| This Collection page is for understanding purpose only CHRISTIAN POLYGAMY IS LEGAL! You heard it right! Christian Polygamy is legal! You can have many wives in Christian Polygamy simply by marrying one at a time in the traditional manner. You get a marriage license, and then civilly marry her. You then civilly divorce her. You then get another marriage license for the next wife, and then civilly marry her. You then civilly divorce her. You then continue to do this with each additional wife. If you do not provide any of these civilly divorced wives with a Bill of Divorcement, which is required by the Bible to be divorced, then the "civil" divorce will have no affect on your marital status. You will still be married according to the Bible to each of these wives. You will have had a public ceremony and celebration. And although the civil authorities will not consider you married, you will be married to each of them according to the Bible and therefore according to God. This is the way of Christian Polygamy. It should be the way of all marriages. There is no reason to allow the government to interject themselves into our Christian marriages. As long as you're not living in a state that has outlawed cohabiting with more than one woman or unless one of the wives is below the age for legal cohabitation in your state then you will free of government intrusion into your Christian marriages. The Lord says, "May the marriage bed be blessed" so let's count on the blessings of the Lord and not the blessings of the government on our marriages. Let's celebrate our freedom to marry without government intrusion, legally! It was Jesus who said, "What God has joined let no man separate" and in fact, no man other than a husband has the authority to divorce according to the Bible. Only a Bill of Divorcement, so deemed by the man giving it, is valid. And that Bill of Divorcement must be given under no duress. A woman cannot divorce a man according to the Bible. Now, I have a word or two for ministers who continue to acknowledge divorces given by post Christian America judges or any other civil court without the express acknowledgement by the husband. You hypocrites! You accept divorce decrees issued by the courts of post Christian America judges and do not require a Bill of Divorcement from the husband for that divorce to be accepted by your church! Yes! Your ministers accept divorces pronounced by the courts of post Christian America judges for what Jesus said man has nothing to do with. Do you fear losing your precious post Christian America tax deduction if you don't recognize their divorces? The Jews don't fear it, the Roman Catholics don't fear it. Why do our brothers and sisters in other evangelical and fundamentalist churches take no position on the validity of a government divorce decree? We'll look into that on this site. What divorce in the Bible required a civil authority's stamp of approval to be valid? The Bible simply requires that the man "write her a Bill of Divorcement." Now, certainly Jesus clarified that this as not to include any and every reason yet he allowed it for fornication which includes many sins short of adultery. So the requirements to divorce your wife are greater than what a "no-fault" state would require but much less than what some churches claim. So what if you want to divorce your wife quietly and your divorce is biblical? Should you be required to drag your wife through the mud in order to divorce her? No, for the authority to "write her a Bill of Divorcement" is yours. So we have two primary sins going on within the churches concerning marriage. First, the lack of proper record keeping to prevent adultery within our churches. Second, twisting of the Bible to take away the husband's sole authority for divorcing his wife. We will correct those as best we can at this site. We will be launching a database to keep track of marriages so that we can help you in your quest for righteous living. Another word for Evangelicals and Fundamentalists who continue to follow the world; You let pagans tell you how to behave in matters of marriage. You fear your Bible for it tells you the true nature of marriage and the requirements for divorce. Your wives, who rule over you as prophesied in Isaiah 3:12, would not permit you to deny women the ability to divorce their husbands and you therefore allow them to live as adulteresses and be welcomed into your fellowship. They enter new relationships that cannot be called marriages for they have not been given a Bill of Divorcement by their husband. The Bible clearly gives the right of divorcing to a husband and to the husband alone. You fear your wives more than you fear God! Therefore you submit to Rome in all her defilement! Shame! Shame! Shame! Your lack of faith that God can and does join a husband and wife and that only a husband can divorce a wife is demonstrated in your acceptance of civil divorces that don't require a Bill of Divorcement from the husband. Many of you participate in the sins of the cults to justify your condemnation of marriages which God has never condemned! Forcing monogamy upon laymen is part of a medieval theology based on the traditions of men. Forced celibacy for priests came out of this same medieval tradition. There are three forms of chastity spoken of in the Bible and which are acceptable to this day; celibacy, monogamy, and biblical polygamy (one man married to more than one woman.) Forced monogamy is NOT a Christian belief any more than forced celibacy or forced polygamy would be. We can no longer allow the gospel as taught in the years following the resurrection of our Lord to be overlaid with such medieval traditions as forced monogamy which have the effect of "invalidating the word of God." Mark7:13 We wonder how many other "doctrines of demons" 1Tim4:1-3 continue to be taught in today's so called Bible Believing Churches. Medieval and unbiblical theologies should not be given a place of honor in any church that calls itself Christian. Laymen as well as clergy can no longer be fooled by high sounding titles and degrees into thinking that the traditions of man are taken from the Bible when they are not. We have access to Greek and Hebrew translations of the bible as never before. I myself am a linguist having studied five languages and regularly speak a language not my own. Am I to believe that men who, when going out as missionaries, cannot even learn the native language are more able to understand how to read a Greek or Hebrew dictionary than I am? Am I to believe that a degree in theology makes a man holy? Certainly not. Wee are not "promoting" polygamy nor discouraging polygamy. We are promoting the completion of the reformation movement and the freedom to marry. For whatever reason, the reformed churches exchanged the tyranny of the Roman church for the tyranny of the state. From that point on the reformed churches accepted the civil authorities' rulings on the validity of marriages and divorces even though Jesus said the state has no such authority. The state's new found authority to rule was absolute and it ruled without regard to scripture and does so to this day. There is no law that says a church must accept the validity of a divorce decree issued by the state nor is there any law that says a church must accept a marriage deemed valid by the state. If a woman seeks fellowship in your church who has gotten a civil divorce but cannot provide from her husband a Bill of Divorcement then we adjure you to pronounce her married and make it clear to her that she cannot remarry and remain within your congregation for she would become an adulteress by remarrying whether the civil authorities consider it valid or not. Tell her to seek reconciliation with her husband or repent and stay single. The civil authorities represent the decaying Roman church insofar as marriage is concerned. The reformers allowed their new found freedom to read the Bible and to live by it to be taken away by the state because penalties would be imposed on them for marrying without the consent of the state. These penalties were imposed at the behest of Rome. Cohabitation with more than one wife is not illegal in most states. Remarrying without a civil divorce is illegal. If you want more than one wife then civilly divorce your current civilly married wife while stating in the divorce decree that the civil divorce in not to be construed as a Bill of Divorcement. You'll then be able to remain married to the current wife and marry the subsequent wife without breaking the law. We adjure you to exercise your freedom to read and declare what the bible says and to live by it. We ask that you participate with us in making sure that the reformation be completed. We are not reliant on the civil authorities to make this happen. We can make it happen ourselves simply by not accepting divorces unless they're accompanied by a valid Bill of Divorcement from the husband. A divorce decree regardless of signatures is NOT a Bill of Divorcement. Adoption is less cruel than abortion but polygamy is the biblical way to give a child a home. Don't remove a child from his mother before giving serious consideration to marrying his mother. If you adopt, be certain the mother really is planning to abandon or abort her child and wouldn't accept polygamy or you're stealing the woman's child! Those of you who represent Christian radio, television, or print ministries please make sure not to violate Matthew 18:15-17. You are required by it to confront me in person if you accuse me of sin, then with witnesses to the alleged sin (Deuteronomy 19:15), and finally before a Christian assembly worthy of wielding its authority over us. If you refuse to confront me according to God's Word you are hypocrites. Are you committing The Sins of the Cults? How to know if you're actually committing the sins of the cults in order to justify your forced monogamy dogma. 1. You put the authority of man and traditions over the authority of God's word. 2. You quote a verse but ignore the verses that precede and follow that verse in order to change the intended meaning. For example Malachi 2:14 has been quoted against polygamy while in fact Malachi 2:16 clearly explains that this refers to divorce! See the actual verses below. Malachi 2:14 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. 2:15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. 2:16 For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously Notice that this is speaking of dealing treacherously with the wife of your youth by divorcing her, not by taking another. You must keep your first wife and not use a second wife as an excuse for divorcing your first wife. Another verse used in the above fashion out of context is Deuteronomy 17:17 however if we read Deuteronomy 17:16 first we realize that this isn't limiting kings to only one wife unless it also limits them to one horse! Read both verses. To quote the second verse without the former is to participate in the sins of the cults for you would be twisting scripture from its intended meaning! 16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. 17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. This is speaking of multiplying such that you keep a running count of them so that they are something of which you can boast. This is so elementary. The arguments of the pro-forced monogamy advocates are so weak as to make me wonder how much they know about other subjects. The research presented at this site takes the position that if you believe the Bible then you have to be Poly-Positive. This doesn't mean you must marry a lot of wives. It means that the logical conclusion of your trust in the Bible is a belief that polygamy is presented as something that people can choose to practice without this being a sin. Whether or not you choose to do it is up to you. Polygamy in the Old Testament • First Polygamist mentioned - Lamech in Genesis 4 v 19. Now, he was a descendant of Cain and he killed someone for wounding him. His bigamy, however, passes without adverse comment. • Abraham, the first Hebrew, and ancestor of all Israel, had three wives, namely Sarah and her servant Hagar (see Genesis 16 v 3), and Keturah, as well as a number of concubines (Genesis 25 v 6). • Esau, Abraham's grandson, had three wives - Judith, Bashemath (Genesis 26 v 34) and Mahalath (Genesis 28 v 9) • Jacob, father of the twelve tribes of Israel had Rachel and Leah, who were sisters, as his wives, see Genesis 29, and their servants Bilhah and Zilpah in Genesis 30. Without these four wives there would be no Israel. • Gideon, mighty man of God and judge of Israel, who defeated the Midianites, and whose name is now used to distribute Bibles worldwide, had 70 sons, "for he had many wives" - Judges 8 v 30 • In 1 Samuel 1 v 2 Elkanah has two wives, Hannah and Peninah. Hannah gives birth to the prophet Samuel. • King David, a man after God's own heart, had plenty of wives, namely Michal in 1 Samuel 18 v 27, and Ahinoam, Abigail, Maacah, Haggith, Abital, and Eglah in 2 Samuel 3, and last but not least, Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11 v 27. When condemned for committing adultery with Bathsheba, God reminds him of the many things he has given him, including "thy master's wives into thy bosom..." (2 Samuel 12 vv 7&8). So it looks like God not only allowed polygamy but actively supported it. • Solomon had three hundred wives and seven hundred concubines, according to 1 Kings 11 v 3, but we'll not list their names. He wrote the Song of Solomon, a celebrated poem about marital love, to his 141st wife (see Song of Solomon 6 v 8) • Ashur had two wives, Helah and Naarah in 1 Chronicles 4 v 5. • Rehoboam had 18 wives and sixty concubines, making him another busy man, according to 2 Chronicles 11 v 21. • Abijah had 14 wives, see 2 Chronicles 13 v 21. • Joash had two wives chosen for him by Jehoida the priest according to 2 Chronicles 24 v 3. • In Jeremiah 3 vv 6-10 and 31 vv 31-32 God himself is portrayed as a polygamist. • In Ezekiel 23 God portrays himself as a polygamist, married to two sisters, Jerusalem and Samaria, who commit adultery against him. • The Old Testament had rules regulating polygamy and limiting its application in certain circumstances. Kings of Israel weren't supposed to "multiply wives" to themselves according to Deuteronomy 17 v 17. You weren't supposed to take a woman's sister to be her "rival wife" while she was still living - Leviticus 18 v 18. And you weren't to marry both a woman and her mother - Leviticus 20 v 14. • Polygamy was recognised and regulated by the Law of Moses. Just like normal marriage, polygamy has its fair share of problems, and the law intervenes in Deuteronomy 21 vv 15-17 to make sure that children get what they're entitled to. So we can see that Polygamy was practised without criticism in the Old Testament. In fact, it was regulated by law. It was legal and moral and was clearly within the limits of the law. Indeed, the Levirate practice of marrying the wife of a deceased brother in order to ensure the family line continued (Deuteronomy 25 vv 5&6) would require a man to be bigamous if he was already married. Polygamy in the New Testament Polygamy is allegedly not mentioned a great deal in the New Testament, but there are in fact a number of teachings and clarifications which are of assistance to the polygamist. Polygamy is not condemned or outlawed in the New Testament and the Old Testament practice is not changed in any way. For more detail see the page on the marriage of Christ and the Church. • Paul, the Apostle, in Romans 7 v 3, shows that Polyandry is unnacceptable. He says a woman who remarries whilst her husband is alive is an adulteress. No such comment is made about a man who has two wives. • In Romans 7 v 4 Paul tells the Christians "ye also are become dead to the Law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." Here the old English of the King James Version shows a vital difference in the Greek original that is lost in many translations. In modern English we use the word "you" both when we are referring to just one other person and when we are referring to two or more other people. Old English, like New Testament Greek, used one word when it was just one person ("thou") and another word when it was two or more people ("ye"). So when Paul says "that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead" he is talking about plural marriage - many believers being married to their one Lord. This is the best example of polygamy that could be hoped for, and it's there in the New Testament. • Whilst Paul advises in 1 Corinthians 7 v 2 "let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband", the greek words used for "his own" and "her own" are different, and not just in gender, therefore allowing for the possibility that different rules apply to the different sexes, as polygamists suggest. In fact, the greek word for "her own" in this passage (idios) is used in Romans 14 v 4 to represent a servant and "his own" master. This shows that Paul could have used the same word twice in 1 Corinthians 7, but chose not to. And it also shows that a man belongs to his wife in the same sense as a master belongs to his servant. A servant can have only one master, and a master can have many servants. In the same way, a woman can have only one husband, but a man can have many wives. • In 1 Timothy 3 v 2 it is made clear that a bishop/elder/overseer, and in v12 a deacon, must be "the husband of one wife" and this is repeated in Titus 1 v 6. This restriction is not placed on any other member of the church, or indeed on anyone at all. The best a monogamist could hope for from this restriction is that while there were polygamists in the church body, these positions were to be restricted to those who had the experience of managing one family and the time to apply their skills to a second family, namely the family of God. However, there is a debate on these issues which allows for the possibility that the scriptures would authorise polygamy even for elders. For a further discussion of this point see the "objections" pages. Practical Aspects of Polygamy -the benefits polygamy has for women and the controls it places on men Vital Statistics - Polygamy and Gender Ratios More Vital Statistics - Polygamy, Gender Ratios and the Church Practical Aspects of Polygamy Benefits • Automatic childcare in a sexist society gives women more effective choice to have a career without devaluing the role of homemaker. • Being able to marry men who are already married means that women can marry men who have already proved themselves, therefore minimising their risk. • Being able to marry the men who attract most women means they don't have to settle just for what's left after other women have the best pickings. • Having the possibility that a husband can remarry without divorce extends practical security to a woman. She needn't worry about losing her husband and income as she loses her looks, because if her husband is attracted by a younger woman, he doesn't even have to think about leaving his wife. • Polygamy removes the pressure on a husband to commit adultery, and removes damaging deceit from a marriage. • Polygamy provides a method where a woman can have a female friend for life as well as a husband. • Polygamy therefore provides more people and a better chance of meeting diverse needs. • Polygamy provides a potential for at least three adult incomes, reducing state dependance and the fear of unemployment. Controls • If a man wants to have another sexual partner in a polygamous system then he has to meet his responsibilities - pay for any children produced from all his relationships without priority being given to those from a 'legal' relationship. • Polygamy removes or reduces the seduction of innocent young women - If a man promises to marry her, he cannot use his existing marriage as an excuse for not fulfilling a promise. • Polygamy reduces the number of women who are available. Currently, with more women than men, this 'cheapens' women. With less women available their 'value' goes up. In other words, polygamy makes men have to try harder and do better with women if they are to win them in competition with other men. Vital Statistics about Polygamy An email to this page alleged "in the western world, there are barely more women than men; it is essentially 50/50". Such a view is untrue and misleading. The reply is printed below so that people may be able to appreciate the negative side of enforced monogamy. You cannot have it both ways - it is either equal or there is a surplus. There is no way a surplus is 'essentially' 50/50. The truth is that the size of the excess varies from country to country. Left on its own there is a statistically significant excess of women. The surplus is actually greater than a first examination of statistics will show - as an excess of young boys is quickly turned into a surplus of females due to differential mortality rates. For your information, my examination of the official statistics for 1994 in the United Kingdom shows that a population of 58.4 million people breaks down into 28.6 million males and 29.8 million females. In other words there were 1.2 million more females than males in the United Kingdom at this time. That represents a male:female split of 49:51 (with the male ratio rounded UP to 49). If you just count those above marriageable age (which is sensible when you are talking about marriage) there are 22.31 million males and 23.84 million females. That is a surplus of 1.53 million females. The ratio is then 48.34 males to 51.66 females - closer to a 48:52 ratio. This introduces competition when men are restricted to one wife. Any surplus combined with monogamy has a tendency to increase the size of the effective surplus. It goes like this... If the numbers are 49:51 that means that there is a 2 per cent surplus. This means that 4.08 per cent of the female population cannot marry if they want to. (According to the British figures it is actually 6.41 per cent of women above the legal age of marriage). If they are determined it means they have to find a married man and separate him from his wife. Otherwise, in their competition with other single women they just have to offer a better deal - which may often simply mean sex without marriage. Other women will just play the game differently - rather than marriage they will find another way of obtaining support from men - prostitution. This means that, in an allegedly monogamous society, men do not have to marry to get sex, or even female companionship. They can have prostitutes from the excess of women. They can have casual sex with the competing single women, and if they do get married they needn't be faithful because they still remain the target of that 4.08 per cent (or higher) of the female population who are forced to be single. Therefore, if a man does not need marriage for sex he is less inclined to get married - so the fact of an insistance on monogamy works against itself. Men don't need to get married - they can carry on being single - and this means that less men are in fact available for marriage. This in turn means that an even greater section of the female population cannot get married, and therefore faces the choice between fornication, adultery or prostitution, and so the vicious circle continues. And to these facts must be added a couple of other variable factors. Firstly, the surplus of women increases as they get older. But, in general, women tend to marry men slightly older than themselves - usually around 2-4 years older on average. Thus, even if their own age cohort has a 49:51 split, the market that they are in is likely to be a 48:52 split. In such an example, 8.33 per cent of women cannot get married, without the extra complicating features. And when they try their own age or younger men they are competing against younger, more attractive, more fertile, women. Secondly, the figures are complicated by the 'impressions' that the facts create. A significant excess of women over the number of desirable men puts them into competition even before they are of marriageable age. Once that has happened, the actual figures do not tell the whole story, as the process has a dynamic of its own. Further figures show a higher rate of both marriage and cohabitation by men. These show that :- • 32 per cent of 22.31 million men are without partner (i.e. 7,139,200 approx) • 39 per cent of 23.84 million women are without a partner ( i.e. 9,297,600 approx) • Giving a surplus of 2,158,400 women, or 9.05 per cent of the female population above marriageable age and 23.2 per cent of women who are old enough to have a partner but do not in fact have one. The bare figures therefore show that while the general population follows a 49:51 ratio, this works out at over 9 per cent of all adult women and almost a quarter of single adult women who cannot marry in a monogamous society. By the means outlined above a seemingly small excess of women can have a large effect on society. The availability of polygamy works against this - and so it is unsurprising to note that polygamous societies have historically had lower rates of fornication, adultery, prostitution and abortion than our own. More Vital Statistics - Two for One in British Churches! polygamypage.com has maintained for some time that small differences in gender ratios in the general population work out as large differences in the single population, and that this effect is exaggerated in the church. We now have the first statistical evidence for what has been, until now, a theoretical proposition. According to research by Christian Research, in the average church congregation in the UK, single women outnumber single men by more than two to one. A report in Christianity magazine says that churchgoing women are being forced to stay single because they cannot find partners who match their high moral standards. And the situation does not improve as they get older. By the age of 40 there are as many as four single women to every single man in church, and by the age of 50 this becomes six single women to every single man. Inevitably, many of the men who are left unmarried at this stage have been left that way for a reason. So not even all these men are seen as good husband material, meaning that the ratio for women is effectively much worse. Many Christian women are turning to dating agencies, but even this cannot change the fact that the numbers are against them. This can lead to women being tempted to look outside the church and to marry non-Christians, and anecdotal evidence shows that this pattern is repeated throughout the world, and is much worse for women in some other countries, including Malaysia. But still, many Christians refuse to acknowledge the role of the Biblical practice of polygamy in ensuring that Christian women not only have Christian husbands available but that they can have good and proven husbands and fathers. The teaching of mandatory monogamy has resulted in Christian women being tempted away from the faith, the introduction of sexual immorality and the denial of basic human experiences such as being married and becoming a mother. The prophet Isaiah said of the last days that "in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, 'We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach." (Isaiah 4 v 1) Will this prophecy be fulfilled today? Scriptures for POLYGAMY 'Gen 2:24 - Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (KJV)' 'Lev 18:18 - Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life time. (KJV)' 'Deut 17:15,17 - Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. (KJV) ' '1 Tim 3:1-2 - This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; (KJV)' Quotations for POLYGAMY 'The Ethics of the Old Testament by Bruce - Pg. 158 - Gen. i. 27 and ii. 21-23 There we find that marriage is no result of mere sensual feeling, but a God-given institution. Eve is taken from the side of Adam, and husband and wife stand to each other in the nearest relations. One woman is given to one man, and polygamy is not recognized. In man»s ideal state monogamy is the rule. It is true that afterwards, among the Patriarchs, polygamy is permitted, and even Moses had a second wife, a Cushite woman, to the great dissatisfaction of his relations. But the concubine seems generally to have been a slave of the house. The action of Sarah, of Rachel, and Leah, goes to show that this was looked upon ill a very different light from adultery. It did no violation, in their eyes, to the law of honour; nor did it even violate the law of property, in which relationship the institution, as we have seen, is very much regarded. Under the Law, polygamy is not condemned, but its evil consequences are mitigated to a' 'The Ten Commandments and Human Rights by Walter Harrelson - Pg. 129 - For the author of Genesis 2 monogamous marriage is certainly the norm in view. Marriage of more than one wife may have been fairly common in ancient Israel; it never was ruled out in principle. But we can see from this commandment against adultery and from other sexual guidelines in the Hebrew Bible that polygamy always brought or threatened complications. One was not to have sexual relations with the wife of another man, and a woman was to have sexual relations only with her betrothed or husband. Any other kind of arrangement would de-stroy life in community, the ancient Israelites believed.' 'Encyclopedia of Biblical and Christian Ethics by Harrison - Pg. 314 - Like divorce, polygamy was allowed by God as the second best moral choice. Laws were provided to control its practice and to protect the women involved. The taking of concubines (who had fewer rights than a wife, being little more than slave-women) was allowed, but was also controlled by laws (Exod. 21:7-11). Examples of men who had two or more wives include Jacob (Gen. 29), David (2 Sam. 5:13-16), Solomon (1 Kings 11), and Rehoboam (2 Chron. 11:21). While the last three men took wives for varied reasons (love, lust, desire for male children, foreign alliances, diplomacy), Jacob was actually tricked into having two wives.' 'Old Testament Law by Patrick - Pg. 54 - There are various expressions of an ideal of monogamous marriage in the Old Testament, although this ideal stood in some tension with the legality of polygamy and the toleration of prostitution. The Yahweh»s creation narrative articulates a monogamous ideal: Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh. (Gen. 2:24)' 'Toward Old Testament Ethics by Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. - Pg. 186 - If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in prefer-ence to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love. He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. The son is the first sign of his father»s strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him.' 'Theological Ethics by Thielicke - Here it is characteristic that the Bible contains no references to this connection which can be quoted in so many words. The Old Testa-ment does not, since it recognizes polygamy. In the New Testament—except with respect to bishops (I Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:6-7)—the problem is not mentioned at all. So we cannot speak of there being a «law» that demands monogamy. All the more, then, are we prompted to ask how it was that Christianity arrived at the completely unam-biguous decision to give monogamy the prerogative of being the Christian form of marriage.' 'An Eye for an Eye by Christopher J. H. Wright - Pg. 176-177 - As mentioned above, the status of a concubine was far inferior to that of a wife, yet the legal rights of concubines were explicitly laid down in Exodus 21:7-11. She could not be resold by her owner; she was to be treated as only one man's concubine, not a family plaything. If he took another concubine, he must not deprive the first of material provision and sexual rights. If these were the rights of concubines, the rights of wives in a polygamous situation cannot have been less. Deuteronomy 21:10-14 likewise protects the rights of a female captive of war who is taken to wife (whether as a first or additional wife is not said). She was to be treated with humanity and sensitivity and could not be treated as a slave. The inheritance law of Deuteronomy 21:15-17 tacitly acknowledges the prime criticism of bigamy, that a man cannot love two women equally, or rather that one may not be loved at all eventually. It then goes on to protect the unl' 'Baker»s Dictionary of Christian Ethics - Pg. 514 - POLYGAMY. See also Bigamy; Marriage; Monogamy. The state of marriage involving a simultaneous plurality of spouses includes polygyny (multiple wives), polyandry (mul-tiple husbands), and communal marriage (multiple husbands in relationship with multiple wives). The usual form is polygyny which is practiced in parts of Africa, Aus-tralia, Melanesia, and elsewhere. Plural wives are usually the privilege of a small minority who thereby increase progeny, prestige, and wealth.' 'The Institutes of Biblical Law by Rushdoony - Pg. 362-364 - Polygamy clearly appears as a product of the fall, in a world of sin. The first recorded bigamous marriage is that of Cain»s descendant, Lamech, who had Adah and Zillah as wives (Gen. 4:23). I Timothy 3:2 makes clear that polygamy was forbidden to church officers: «The bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife…» The Montanists read this as a ban on all second marriages, which they termed bigamous; a widower or a widow was thus still bound by the original marriage. There is no Biblical warrant for such an interpretation. ... it is clearly stated by Jesus Christ that marriage is the union of one man and one woman, and that this is the meaning of Genesis 2:24; it is the two or twain who are «one flesh,» i.e., a true marriage (Matt.19:5). ... St. Paul spoke of marriage in monogamous terms: «let every man have his own wife, and…every woman…her own husband» (I Cor. 7:2).' 'The Institutes of Biblical Law by Rushdoony - Pg. 362-364 - In passage after passage, monogamy, is assumed to be the God ordained standard. On the other hand, in many passages, polygamy is a recognized and accepted fact, not only among the reprobate, like Lamech (Gen. 4:19) and Esau (Gen. 26:34; 28:9; 36:2), but also among the patriarchs and saints. Jacob had two wives and two concubines (Gen. 29:15 et seq.); Elkanah, two wives (I Sam. 1:1, 2); Gideon, David, and Solomon, many wives, and concubines as well. Adam, Noah, Lot, Isaac, Moses, and many others, were monogamous. The instances of polygamy in the Bible are not too many, but they are conspicuous to us because of their variation from our standards and practices. The law did recognize and regulate concubinage and polygamy. First, a man could not simply use a concubine. She was entitled to her food, clothing, and to sexual relations without dimunition; failure to do these three things was ground for divorce, without any recompense of the dowry ' Mathew 5.17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. Matthew 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Matthew 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven |
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