Polygamy in the Bible?

[Guest LadyC]

ahhh, yes, i'm right. sorry, anothertraveler, but here from ruth chapter 3:

12 Although it is true that I am near of kin, there is a kinsman-redeemer nearer than I. 13 Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to redeem, good; let him redeem. But if he is not willing, as surely as the LORD lives I will do it. Lie here until morning."

and from chapter 4:

3 Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, "Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech. 4 I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you [a] will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line."

"I will redeem it," he said.

5 Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, you acquire the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property."

6 At this, the kinsman-redeemer said, "Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it."

the nearer kin absolutely could have married her, but he did not WANT to because it would have jeapordized his own estate.

[Guest LadyC]

Just because it's in the Bible doesn't mean it had God's stamp of approval such as King Solomon's multiple wives. God ordained marriage as one man and one woman with Adam and Eve.

i'd have to study up on solomon. i don't know if God gave a stamp of approval on his multiple wives or not, but God Himself gave solomon's father, david, multiple wives. God only became angry when david killed uriah to take bathsheba as a wife.

2 samuel 12: 7 Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.

surely the ideal is one man, one woman. scripture doesn't make any bones about the fact that a man with multiple wives will deal with hardships that aren't necessary... especially when it comes down to jealousy issues. but to say, as you did, that 'just because it is in the bible doesn't mean it had God's stamp of approval" tends to be a dead argument in cases where God says He gave a man multiple wives.

if it had been a case where man just up and did what he wanted, taking several wives without God's involvement, i'd agree with you. but that wasn't always the case. God never gives anyone anything that He disapproves of, it would be contrary to His nature.

i'm not supporting polygamy, by the way. i can't comprehend why anyone would want to engage in such a marriage. i'm a firm believer in monogamy. however, i have to put my own personal bias aside when we're discussing God's word.

[terter]

I'm be searching too.

[terter]

Lady C - sent you a pm. Wondering what you thought if you have a chance to review. Thanks.

[Guest LadyC]

i responded

[terter]

I've tried to locate a scripture that showed polygamy was God's ideal -

II Sam 12:8 states "gave thee" "wives." However -

This scripture states that Saul had one wife 1Sa 14:50 "And the name of Saul's wife was Ahinoam, the daughter of Ahimaaz: and the name of the captain of his host was Abner, the son of Ner, Saul's uncle."

At this point, we've got 1 scripture that states "wives" and another one that states "wife."

I'm not for polygamy - just trying to see what the Word says. Anyone know of any other scripture to support 1 wife for Saul or more than 1 wife?

[Openly Curious]

'Leonard'

I mean, a man with two wives also has two (shudder) Mothers-in-Law!

Now Leonard that is a tough one to deal with isn't it (man, shakes head) two of them.

OC

[sheya joie]

I've tried to locate a scripture that showed polygamy was God's ideal -

II Sam 12:8 states "gave thee" "wives." However -

This scripture states that Saul had one wife 1Sa 14:50 "And the name of Saul's wife was Ahinoam, the daughter of Ahimaaz: and the name of the captain of his host was Abner, the son of Ner, Saul's uncle."

At this point, we've got 1 scripture that states "wives" and another one that states "wife."

I'm not for polygamy - just trying to see what the Word says. Anyone know of any other scripture to support 1 wife for Saul or more than 1 wife?

2 Sam 3:7 And Saul had a concubine, whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah: and Ishbosheth said to Abner, Wherefore hast thou gone in unto my father's concubine?

Here is another wife of Saul's. Don't let the word concubine throw you; she was one of his wives.

To make the use of the word concubine more clear, look here:

Gen 35:22 And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:

And we know that Bilhah was one of Jacob's four wives. Whenever I see the word concubine, I think 'slave wife.' A concubine would start out as one of the slaves in a house, and then the master of the house (or perhaps one of his sons) would marry her. There's a whole section in the Law of Moses that goes into how exactly a man was to treat his female slaves, but I won't go into that here.

Hope that's a help.

[terter]

Concubines did not have the same status as wives; otherwise, i.e., Sarah would not have been able to tell Hagar what to do. The search was for scripture that God had a hand in polygamy and made it happen not just allowing what men had decided to do on their own.

Butero, there were some other websites that stated that the translation should not have used the word "wives" but "women" because of the slave girls, etc. So I do appreciate your checking into it. Thanks!

[sheya joie]

It's more like the concubine did not have the same status as a 'free' woman. That is why I used the term 'slave wife.'