Polygomy of the Patriarchs

[copland]

My wife is troubled with the polygomy of the Patriarchs such as Abraham. She asked me about it and I was troubled until I did a search and found what St. Augustine had to say about it. He said that is was not actually wrong in those days of the Patriarchs, if it was done in order to procreate, and forbidden if done out of lust. Augustine said that there was a greater need for procreation than now, which meant that they lived much longer to have more offspring and was also allowed to have more than 1 wife.

I am fine with that explanation, and it is actually the only one that seems to make sense of the fact that Abraham had more than 1 wife and concubines. I have searched the Fathers of the Church and have not found much more about it. The Catechism of the Catholic Church does make mention that there “is no explicit rejection of it before the Law.” Is there any other good explantion concerning this that anyone knows of? Has Scott Hahn ever confronted the polygomy of the Patriarchs in his works?

 

[Fidelis]

You asked a question similar to this one before, and my answer to your wife would be the same now as then.

Just because the Bible talks about someone doing something, it does not thereby endorse what they have done. It is merely reporting the fact, and it is for the careful reader to see what comes of that action.

A good example of this is polygamy. Many people assume (wrongly) that since many of the Old Testament patriarchs seem to have multiple wives and the Bible does not **explicitly ** condemn their action, it must be OK. But if you look into the further history of these men (for example, Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon, etc), you see that, sooner or later, tragedy results from these polygamous unions, either directly or indirectly. Half-brothers turn on half-brothers (Joseph and his brothers; David’s sons), wives and concubines become jealous of each other (Sarah and Hagar), inheritences are fought over (Jacob and Esau), godly men turn against God (Solomon) etc, etc.

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

Hi Copland, many of those guys were kings like Solomon, and their marriages were political in nature, forming allengces between tribes.

Rom 13 says that we are to follow the laws of the land we live in. In the USA one hubbie, one wifeie is the law. And, as one who came from a background as a child of one who had 17 wives I am glad that is the law.

Just think about it Solomon had hundreds of wives, could you imagine the scheduling of the marriage bed, he had to be worn out all the time.

 

[Dandelion_Wine]

While I don’t necessarioy disagree with you Fidelis, I think it’s that kind of thought-process that has the Jehovah Witnesses forbidding celebrating birthdays.

 

[Fidelis]

Dandelion_Wine:

While I don’t necessarioy disagree with you Fidelis, I think it’s that kind of thought-process that has the Jehovah Witnesses forbidding celebrating birthdays.

LOL I guess it could be if you took the two examples the Witnesses find in Scripture to support their view. The principle of drawing out the lessons from the consequences of an arguably sinful behavior such polygamy are much better attested in Scripture: I could have multiplied the examples I gave.

Just because a principle is abused, does not make the *proper * application of that principle invalid. Good insight on your part, however.

 

[Benadam]

Polygamy is mentioned in Cain’s line and the first to have two wives was Lamech who is a sign of increasing sin in man. He says that transgressions against him will be returned sevenfold. He says this to his wives.

The story is describing the increasing sin in man and the sevens point to it’s fullness in Lamech. So Lamech, who is the seventh in Cain’s line is contrasted with Enoch who is the seventh in Adam’s through Seth. Enoch walked with God and didn’t experience death, Lamech was the first person the Scriptures mention as having two wives and returned evil for evil to it’s fullest degree.

None of the line of Adam from Seth are referenced with wives except Adam and Noah who both had one. Since Seth is first to be born in the image of his father (cain is not) we can assume he had one wife too and so on to Noah who is the last, and as mentioned, scripture reveals him as having just one wife.