Polygamy in the Bible

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on January 12, 2011 at 12:23am

I am in agreement with you Brad.

Permalink Reply by Michael Vernon McEntire on January 14, 2011 at 11:35am

Amanda, we have to be careful not to look at the lives of the Patriarchs in terms of our western, post-Mosaic, moral codes.  In ancient Semitic culture, Abraham had a kind of ownership of Hagar that included rights to her body and offspring that may seem very weird to you.  The lesson to be learned from this section of Genesis is not about Abraham's sexual purity, it's about Abraham and Sarah not completely trusting that the LORD would keep (and would be able to keep) the promise he made to Abraham about his seed.  

Permalink Reply by Michael Vernon McEntire on January 14, 2011 at 12:20pm

Huh?

The lesson to be learned from this section of Genesis is not about Abraham's sexual purity, it's about Abraham and Sarah not completely trusting that the LORD would keep (and would be able to keep) the promise he made to Abraham about his seed.  

Permalink Reply by Michael Vernon McEntire on January 14, 2011 at 12:51pm

Wow, that is an absolutely sublime reply, Amanda!  Christianity is not really about sin versus purity at all, is it?  It's about Eternal Life through Faith versus eternal death through unbelief, because we know that we are all (including Sarah and Abraham) unpure, and therefore shut-out from the Presence of the LORD, until we are sanctified by the Blood of Jesus.  Moreover, sanctification doesn't mean that we completely stop sinning (even LB still sins daily).  It means that we are made holy (sanctified) once-for-always by the Sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus.  All of the Patriarchs lived before the Law was given, but even in the Law there is grudging provision made for having more than one wife, that is that the first wife not get any less of anything, including her husband, than she got when she was the only wife.  Unfortunately, that didn't stop the Kings of Israel and Judah from going nuts with polygamy.  An today, through divorce, we practice serial polygamy! 

Permalink Reply by Michael Vernon McEntire on January 14, 2011 at 2:37pm

Amanda, I think you're being overly sensitive, but I apologize for giving offense to you with my remark about LB not being sinless, even though I intended that to be humorous.  For the record, I give you permission to remind everyone (publicly), at any time, that Michael Vernon McEntire is not sinless apart from my position in the Body of Christ Jesus!

Yes, I hope that you are not worried about your relationship with the Father at all, because Christ has completely reconciled you to God.  If you want to call that "positional righteousness", I'll allow that, although I think that term is somewhat misleading in the sense that it leaves the impression that it is humanly possible to achieve absolute, personal righteousness and that positional righteousness is not the only righteousness we can have before God, even as "Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness."

Permalink Reply by Michael Vernon McEntire on January 15, 2011 at 7:43am

Excellent, beautiful, personal reply, Amanda.  Thank you for sharing what the LORD has given to you.

Permalink Reply by Michael Vernon McEntire on January 15, 2011 at 8:09am

No, Abraham did not "marry" Hagar, not in the same way that he was married to Sarah.  That's what I meant about all of this being strange to us in that it was Oriental and pre-Mosaic.  Hagar belonged to Sarah and she gave her to Abraham to be his concubine.  That's why Abraham could just send her away when the whole business became threatening to Sarah.  If you are interested, you can understand this better by studying the pre-Islamic, tribal, marriage customs of the Iraqui and Iranian people who were Abraham's and Sarah's contemporaries.

Yes, it's all about love, and how love can become obscured by pride.  It's obvious that Abraham loved Sarah and wanted to please her in any way that he could, even if it meant accepting a concubine that he didn't really want.  I'm sure that sarah also loved Abraham, but she made things almost hopelessly complicated for him when her shame over being baren overwhelmed her faith that the LORD could compassionately open her womb. 

Permalink Reply by Misty Eyes on January 15, 2011 at 12:46pm

Bradley,

 

Polygamy in the Old Testament is usually the result of a man having relations with a slave or a concubine. A man usually got married just like today, then he would have relations with the slave or a concubine which was accepted by the wife because all slaves and concubines were seen as part of the same household. It was also a time when the Earth was sparsely populated after the great flood. God was very keen to get the human population back up to speed and this extra marital affairs were overlooked.

In the case of Abraham God allowed the relationship with Hagar because Abraham would produce Ishmael whom God blessed and who is the forefather of Moslems.

 

In the case of King David God allowed the relationship of David and Bathsheba because she would bear David his son Solomon.

 

The reason, I think, God forbade polygamy was because the family structure was becoming more complicated and the marriage vow became sacred as God uniting two people into one. This was a way of keeping discipline for men and women.

 

Permalink Reply by Misty Eyes on January 16, 2011 at 12:12pm

Dear Sister Amanda,

 

I hope you would highlight the bit where I said that God gets involved in our everyday lives in Bradleys post.

 

All I said in this forum is that God allowed certain things to pass because of the end result. I've highlighted that God blessed Ishmael and his mother Hagar because they would eventually become a great nation like the Jews. I also said that God also allowed the relationship of King David and Bathsheba because the end result would be King Solomon.

 

Do you agree that God indeed creates us and gives life to each and every baby just before they are born?

 

Blessings.

Permalink Reply by Misty Eyes on January 16, 2011 at 1:15pm

Dear Sister Amanda,

 

God promised Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation, therefore, a great miracle was needed as both Abraham and his wife Sarah were elderly and barren and beyond child bearing age. In this respect God indeed was involved with them for a specific purpose.

 

Fast forward a few thousand years to the present and what I'm saying is that most ordinary fold do not have the same situation or relationship like Abraham and Sarah. If I am run over by a bus tomorrow morning then it is not God's fault. You can't accuse God for not being there. In that particular situation I am a victim of circumstance. If God came down from heaven and stopped the bus hitting me then there would be no human deaths, we will all live for eternity. We all die because of original sin. Some die young and some live for over a hundred years. Death is the one thing that we can be so sure of.

 

Blessings.

Permalink Reply by Misty Eyes on January 16, 2011 at 1:33pm

Dear Sister Amanda,

 

The people you seem to quote from the bible were blessed by God for a purpose. However, we mere mortals are just that, mere mortals. Yes, indeed God does listen to prayers and grants special favours for people that He deems worthy. I certainly do believe in divine healing, again he grants healing and long life to those whom He favours.

 

Your quote Without divine intervention, we certainly will die, is baffling to me. Are you saying that we all live because of divine intervention? We all live because He allowed us to be born in the first place and we die as a natural process that He instigated soon after the original sin.

 

I do not believe in the rapture because this is twisted and turned around to suit people who are looking for a way out. No amount of scruptural quotes can convince me that the church will be raptured out of here as people now seem to believe.

 

Blessings.

Permalink Reply by Misty Eyes on January 17, 2011 at 5:23am

Dear Sister Amanda,

 

"How can you really know how many disasters that God keeps from happening to you during a day's time?"

 

I really would like you to get rid of the notion in your head that God controls every moment of our lives. If this were true then why do people die from accidents, natural disaster etc? God does indeed intervened in some cases to illustrate a point or to show that He instigated that intervention. Of course, like you also have said God indeed prolongs a life that He deems worthy. In our own cases if we fall ill and we pray and we come out of that illness, then clearly He has listened to our prayers. There are instances where one does not recover and die. In such a case it is because it was time for that person to die. If everyone is protected by God as soon as they are born into this world then why do babies die?

 

You assume that God should keep every human being healthy and from harm. What you need to understand is that this world was cursed by God because of original sin. Otherwise, this world would still be paradise. There will be no death and we would have been living in the very presence of our Lord and Creator.

 

Is this so hard to understand? We are all born in sin and there are consequences. God grants special favours to those whom He will. The only person you can ask why is the Lord Himself.

 

Blessings.

 

 

 

 

 

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