Bible Verses Related To Polygamy

• 2 Samuel 11-12
• Ezra 9-10
• Judges 19

More to add:

• David had seven wives before he began to reign in Jerusalem, and an extraordinary number of wives and concubines has been attributed to Solomon (II Sam 3:2- 5, 14; 5:13). In connection with David, the prophet Nathan did not denounce the king for adding Uriah's wife to those he already had but for the means he employed to secure her (II Sam. 12:7-15).
• Incest of Tamar
• King restrictions is "he shall not acquire many wives for himself" (Deut. 17:17).
• The husband takes two living sisters as wives or a wife and her daughter as wives. Neither of these relationships is allowed under the law given to national Israel governing polygamy. See Lev.18:17-18; 20:14-17.
• Commonly quoted against polygamy:
  • "each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband" (1 Cor. 7:2). Just as leadership in the Old Testament was forbidden from having multiple wives, leadership in the New Testament is unavoidably limited to "the husband of one wife" (1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:6).
  • Interestingly, marriage in the New Testament is a parallel to Christ's relationship with the Church. We are called His "Bride." Paul says, "The husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior" (Eph. 5:23). Husbands are to love their wives "as Christ loved the church" (Eph. 5:25).
  • The Monogamous Contract - When two people enter into a marital relationship with the understanding that it is to be a monogamous relationship and bind themselves to this agreement, this relationship comes under the terms and conditions set forth in the Bible for such a relationship. Neither party can alter the agreement without dire consequences. The agreement can only be terminated by the death of either party, fornication, or adultery as set forth in God's law. See Matt:5:31-32; 10:11-19; 19:3-9; Lk.16:18.
  • A marriage that begins as a monogamous relationship and becomes polygamous because of the insistence of one of the partners over the objections the other partner. Without the consent of the both spouses, this situation results in an adulterous relations between the husband and the other wives.
• Polygamy - provisions of the code
  • a) "A woman to her sister" Lev 18:18
  • b) Slave wives Ex. 21:10-11
  • c) Royal polygamy Deut 17:17
  • d) Ceremonial Checks - Lev. 15:18
  • e) The Levirate custom - Deut 25:5
  • f) Laws governing the distribution of property - Deut. 21:15-17
  • g) Capitves of war: Deut 20:14; Deut 21:10-14
• Exodus 11:10 If he take him another wife: her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish
  • This regulation of polygyny tolerates if it does not approve it.
• Deteronomy 10:13-15 And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: 14: But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the poil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee. 15 Thus shalt thou do to all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.
• Isrealite restrictions
  • The woman is to be free from solicitation for a month after capture
  • She is then, if the man desire it, to be his wife.
  • If he tire of her, he is not to sell her, but let her go whither she will, because he has humbled her.
  • Deuteronomy 11:10-14 - how to acquire a wife from the survivors of war

• • Verses describing polygamous practices:
    • Judges 8:30
    • 2 Samuel 5:13
    • 1 Chronicles 8:8
    • 2 Chronicles 14:3
    • Judges 7:14
    • 1 Samuel 1:2
    • 1 Kings 11:3
    • 2 Chronicles 11:21
    • Judges 10:4
    • 2 Samuel 12:8
    • 1 Chronicles 7:4
    • 2 Chronicles 13:21
    • Judges 12:9
    • Gen 21:14 The dismissal of Hagar by Abraham, which is an example of divorce anterior to the Mosaic code, is also probably an example of the rough and ready procedure which in the patriarchal age would commonly characterise it.
      • A glance at the terms of the Mosaic regulation of divorce quoted above is sufficient to shew that the mind of the lawgiver was concerned with the regulation, and not with the introduction, of the practice. As in the case of the regulations affecting polygamy, the regulations on the subkject of divorce are in the direction of restraint, not in that of encouragement.
      • prohibtion of marriage with a divorced woman in the case of priests: Leviticus 21:7 - They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: for he is holy unto his God.
    • Malachi 2:14-16
      • Yet ye say whereof? 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 they covenant. 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. 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
    • Story of Tamar - Genesis 38
      • What then are the facts We find that beyond all doubt the custom was an old one and not only so but that the Mosaic regulations as in the cases of polygamy and divorce are distinctly in the direction of restraining the power or the objectionable custom In the case of Tamar certainly some hundreds of years before the code of Deuteronomy we find the practice in full force. Tamar was the wife of Er the firstborn son of Judah By the Levirate custom it fell to Onan as the next brother to raise up seed to Er This he declined to do because he "knew that the seed should not be his" After the death of Onan which was brought about by a Divine judgment Judah told Tamar to remain a widow at her father's house till Shelah his next son should be grown Tamar did so but finding that Shelah was not then given to her she procured an union with Judah himself by means of an artifice,
      • and so conceived On the circumstances becoming known Judah's judgment was She hath been more righteous than I because that I gave her not to Shelah my son But it is added that he knew her again no more 1 From this narrative it is clear that the Levirate custom was of ancient origin certainly preceding the Egyptian sojourn and it farther appears that it was of a more binding character at the earlier period than under the Mosaic law That law permitted the brother or next of kin to decline the union in the presence of judges if he were prepared to go through the ordeal of 1 being spat upon and 2 having his shoes loosed by the widow and also 3 of being named in Israel the unshod 2 Grave as the resulting disgrace would be it was still not so grave but that a person who was strongly indisposed to effect the union would dare to encounter it In the case of Taniar it does not appear to be admitted that Onan had any right at all to decline the union and it seems to be implied that when Onan was dead Judah was bound to raise up seed to Er if not by Shelah then in his own person Here we have a distinct advance at the later period The Levirate usage is indeed retained but coupled with it is a power of dispensation which would in time go far to render the usage a dead letter
      • Deut 25:9,10 Gen 38:26
      • - The laws of menu - great legal code of ancient India - we find the custmo at much the same stage as we have it in the Mosaic code. Appears to originate in Indian practice of Polyandry.
      • It thus appears that Almighty God suffered among the chosen people during the time of the estrangement of the race rr the practices of 1 polygamy 2 divorce and 3 the Levirate custom Our Lord expressly states that one of these practices that of divorce was in direct contravention of the Divine institution but that it was suffered because of the hardness of men's hearts The same explanation appears to be entirely applicable to the other two practices those of polygamy and the Levirate custom When all were in the state of sin waiting for a redemption not yet accorded such practices were relatively less important and not till the state of grace had been restored by the atonement and by the coming of the Holy Ghost to dwell in the persons of the faithful does it appear that the original conditions of the Divine institution were fully and invariably insisted upon

See also:

• Bible Verses Related To Adultery
• Bible Verses Related To Marriage