Question:
Can you help explain why Samuel, Abraham and other patriarchs had multiple wives? Was this a common practice at the time and not disdained as it is today? How did God view such marriages? I’m in no way looking for an endorsement of polygamy – I just don’t understand its commonplace occurrence in the Old Testament.
Thanks!
Mario
Answer: Dear Mario,
From the beginning God made it clear that the standard for humans was monogamy. Adam and Eve, in the beginning, set this pattern – see Genesis 1:27 and Gen. 2:21-25. God warns throughout the old covenant, and Old Testament, that men (a patriarchal society) should not "multiply wives." The Law of Moses states it (Deuteronomy 17:17).
Jesus reaffirms this practice and standard in Matthew 19:4 – one male and one female. Paul says the same in 1 Corinthians 7:2, and also states that church leaders should be the husband of "one wife" (1 Timothy 3:2, 12).
Ephesians 5 tells us that the relationship between Christ and the church, his bride, is monogamous. God reveals himself to us as one God, and the Judeo-Christian tradition insists on monotheism.
God never established, founded, blessed, commanded or instituted polygamy. A study of the polygamists in the Old Testament will reveal that they all paid dearly in hurt and pain in their families, and in other ways (Abraham, Jacob, David). Simply because people whose lives are recorded in the Bible engaged in a particular practice or behavior does not mean that by recording that behavior God is recommending it.
Hope this helps, Mario.
In Christ,
Greg Albrecht