Was polygamy acceptable throughout the times of Scripture? It’s without question that we see that many of the patriarchs of faith had multiple wives and multiple concubines. But was this practice endorsed by God?
Adam and Eve
The very first reference we see to marriage is at the beginning of time when God made man. It says
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh (Gen 2:24)
God in creating man made only one woman for that man. He did not make multiple women for him.
And then he said to that man that the precedent would be that a man leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife. He did not save “wives” here but wife. If he had in mind multiple wives, it was creation. He could have done so. And the two would become on flesh.
Noah
Noah was considered a righteous man. It says of Noah that
* He “found grace in the eyes of the Lord” Gen 6:8
* “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God” Gen 6:9
* He was listed one of the most uncompromising in righteousness with Daniel, Job and Noah (Ezek 14:14,20)
By this time polygamy was being practiced as we see with Lamech who took two wives (Gen 4:19). And yet look at Noah’s marital situation. He was an uncompromising, holy and righteous man but only had one wife. Not only that but his children also only had one wife (Gen 7:7). If polygamy was of God, we would expect either he or one of his sons to have more than one wife. But they did not.
Abraham
Abraham was considered the father of faith for the Israelites. Yet when we look at his life, he had only one wife, Sarah (Abram and Sarai at the time). Sarah was barren and in this day and age, sons were vitally important.
If Abraham had believed that polygamy was something of God, he would expect him to take another wife as his wife was barren. But we do not see that happening.
God had promised them a descendant and it wasn’t coming. So Sarah took it upon herself to try to get Abraham to sleep with her concubine, Hagar. Abraham consented and it’s been a disaster ever since (the Arabs trace their lineage to Ishmael and the Jews to Isaac and the brothers have not stopped fighting to this day).
What is important to note is Sarah’s pushing Abraham to sleep with her concubine was not something of God. In fact, nowhere in the whole Bible do we see a single command or blessing of a polygamous relationship.
Sarah treated Hagar terribly and eventually Hagar ran away. It was just too unbearable for her. But while she was in hiding, the Lord appeared to her. And he told her to return and to submit herself again to Sarah. Not Abraham. Sarah. If the Lord had seen Hagar as Abraham’s wife, we would expect God to ask Hagar to submit to Abraham, but we do not see that.
Furthermore we see that God did not recognize Ishmael, Hagar’s son, to be the son of Abraham. When Abraham took his son up to the sacrifice and was stopped by the angel, God said something interesting in Genesis 22:
12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me (emphasis mine).
If God had recognized Hagar as Abraham’s wife in plurality, he would certainly have recognized his first born son from Hagar which was Ishmael, as his the main son. But he did not. He recognized the son that was from his wife, Sarah, not his concubine as the one to receive all rights and privileges.
Jesus
The Jewish scholars were discussing when it was right or not to divorce a wife. During this discussion, Jesus answered and said to them (Mt 19:4-6),
4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
The word “twain” is the word for “two. So we see Jesus says that the “two” will become one flesh. Notice he doesn’t say “wives” or “many wives,” he says two. And he references the Genesis 2 account where God made the two into one flesh. This does not indicate a plurality.
Conclusion
There is a difference in Scripture between descriptive text and prescriptive text. There are many practices mentioned in the Bible of the patriarchs and prophets but these practices were not necessarily considered righteous.
Noah got drunk and this was not a prescription for righteousness. David committed adultery and this was not a prescription for righteousness. Peter denied Jesus. The Bible is unique in that it is full of people God used mightily who did stupid and immoral things. These things are just descriptive of their lives.
Nowhere in the Bible is there a command or exhortation to marry. In fact, the above Scriptures indicate that a righteous man or woman does NOT marry with more than one spouse.
