In this article, my goal is not to make you a believer for or against polygamy. So, why am I making this article? Well, over the years, I have spoken with various Christian friends about polygamy and decided out of curiousity to study the topic, to see what the Bible really said on it. I decided to be open minded and give it a fair shake, as I am a person who desires the truth, not what is popular or considered to be correct.
And, what did I discover? Well, the argument for polygamy seems to be pretty solid. From my studies, I noticed that there are a great deal of Bible passages people seem to ignore, which are pro-polgamy throughout the Old and New Testament.
One very simple logic progression you should consider: Many revered Old Testament characters were polygamists. If you assume it is a sin, it would follow, God would require blood to be shed for their sin of polygamy and we would have read several examples of God punishing people for the sin of polygamy. After all, if you committed adultery in the Old Testament, you were stoned to death. How is it we never see God punishing all the polygamists in the Bible?
The simple logical progression I just mentioned above is just the icing on the cake. The reason I say this is because there are many Bible passages where God directly and indirectly justifies polygamy. It would be disingenuous for me to ignore all of these passages:
For Example:
- Exodus 21:8 - Establishes rules for slaves who became wives. Note there is no mention of the man having to be single to marry a slave.
- Exodus 21:10 - A man is not allowed to diminish food, clothing and marital rights, if he marries an additional wife.
- Leviticus 20:14 - Prevents a man from marrying a woman and her mother at the same time. This rule would be irrelevant if polygamy was a sin.
- Deuteronomy 22:28-29 - A man is to marry a virgin he had sex with, as long as the father did not refuse him. However, notice there is no mention on whether than man is single or not. If it was a sin to be a polygamist, there would have been a rule here saying if the man was already married, he would be punished or stoned.
- Judges 8:30 - Gideon had "many wives". He was a man of God.
- 1 Samuel 1:2 & 13:14 - Elkanah has two wives. One of his wives, Hannah, gave birth to the prophet Samuel. Wouldn't he be an illegitimate child, if polygamy was a sin?
- 2 Samuel 12:7-8 - David was given his dead master's wives. Also God said he could have given him more than what he had. However, David chose to kill a man to steal his wife and that was where his sin was. God indirectly promotes polgamy in this passage.
- 1 Kings 11:1-3 & Deuteronomy 17:17 - Solomon had 300 wives and 700 concubines. However, it is made clear, his sin was marrying strange(foreign) wives and multiplying wives, not having more than one wife. His foreign wives ended up leading him to idolatry later on in his life. Adding more than one wife, such as his father, King David did was not a sin. And it should be clear, that Bathsheba was married and the sin was he was taking another's wife, not adding another wife, as is made clear by the prophet who rebukes him. However, multiplying or hording wives, as King Solomon did was a sin. Recently, I heard Hank Hanegraaff claim that "multiplying wives" refers to adding more than one wife, however, for him to conclude this, he would have to ignore all the scripture cited here. Generally speaking, I almost always agree with Hank on most anything he says, however, in this case, he is wrong. God is not double-minded, but single-minded. If he says you can have more than one wife in several Old Testament passages and then says you can not "multiply wives" as a king, it should be clear, that he is refering to hording wives, not adding another wife.
- 1 Kings 15:5 - King David married atleast seven wives, but it says David did what was right in the sight of the Lord. If polygamy was a sin, David would not be right in God's eyes.
- 1 Chronicles 2:46-48 - Caleb had two concubines. Yet, he was one of only two men allowed to enter the promised land! And, as you know, Moses was not even allowed to enter the promised land due to one sin!
- 2 Chronicles 24:3 - Joash had two wives that were chosen by Jehoida the priest!
- Nehemiah 13:26 - Solomon is again shown to have sinned because he took foreign wives and multiplied wives, not because he had more than one wife.
- Esther 2:2-4 - Esther was atleast the second wife of the King. God orchestrated the salvation of the Jews through her marriage to a polygamist.
- Job 27:15 - Job mentions a man who's "wives shall not weep".
- Song of Solomon 6:8 - The shulamite is praised by many queens and concubines of the king who loves her. If you add up all the queens and concubines, you discover that the shulamite who is courting with King Solomon here is the 141st wife of King Solomon. Remember, this is a story on how God desires us to be with our spouse.
- Jeremiah 3:6-10 - God portrays himself as a polygamist with more than one wife.
- Jeremiah 31:31-32 - Same thing again here. God with more than one wife.
- Matthew 25:1-13 - Parable of the 10 virgins, where Jesus has himself as the groom marrying 5 of the 10 virgins, making himself a polygamist in the parable.
- Romans 5:13 - If there is no law for something, it is not a sin. There is no law against polygamy, therefore, it is not a sin.
- 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 - Mentions that adulterers will not inherit the Kingdom of God, yet in Hebrews 11, we see many polygamists listed who inherited the Kingdom of God. Therefore polygamy is not adultery.
- 1 Corinthians 7:2 - If you look at the greek behind this scripture, you will notice that the words used for "his own" and "her own" are not the same. The terms seem to allow for polygamy under close scrutiny.
- 1 Timothy 3:2 - Bishops / Deacons must be husband of one wife. At best or worst, this is saying certain leaders can not be polygamists. Perhaps doing the work of the church in some leadership roles require an amount of devotion to where polygamy is not compatible. Or, perhaps, it is not limiting to one wife, but rather saying that he has to atleast have one wife. Not sure which, however, might as well take the safe ground with the former viewpoint.
- James 2:23 - Abraham was called a friend of God, but he was a polygamist.
The idea is, we can not just assume God is against polygamy, if there is no legitimate reason for such a belief. If God permits polygamy throughout the Old Testament and never does away with it in the New Testament, we must assume, it is still permissible even today. Using a couple vaguely referenced scriptures (i.e. ~ two becomes one flesh) to further a viewpoint is not good, and is just self-serving.
I believe a great deal of the doctrinal contentions in the church could easily be solved by making a few requirements while studying the Bible on any doctrine:
- You must consider all the Old and New Testament scripture when attempting to learn God's mind on a topic or doctrine.
- You must consider the interpretation in the original languages, rather than relying on any secondary language Bible (such as English, Spanish, French, Russian, etc).
- You must consider the fact that all God's Word is inspired, consistant, logical and truthful.
- You must consider that God is not hypocritical and that He does not change.
- You must consider the Holy Spirit's leading on interpretation while studying scripture.
With such a platform of agreement, we could probably solve most of the doctrinal issues within the church, assuming people are honest and open minded to what the Word of God has to say.
And by open minded, I am also including those with good Christian doctrine, as everyone is fooled by their own blinders at one point or another. We paint onto scripture what we want to see. You start noticing such things when you allow yourself to be open on controversial topics (which tend to have more sharp opinion than scriptural backing). Here are just a few topics off the top of my head: Sunday Sabbath, Polygamy, Divorce, etc. How often do people have thorough scripture backing on any one of these topics? Generally, it is our opinion with a couple handy verses that seem to back our opinion.
Regarding God's ideal, I believe that the original design was likely monogamy, however, this was before the fall of man (Genesis 2 & 3). Many people do not consider the fact that celibacy maybe not God's ideal either prior to the fall, along with Polygamy. As it clearly states in Genesis 2:24 that (a/every) man shall leave father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife. However, we can see that the Apsotle Paul teaches that within certain contexts, ceblibacy or singleness could be the best choice. So, marriage was created prior to the fall of man, and after the fall of man, other types of structures were permitted due to the problem of sin. Such as celibacy, divorce(if uncleanness) and polygamy. So, the point being, in various scenerios one maybe more ideal than another. However, likely, God's overall general design would likely be the same as the original, monogamy. Yet we should not look down on or judge those who take other paths. Consider for example these families here, who are polygamous in structure, normal and happy: click here
When you open your mind up to the possibility that polygamy may not be a sin, you start testing the viewpoint to find some part of scripture that contradicts it. What you discover is, actually, there are no verses that contradict the idea of polygamy not being a sin. For instance, consider sexual relations in a polygamous marriage. It should be easy to prove polygamy is a sin in scripture using commandments on sexual intercourse, assuming God was against polygamy. Very interestingly, though, you find, God seems to make all the sexual restrictions work with polygamy. See below:
- Do not have sexual relations with a woman and her daughter (Leviticus 18:17).
- Do not have sexual relations with a woman and her son's daughter (Leviticus 18:17).
- Do not have sexual relations with a woman and her daughter's daughter (Leviticus 18:17).
- Do not have sexual relations with thy wife in addition to her sister, as rivals (Leviticus 18:18).
- Man can not have sexual relations with another man (Leviticus 18:22).
- Man can not have sexual relations with an animal (Leviticus 18:23).
- Woman can not have sexual relations with an animal (Leviticus 18:23).
Now, just read through the above, assuming polygamy was not a sin. Does it open your eyes a little bit? Notice, Leviticus 18:17 says not to have "sexual relations with a woman and her daughter". Why? Because that is a form of incest. QUESTION: Why is it even relevant to mention this, if polygamy is already a sin? Same also with the rest of verse 17 and even 18. There would be absolutely no reason for God to elaborate on all of this, if polygamy was a sin. He could simply just say, "Thou shalt not have two wives" or "Thou shalt not have sex with two women", but he never does this.
Further, notice, it says for men not to have sexual relations with men. And then mentions for both women and also men not to have sexual relations with animals. Notice something missing? Where does it say "Woman can not have sexual relations with another woman"? It appears to be missing. Now, if polygamy is not a sin, do you see any reason why it would relevant to leave this out? Consider the situation where a man is with his two wives in bed and they are both having sex with him. Could not a command such as "woman can not lie with woman" be construed as an argument against polygamy in such a situation? So, I believe God left out such a command for this very reason. Now, I believe God is does not desire lesbianism, as that goes against God's design for marriage, but the point is, God is not against polygamy, so such a command of woman with woman is left out as a result.
However, I do believe it is made abundantly clear that God created female and male to be together. So, the lifestyle of lesbianism is not God's ideal. Further, marriage is only between a man and a woman (or a man and multiple women). So, lesbian marriage or the idea of women committing in marriage to each other is sinful, like the gay lifestyle (all forms of men with men is sinful - except non-sexual relationship). For it works against God's creation and that is where "loving God" comes into play. It is an act of rebellion against God to work against his design in nature. God's design is one man with one woman or as a secondary lifestyle with polygamy, one man with more than one women.
I am quite sure I am not the first to realize this or consider this viewpoint in their mind. It seems to fall into place too well, and it is so unpopular, no one would dare say it (except me). No one said the truth would be popular. My goal here is basically to look at the Bible without prejudice, so as to avoid my own biases, etc.
Why would God allow polygamy? I believe it comes down to this.. God's desire is for man to marry only one woman. However, in certain societies, such as many countries in Asia and Africa, woman are not able to easily get jobs, or support themselves. And sometimes, there are more women than men.. If you have more women than men and women are not able to provide for themselves in male dominated societies, it would make more sense to allow polygamy for those type of societies.. Sort of as a secondary lifestyle, to avoid prostitution becoming rapant (as that is one occupation that thrives in such enviroments).
In other words, it is for the woman's benefit in such a society to be allowed to still be married, rather than trying to support herself in a male dominated society. In such western socieites as the USA, women have equal rights to men(which I believe is God's ideal), so polygamy seems a bit irrelevant, and that is why there are laws that prohibit such activity. So, it is not all about the man's desire that polygamy was permitted in the Old Testament, but rather more so for women who were in these certain societies and to protect the society from falling into wickedness (which is better polygamy or rapant prostitution?). So, to say it is a sin to be a polygamist is not something you can back with scripture (although, I would say discouraging it is good, as God's ideal is one man and one woman). However, there are many societies in Africa and Asia, where polygamy makes a lot of sense for women, who are not able to easily provide for themselves.
Why would one assume that advanced capitalist societies would be have all the truth on the topic of sex and marriage anyways? Isn't that a little presumptious? Isn't it presumptious for us to look at people in certain parts of Africa and Arabia who are polygamists and also Christian and tell them, they need to divorce one of their wives? Yet, that is what many westernized Christians do. They tell them they have to divorce one of their wives. No wonder westernized Christianity has problems with evangelism in certain sectors of the world. Wouldn't it work better to take the gospel to regions in Arabia and Africa without westernized biases? Take the truth as God laid out in scripture. Why not teach them about Christ, about salvation, without imposing our ingrained dogmas, however good they may be.
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