The Town Hall Archives

The Top Crusader · Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2003 4:22 pm Post subject:

I'ma gonna haff to start raisin' me some wimen folk!! Razz

rosie · Inquisitive Member Joined: 07 Jan 2003 Posts: 1197

Oh, good grief.

merry · Guest

i dont think that God ment for people today to have many wives; i mean can u imagine how screwed up the world would get? its pretty bad already!! would u want to marry a guy with multiple wives? j/w!

~merry

rosie · Inquisitive Member Joined: 07 Jan 2003 Posts: 1197

I'm not questioning that it's wrong now. *ugh* just if it was wrong back then. It's confusing.

hawkeye · Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2003 11:13 pm Post subject:

No, Reub, I made no such correlation. I have no can of worms, you brought that in. :wink:

Rose: yes, God only gave man one human companion, but many animal companions (before Eve). As for wether it was wrong back then or not, well, it depends on who you ask on the response you'll get. The Mormans take the views God called David and Solomon, among others, to be polygamists.

But what of God's view? Well, God asked Solomon what he wanted from God, and Solomon asked for wisdom. The wisdom God gave Solomon is to this day legendary. Nearly every human who knows anything about the the Torah (part of the OT, I believe the first 5 books) knows of Solomon's wisdom over 4,000 years after. Solomom obviously did not see any foolishness in polygamy.

Now, on to Solomon's father, David. The Bible says David was a man after God's own heart. David was a model for all Christians to note

Then there is Jacob, who came to God because of a dream. he had no intetion of marrying more than one wife, but hiw father in law left him no choice because of Laben's trickery. God made Jacon the father of the one who God used to save the whole region from 7 years of famine.

Then there ia Abraham. The father of many nations. Abraham not only had Saran, and her handservant, but Abraham had many concubines and several wives. Abraham is the father of Judaism and thus Christianity and Islam. The Bible is lain in reference to Abraham. Abraham has his own place in Heaven (Abraham's Bosom) that is between Heaven and earth where anyone before Jesus went if they accepted the future sacrifice of Jesus.

So, I see no indication polygamy was wrong in OT times. God neither condemned, nor condoned it

Gandalf · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2003 4:55 pm Post subject:

Interesting discussion. Hawkeye, I'm not quite sure I agree with you. Sure, most OT people had multiple wives but I don't think that made it right. Especially in the cases of David and Solmon, it was a direct violation of God's Law:

Deuteronomy 17:17 "Neither shall he (the king) multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.

So why did God allow them to get away with it? Especially in David's case (a man after God's own heart) why didn't He ever confont David? Well, I believe that David knew he was sining. As a king he would have been very familiar with the Law, and thus knew that it was wrong of him to "multiply wives". I think that God never slammed him up against the wall and said "sinner" because David and the others were human. A fallen creature that will always do evil, no matter what. He (we) can never be perfected and stop sinning until we get to Heaven. This doesn't excuse sin, but it explains it. David still suffered the consequences of his sin, as did the whole country for allowing him to do it.

It just seems that there were always serious consequences for polygamy. Jacob, Abraham, Solomon, David, etc. are all good examples of breaking God's design for marriage. Sure, God never came out and said "Thou Shalt not marry more than one wife" (except for in the case of the King), but the principle was there from the beginning. I believe there are certain universal principles that govern us, and that one man- one woman is one of them.

Hawkeye, God didn't design the animals to be companions for Adam, if He did then He isn't the all-knowing/all-powerful God that I know He is. If He had created the animals to be Adam's companions, it was a fluke that it didn't work, which of course means that something is more powerful than God. Adam wouldn't have been disatisfied with the animals, God would have "programed" him to desire them for companions. He wouldn't have needed to make a woman. I argue that God knew exactly what He was going to do from before day 1 of Creation. He knew that He would create (one) woman for Adam to be his companion. It wasn't like God failed and so He tried again, it was His perfect plan from the beginning.

merry · Guest

oo ic! i dont think that it was consodered a sin back then because of the kindsman redeemer thing. (if a guy dies his brother has to marry his wife...) look at hannah... she was married to Elkanah but he also had a another wife.. Penninah. and it never said that it was bad in 1 Sam.

~merry

Felicity Carden · Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2003 12:10 pm Post subject:

*slaps forehead and laughs* So many evil things floating around my head!

Gandalf · Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2003 12:27 pm Post subject:

*sigh* I think we can definately say it was sin for the king at least to have more than one wife. I personally think it's one of those principles that God didn't come out and say but it was/is very easy to tell. For instance, where does God say that a week has to be 7 days long? He doesn't, but we know from failed expieriments that longer or shorter weeks simply just don't work. (In case you were wondering, France tried a 10 day week shortly after the revolution, it didn't work...) Was it a sin for them to marry more than one wife? I personally believe it was, but since I don't have a Scripture reference to sight, I guess I can't say it definately was.

BTW, I also think that Spiritual Principles played a big part in Genesis. The time before the flood it says that people were really wicked. Now how could they be wicked if the only law they had been given was to not eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? It's just something they they should have known, and I believe it's the same way with the people in the OT about polygamy.

hawkeye · Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2003 1:34 am Post subject: