Okay, I'm sorry but the polygamy question begs to be asked. I'm pretty stinking sure it was "wrong"... but does anyone know where the bible actually says as much? I mean, I know about the passage regarding elders, and how they are to be "husbands of one wife"... and of course the fact that God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and a harem. But apart from that... does that bible declare polygamy to be a sin? Trying to put David's character into context here... there's a big difference between "not ideal" and "not permissable" and I really am curious as to David's stance on this one.
"Like a flood of water, God has broken through my enemies by using me." v 11 I love how we recognizes it was God, and he was just an instrument in the Lord's hand.
"I, God, will have gone out before you to defeat the Philistine army." v15 He goes before, He encompasses us and is our rearguard as well. He's got us covered.
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okay... I'm trying to figure it out too.... Lamech was the first polygamist mention, and I don't know that it's coincidence that Noah was his son...
my Bible says (in the "subject" section) that it is Contrary To:
God's Original Law (Gen 2:24) "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh"
God's Commandment (Ex. 20:14) "You shall not commit adultery"
That's about it for the OT - I think it is understood more than said outright - I don't think that the Lord said specifically to them "you may not have more than one wife"...I think it may also have had to do with culture - my Bible says it was caused by Barrenness in the first wife, desire for a large family, political ties with another country, and slavery.
I found the following....
Rampant polygamy (and possibly all polygamy) was prohibited for kings, because it would cause them to turn from God. Rampant polygamy (and possibly all polygamy) was prohibited for kings, because it would cause them to turn from God. "He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray." (Dt 17:17)
If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love. Deu 21:15-16
So God gives provision for the protection of civil rights in the case of polygamy. In a sense He it is almost like the divorce specifications... "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning" (Mt 19:8).
In a sense it really shows how AMAZINGLY gracious and patient He really is. Making allowances for things that are not His best for us, but He doesn't abandon us and walk away and say "you made your bed, now sleep in it."
I also found this site helpful;
http://www.christian-thinktank.com/polygame.html the first part is more historical, but if you scroll down to "now the New Testament data" and read the new testament verses there and the commentary on it, that is pretty helpful.
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