Polygamy

One common belief that most Christians seem to share is that polygamy is a sin. In fact, the only group that promotes the idea of a man having multiple wives is the Mormons (along with various weird fringe cults). People have this firm belief that polygamy is evil and that God hates it. Even non-Christians believe this, which is why polygamy has been illegal in many countries for a rather long time.

If polygamy really is a terrible sin then you would think it would be easy to find proof of this in the Bible, but that’s not the case. In fact, what the Bible actually has to say about polygamy is quite unexpected – and I would like to spend some time talking about it.

Some people have argued that since God gave Adam just one wife, that proves that polygamy is wrong. After all, Genesis does say that the man shall cleave to his “wife”, not “wives”:

Genesis 2:23: “And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”

That being the case, you would naturally expect there to be some provision in the Mosaic Law that prohibited polygamy. The Mosaic Law contains hundreds of laws, many of them prohibiting various types of sexual relations (such as incest and homosexuality, for example). There are regulations about leprosy, about what to do if you find mold in your house, about the types of food you were allowed to eat, and even about the type of clothing that you could wear. Nothing was too small to escape notice – yet, despite all of that, there is nothing that prohibits polygamy. In fact, the Mosaic Law actually allows for cases where a man might have multiple wives:

Deuteronomy 21:15: “If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated:
16 Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn:
17 But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.”

Notice that the passage does not say “No man should ever have two wives, period.” Instead it assumes that will happen and talks about the inheritance ramifications. Nowhere does it ever imply that having multiple wives is somehow bad.

The closest that the Mosaic Law ever comes to prohibiting the accumulation of wives is found in its regulations regarding kings:

Deuteronomy 17:14: “When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;
15 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.
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 may seem like a clear prohibition on having more than one wife, but it’s actually not. King David had quite a few wives, and at one point God said that He was the one who gave them to David:

2 Samuel 12:7: “And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;
8 And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things.”

Let me repeat that: God Himself is the one who said that He gave King David his many wives – and He then said that if they had not been enough He would have given him more. Deuteronomy 17:17 clearly does not limit a king to having just one wife.

Now, that does not mean that the prohibition had no meaning. King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines, and the Bible criticized Solomon for that:

1 Kings 11:1: “But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites:
2 Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.
3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.”

Solomon’s 700 wives were a serious problem – but David’s multiple wives were not. David’s great sin was not polygamy; it was taking someone else’s wife and murdering her husband. That is an entirely different matter.

You can look from the beginning of the Bible to its end and you will not find any verses that prohibit polygamy. The closest you will find are these verses from the New Testament:

1 Timothy 3:2: “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;”

1 Timothy 3:12: “Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.”

Titus 1:5: “For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:
6 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.”

There is a great deal of controversy over what the phrase “husband of one wife” means. I side with those who believe it is addressing faithfulness, and that its real concern is that church leaders should be faithful men who are not given to fornication or adultery. However, even if the verse is talking about polygamy (which I do not believe), these verses are listing the qualifications for bishops, deacons, and elders. That means that, whatever that phrase may mean, it applies only to bishops, deacons, and elders. Anyone who is not a bishop, deacon, or elder is not affected.

You might argue that “everyone should live that kind of life”, but that is impossible; one of the other qualifications is being male, and half the human race cannot meet that criteria. Bishops are also supposed to be “apt to teach”, and many people do not have that ability. On top of that, we are told that church leaders should not be new to the faith. That cannot possibly mean that being a new Christian is a sin! The simple fact is that some Christians simply do not meet the necessary criteria for being church leaders, and that does not automatically make them a bad person.

There are many times throughout the Old and New Testament where fornication and adultery are condemned, along with a great many other sins – but polygamy is never mentioned. The Bible simply does not condemn it. The fact remains that one of the blessings that God gave King David was multiple wives. That pretty much rules out the idea that polygamy is a sin.

That being said: just because polygamy is not a sin does not mean that it is a good idea, nor does it mean that there are no problems associated with having multiple wives. There are quite a few people in the Bible who had multiple wives, and in each case it seemed to be a guaranteed ticket to a life of endless problems. There is also the very important fact that polygamy is illegal – not just in this country, but in many countries around the world (although that may change in time).

If you want to argue that polygamy is a bad idea, or that it leads to strife, or that it causes problems, then that is fine. In a world where there are roughly the same number of men as women, it seems impractical for everyone to have multiple wives; that would be a mathematical impossibility. I can certainly see a lot of potential problems with polygamy. However, the one thing you cannot do is argue that polygamy is a sin, that it has always been a sin, and that God hates it. The Bible simply does not support that assertion.