Polygamy: Authorized Or Condemned By The Bible?
Posted: Wednesday, December 10, 2008
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
There are many instances of polygamy in the Bible and much needs to be studied to learn if it was according to God's will or not. Obviously, under the Law given to the Jews through Moses, it was tolerated but let's dig deeper into the existing situation, then and now, as well as what the will of God was.
Here are several verses indicating that multiple wives/concubines were allowed under the Mosaical Law and the Patriarchal Period.
"Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels;" (Genesis 31:17)
"And unto David were sons born in Hebron: and his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; And his second, Chileab, of Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; And the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital; And the sixth, Ithream, by Eglah David's wife. These were born to David in Hebron." (2 Samuel 3:2-5)
"But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart." (1 Kings 11:1-3)
Although we know that Abraham was known as a "friend of God" (James 2:23) and we find no ridicule of his multiple wives, there also is no indication that they were pleasing to God. We learn from other scriptures that these, plus other activities of Abraham which were not as we would consider as acceptable behavior, were tolerated by God but not according to His preferences. God knew Abraham's heart and it is from this he was judged righteous. Also, we do not have detailed information as to what restrictions or rules God laid out for those who lived under the Patriarchal dispensation, as Abraham was. From all appearances, had God instructed Abraham to abandon all his wives except Sarah, he would have complied.
David and Solomon lived under God's Law given through Moses. Nowhere in the this law do we find a specific directive to have only one wife. And Moses allowed them to have multiple wives. We must realize the vast differences that existed under both of those dispensations. Their laws were laid out is our civil laws today. Do such a thing and you will receive thus and so, of punishment, or reward. The entire law of Moses was a covenant of God made to the Israelites, that their obedience would result in His protection, His giving them the land of Canaan, and they would prosper, whereas their disobedience would result in His abandoning them and their crops would fail, their enemies would overrun them and they would be taken into captivity. But, under neither of those dispensations would anyone's sins be forgiven. Those that lived by faith and obedience would have their sins forgiven when the messiah would give His life on the cross. You can find that only a few, very few, people under either dispensations were truly faithful and pleasing to God. The Israelites as a whole became idolatrous and strayed completely from God's way. It is this condition that Jesus found existing when He came. Only a minute few were faithful.
But once the King sent forth His son who suffered and died and established a new covenant which would be with all men, He gave His law to be put into men's hearts instead of a physical covenant that would reward us in material ways, but reward us by being adopted into His family to be rewarded eternally in glory with Him.
And in this law, the question of whether or not polygamy is acceptable is not left to chance or given room for argument.
"For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." (Mark 10:7-9)
Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. (1 Corinthians 7:2)
And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. (Matthew 19:4-8)
Those of us who live under the Christian dispensation, have the words of Christ from His very own lips as well as through His chosen apostles who received inspiration from Christ via the Holy Spirit. We cannot, assume things to be alright, we cannot pretend we don't know, we have the word and it will judge us in that final day.
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:" (Emphasis added-JH) (Apostle Paul speaks in Romans 1:16-20)
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Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)Oh my gosh..I just realised that Abraham committed adultry.. wait a minute! I don't know why I never thought of it that way before ( not that you are saying it).
Or was that pre - ten commandments?
Or..( sorry I keep bugging you ) I wonder if that is why Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac without a fight or a question..because he knew that Ishmael was a child of sin, and sacrificing Isaac was his punishment?Hi Jennifer;Abraham was apparently not sinning in this. But he would be if it were now. Evidently God had not it pointed it out that it was not to be done. Abraham, on two occasions, lied, or at least mislead those rulers when he said Sarah was his sister to keep them from killing him for her if he had said she was his wife. But as I said, his heart was definitely in the right place and God knew it.He did live prior to the 10 commandments. But David and Solomon didn't. It takes deep concentration to see what the differences were in God's sight. David sinned a lot, even to having a man murdered. But anytime he really realized what he had done, he really repented and God knew he was sincere. He sinned, but he never abandoned God as did many of the Israelites.Yes, we all sin. But now that we are saved, we become more aware of sinning and make efforts not to sin. There is a movement out there who believe that because Jesus died for our sins, that they do not need to repent, which is very wrong to me. That feeds the mentality that whatever we do is OK, but it is not. I believe that Jesus died for our sins so that there may be grace in the world, and that those who are called may have salvation; but that does not mean that we do not need to repent and continually repent because we are still not immune to the pressures of the world. This is why we need to keep some distance and have discernment when it comes to our associations. Jesus could "hang out" with sinners and not be influenced, but he is God. We are not. We are still weak and subject to being deluded. Also, it might be interpreted as that we condone the sinners behavior, as this was told to the Thessalonians. And so, this is the reason why I would never belong to that kind of movement, however popular it may be in that church here where I live.I hope I didn't take this so far off track. However I thank you sincerely for the Bible studies. :)Thanks Jennifer. I hope I did not give the impression that anyone does not have to be obedient to God in order to obtain salvation. Not for one minute would I do that intentionally. All I meant was that people like David, and Abraham were very conscientously trying to obey God but even so they sinned and gained forgiveness for it by a pentinent heart.We have the responsibility to do our very best to obey God in every respect but when we fail, if we are a child of His, grace is within our reach.Oh no, no..you didn't. I just have this movement on my mind because I am trying to find a church to belong to where I live, but the most active one called "Scottsdale Bible church" thinks those things. It was me going off track; not you.:)
Joel, You presented this in a way that I was trying to do not to long ago and utterly failed. Thanks for taking this on. I believe this is what the Scriptures teach in looking at the full counsel of God.And thanks for being a part of nurturing Jennifer in her faith!!!Teresa, I love you and Jennifer. Both of you show that you are avid students of God's word. That is the main thing that counts. "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."
My previous article on polygamy presented the other side of your arguments in this article. Imagine this, Joel: You're sent as a missionary to a society where some families practice polygamy. You preach the Gospel to them, and many respond and receive Christ. What then? Do you advice every polygamous man to divorce all of his wives except one? Why or why not? That's the reality we have to deal with in some parts of traditional Africa, my friend. And this also: one of the polygamists asks you, the preacher, "Will there be any polygamists in Heaven?" How will you answer him? This is no hypothetical question. I have met and spoken with missionaries and preachers in Africa, who must answer these questions. It's easy to interpret the Bible in a strictly monogamous jacket if you live in a Western society where monogamy is the predominant mode of marriage, and that's all you've ever known. Quite another, when your idea of family includes both monogamy and polygamy. Bottom line is I'm glad we're all saved by grace, not by works of monogamy or polygamy, unless one insists that polygamy is a sin, which I think is impossible to do from the Bible, if we take exactly what it says, without giving it a Western theological spin. Thanks for taking the time to write; it's good to share diverging views on this important subject. ~mogama~Hi Mogama, thanks for your input. I can see where you are coming from and actually this is more or less why it was acceptable under the Patriarchal and Mosaical dispensations. But, many things were tolerated under those laws simply because they were not made clear by their laws. That is why Jesus said, "...but from the beginning it was not so."After the perfect law of liberty, the law given us by Jesus and His disciples, was completed, and especially after it is was in print and available to all, we are without excuse if we don't try and dig it out. As to those who are already into polygamy, there should be no problem with a man choosing one of those as his sexual partner wife. He would not have to run the others off. It is the multiple sexual activities which are sinful. Although we have a precedent in the Bible where a number of men were married to women of other peoples which was forbidden and they were required to send them away. (Read Ezra chapters 9 & 10) Grace is only extended to those who are trying in every way they can, to be obedient. Willful sin is not covered by it. I hope you take this in the way I intend it. I agree that it is good to share divergent views.Your reference in Ezra did not involve polygamy, but the unscriptural marriages of Jewish men to pagan women. That has nothing to do with polygamy among Israelites. Sin is something that is against the will and word of God, a condition or act that violates God's moral law. Since God directly commanded the Israelites to marry multiple wives (polygamy) under the levirate marriage law, how can you say polygamy is sinful? Are you saying God required His people to sin? Is that like forcing your interpretation on the Bible? We can't ignore levirate marriage when discussing polygamy from a biblical perspective. According to the law of levirate marriage, a brother who refused to marry his deceased brother's widow was to be shamed by the widow removing the sandals of the living brother in a public ceremony at the gate. Western culture may frown on polygamy, but obviously the God of the Bible saw no problem with it, since He directly commanded an Israelite husband to marry his dead brother's wife, regardless of whether the living brother was already married. By the way, the law of levirate marriage, which codified polygamy, is found in Deuteronomy 25:5-11. Even if you can explain away levirate marriage and still come out against polygamy on "biblical grounds", you're still hard pressed to explain away Nathan's words to David, saying that God Himself was the one who gave David his many wives (2 Samuel 12:8). Only one greater than God has the moral authority to call sin a practice that God Himself commanded, not tolerated, but actually ordered.You keep trying to prove polygamy is justifiable by things under the old law. You won't find any such justification under the law of Christ.Also, I didn't say the instance in Ezra concerned polygamy, I was only showing where unlawful marriage was to be stopped by sending them away.The order to take a dead brother's wife in Deuteronomy makes no inference that the man may already have a wife, though I concede that it does not say that he can't. But the point is, this practice was accepted under the Old Testament laws, but not under the law of Christ.
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