INTRODUCTION
Nowadays it is not uncommon to hear statements such as Abraham was polygamous, Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines but they were servants of God. In their time, it was not a sin but in our turn it is said to be a sin. Let’s see what the Bible says about it.
DEVELOPMENT
At the beginning of married life, there was one man and one woman created for him. The Lord God took only one rib of the twenty-four to form the woman. If he wanted a man with many wives, he should have taken all the ribs so that everything would be perfect ; Genesis 2 :18 The LORD God said, It is not good for a man to be alone ; I will make him a helper (one helper not several) similar to him.
Indeed when he made it, it was Eve only, there was no other. Was God wrong ? Genesis 2 :22 The LORD God formed one woman from the rib that he had taken from the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 And the man said, This time she is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh ! she will be called woman, because she was taken from man. 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife (not to his wives), and they shall become one flesh (not many flesh).
Jesus’ contemporaries tried it with regard to this question of polygamy. Let’s see his response ; Matthew 19 :4 He said, Have you not read that the Creator in the beginning made man and woman 5 and said, Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will cleave to his wife, and the two will become one flesh ? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore let not man separate what God has joined together. 7 Why then, they said to him, did Moses command to give the woman a bill of divorce and to put her away ? 8 He said to them, “It is because of the hardness of your heart that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives ; in the beginning it was not so.
This passage clearly shows us that if Moses had allowed certain things, it was because if he said to keep the women, others silently killed them ; so to avoid this, it is better to let the woman go in peace. Something that displeases God ; Malachi 2 :13 This is also what you do : You cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and groaning, so that he no longer respects the offerings and cannot accept anything from him. Your hands. 14 And you say, Why ?... Because the LORD has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you are unfaithful, although she is your companion and the wife of your covenant. 15 No one has done this with any remaining sense. Only one did it, and why ? Because he was looking for the posterity that God had promised him. Take heed therefore in your spirit, And let no man be unfaithful to the wife of his youth ! 16 For I hate divorce, says the LORD God of Israel, and he who covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. Therefore take heed in your spirit, And do not be unfaithful !
The Lord said through Moses that even kings should not have a large number of wives in order to have a good spiritual life ; Deuteronomy 17 :14 When you enter into the land that the LORD your God gives you, when you shall possess it and make your dwelling there, and say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations around me ; 15 you shall set over you a king whom the LORD your God shall choose ; you shall take a king from among your brothers ; you shall not be able to give yourself a stranger who is not your brother. 16 But let him not have many horses ; and let him not bring the people back to Egypt to have many horses ; for the LORD has said to you, You shall not return that way again. 17 Let him not have many wives, lest his heart turn away ; and let him not make great piles of silver and gold. 18 When he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he will write for himself a copy of this law in a book, which he will take from the priests the Levites. 19 He must have it with him and read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, and to observe and do all the words of this law and all these ordinances.
Let us not think that it is normal for the king to have a greater number of property and women ; it is the pride of the human being that pushes him to this.
The Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul lets us know that every husband must have his wife not his wives ; 1 Corinthians 7 :2 However, [because of the temptation to uncleanness and] to avoid unchastity, let each one have his wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Verse 9 But if they lack continence, let them marry ; for it is better to marry than to burn. 10 To those who are married I command, not I, but the Lord, that the wife not separate from her husband.
And there someone will say that it is he who is called to the priesthood who must be monogamous ; 1 Timothy 3 :1 This saying is certain : If anyone aspires to the office of bishop, he desires an excellent work. 2 The bishop must therefore be blameless, the husband of one wife, sober, moderate, regular in his conduct, hospitable, fit for teaching.
But this thought does not hold water because we are all considered priests of the living God in Christ Jesus our savior ; 1 Peter 2 :9 But you (children of God) are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a blessed people, that you may proclaim the virtues of him who called you out of darkness into his admirable light.
Finally, there was a time when many Jews (men) died because of wars, and the spirit will put a word in the mouth of his prophet ; ISAIAH 4 :1 And seven women will take hold in that day one man, and will say : We will eat our bread, and we will put on our clothes ; Just let us carry your name ! Remove our shame !
This prophecy continues its course until today with the increase in the fairer sex. But this is not an invitation to polygamy.
CONCLUSION
Polygamy is not God’s plan. He who is the author of marriage began it with monogamy. But sin has led humans into polygamy. The man is for one woman and the woman for one man.