Question: What
is the Bibles view of polygamy?
Answer #1:
In His divinely inspired and
infallible commentary on the OT, Jesus stated that the ideal relationship was
established by God as one man and one woman (Matt. 19:4-6, 9). it is true that there were polygamous marriages in OT and in
NT times, and the Bible has no problem in honestly reporting these.
Nevertheless, the ideal (benefiting man, woman, children, and ultimately,
society at large) was the one-man-one-woman relationship described by Jesus.
Wave Nunnally, Ph.D.
..
Answer #2:
1. Nowhere does the Bible
explicitly forbid polygamy. However,
2. The original idea was one
man one woman. God said "For this reason a man shall leave his father and
his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh"
(Gen 2:24). It does not say "joined to his wives." In Matt 19:5 and
Mark 10:8 Jesus, referring back to creation, said, "the
two shall become one flesh," not the seven.
3. All polygamy in the Bible
is one man, multiple women. It is never multiple husbands for one wife.
4. Examples of polygamy in
the Bible clearly show that it is a bad idea.
A. Sarah and Hagar (Gen 21:9f).
B. Rachel and Leah (Gen 29-30).
C. Hannah and Peninah (1 Sam 1).
D. Rivalries between royal offspring of different mothers:
(1) David: Adonijah the son of Haggith and
Solomon the son of Bathsheba (1 Kgs 1).
(2) Josiah: Jehoahaz the son of Hamutal and
Jehoiakim the son of Zebidah (2 Kgs 23-24).
5. The law
of Moses has regulations to protect women who are are in polygamous
relationships (Deut 21:15-17).
6. Most, if not all of the
kings, had more than one wife (including Josiah). The law of the king in Deut
forbids multiplying wives (17:17), but that probably does not mean that
he cannot have more than one wife, no more than the prohibition of multiplying
horses (17:16, same verb) does not forbid a king to own 2 horses. God even
offered David more wives than he had if David wanted more (2 Sam 12:8). However,
it would preclude Solomon's situation of 700 wives and 300 concubines (or
porcupines?).
7. Whatever one does with 1
Tim 3:2 and Titus 1:6 (i.e., is it speaking of divorce or polygamy, or both?),
church leadership should clearly be monogamous.
8. I have heard of Wycliffe
Bible Translators who have encountered situations of polygamy. What they urged
a polygamous society to do is fix it (i.e. monogamy) in the next generation,
and for the moment install polygamous church leaders. To do otherwise would be
to force men to divorce, thus putting women and their children into an
extremely vulnerable situation.
9. Polygamy is illegal in
the
Thus while polygamy was permitted in the Old Testament, monogamy is clearly Gods ideal.
William P. Griffin, Ph.D.