Growthtrac Community

[Berretta]

My wife and I were having a discussion about the Bible and some of the things that make us go "Humm". One of those thing was why did God allow the Jewish men to have more than one wife even though for Adam he only created one to be his help mete. I am curious.

[Wynne]

One wonders how David remained "a man after God's own heart", with his several wives. He repented of various sins, but remained a polygamist until he died.

Jesus said, when talking about divorce, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so." (See Matthew 19:3-12.)

If a woman was put out of her husband's household, she would not necessarily have a legitimate place to go. Without a certificate of divorce proving she was free to marry, perhaps she would die... or turn to prostitution or some other form of exploitation.

And the first husband could not take her back if subsequent husbands threw her out (Deuteronomy 24:1-4).

Similarly, I think that God permitted other wildly irregular marital arrangements for a time, because of "the hardness of... hearts".

There were people who had more than one spouse in New Testament times, but I cannot see anything direct in the New Testament telling them to put aside the extra spouses before they could be Christians.

Of course, it all becomes a moot point when one desires to please Our Blessed Lord. He told of the Father's plan for one man and one woman being together for life (Mark 10: 1-12).

[Davep]

A better question was when did he cut if off.

Starting with just two people, it was necessary For men to have more than wife in order have populations not only grow but spread out.

Thank God, He did cut it off, could you imagine if men had more than one wife? Just think about how difficult that would be to manage? We couldn't afford it.

[Janine]

I'm not sure I could do it. Say I was raised in a culture where it was OK, even expected, that I would be married off to some guy with other wives.

I would be such a non-conformist! Not compliant at all! :sneaky2:

Women like me are the reason why those polygamous cultures also say the husband ought to beat his wife to punish & teach her. :crazy:

[Wynne]

I have seen Adam, Noah, Abraham, all the people mentioned in the Bible, plotted on a timeline chart. It is amazing to see how so many of the years these people lived were shared, how much of their lives overlapped.

Childbearing went on for a long time. Multiple wives would not have been absolutely necessary due to the longevity of the time. It becomes less important to avoid incest if the sibling one plans to marry is a total stranger born 200 years ago. Genetic problems were not a concern with humanity so fresh from the Garden. Apparently, the horrible psychological shadows of what we call incest were not the problem then that they would be now. Abraham and Sarah were half-brother and -sister, for example. One might even say Eve was Adam's clone. ??? Fascinating...