POLYGAMY

What did Jesus say about polygamy?

 

Definitions:

Adultery( as defined by Jewish law):

It is physically intimate relationship of a married woman with any man other than her husband. The crime can be committed only by and with a married woman; for the unlawful intercourse of a married man with an unmarried woman is not technically Adultery in the Jewish law. Under the Biblical law, the detection of actual sexual intercourse was necessary to establish the crime. 

You can read more about these laws from the Jewish encyclopedia on this web link: http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/865-adultery

Fornication:  Sexual relations between two unmarried people. 

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Let’s have a look at what the bible as a whole teaches about Polygamy and see if these teachings correlate with what was taught by the greatest patriarchs of God.

History of Polygamy in the Old Testament

 

LAMECH

The first polygamist mentioned in the Bible is Lamech (one of Cain’s descendants) He had two wives.

Genesis 4:19 “Lamech married two women. The first was named Adah, and the second was Zillah.”

 

ABRAHAM

Abraham had three wives and not many know about the third one, Keturah.

The father of all nations had 3 wives.

Genesis 16:3 “So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.”

Genesis 25:1 “Abraham had taken another wife, whose name was Keturah”

  

MOSES

One of the Greatest Biblical Patriarchs was a polygamist

The most humble man and who was the only prophet whom God communed with face to face, had two (2) wives (that we know of).

Exodus 2:21 “Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.”

Numbers 12:1  “Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite (Ethiopian) wife, for he had married a Cushite.”

 DAVID

David had many wives and was a man after God's heart

A king, who was after God’s heart, had a lot of wives and concubines:

2 Samuel 5:13 “After he left Hebron, David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.”

 

     

 

 

        SOLOMON

King Solomon had 100s of wives

The wisest man who ever lived on earth had 700 wives and 300 concubines

1 Kings 11:3 “He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.”

     

 

     JACOB 

Jacob had 4 wives and 12 sons from his four wives

Jacob, whose sons were the ancestors of the 12 tribes of Israel, had 2 wives and 2 concubines.  The tribe of Israel was built on polygamy.

Genesis 29:23 “23 But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob…”

Genesis 29:28 “…then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife”
Genesis 30:4 “So she (Rachel) gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her”

Genesis 30:9 “When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.”

All the greatest biblical patriarchs were polygamous!

Was this a misdemeanor that God overlooked or was it a lifestyle that God approved of? 

It was a lifestyle that God approved of as God gave the legal conditions/guidelines of having a polygamous marriage.  Why would he give guidelines to a lifestyle he disproved of?  If you apply this irrational logic to other commands like eating pork - it would be like saying God does not approve of you eating pork but he'll give guidelines on how to do it!  It sounds totally irrational!  Or another one would be - God does not want you to worship idols but he'll give you guidelines on how to do it properly!  You get the picture. 

CONDITIONS OF BIBLICAL POLYGAMY -  Here are a few of them:

 

• Deuteronomy 25:5 “If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfil the duty of a brother-in-law to her.”

Realise there is no condition here that the brother must be single in order to fulfil this duty.  So whether he is married or not – he must marry his brother’s widowed wife.  So if he were married – that would mean she would essentially be his second wife. 

Many Hasidic(orthodox) Jews still practice this law today.

•  Exodus 21:10 “If a man who has married a slave wife takes another wife for himself, he must not neglect the rights of the first wife to food, clothing, and sexual intimacy.”

Well this is pretty straight forward.  It gives the rules of the rights of both wives and how they are to be treated equally regardless of how he feels.  This is the guidance set down by God through Moses. 

There were conditions to a polygamous marriage - you were not allowed to neglect the first wife.

•  Deuteronomy 21:15-17 “If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, ¹⁶ when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love. ¹⁷ He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father’s strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him.”  - All children born from polygamous marriage are legitimate as stated in the Bible.  This whole idea that children born from polygamous marriages have no blessing, rights or stature is incorrect as stated here.

All children born from polygamous marriage are legitimate and have equal rights.
As all of Jacobs 12 sons eventually became the 12 tribes of Israel and each son had equal rights...
 even though they were born from Jacobs 2nd. 3rd of 4th wife.

 

 

Two verses misinterpreted as God changing his mind about allowing polygamy: 

• Deuteronomy 17:16-17  “ The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.”  He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold”

God is giving some guidelines on how a king should maintain the purity of his heart as he rules the people of Israel.  God is saying this in the context of materialism and idolatry.  It is known that some kings married women of other religions who did not recognize God and this was a stark warning that there was a high possibility that these women would lead the king away from pure monotheism.  God did not put an end to polygamy – he said don’t marry women of other religions.  This advice was further elaborated on in the book of Kings.

The rules for kings was for the benefit of the kingdom

• 1 King 11:1-4 “Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter--Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.  As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.”

Why would God reprimand Solomon yet praise David?  Both Kings practiced Polygamy – so the topic of reprimand was clearly not polygamy – but rather marrying women who would lead them astray from God.  It is clear that God was not saying “DON’T PRACTICE POLYGAMY” God was saying don’t marry women who will lead you astray.  Here we have God clearly advising Solomon not to intermarry women of other faiths contrary to monotheism. David had many wives also but he was not led astray and God gave credit to David for that. 

certain wives of King Solomon led him astray later in his life

What did Jesus say about Polygamy?

There are more than 200 references taken from the Old Testament books that are in the New Testament.  And from these references used by Jesus Christ we can get a fair idea as to what scriptures he lived by and referred to for affirmation in his teachings.  

Jesus never taught that he came to do away with the laws

Jesus was referring to scriptures of the Old Testament when he used to say “…as it is written”.  Writings that were included in the New Testament were not written until 30-60 years after his departing. Most of the books of the New Testament were oral traditions that were put into written form decades after Jesus departing – that is why the four canonical gospels begin with the title “The gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, John” – what this means is that the gospels that were written  “according to” the eye witness of Mathew, Mark etc.  They were not actually written by Mathew, Mark, Luke, John etc.   That's what the term "according to" means.  This is common knowledge amongst all biblical scholars.

1.        Mark 12:19-25  “Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.”…

Jesus answer:  “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God? “For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.”

This question from the teachers of the law to Jesus was about the command in verse in Deuteronomy 25:5.  Notice that there was no condition from the original command as found in the Old Testament that the brother of the dead man should be single before he remarried his dead brother’s wife.  It is implied and clearly inherent in the question that Jesus understood the conditions of this teaching from the Old Testament – Jesus’ answer is about the continuation of this marital arrangement in the afterlife and is not about refuting polygamy.   

2.       Matt 19.8-9, pp. Mark 10.1-12 “Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.  I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery."

Moses permitted you to divorce your WIVES.  Yes plural.  The implication of Jesus acceptance of Moses ruling on polygamy is clear – Moses himself being a polygamist.  Jesus is talking about the conditions of divorce.  Previously men could divorce their wives for any frivolous reason and Jesus is explaining that divorce should be only for marital unfaithfulness.  In Matthew 5 – this is explained further as to what the definitions are as defined in Judaism. 

3.       Matthew 5:31-32 “It was also said, ‘whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

It is clear here that the man who divorces his wife for any other reason other than unfaithfulness is responsible for her adultery if she marries another man and it is also a warning to other men about marrying divorced women to investigate the reason for divorce before marrying her.  This is not Jesus teaching about polygamy or monogamy etc.

The pharisees were constantly trying to trap Jesus and expose him as a fraud.

4.       Matthew 19:3-5 “Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”

 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh”

This verse is immediately assumed as Jesus teaching monogamy and refuting polygamy.  This is incorrect as every teaching that Jesus taught was built on Moses teachings.  Whatever Jesus taught about marriage is in line with the Old Testament. What he was teaching – as was in line with the previous verses is that divorcing any woman (whether it be first or second wife) should be done so only because of marital unfaithfulness.  *

Transfiguration with the great patriarchs whose teachings Jesus affirmed

5.       Matthew 5:17-18 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfil. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.…”

If you will notice, this verse in Matthew is in chapter 5:17 – and the other verses where Jesus is talking about marriage are chapters all in the book of Mathew... So clearly – whatever Jesus taught - it is clearly implied that he is adhering to the laws and teachings of his predecessors.  Unless he explicitly says otherwise – where he teaches about how to turn the other cheek, love your enemies, forgiveness etc – that is where he expounds on a principle while explicitly stating that he is bringing something new.  Other than that – it is implied that all his teachings about any other topic are in agreement with and not contradicting the teachings of the great patriarchs that were before him. 

 

What about Adam and Eve?

 

 

The question I get a lot is why would God allow, promote polygamy if he had just created one wife for Adam?  Why didn’t he create more than one wife for Adam if he was all for polygamy as a way of life? 

 It is scriptural y consistent that God allowed polygamy.  This was a lifestyle choice and not compulsory upon every man. 

 The fact that God just made Eve goes to show that it is not a compulsory way of life for all.   

To assume that he 'disgruntledly' allowed this lifestyle for a few elites is almost like saying God is not consistent and unjust.  The scripture is consistent that polygamy is allowed and Jesus supports this as the basis for all his teachings are from the Old Testament.  

 It makes no rational sense that God is all over the place with such an important institute as marriage.  

I do not refer to other scripture verses in the New Testament other than the four canonical gospels as the other books were written by Paul who was not an eye witness to Jesus teachings.  Whatever he (Paul) wrote is only an opinion of what Jesus taught rather than what he had witnessed primarily and thus for me his books don’t have much legal value as would the canonical gospels.

Conclusion

Jesus never taught as per his own words that polygamy was wrong as he also didn’t teach that monogamy was highly preferable.  Each lifestyle choice had their conditions that God had laid down. Jesus did not come to do away with those laws which proved a guidance and not an impediment.  

*There are other points bought on about the rights of women in terms of the conditions of divorce - this topic will be addressed in another page. 

Here's a link to a video that shows what polygamy is like for those who choose the lifestyle:
https://www.facebook.com/TheDeenShowTV/videos/10152728978811104/