above that of a friend, but even above children.[161] In the Talmud a husband is admonished to love his wife like himself and to honour her more than himself,[162] though he should take care not to be ruled by her;[163] and the wife also is authorised to demand a divorce under certain circumstances, namely, if the husband refuses to perform his conjugal duty, if he continues to lead a disorderly life after marriage, if he proves impotent during ten years, if he suffers from an insupportable disease, or if he leaves the country for ever.[164]
[157] Genesis, iii. 16.
[158] Deuteronomy, xxiv. 1.
[159] Josephus, Antiquitates Romanæ, xv. 7, 10. Keil, Manual of Biblical Archæology, ii. 175.
[160] Cf. Klugmann, Die Frau im Talmud, p. 63 sq.
[161] Ecclesiasticus, xl. 19, 23. Cf. Montefiore, Hibbert Lectures on the Religion of the Ancient Hebrews, p. 491.
[162] Deutsch, Literary Remains, p. 56.
[163] Beza, fol. 32 B, quoted by Katz, Der wahre Talmudjude, p. 114.