A Pastor's Point of View

Question from an Aaron on this site

My question, simply put, is did God endorse polygamy? Usually most experts say that God's attitude was one of tolerance, not acceptance, concerning the old testament practice. And, no, I'm not Mormon, although I do live in Utah.I raise this question because I recently read 2Samual 12:8. While speaking to David through Nathan the prophet, God tells David "I gave...your master's wives into your arms." Note the plural, "wives". In the passage, God is explaining how good He has been to David even though David's heart had become hardened against Him. In detailing His goodness towards David, He uses the fact that He gave David the house of his enemy, the kingship of Israel and Judah, and of course, Saul's wives.So, did God give His approval of polygamy in this passage.Thanks


Answer

AnswerHi Aaron,
This question brings up many passages in the Bible that you can look at first of all we can look at the Book of Genesis 2:18-34 and Matthew 19:4-6 in which it shows God's plan for one man and one woman for a lifetime.Due to the fact that the Ancient Near East was an agrarian society made it very dependant on large families. Polygamy, though practiced by some Bible characters, is nevertheless, never condoned by God and in most cases even resulted in domestic turmoil. Most believers would probably say that this is an easy question, but that is not necessarily true. Most would say that it is a sin to be a polygamist and that this is a clear and unambiguous teaching of the New Testament. The fact is that there in no one New Testament passage which unambiguously teaches that it is a sin for a man to have more than one wife (or vice versa for that matter). Possibly this is because the cultural mileau of New Testament times was quite different from Old Testament times. During the time of the writing of Genesis, for example, it was a very common practice for wealthy men to have a number of wives. By the first century polygamy in the eastern Mediteranean was relatively rare. Roman and Greek society did not condone polygamy. Having said that there is no specific passage which absolutely and clearly condems polygamy, there are a number of passages which would very strongly support the claim that it would not be right for a Christian man to take more than one wife. Never mind that the qualities of an elder in the Christian church includes a man with only one woman (Titus 1:6), one could consider, for example, Ephesians 5:25; "Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. It seems impossible to imagine a man fulfilling this charge to love his his wife in this way while at the same time pursuing a second wife!!! Jesus' teaching certainly seem to preclude polygamy. Matthew 19:4 quotes Jesus as saying, "at the beginning the Creator made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one." It is impossible to imagine putting another wife into this picture. Many other passages in the New Testament could be used to show that it is not ever acceptable for a disciple of Jesus to take a second wife. Accepting that a disciple of Jesus would not choose to take a second wife, there is an interesting scenario which is not outside the realm of possibility. What if a man who already has more than one wife were to come to Christ? In fact, I know of a specific situation in Nigeria in which a man from a background which allows for polygamy, and who had three wives, was later converted to Christ. What should he do? Should he send all of his wives away but one? Where would this leave these women in a culture such as Nigeria? Which ones should he put away? The spiritual men who were in his life advised that he continue in his situation, in the spirit of 1 Corinthians 7 which mentions the wisdom of remaining in the situation one finds oneself when coming to Christ. Clearly, he would not be an appropriate elder in the church, but it seemed best for him to continue meeting the needs of the three women. I am guessing that under the same circumstances, except here in the United States, very different advice would have been given! Nevertheless, I find it hard to criticize the wisdom of the advice given in the situation in Nigeria. Based on this example, I would say that polygamy is not absolutely, in and of itself, sinful, but that a disciple of Jesus certainly would not even consider choosing to become a polygamist. I hope this answer has been helpful and not confusing. I understand what you ar saying about some verses and how it is difficult to understand. If I can be of any more help please visit my website and e-mail me or post on the message board. The site is at http://www.homepage-host.uni.cc/p/godslove/index.html
Take care,
Pastor John