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Does God Support Polygamy?
What do Abraham, Jacob, Esau, David, and Solomon have in common? All of these great men of God had multiple wives. So, does God support polygamy? That’s the question we want to answer today on the B.E.A.T.
INTRODUCTION: Hey what’s up everybody my name is Allen Parr and so the question comes up, “Did God permit Polygamy?” This is a tricky question and one that needs to answered carefully Well there’s actually one verse in the OT that seems to CLEARLY suggest He did (Deut. 21:17). So, in this video I want to look at 1) some of the REASONS why some men had multiple wives; 2) the RESULTS of those decisions and then finally 3) the RELEVANCE for us today.
1. Men had multiple wives for a variety of reasons
a. Barrenness - Sometimes it was because their wife was unable to have children and further the family lineage.
b. Protection for Women - Other times they were providing protection for women because due to many men dying in war there was a disproportionate number of women to men and women were unable to provide for themselves so men would step up and take extra wives to provide support and covering (sadly women were often forced into prostitution to provide for themselves)
i. Deut. 25:5 - There is even a scripture that encourages a man to marry his brother’s wife if the brother died without children.
ii. And so the idea here is do you become a polygamist or do you force that woman to possibly become a prostitute?
c. Alliances - Sometimes it was to forge alliances with other nations and so kings would trade wives to secure the partnership.
d. Greed - Other times men like David chose to take on wives for selfish reasons.
e. But even though, interestingly enough on one occasion God says to David, “Why did you have to go and steal someone else’s wife? If the ones you had weren’t enough I would have given you more…” (Is God condoning polygamy?)
2. The RESULTS of Polygamy
a. Whether it’s a sin or not, interestingly, each time a man took on more than one wife in the Bible it created major problems and divided the home.
b. We can look at Abraham and his two wives, Jacob and his 2 wives + 2 concubines, we can look at the situation between Hannah and Peninnah which was an absolute nightmare, David and his wives and Solomon’s heart turned away from God because of his 700 wives.
3. The RELEVANCE for us today
a. God Established His institution of marriage at creation - The Law of First Mention - God’s design for marriage is very clear and is outlined in both the OT and the NT. In Gen. 2 God says, “And the TWO shall become ONE.” Jesus then confirms this in the NT (Paul says the same thing about church leaders needing to be “the husband of ONE wife.” (see also Eph. 5:22-33 and Col. 3:18-19)) where He repeats the very same scripture found in the OT. So anything outside of God’s original design cannot be His perfect will.
b. Don’t confuse God’s PERMISSIVE will with His PERFECT will - There are many things He allowed but doesn’t desire.
c. Don’t take something that God is DESCRIBING and interpret it as God PRESCRIBING it - David cursed his enemies in prayer does that mean we should do it? When interpreting the Bible be careful not to take isolated events and then make them normative for every believer (poison, snakes, etc.) Does that mean that because it worked for them we should do it?
d. Just like God blesses and uses us despite our many sins in the same way God was patient to bless many men in the OT who took multiple wives. So instead of asking, “Why or how could a holy God bless someone like that?” Instead ask, “How could God overlook some of the stuff that I’ve done and still bless me in spite of what I do?
So did God allow polygamy for various reasons in the OT? I think we have to safely say that He did. But has that ever been God’s perfect will for a marriage relationship? I think we can safely say NO.
16 июл 2024
