Genesis 31:41
fourteen <0702> [fourteen.]
ten times <06235 04489> [ten times.]
Genesis 34:12
make ........... very <07235 03966> [Ask me.]
On the practice of purchasing wives, De La Roque says, "Properly speaking, a young man who would marry must purchase his wife; and fathers among the Arabs are never so happy as when they have many daughters. They form part of the riches of the house. Accordingly, when a young man would treat with a person whose daughter he is inclined to marry, he says to him, 'Will you give me your daughter for fifty sheep, for six camels, or for a dozen cows?' according to the rank of her family, and the circumstances of him who desires to marry her."
bride price <04119> [dowry.]
Exodus 22:17
her ... refuses <03985> [utterly.]
pay <08254> [pay. Heb. weigh.]
bride price ... virgins <01330 04119> [dowry of virgins.]
Exodus 22:1
sheep ..................... sheep ..... sheep <07716 06629> [sheep. or, goat. he shall.]
There is a smaller compensation required in other things, (ver. 9,) and also a disproportion between an ox and a sheep. The reason of the former is, as Maimonides explains it, because money, goods, etc., are better guarded in houses and cities, than cattle in a field; which consequently can be more easily stolen. The reason of the latter seems to be, as it is explained by Bishop Patrick, that an ox was of greater value, and more useful for the purposes of husbandry.
five .... cattle <02568 01241> [five oxen.]
