On Sunday, I made some bold claims that polygamy is not for God's people in light of New Testament revelation. While I stated this emphatically, and generally everyone seems agreeable, there is a mountain of evidence in Scripture and throughout history that contradicts that claim. Let me introduce this topic by offering a few examples.
Just because we understand very little of ancient Israelite culture, does not permit us to overlook and flippantly dismiss passages of Scripture that should be strikingly shocking. One such shocking passage is Deuteronomy 21:15-17:
"If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him children, and if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved, then on the day when he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons, he may not treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn, but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the firstfruits of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his."
Many things are occurring in this passage that are culturally unfamiliar. While Americans are not far-removed from understanding inheritance law, the first phrase, “If a man has two wives,” causes many to scratch their heads and ask, “Why would anyone want two wives and why keep a wife who is unloved?” This is not the first or last mention of polygamy in the Bible. There is another passage that gives instruction on the legal dealings with polygamy.
The text is Ex. 21:10 and the context of the passage is the dealing of a master with a female slave, which he has taken as a wife. If the wife becomes displeasing, the master has several options. The last option in the passage reads thus, “If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital (NASB reads, “conjugal”) rights." In essence, this ordinance requires that the man provide for and carry on a physical relationship with more than one wife.
Not only do these passages deal with the legal handling of polygamy, several examples where polygamy is practiced can be cited. Abraham, the man with whom God made an everlasting covenant, had more than one wife at a time. “So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife” (Genesis 16:3).
Later, in Genesis 21:12-13, we see that God blesses the results of the polygamous marriage, “And of the son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant.” Interestingly, though, God does not refer to Hagar as Abraham’s wife. He refers to her as “the maid.”
Moses too had multiple wives. In Exodus 2:21, Moses takes the daughter of Jethro, a Midianite priest and in Numbers 12:1, Miriam and Aaron complain about Moses as a result of his marriage to a Cushite woman.
An example where God seems to bless polygamy is found in II Samuel 12:7-8 with King David, a man after God’s own heart, another man with whom God would covenant. Nathan the prophet is rebuking David, but he points out that God “gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and…if this were too little, I would add to you as much more.” God gave David more than one wife and if David had asked, He would have given him more. While there are further examples, it is primarily with these that God seems to bless the practice of polygamy.
Moving from Scripture to historical practice, the ancient historian Josephus, writing about Jewish leadership at the time of Christ stresses “it is the ancient practice among us to have many wives at the same time” (The Works of Josephus 451-52).
In a letter to Philip of Hesse, Martin Luther writes, “I confess for my part that if a man wishes to marry two or more wives, I cannot forbid him for it does not contradict the Scripture.”
So how do we get from these passages and practices to the conclusion of the Westminster Confession of Faith, which reads, “Marriage is to be between one man and one woman: neither is it lawful for any man to have more than one wife, nor for any woman to have more than one husband; at the same time,” without explanation of how this was lawful, or even allowed, in the Old Testament or subsequent historic practice? We’ll unpack this in anther post.
