Several prominent men in the Old Testament were polygamists.
Abraham (Genesis 25:1), Jacob (Genesis 30:14-15), David (2 Samuel 5:13; 1 Chronicles 3:1-9), Solomon (1 Kings 11:3), and other Hebrew leaders all took for themselves many wives.
King Solomon, the man the Bible calls “wiser than all men” (I Kings 4:31), had “700 wives and 300 concubines.” Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, had 18 wives and 60 concubines.
Invariably during a Bible study of a book from the Old Testament, someone will ask me a question about polygamy.
A casual reading of Old Testament Scriptures (Genesis through Malachi) leaves the impression that men having multiple wives and concubines was not an act God prohibited or censored. Polygamy even seems to be something God allowed.
Old Testament Culture
Children in the ancient world were man’s highest form of wealth. The more children, the more influential the man.
Why did God allow many wives and concubines in the Old Testament?
If polygamy is a sin, why didn’t God condemn people like Abraham, who had three wives, instead of the Bible calling Abraham “faithful” and “a friend of God” (James 2:23)?
Some Christians pretend that although the men of God in the Old Testament had multiple wives, they only “slept” with one wife. The other wives and concubines, these Christian moralists argue, were more like “housemaids” and “household servants.”
Yet the Bible teaches just the opposite.
For example, in Genesis 30:14-16, Rachel and Leah, two of Jacob’s wives, argued over who will “sleep with Jacob” that night. Rachel grants Leah the privilege of “sleeping with Jacob” in exchange for Leah giving Rachel the “mandrakes” that Leah’s son Reuben had harvested in the fields.
Mandrakes (Heb. dudraim ) are mentioned in Genesis 30:14-16 and in Song of Solomon 7:13. The mandrake is a Mediterranean plant from the potato family that grows low like lettuce. Its leaves are dark green, and its flowers are purple. The root is usually forked, and when the mandrake bears fruit when ripe (early in May), the fruit is about the size of a small apple, fragrant, yellow in color, and quite flavorful to the palate.
Orientals and Arabs call mandrakes “the devil’s apple” because when mandrakes are eaten, they give sexual energy to the person who eats them.
A book written in 1881 by Dr. Benjamin Ward Richardson Richardson, called Lectures on Alcohol, reveals that experiments with wine made of the root of mandrake produce a narcotic, causing deep sleep. The ancients used it as an anesthetic. However, a mandrake digested in small quantities acts like opium, exciting the nerves and acting as a sexual stimulant.
Rachel let her rival sister and wife, Leah, sleep with their mutual husband Jacob “for the mandrakes.”
Try teaching that story to your 4th grade Sunday School class.
Cultural Morality and Christianity
During the Old Testament days, the accepted cultural norm for all the nations was “many wives and concubines.”
Was multiple wives the ideal for a man during Old Testament days?
No.
God revealed the ideal in the Mosaic Law, saying that Israel’s king “…must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold for himself” (Deuteronomy 17:17).
But — Dr. D. Martin Lloyd-Jones says “but” is the most crucial word in the Bible – Solomon had “700 wives.” King Solomon led Israel during their glory years. Solomon’s mistake of many wives didn’t preclude him from Kingdom leadership.
It did, however, contribute to his personal downfall.
“For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father” (I Kings 11:4).
The above verse (I Kings 11:4) is very interesting.
Before you wax eloquent on King David’s qualifications for Kingdom service because “his heart was right with God,” and before you condemn Solomon and affirm his downfall because “his heart was far from God,” everyone needs to ponder how to answer a specific question.
“At what number of wives – between 8 and 700 – does a man’s heart turn away from God?”
Solomon had seven hundred wives, and David had eight wives. Solomon’s heart turned away from the Lord, but David’s heart “was wholly true to the Lord his God.”
You say: “But you ask such a silly question! A man must have just one wife and only one wife. That’s how we know a man’s heart is true to God. Any more than one wife, then that man’s heart is not right with God.”
But the Bible states, “David’s heart was “true to God” with eight wives.
The culture in David’s day deemed eight wives healthy, but seven hundred wives excessive.
It’s the Heart
Be careful in this modern day of evangelicalism disqualifying someone from Kingdom service because they violate the church’s cultural preferences for external morality. Those of us who grew up in a church culture may be responsible for losing a generation because we forced them to “check off” a morality standard that fits our particular church culture, and we disqualify them if they don’t.
- Don’t live together.’
- Don’t drink alcohol.
- Don’t use tobacco.
- Don’t go to concerts.
- Don’t miss church.
- Don’t go to the movies.
- Don’t get a tattoo.
- Don’t dance or go to dances.
- Don’t play sports on Sunday.
- Etc., etc., etc.
God doesn’t exclude from Kingdom service the people Christians tend to exclude.
When I’m asked about the leaders of Israel in the Old Testament having “many wives and concubines,” I sense the one asking is bothered.
“Pastor Wade, why does God seem to allow men with moral issues to lead His people?”
Here’s how I answer: ”
When I read of ‘many wives and concubines, I realize that God measures the heart for service qualification in His Kingdom.
I am cautious that I don’t set a standard for Kingdom service using an external moral code of my making.
In our day, people like David (people who’ve been divorced and remarried) are often not allowed to lead God’s people.Why are the divorced disqualified from ministry? Because it seems we’re more interested in people checking off the box that says they look good externally (or at least, ‘like us’) than we are examining the condition of their hearts.
I want someone in Kingdom service sho is living selflessly, loving sacrificially, and seeking others’ interests first.
So in my way of thinking…Divorced people, remarried people, people in blended families, couples living together, and people from non-traditional family situations who express their love for Jesus Christ should be accepted as people of God capable of serving His Kingdom because their loving, selfless hearts demonstrate their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.Where does the church draw the line?Good question. And a question with answers that may vary from time period to time period, from culture to culture, and church to church.But for all ages, it’s always …
About the heart.
A person’s moral conscience ‘pings’ when the person decides to do wrong or decides to not do what is right. So our consciences ‘speak’ to us, not in human words, but in ‘the heart’ where God has inscribed His laws. So we know. So we know.
Amen. “We know” so, “We know.”
” Le cœur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point ”
(Blaise Pascal)
Wade, you wrote: “Don’t get a tattoo.”
No one has a tattoo in our church except our youth director who has both arms tattooed from his shoulder to his wrist. Once, I asked why was he the only man in church wearing a short-sleeve shirt? Did he like to show off his tattoos? He wouldn’t answer.
CHRISTIANE,
You said, “A person’s moral conscience ‘pings’ when the person decides to do wrong or decides to not do what is right.”
I believe that would apply mainly to Christians. Hitler’s conscience sure didn’t do any pinging, and today there’s many people in our government whose consciences are surrounded by concrete.
REX RAY,
I believe that God places His laws into the hearts of all mankind.
I believe that all mankind, men and women, are gifted by God with a conscience that helps them to know the difference between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’.
I realize that many folks, including Christians, are dealing with conflicted consciences, but there it is . . . . . too many follow ‘another lord’ who preaches hate instead of the teachings of Christ
I can’t account for ‘why’ this is. There are many ‘explanations’, but a person cannot serve two masters, no . . . . especially when one is hateful and mean-spirited. (?)
CHRISTIANE,
This is like old times. I don’t believe God places His laws into people’s hearts. If that was true, there wouldn’t be Muslims etc.; there would be only be Baptists. (smile)
Jesus said: “…I will build my church and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.” (Mathew 16:18 NLT)
Have you heard about the man that had a Jennie that told him he would give him anything he asked for, but his mother-in-law would get twice as much? The man said, “In that case I want you to beat me half to death.”
Good old times, REX RAY.
Wade is right, you need to have all of your stories put into a book for sale. Or at least you need to be recording them so that someday they can be shared with others.
Muslims are people, too. They are persons, made in the image of God and given a soul by God, and therefore deserving of respect because of their Creator who made them and maintains them in existence. In my faith, we are respectful of the consciences and the faith of those who see things differently from ourselves. Often, with the Muslims, it is a matter of not knowing much about their faith, as we Christian people have warred with them for millenia over the Holy Lands (Crusades).
I am aware that some Christian people do not ‘respect’ anyone’s faith that differs from their own specific denomination’s ‘musts’. But what this leads to is that often ‘the other’ is seen as an intruder, and enemy, a threat, someone ‘un-saved’ and hell-bound. Or so some Christians judge them to be. Again, I think we must leave judgment to God Who is the only One who sees into the hearts of all people. We cannot judge as God judges. We are not ‘god’, no.
Do you know any Muslim people, REX RAY?
CHRISTIANE,
You asked if I know any Muslims. I know a man who was raised by Muslim grandparents. (Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6 KJ)
He said the most beautiful sound on earth was the Muslim call to prayer.
He bowed to a Muslim King. His pastor said, “God bless America? No! God dam America!” About every country he visited, he apologized for what America had done.
CHRISTIANE, would you agree he believed and acted like a Muslim? I have a book with the title: “Obama the Worst President of the United States.” It lists over one thousand things he did that hurt America.
Judy said his vice-president, Biden, has hurt American more than Obama.
Wade; another tale.
No More Swim Lessons by Rex Ray
When Hez and I were 15, we decided to teach our two 13-year-old cousins, Frank and James to swim. James had two brothers that went with us. Claude had been in the Navy, and David was 32, but couldn’t swim. Red River was too high, so we found a creek and went upstream to find a shallow place. Hez was swimming ten yards ahead of me. I was swimming below the others that were walking on the bank that was 5 feet high.
The two young ones were cutting up. Frank pushed James off the bank, but was grabbed and they fell close enough to grab me. Their heads were above water, but mine wasn’t. I was running out of air, so I swam to the bottom and they let go of me.
I remembered Uncle Don saying, “Don’t let anybody drown.” I’d laughed then, but now I was afraid someone would drown. I came up to see Claude helping his brother, but Frank strangled him. Claude barely made it to the bank.
James was trying to swim, but his head was under water. He’d get a breath every time I yanked his head up by his hair, but his hair was so short it would slip through my fingers. This was repeated many times before I got him to the bank.
While I was struggling with James, I saw Frank in deep water and HALF HIS BODY WAS OUT OF THE WATER. He was yelling, “HELP, HELP, SOMEBODY SAVE DAVID!” I was dumfounded as I hadn’t seen what happened.
.
”
Wade,
It’s hard to believe a machine won’t let the story be told how a 32-year-old man almost lost his life while two boys were trying to learn to swim.
Or maybe I need a new computer.
Wade,
This is an old family story. Newspaper had there were Eagles at Lake Texoma which was 50 miles from us. Six of us drove there to see them. There were many large birds in a three. My brother-in-law stated the birds were Eagles, but below the tree was a man fishing while drinking a beer. He said the birds were buzzards.
My sister told her husband, “But the fisherman said they were buzzards!”
“WHO ARE YOU GOING TO BELIEVE, A DRUNK OR A DEACON IN A BAPTIST CHURCH?”
My sister praised God for letting us see eagles!
We learned later the Eagles had left a week before we got there.
LOVED the buzzard/eagles story, REX RAY. So funny !
Just got out of the hospital (three days), had A – fib of the heart and a small stroke but not major, so am taking it easy for a while (no driving) and the Family is ‘helping me’ (giving orders, advice, arranging everything, etc. etc. God bless them!!!!!!)
Family . . . what would I do without them? Love them dearly, even when they get bossy. . . .
How are you doing? If you ever get heart palpitations, tell your doctors right away.
What did I know? 🙂
Hope you are doing well, at least. All will be well here and am recovering just fine. Lots of new medications, so am busy learning new routine. Physical therapists to come to house for a while . . . . more trouble 🙂 🙂 I will behave, of course, but this getting older thing is for the birds (buzzards)
Let me know how you are doing.
c.
much involved in recovery from A-fib condition and mild stroke – dear friends, please pray for me to be stronger as am feeling very weak now
c.