who married their half sister in the bible
Incest in the Bible In ancient times, tribal nations preferred endogamous marriage – marriage to one's relatives;[1] the ideal marriage was usually that to a cousin, and it was often forbidden for an eldest daughter to even marry outside the family.[1] Marriage to a half-sister, for example, is considered incest by most nations today, but was common behaviour for Egyptian pharaohs; similarly, the Book of Genesis portrays Sarah as marrying Abraham, her half-brother, without criticising the close genetic relationship between them,[2] and the Book of Samuel treats the marriage of a royal prince to his half-sister as unusual, rather than wicked.[1]
Book of Ruth During the time of the Judges when there was a famine, an Israelite family from Bethlehem – Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their sons Mahlon and Chilion – emigrated to the nearby country of Moab. Elimelech died, and the sons married two Moabite women: Mahlon married Ruth and Chilion married Orpah.