He was also commissioned to judge the many trespasses against his Family (all judgement is given unto the son.) God says in Hosea, … besides me there is no other savior ….., so why do christians claim the Jesus is their savior and turn their backs on God? She’s gone from incompetent to dysfunctional. It is all a non-sequitur. He in effect trapped many women in a marriage where they had no hope of having any children, and no hope of any kind of relationship with their husband. I can only speculate as to why God allowed polygamy, but I believe in falls along the same lines as Jesus states about divorce in Matt 19:8 – only because of the hardness of their hearts was it allowed, but from the beginning it was not so. This makes no sense with polygamy. My wife has ancestors from the early days of our church who were polygamous and she knows their stories. I think that when people have prior experience before marriage it opens the door to cheating and also to using justifications for polyamory. So, this account of polygamy certainly can’t be used as justification. I’m a child of god as we all are. It doesn’t mean God makes everything bad happen, but that God can turn even the worst situation into a positive one, eventually. He stood in awe of my name. Let the father be responsible for his children. He turned as white as a sheet and was embarrassed. The Hebrew translation of that verse you speak of is understood by the majority to make sense only by meaning the elders should married and not single. a group marriage.. Above all else, I wish men would stop trying to use the Bible as a way to assuage their own guilt over wanting non-monogamy. If you are going to invalidate polygamy because of such conflicts, then you have to invalidate monogamy too for the same reasons. However, Paul was a Roman citizen, and when he wrote to the gentile Christian churches in Greece, I seriously doubt he would have written in Hebrew. I find hints to this in his statements about if the “unbelieving spouses” forces a divorce, a Christian is then free to marry in the Lord. The early church had no such prohibitions on multiple wives. Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.” Genesis 13:14-17, Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”, so is my love among the young women. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me. Because of so much promiscuity prior to marriage, I believe it is ingrained in a lot of men to look at a woman and immediately start wondering what she is like in bed. In my experience, women are not as prudish as we might seem. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. With two wives, you would have three relationships to manage…sounds like a nightmare to me. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior; To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. He had two wives. It can’t be used to create a theology about marriage, because marriage is not really the point of the story. So they took the verses that restated a man must be married, and made it an anti multiple wife campaign. ‣ There was an error submitting your subscription. priceless work that you do. Even though I study it now, the study of it does not make me reject Jesus as savior. So, she hatches a plan: So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. So if God could make Jesus with the Virgin Mary, why did he allow the polygamous situation with Jacob and 4 women? “Do not commit NAAPH.” C God instructed us to have one person for marriage, you shouldn’t be confused. Christians don’t have that and Christianity gives a lot of “grace” as compared to Judaism. declares the Lord. ... “If in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess someone is found slain, lying in the open country, and it is not known who killed him, then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure the distance to the surrounding cities. What I find even more interesting, in responding to you in particular, is that the Book of Mormon (The LDS Third Testament for those that don’t know) seems to denounce polygamy as well: What Does the Bible Say About Marriage in Heaven? Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. Saul already had a lot of wives, so they came as well. Not three or more. Trying to cast polygamy as inherently immoral by attributing motives and adding into the scriptures things not there to reach a desired conclusion is very unwise. Whether my father did.. remains unknowable. And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley. But, after we got married, we both looked at each other and wished we could have met in high school and gotten married in college. I know, it’s harder, but it is possible. Though, I do agree that Christians tend to turn their backs on God, and I’m annoyed at that too. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. God’s people continued to Obey him for 20 generations until Abram. Much of the paganism of Rome involved non-married priests. It seems this wasn’t an issue at the time of Paul’s writings, but it is certainly an issue in our age, particularly in denominations that have churches in Africa. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether brought up in the family or in another home. ‣ Thank you! It would be wrong of me to pass them off as doctrine. There is a Hebrew word for the number one and it is a fact that word is not in that particular verse even though it is used in the original text in other verses. And Job again took up his discourse, and said: “As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter, as long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils, my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit. 1 Corinthians 7:2. If I had two kids, and one teases the other a lot, was it then contrary to God’s will for me to have two kids rather than just one? She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. If God did not wish sexual relations to take place between them, why would God give them to David as wives rather then just command him to financially support/protect them as non-wives, or at least tell David to not get intimate with them? Hagar bears a son, Ishmael who goes on to start a nation: the Ishmaelites who made war with God’s people for generations, and continue to do so this day, but now they are called Muslims (Islam teaches that Ishmael was the ancestor of Mohammed, the last prophet). It became a snare to Gideon and to his house. It SEEMs like God’s creation is an ongoing synthesis of polar opposites). When Rome was rewriting the “New Testament” into Greek (yes Greek is a translation too.) God used the weakest of the weak, with a ridiculously small army to conquer an enemy that was harassing them constantly. You also have counter examples like the prophet Samuel who’s father had two wives. One time she lived with my aunt and my aunt’s house was broken into. Church policy reflects the fact that at this time God has commanded it not be practiced. ... To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife. If a polygamist is converted, are all his multiple marriages sanctified so he can keep all his wives? Also, strict monogamy is a Greek/Roman policy, and they are terrible examples of sexual morality as a whole. That alone would be a status symbol. What if they really fought each other and didn’t get along at all, would that be grounds to say having more than one child is wrong? I'd like to receive the free email course. I also agree that all of the polygamous marriages did have a lot of grief. I think if you approach the Bible with a relationship based approach you’ll figure it out. It was a DNA test and a connecting to relatives that let us know ‘grandma’s’ ethnicity since grandma cut all contact with everyone and never told her heritage or background. So taking any document as Gods words when it is not of ancient origin and is not available to be read in it’s original text is a reach by any man made religion in my opinion. W Not three become one, or three become two, or whatever the crazy math would end up being. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. – Song of Solomon 2:2. In today’s social setting, I agree, one is enough. We however are under command to respect the law of the land so that if nothing else requires monogamy. All of his born of a female is born of iniquity. We should do everything that we can to please God without bringing any harm to his children. The concept is offensive to those who define marriage based of feelings and “falling in love”. ‣ It shows two arch-types, not showing an example of polygamy. Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband. What Paul said about being single can be taken a number of different ways. I was thinking of this exact question today in my studies! And then there’s the evidence in the story of the Bible. “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain. Other than that all was okay. He was angry and hurt. In a rage, Jacob confronts Laban who cites some custom about the eldest daughter needing to be wed before the younger and offers Rachel as a second wife, after a week long honeymoon with Leah, if Jacob will work another 7 years afterwards. Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? Ezekiel 23 is not talking about two separate brides, but rather how individuals within His bride act. I am a male. Then he commited Naaph. Only Paul was single. God even tells David he would have given him more wives if he asked. Abdon, Abijah, Abraham, Ahab, Ahasuerus, Ashur, Belshazzar, and many more men in the Bible had multiple wives, but does the Bible ever condemn them for that particular life decision? . And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion. Let’s address the marriage aspect in the Bible. And God blessed them. I’m just saying that this document doesn’t even try to answer the question posed at the beginning, and the line of “reasoning” is far too narrow and not logical. OpenBible.info ‣ In the original Hebrew, that would disqualify them to lead. We make statements that we are not qualified to make. This verse causes a lot of problems. We now know that works will not save us, that the law is there to teach us that we need Christ. But most western church goers do not know Torah well, so this goes without notice. In your accounting of the events with Abram/Sarai/Hagar you make the assumption that what Sarai suggested something she and Abram considered forbidden of God, yet there is no command against it for them to think that way. The constant message in the Bible is one man, one woman. Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. If we are saying that the fact that Jacob married 2 women and that led to Israel, and thus it’s proof that polygamy is okay, then we also have to accept that prostitution, adultery, murder and idolatry are as well, because Jesus’s ancestors did all those things too. God doesn’t need you speak on his behalf. As far as 2 Samuel, I’ll have to disagree: 2 Samuel 12:8 (ESV) Mothers are a constant. But I am just as far from convinced that you possess the truth. Hosea was commanded to take a second wife to be a symbol of God’s 2 wives. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. There are many Bible verses about marriage and they start right from the very start. As for Jacob, again it really doesn’t make sense to me to suggest that taking a second wife was something he considered to be wrong. Paul makes it clear that a spouse takes away from the time you can spend dedicated to ministry. It allowed “polygyny” i.e., one husband-multiple wives. The Bible says God created Adam and Eve. More help. And the Lord sent Nathan to David. This is a translation by intent by the christian church via the first ecumenical counsel back in 325 AD. You should read the post again. You’re looking at this from a polygamy view, and the Bible *never, ever* allowed polygamy. Ten years pass and now Sarai, Abram’s wife, becomes impatient with God. Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! And God can help you through it. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. But let me go, that I may hide myself in the field till the third day at evening. He cannot give his flesh again since it is no longer his to give–it belongs to the first wife. The technical term is “polygyny”; the others imply also multiple husbands. I would recommend that all Christians take up study in Judaism since Jesus was (at the time) a type of Rabbi. – 1 Corinthians 7:2, Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, – 1 Timothy 3:2. I thought they were his friends that were to accompany him into the banquet (a custom at the time, as I understand). But, I’m going to guess you’re going to argue that this is about excess as they all say many…I’m not sure how you get around this one though: And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. She does not believe the Torah recommends or condones polyamory either. Well done Jay Dee. My life has been such an awful failure, with endless pain, that I wish that I had never been created, conceived, and born. The institutionalized Catholic church’s doctrines changed the way we think about marriage for the layman and the leaders of the church. I’m defining it by the underlying principle, of being monogamous so long as you both live. Nothing in this story leads me to believe that polygamy is a good thing or that God wanted it this way. If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. Paul also says not to get divorced (1 Corinthians 7:10-11). Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. We can’t find one direct command from Jesus or Paul that the men should stop having all these wives. I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine; he grazes among the lilies. Welcome to the community! I But, you have to understand why the old law was written. Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. David had multiple wives before he even made it onto the throne even, and after he got there God gave him more wives, why then would God have an issue with giving David more wives still after that if David wanted it? That doesn’t make sense, because the pagan priests didn’t have wives…so why would they translate it into something that still disqualified them? To this very day, this case of polygamy is causing strife in the world, people continue to die daily because of it. It doesn’t bother me that he had prior experience but it bothers me that I had prior experience. I take care of two other single mother with children families besides my own wife and children. This will also let us invest more into research and development for our resources, additional training and tools to help improve the various ways we help people. You also overlook Jacob, Rachel, Leah and their two maids, and Jacob made 12 kids with those 4 women, who went on to become the 12 tribes of Israel. Last time I checked adultery is a sin…. If a husband and wife are supposed to symbolically and spiritually model the Church through marriage, then non-monogamy destroys the church. In multiple wife communities, most women wanted to be number 2 or 3. We can also take verse 24: Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Catholicism adopted a lot of Pagan Roman practices, which were actually Babylonian practices before that. But, beyond that, its legalistic to need chapter and verse to tell you what you know is wrong. ‣ It was implied using that term. Jacob has just run away from home having tricked his brother into giving away his birthright, and tricked his father into bestowing it on him. We don’t know how many wives, just that he had “many”, and a concubine. Last I checked, the Earth has not disappeared, and so, the Old Testament is still valid, we just have a better explanation from Jesus on how they apply. But I can’t handle her likely ’emotional breakdown’ if we divorced. One spouse is already a big distraction from being able to dedicate one’s life to God’s mission fully, but God gave us that concession of having a spouse so that we are not distracted by lust and so we don’t fall prey to adultery. And here’s Jacob, caught in a war between his two wives with two others as collateral damage. My aunt pitched a fit and a week later the jewelry ‘miraculously’ reappeared. I wanted to talk about Judaism to help Jay Dee with his argument against multiple wives. How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! You could argue that expresses the Trinity. Monogamy is just fine. I think in this case, there is no way to avoid that once it’s done. He clarified, He modeled, He explained, but He Himself even said: Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. All the Bible teachings about marriage refer to marriage between a man and a woman ( Genesis 2:24, 1 Corinthians 7:1-4, Matthew 19:4-6 ). Q Actually, they asked a few questions over multiple emails. Conservative critics say that coherence is precisely what the Bible offers on sex. The bible calls this season a gift from God in multiple bible verses on singleness. Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality. And then the story pretty much ends for Gideon. Enoch was the only other righteous man and he was taken up by God (my speculation was to not have to suffer the wrath of the flood). He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. Dueteronomy 10:17 says God is the “Lord of Lords” and Revelation 17:14 says Jesus is the “Lord of Lords” – Judges 8:27. I am the Lord. Thank you indeed for this conversation, I’ve enjoyed it. 7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. . One the one hand, Genesis strongly implies that God intended marriage to be between only one man and one woman (Genesis 2:23 - 24). The point is being ready, because it could come at any time. That’s just one story about my cousin. And what was the one God seeking? It always causes strife. And guess who decided how it was written. After all, He had made a covenant, and unconditional promise, with Abram, to protect His descendants. Multiple Wives are very successful if done correctly. Add to that that David was a king under God’s law, and according to Deut 17:17, he was not allowed to gain any more wives.