Why polygamy in the Bible?

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Winston,
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There was AND there will be.....read Isaiah 4:1-5...or better yet, let me print it out for you from the Truly Catholic Bible (The Douay Rheims)
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, take away our reproach. 2 In that day the bud of the Lord shall be in magnificence and glory, and the fruit of the earth shall be high, and a great joy to them that shall have escaped of Israel. 3 And it shall come to pass, that every one that shall be left in Sion, and that shall remain in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, every one that is written in life in Jerusalem. 4 If the Lord shall wash away the filth of the daughters of Sion, and shall wash away the blood of Jerusalem out of the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. 5 And the Lord will create upon every place of mount Sion, and where he is called upon, a cloud by day, and a smoke and the brightness of a flaming fire in the night: for over all the glory shall be a protection.
 
what this scripture seems to be saying is that those “daughters of Sion” who ask for seven husbands will be burned and destroyed for their sin, so I can’t see how it supports polygamy. Where in the bible does it say God approved Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon or anybody else taking a concubine or second wife? Tolerated, the way He tolerates other sin and evil so that He may use it to produce good, but not approval.
 
Why did God allow polygamy in the Old Testament? For example, King David and or Abraham taking his servant girl to have a child, while Sarah agrees with it?
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God did not TELL Abraham to do this did He?
In fact…this occurred because Sarah did not believe the message given to her through the angels.

In the beginning God showed us the model for marriage.
Jesus confirmed this was God’s intention.

When Adam and Eve introduced sin into the picture, that image of marriage became twisted.

The reason there is polygamy in the OT? I believe the answer is …sin.
 
It is notable that every instance of polygamy in the Bible produces some ill effect. When Abraham took Hagar as a concubine and produced Ishmael, Ishmael became the father of Arab peoples, who have been the enemies of the Jewish people throughout history, even until this day. When Jacob took Leah, Rachel, and two others, the sons of the differnt wives quarrelled and had strife among themselves-- since Rachel was the favorite wife and received special treatment, he was sold by his brothers into Egypt, where of course the rest of the family followed and eventually were enslaved. David’s sons by different wives also faught amongst themselves, Absalom even waging war against his siblings and his father. The Old Testament, far from condoning polygamy, shows us the natural ill effects. Interestingly, the Mosaic law says that a king must not multiply gold, wives, and horses-- all of which Solomon did and ended his reign as a tyrant. It would appear that polygamy was a custom of the day, not condoned by God.

Jessica
 
I meant to type that Josph was the son of Rachel, Jacob’s favorite wife, and Josph was sold into slavery in egypt-- not Rachel, of course! I should proofread before I post! :o
 
Hi all!

The Patriarchs and other great men in the Tanakh (what we call what Christians call the “OT”) were polygamous, although our Sages tell us that they were exceptions to the general rule and until it was banned, polygamy was very uncommon. Of all the myriad Sages mentioned in the Talmud, ferinstance, none is mentioned as having more than one wife. Jewish law did permit a man to take more than one wife as long as he could support them all equally. But around 1000 CE (what we say instead of “AD”), leading European rabbis pronounced a ban on polygamy, which, as I’ve said, was never very widespread anyway. This ban was eventually adopted by rabbis in Islamic countries as well, except for Yemen. Polygamy, as rare as it was, was not unknown among the now, all-but-vanished Yemenite Jewish community. Most Yemenite Jews have moved to Israel. While the Israeli Chief Rabbinate has confirmed & reissued the ban on polygamy for all Jews, those Yemenite Jews who came to Israel with more than one wife were not required to divorce all but one. There still are a few elderly polygamous Yemenite Jews still living but as they pass on, the institution will die with them.

I’ve had Mormon pro-polygamists shriek at me that our rabbis are daring to change God’s endorsement of polygamy. We do not believe that He has endorsed polygamy at all; rather, we believe that He has given us the sacred institution of marriage & has authorized our Sages to regulate it. Thus, polygamy is something that we can keep or drop; we’ve chosen to drop it.
Be well!

ssv 👋
 
Thank You, stillsmallvoice! Your answer was very clear and interesting, and I enjoyed reading it.

Yours,
Jessica
 
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