Point where change from polygamy to monogomy occured?

[CradleJourney]

I tried searching and found explanations (or at least discussions) about the allowance of Abraham and his descendants to have multiple wives.

But it seems that at some point between then and the time of Jesus, monogamy became the norm.

I was wondering at what historical point that occurred, if it can be deduced from scripture.

Thanks.

 

[ericc]

I tried searching and found explanations (or at least discussions) about the allowance of Abraham and his descendants to have multiple wives.

But it seems that at some point between then and the time of Jesus, monogamy became the norm.

I was wondering at what historical point that occurred, if it can be deduced from scripture.

Thanks.

My guess is during the Babylonian Exile having multiple wives may not be feasible or possible.

 

[midori]

Here is a nice article about it.

To sum up-- monogamy was the ideal, since (a) it started off that way with Adam and Eve, continues in (b) the Flood narrative, and (c) it is symbolic of the relationship between God and Israel. Tobit, Job, and Song of Solomon are all monogamous/presume monogamy, as well as the Proverbs. Culturally speaking, the purpose of wives was for children and a strong family life (in contrast to our culture, where families or children are often far down the list).

So, while cultural polygamy was tolerated, several aspects of the Law kept it from really getting traction-- ie, you couldn’t have a Jewish eunuch class, so it would be difficult to have Jewish harems. If someone picks up another wife, he’s prohibited from changing the lifestyle the first wife is used to— he can’t cut back on her clothes or food or anything in order to spread his resources more evenly through multiple wives. If you had two wives, you were forbidden by law from favoring the child of a favored second wife over your preexisting children by the unfavored first wife. And so on.

 

[CradleJourney]

Thank you