Polygamy among God's People.

Good question... so in a family of 4 wives and one husband, he is one flesh with each of them. How the husband finds time to actually be a husband and father to all the wives and kids is beyond me. I watch that Sister Wives show and it just boggles my mind.

Jesus explained why in Matthew 19:3-9 Matthew 19:3-9 New Living Translation (NLT) 3 Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question: “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife for just any reason?” 4 “Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus replied. “They record that from the beginning ‘God made them male and female.’ 5 And he said, ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ 6 Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.” 7 “Then why did Moses say in the law that a man could give his wife a written notice of divorce and send her away?” they asked. 8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted divorce only as a concession to your hard hearts, but it was not what God had originally intended. 9 And I tell you this, whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery—unless his wife has been unfaithful. ------ Polygamy was common amongst mankind long before God chose the nation of Israel as His people. So God tolerated polygamy but God had not made polygamy as an arrangement. God tolerated polygamy until the Christian congregation was set up and after that the marriage was restricted to one man and one woman.

Firstly, "God's people" aren't perfect and don't always practice what they preach. Also, women in these societies were (and still are, in many places) highly discriminated against. They could not own land or work and so they were completely dependent upon men for survival. And I guess the reasons why men may want more than one wife is kinda obvious. More naughty time and even better, more children. Children are a parent's assets. Polygamy is just slavery with a different name, regardless of what practitioners claim. I am a pretty open person and don't generally care what other people believe or want to do with their lives and their religion, but all that I know and have seen about polygamy is negative. Ps. I live in Utah.

As hopefulman says, polygamy was revealed in Genesis 2 v 24 not to be God's will and, to start with, people did not practice it. It was introduced, as part of an escalation of rebellion against God, by Cain's descendant, Lamech (Genesis 4 v 19-24). Others followed his example, including many who professed godliness (Genesis 6 v 2). This led, of course, to multiplied violence and, eventually, the near universal judgement of God in The Flood. Initially, Abram was monogamous, but, persuaded that God's promise of decendants might only apply to him and not to his wife, Sarai, he agreed to take a second wife, Hagar, and, indeed, had Ishmael by her. This latter was not the child of promise, but a considerable number of his (and Hagar's) descendants are in the body of Christ. Isaac was entirely monogamous. Jacob might have been monogamous if he had not been tricked by his uncle into marrying Leah first, and his other marriages were instigated by his wives. Once all this had happened, the barriers against polygamy by God's people were down, but a significant number of God's people managed to be monogamous (e.g., Moses, Joshua, most priests and Levites, David until he was robbed of his first wife Michal, and, possibly, some of the better kings, e.g., possibly Hezekiah and Josiah). After the exile, monogamy became the rule, at the cost of much adultery and much hypocrisy over it (see John 8 vv 3-11). So an answer to the question is: 1. Through sinful following of the example of the ungodly and, 2. Through the godly being tricked, persuaded, or driven into it and, 3. A careless following of the examples of those godly who had been driven by circumstances into practising it. A careful reading of the Bible shows that remarriage after divorce, while being adulterous, is not polygamous, and is permissible if the door has been finally closed by the other to restoration of the original marriage, because permission to be in a married state takes precedence over all other constraints in connection with marriage (1 Timothy 4 vv 1-3). In this way, polygamy can always be avoided by the people of God.

Well, when Moses came back from the mountain, he found God's people already practicing it. Works of the devil, I must say. Though it was prohibited by the Ten Commandments, it existed already. So the weaker ones were just tempted to disobey, not create the idea of it. On a practical sense though, I recall my teacher mentioning the ratio of female to male is 4:3. Maybe that was true only in my country, a long time ago. But here's what I think. How would that one excess female marry? She would then have to share with another female! Also, if one of the three males decides to enter priesthood, there would be two excess females, and two bigamous marriages.

It's just human nature. Being attracted to more than one women isn't a choice. It's directed by our emotions so people back then before logic was solid made decisions based on what they felt, which seems truly genuine but of course its the law that puts logic thus makes it wrong. Hey no one is perfect.

Generally the sin nature in man encouraged polygamy, even within God's people. Many of the OT followers of God did things we as followers of God would not do today. It never meant that God approved their actions though. I have an article on polygamy at http://www.relijournal.com/Religion/Is-Polygamy-Right-In-the-Eyes-of-God.106053 . A factor to keep in mind is that there is a distinction between what the Bible records and what it approves.