Was polygamy commanded by God in the Bible?

[Reuben_J]

Hello Reuben! Nice to meet you.

You too.

You are absolutely correct. God is an unchanging God and He does not change doctrine. The God of David is the same God of today. Unchanging.

I’m not yet familiar with the site enough to check what religious affiliation you belong in, so if I mistakenly presume you are Catholic, I apologize profusely.

I am a Catholic, Latin Rite.

Both Catholic and LDS believe that marriage requires the proper authority to be performed. There are tons of other people who marry outside of this authority. But, Catholics, for example, will not acknowledge these marriages as following the doctrine of God. In LDS, marriage is not an earthly ordinance - that is, “Not 'til death do us part, but for life after death.” Anybody getting married without the sealing ordinance has an earthly marriage, not eternal marriage.

A marriage, for example, performed by a Bishop of the LDS church that is not sealed, is not an eternal marriage, but an earthly one. Polygyny in the LDS understanding of God’s doctrine ONLY applies to eternal marriages - that has been the same from the time of the ancient prophets all the way to today.

Funny. So there are times that when a LDS Bishop performs marriage, it may not be a ‘sealed marriage’?

Therefore, in the time of of the OT - the time of David, for example, we see most of our prophets having more than one wife. These are women sealed to the same prophet. This did not change from the beginning of time until today.

Sorry but I disagree with you. If there is anything such as a ‘sealed marriage’ in the OT, it was for Adam and Eve. God formally pronounced it. None such command was given to the polygamous marriage of the patriarchs and kings though. I agree there might be instances of such command and approval for their normal (monogamous) marriage – I have to look for such example, but none for polygamous marriage.

God simply did not command any prophet to take more than one wives. You mistake the fact that because some patriarchs and kings had more than one wives that such marriages were commanded by God. Actually God never commanded them to.

Now, earthly marriage is a different matter. This is a “practice” not “doctrine”. This is the “practice” that God commanded to limit to one wife according to the time.

I hope this clarifies the LDS viewpoint a little bit.

I accept everything that you say if it is meant to be LDS belief. Just don’t suppose that Christianity believe the same or that the Bible teaches polygamy.

If LDS thinks that just because patriarchs and the ancient kings had more than one wives, they were commanded by God to do so, well, they were not. Solomon also had concubines; God obviously did not allow concubines.

I can’t find any prophets who practiced polygamy though.

At this point I am rather confused in all this. I do not have any background in your religion and I may not appreciate the terms you use like you do. Reading posts from more knowledgeable members on this subject; your explanation seems to be different. So I won’t be commenting on LDS unless it is to clarify misnomer about Christianity/Bible belief.

 

[DV56]

I have noticed ALOT of similarities between the Islam and Mormonism. It’s really uncanny. I wonder if anyone has done a comparison/contrast here on CAF.

Please understand that I am in no way trying to defend Mormonism as the correct religion, but in today’s context to try to compare the two religions and HOW their adherents contribute valueably to society, stability, and peace in general is not fair.

The general sociological outlooks of Catholics and Mormons is very similar. Mormons have been strong allies in all “culture of death” issues.

 

[Jay53]

Please understand that I am in no way trying to defend Mormonism as the correct religion, but in today’s context to try to compare the two religions and HOW their adherents contribute valueably to society, stability, and peace in general is not fair.

The general sociological outlooks of Catholics and Mormons is very similar. Mormons have been strong allies in all “culture of death” issues.

I did not compare how their adherents contribute to society. I made an observation about there being similarities between the two religions, i.e. both have a self-proclaimed prophet, both “prophets” were visited by an “angel”, both religions defend said prophet as being intellectually unable to produce their respective scripture alone, both religions defend said prophet by claiming that they never recanted their beliefs even on their deathbeds, etc. That’s all. I truly did not mean to take this thread off topic.

 

[chris2009]

That is not what your comparison meant to do, and you know it. Don’t mistake me for someone who does not know LDS thought or teaching.

Your knowledge of LDS teachings all come from the wrong sources. You seek out people who devote their entire lives to slandering the LDS church. They provide dishonest, false information and half truths. They obviously are biased and have no desire to see both sides of the story. The things they dwell on are obscure, odd teachings that are NOT taught in our church. They find some opinion a church authority said back in the 1800s and take it out of context. This is all in an effort to discredit the LDS church.

Of course this is what the scribes and Pharisees did to Jesus Christ and the apostles. By their fruits you will know them. Look at the fruits of the LDS church.

I try to avoid anti-mormon material because it makes me sick to my stomach and I don’t feel the Holy Ghost. However, when I have occasionally read this kind of material in an honest effort to better understand, many times I hear claims I have NEVER heard before. I then search, read and study for answers. I will almost always find an answer that confirms what I know to be true (there are some things in the life I believe will not be revealed by God) and I even find additional evidence that the LDS is true. Dishonest people have no desire to see or learn the 1,000s of evidences FOR the LDS church. They only desire to bitterly pursue obscure falsehoods – many of which have been proven false. When I show these types of people evidences to answer their questions, rather than accept the answer, they ignore it and quickly move to the next dispute in rapid fire. I don’t think Jesus Christ himself would be able to convince some people. If Jesus were here today walking among men, who would be able to recognize Him? If Moses were here today, who would recognize him as a true prophet of God? Very few…

 

[chris2009]

Yet you are defending it? Why? Do you think you might be commanded to practice it?

Yes, I am defending polygamy. Not that I want to practice it. But that God has instituted it at various times. Without God’s approval it is sin. Saying polygamy was never commanded by God would mean the LDS church is not true. It would also mean the OT is not of God and is false. God’s greatest and best prophets of the OT practiced polygamy. To me it’s obvious.

There are tens of thousands of mormon people in sects that practice polygamy. Of course they are not Brigham Young Mormons, but they are Mormons, practicing what your prophets have taught. They have a testimony of your Book of Mormon.

I don’t know exactly how many break-off mormon sects practice polygamy – I just know it’s very small in comparison to the world-wide 14 million member church today. Many today would prefer to confuse the groups so that people believe the LDS church still practices polygamy. Even in the news they confuse this often. Amazingly, I find people all the time who think we still practice polygamy or think those reported in the news are the same as our LDS church.

Your polygamous sects practice polygamy because they believe the teachings of your prophets, until Young, when they see his revocation of a commandment as coming from a false prophet.

It was Wilford Woodruff, fourth prophet of the latter-day church, who provided the manifesto that ended plural marriage in 1890 – not Brigham Young. Here is a part of it:

"The Lord showed me by vision and revelation exactly what would take place if we did not stop this practice. If we had not stopped it, you would have had no use for . . . any of the men in this temple at Logan; for all ordinances would be stopped throughout the land of Zion. Confusion would reign throughout Israel, and many men would be made prisoners. This trouble would have come upon the whole Church, and we should have been compelled to stop the practice. Now, the question is, whether it should be stopped in this manner, or in the way the Lord has manifested to us, and leave our Prophets and Apostles and fathers free men, and the temples in the hands of the people, so that the dead may be redeemed. A large number has already been delivered from the prison house in the spirit world by this people, and shall the work go on or stop? This is the question I lay before the Latter-day Saints. You have to judge for yourselves. I want you to answer it for yourselves. I shall not answer it; but I say to you that that is exactly the condition we as a people would have been in had we not taken the course we have.
. . . I saw exactly what would come to pass if there was not something done. I have had this spirit upon me for a long time. But I want to say this: I should have let all the temples go out of our hands; I should have gone to prison myself, and let every other man go there, had not the God of heaven commanded me to do what I did do; and when the hour came that I was commanded to do that, it was all clear to me. I went before the Lord, and I wrote what the Lord told me to write. . . . "

The comparison for Lutherans is, do we consider that they are our brothers in Christ? Yes, we do.

You on the other hand, would like to pretend that your mormon break-offs are not mormon.

As LDS we consider Catholics, Lutherans, Protestants, break-off mormon sects, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jews, Muslims and everyone else our brothers in Christ. We are all brothers and sisters under the same Father in Heaven and should treat each other that way.

As for teaching the same doctrines and having the same practices, we would prefer that everyone clearly understand that mormon break-off sects are NOT part of our church. It is apparent that Catholics feel the same way about Protestants.

 

[chris2009]

I did not compare how their adherents contribute to society. I made an observation about there being similarities between the two religions, i.e. both have a self-proclaimed prophet, both “prophets” were visited by an “angel”, both religions defend said prophet as being intellectually unable to produce their respective scripture alone, both religions defend said prophet by claiming that they never recanted their beliefs even on their deathbeds, etc. That’s all. I truly did not mean to take this thread off topic.

You could make the same comparison with just about every prophet of the Bible. Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Peter, Paul were all self-proclaimed prophets. I would think all true prophets would be. I believe all these were also visited by angels. Moses was considered to be slow of speech and Peter was a simple fisherman with no apparent religious scholarly education. Do you think Moses could have produced the first five books of the Bible without God’s help? How about the writings of other prophets inspired by God? Which prophets of the Bible recanted their beliefs on their deathbeds? So my point is under your test the prophets of the Bible are similar to these as well.

 

[jakasaki]

I’ve been reading this thread from the very beginning.

Was polygamy commanded by God in the Bible… ???

**The answer is NO

If it was…

All Jewish men would have multiple wives … ALL OF THEM… !!!

All Christian men would have multiple wives… ALL OF THEM… !!!**

So, the answer again is NO…!!!

 

[chris2009]

For clarification purposes, would you explain who you believe is being referred to in this passage (particularly what you have in red)? And, would you explain what you believe to be the overall meaning of this Scripture, i.e. what message we are to take away from reading 2 Samuel 12?

Thank you.

Hi Jay,

I’m reposting the entire scripture to help with clarification. 2 Samuel 12:

" 1 And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.
2 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds:
3 But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.
4 And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.
5 And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die:
6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.
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."

The overall message here is Nathan is sent by the Lord to condemn David for sinning by killing Uriah and taking his wife Bath-sheba.

The scripture is so clear, I don’t know how it could ever be misinterpreted.

As we read in verse 1 “the Lord sent Nathan unto David”. Nathan was speaking for and in behalf of the Lord by inspriration. The Lord reveals His will to His servants the prophets. “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”(Amos 3:7) The prophet Nathan was speaking for and in behalf of God to David. Then the Lord through Nathan lists several things He has done for David (surely Nathan didn’t give David these things):

1. I anointed thee king over Israel
2. I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul
3. I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives
4. I gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah

It was the Lord who gave David multiple wives – just as He did with Abraham, Jacob and other righteous prophets. This truth is so plain, one would have to twist and distort the truth to make it otherwise. We should all be truth seekers no matter how uncomfortable or unpopular it may be.

 

[chris2009]

I’ve been reading this thread from the very beginning.

Was polygamy commanded by God in the Bible… ???

**The answer is NO

If it was…

All** Jewish men would have multiple wives … ALL OF THEM… !!!

All Christian men would have multiple wives… ALL OF THEM… !!!

So, the answer again is NO…!!!

Hi jakasaki,

Thanks for joining the thread. I’m interested in your opinions. Why do you say ALL Jewish and Christian men would have multiple wives if God commanded it in the Bible. What if God only commanded a few men to practice polygamy? What if God instituted it during different times and other times did not? This is what I believe.

Even in the Book of Mormon the Lord commands that polygamy NOT be practiced – except when He commands it.

“27 Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none;
28 For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts.
29 Wherefore, this people shall keep my commandments, saith the Lord of Hosts, or cursed be the land for their sakes.
30 For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things.” (Jacob 2:27-30)

The Lord does not command polygamy anywhere in the entire Book of Mormon.

 

[lax16]

Hi Jay,

It was the Lord who gave David multiple wives – just as He did with Abraham, Jacob and other righteous prophets. This truth is so plain, one would have to twist and distort the truth to make it otherwise. We should all be truth seekers no matter how uncomfortable or unpopular it may be.

chris - are you aware that Abraham and Jacob came BEFORE Moses?

What does “Thou shall not commit adultry” and “Thou shall not covet they neighbor’s wife” mean to you?

Your OP asks “Was polygamy COMMANDED by God in the Bible?” You have yet to prove it yet claim those of us who can prove otherwise are uncomfortable and have to twist and distort the truth?

 

[valient_Lucy]

Even in the Book of Mormon the Lord commands that polygamy NOT be practiced – except when He commands it.

“27 Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none;
28 For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts.
29 Wherefore, this people shall keep my commandments, saith the Lord of Hosts, or cursed be the land for their sakes.
30 For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things.” (Jacob 2:27-30)

The Lord does not command polygamy anywhere in the entire Book of Mormon.

So, if the Bible does command polygamy, as you say, and the Book of Mormon forbids it, then clearly the Book of Mormon contradicts the Bible, and therefore cannot be of divine origin.

 

[Jay53]

You could make the same comparison with just about every prophet of the Bible. Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Peter, Paul were all self-proclaimed prophets. I would think all true prophets would be. I believe all these were also visited by angels. Moses was considered to be slow of speech and Peter was a simple fisherman with no apparent religious scholarly education. Do you think Moses could have produced the first five books of the Bible without God’s help? How about the writings of other prophets inspired by God? Which prophets of the Bible recanted their beliefs on their deathbeds? So my point is under your test the prophets of the Bible are similar to these as well.

It was not a test - it was an observation. If you would like to do a comparison of all the prophets and what they taught and why they are or are not prophets, please feel free.

Muhammad and Joseph Smith, in particular, contradicted previous Scriptures and the interpretations of said Scriptures. To me, that is partly why they are not true prophets.

 

[Jay53]

Hi Jay,

I’m reposting the entire scripture to help with clarification. 2 Samuel 12:

" 1 And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.
2 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds:
3 But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.
4 And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.
5 And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die:
6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.
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."

The overall message here is Nathan is sent by the Lord to condemn David for sinning by killing Uriah and taking his wife Bath-sheba.

The scripture is so clear, I don’t know how it could ever be misinterpreted.

As we read in verse 1 “the Lord sent Nathan unto David”. Nathan was speaking for and in behalf of the Lord by inspriration. The Lord reveals His will to His servants the prophets. “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”(Amos 3:7) The prophet Nathan was speaking for and in behalf of God to David. Then the Lord through Nathan lists several things He has done for David (surely Nathan didn’t give David these things):

1. I anointed thee king over Israel
2. I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul
3. I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives
4. I gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah

It was the Lord who gave David multiple wives – just as He did with Abraham, Jacob and other righteous prophets. This truth is so plain, one would have to twist and distort the truth to make it otherwise. We should all be truth seekers no matter how uncomfortable or unpopular it may be.

I would simply add that David is being condemned because he was not satisfied with what he has - he was lusting after what someone else had. I think that is the important point of what is being said here. Again, I believe God tolerated polygamy, but I certainly don’t believe that he commanded it. You have not shown any commandment of polygamy, simply that it was being practiced.

In any event, Jesus told us that marriage was to be as it was in the beginning - one man and one woman. If you want to emphasize the word wives in this passage, then you also need to emphasize the use of the words “two shall become one” in Mark 10:8 and Matthew 19:6.

 

[PJM]

=chris2009 I received a question yesterday from a post that was closed today. I thought I would open is up as a new thread here.

Quote:
Originally Posted by chris2009
I’m not sure if you realized that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon and pretty much all the early Israelites all practiced pologamy by commandment from the Lord. Do you believe in all of the Bible or just part of it?

Quote from another poster:
Where was it commanded?

Although plural marriage is not a pleasant topic, the Bible shows evidence that the Lord sanctioned these things. The purposes of God are not always made known to us.

The Lord chastised David through Nathan the prophet after David sinned:

“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.” (2 Samuel 12:7-8)

Abraham, one of the greatest men to live on this earth practiced plural marriage. The Lord never condemned Abraham for this. Abraham continued to be a faithful servant of the Lord in everything he did.

"1 Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
3 And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. "

After this, Hagar ran away and an angel of the Lord told her to return. There is no condemnation from the angel that Hagar is practicing plural marriage.

Then Abraham took another wife:
“Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah.” (Gen 25:1)

We all know the story of Jacob marrying Leah and her sister Rachel. (Gen 29)

In addition, Bilhah and Zilpah were handmaids and given to Jacob as wives.
"4 And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her. "
"9 When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife. "(Gen 30:4,9)

The Lord reveals His laws of plural marriage to Moses.
“10 If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.” (Exodus 21:10)

More laws of plural marriage from the Lord to Moses.
“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:”

“21 But Abijah waxed mighty, and married fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons, and sixteen daughters.” (2 Chronicles 13:21)

“3 And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters.” (2 Chronicles 24:3)

Isaiah speaks of plural marriage practiced in a future day.
“1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.” (Isaiah 4:1)

The Book of Mormon actually condemns plural marriage.
“27 Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none;
28 For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts.
29 Wherefore, this people shall keep my commandments, saith the Lord of Hosts, or cursed be the land for their sakes.
30 For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things.” (Jacob 2:27-30)

The key here is the Lord says, “if I will… I will command my people, otherwise they shall” not practice plural marriage.

I have no desire whatsoever to have more than one wife. However, it is clear from the Bible that the Lord commanded it from time to time. In the case of Joseph Smith, it had nothing to do with sex as some suppose. Joseph did NOT want to impliment this practice and even delayed it as long as he could. The Lord commanded it and Joseph would have been cut off as a prophet of God had he disobeyed the Lord. This is a highly controversial and difficult doctrine. But the Lord has His purposes for everything He does.

***Permitted equates to TOLERATED!

Mandate equates to Commanded.

God permitted, not Commanded; HUGE difference.***

 

[Benadam]

There are certain conditions that the practice of polygamy is permissable. If a society has a disproportionate ratio of males to females from war .Polygamy can provide a means of avoiding the various ills attached to women who wish to marry but can’t.

A polygamous society tends to produce hypercompetitive males and a class of males who will not be able to marry.

God didn’t command polygamous marriages but permitted them because there are social conditions that warrant the practice. If there was a command agaist them the good that is possible would also be denied. God wouldn’t command that the matrimonial bond suffer loss caused by polygamy.

The first polygamist in scriptures is also the man who symbolizes increased sin in man.

Gen 4
23 And Lamech said to his wives Ada and Sella: Hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech, hearken to my speech: for I have slain a man to the wounding of myself, and a stripling to my own bruising. 24 Sevenfold vengeance shall be taken for Cain: but for Lamech seventy times sevenfold.

 

[Reuben_J]

I did not compare how their adherents contribute to society. I made an observation about there being similarities between the two religions, i.e. both have a self-proclaimed prophet, both “prophets” were visited by an “angel”, both religions defend said prophet as being intellectually unable to produce their respective scripture alone, both religions defend said prophet by claiming that they never recanted their beliefs even on their deathbeds, etc. That’s all. I truly did not mean to take this thread off topic.

Right on. There are similarities in the aspects listed. Also both defend and justify polygamy in the Bible. That’s all to it. Nothing was being mentioned as to the regards of their contribution to the society.

People are a bit defensive and try to blow this observation out of proportion. The OP even retorted by comparing Catholics with Greek mythical gods and idol worshipping.

 

[Reuben_J]

I would simply add that David is being condemned because he was not satisfied with what he has - he was lusting after what someone else had. I think that is the important point of what is being said here. Again, I believe God tolerated polygamy, but I certainly don’t believe that he commanded it. You have not shown any commandment of polygamy, simply that it was being practiced.

In any event, Jesus told us that marriage was to be as it was in the beginning - one man and one woman. If you want to emphasize the word wives in this passage, then you also need to emphasize the use of the words “two shall become one” in Mark 10:8 and Matthew 19:6.

I have been saying this to the LDS proponents. If we read at how David acquired those wives, it was plain that God did not guide nor commanded him to do so as it was in Mohammad’s case (I’m not sure about Mormom’s Smith). Mohammad was (name removed by moderator)sired and received Allah’s revelation to marry his daughter-in-law in addition to the wives he aleardy had.

I caution LDS posters here to be really careful about understanding the word ‘commanded’ and 'tolerated’. There is no command for polygamy. Divorce was allowed in the civil society of the Israelite but it was not like that originally as planned (commanded) by God in Genesis.

 

[Reuben_J]

It was the Lord who gave David multiple wives – just as He did with Abraham, Jacob and other righteous prophets. This truth is so plain, one would have to twist and distort the truth to make it otherwise. We should all be truth seekers no matter how uncomfortable or unpopular it may be.

Please tell how God gave Abraham Hagar, Jacob Leah and Rachel, David Bathsheba. I also want to know why did David needed to undergo such deep repentance if God really commanded this marriage? Thank you very much.

 

[hamba2han]

I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery." … Matthew 19:9

It is really a question of perspective on how we interpret this verse.

I would say that the verse means whoever does NOT divorce his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, does NOT commit adultery.

And so, this verse is actually giving permission to those who wish to marry more than one wife because it is prohibiting men from divorcing one wife in order to marry another woman.

In other words, the verse is saying that there is no need at all for a man to divorce his wife in order for him to marry another… and this means of course that God in the Bible is clearly giving permission for polygamy.

 

[dolphinlove]

I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery." … Matthew 19:9

It is really a question of perspective on how we interpret this verse.

I would say that the verse means whoever does NOT divorce his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, does NOT commit adultery.

And so, this verse is actually giving permission to those who wish to marry more than one wife because it is prohibiting men from divorcing one wife in order to marry another woman.

In other words, the verse is saying that there is no need at all for a man to divorce his wife in order for him to marry another… and this means of course that God in the Bible is clearly giving permission for polygamy.