Bigamy and polygamy in OT

[Lanolin]

Some bible questions...and I will look up scriptures too, cos I would like to know..

Was David married to Abigail at the time he was going after Bathsheba? If so, why was he going after Bathesheba if he already had a wife? What happened to Michal? And was Abishag also his wife, or just a mistress or concubine?

Did moses laws ever set a limit on how many wives a husband could have? Did things completely change when Jesus came or were there still people marrying more than one wife? Is bigamy the same as polygamy, how about serial marriages. What about women could they have more than one husband?

There are many husbands with two or more wives in the OT, and it does say that one ends up loving one and hating the other.

Eg Lamech..Adah and Zillah. Not sure what happened there but he seemed to have killed someone. genesis 4
JAcob (israel) Rachel and Leah, plus their maids bore children..would they be concubines then. The sisters hated each other and competed for Jacobs affections
Abraham with sarah and maid Hagar, after sarah died he married Ketubah and had MORE children. hagar got uppity and ended up hating sarah who treated her harshly after she gave birth
Elkanah had Penninah and Hannah, Penninah mocked hannah for being unable to bear children till she had samuel

Why did these men bother to have two wives when those wives werent getting along?! What is the rationale for having more than one wife?

Then solomon had like 700 wives and 300 concubines I mean how is that even possible?? Did he have one each week or what. If he had 700 wives, then what a sham the song of solomon was. The bride in it is just one of many or is it just ok for a husband to have many wives but for a woman she can have only one husband.

Can anyone explain.

 

[pottersclay]

To my understanding in those days it was the culture. A man's wealth was determined by how many son's he had. Woman did most of the work. Which included a lot of labor. Women were second class citizens. Also some had suggested that there were more females than males back then. Society frowned upon a single women. Women were brought up to believe that their purpose in life were to bare children especially male children. Which were esteemed above females. Even though a women had many labors to preform she was not to be independent. She could not own or possess any material wealth. They would marry to be provided for.

 

[tourist]

Solomon, for being the wisest man who ever lived, is without excuse. He tells his story of futility in the book of Ecclesiastes. Apparently, he was not the sharpest tool in the shed after all. The same can be said for his dad David too who was also a serial adulterer. There was no rationale at all but it was all based on lust and the selfish pursuit of pleasure regardless of who go hurt in the process. Solomon was probably taking the generic form of Viagra of his day, plus perhaps natural aphrodisiacs comprising of figs, pomegranates, and grapes.

 

[Dino246]

Some bible questions...and I will look up scriptures too, cos I would like to know..

Was David married to Abigail at the time he was going after Bathsheba? If so, why was he going after Bathesheba if he already had a wife? What happened to Michal? And was Abishag also his wife, or just a mistress or concubine?
...
Can anyone explain.

Michal was "promised" to David, but David initially didn't marry her. Instead she was given to another man. Abigail married David after the death of her husband Nabal. Both married David long before the Bathsheba incident.

David did have several wives at the same time, plus concubines, when he slept with Bathsheba. 2 Samuel details all this.

Abishag was neither David's wife nor concubine. She was a virgin whose job it was to keep David physically warm when he was old and weak. After David's death she became Solomon's wife.

 

[AuntieAnt]

1 Corinthians 6:12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

There ya go! Truth: Two becoming one flesh. That’s what God intended. One husband and one wife becoming one.

Is it lawful to have more than one husband or wife? That’s not the question we should be asking ourselves. We should be asking ourselves: Am I more concerned with what I desire for myself or for pleasing God and glorifying Him?

My will or God's will?

Which one has mastery over you?

 

[Lanolin]

Would it be saying anyone who already has a wife and marries another commits adultery.
I think I read that somewhere in the Bible, that Jesus said that.

So all those taking two wives in the OT were commiting adultery on their first wife. I mean, what excuse is there for taking another wife. Not having children? Zecahriah was with elizabeth for I dont know how many years, she couldnt have children, but he didnt take another. Then they had John the baptist.

Was it because the first wife wasnt good enough, or didnt please the husband, but instead of letting her go, keep her and take another. i just wonder about abigail and michal, what was wrong with abigail that David would go after Bathesheba. MIchal, seemd displeased and it was like an arranged marriage for her, ok, but .abigail, why would David cheat on Abigail? Does it say what happened to her or do we just assume she died or wasnt around when David was cheating and then married Bathsheba. I cant imagine them at the wedding, and the minsiter says will you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife. Abigail might say HOld on RAbbi, stop the wedding, he cant marry her cos Im his wife!

 

[Lanolin]

Was abigail barren, did she have any children with Nabal, did she have any with David? Am quite puzzled about that. The story always goes on about Uriah because Bathesheba was married to him already, but doesnt mention that David was married to Abigail, nor that she ever found out. Or tried to kill him...when she did find out, which would be a common reaction amongst wronged wives, you would think.

Instead its Nathan who confronts David. But we dont hear how it affected Abigail.

 

[JaumeJ]

Jesus elaborated onthe law for us all, and He left us with the laws which go together constituting love. It is not difficult to understand.

Now becaue we all wish to be just like He is, we also are now here to forgivve and nd not to seek out the sins of others.

When we desire mercy and not sacrifice, we do not seek out the faults of others, we have merdy on all.

If we do not do so, we mae ourselves judges and executioners, and this should not be so. We should obey the commandmetnts as best we are given to do, but never condemn those we esteem as sinning as unforgiveable unless we wish to forgeit our own mercy.. Praise God and bless all. Judge not by appearance but with right judgement and then nly for yourself do youjudge what is right, never putting it on others.

 

[Lanolin]

Are you saying abigail forgave David. i just wonder if they got divorced before he married Bathsheba.

Its just reading the story in the Bible, and trying to understand what happened its not judging them, God already has done that. Otherwise it wouldnt be told in the Bible.

 

[Lanolin]

If itd too uncomfortable a topic for you to comment, or consider, then take it up with God, not me.

Adultery does affect everyone, the other parties, the children, and the people looking after the children that the parents have abandoned.

 

[Lanolin]

Solomon, for being the wisest man who ever lived, is without excuse. He tells his story of futility in the book of Ecclesiastes. Apparently, he was not the sharpest tool in the shed after all. The same can be said for his dad David too who was also a serial adulterer. There was no rationale at all but it was all based on lust and the selfish pursuit of pleasure regardless of who go hurt in the process. Solomon was probably taking the generic form of Viagra of his day, plus perhaps natural aphrodisiacs comprising of figs, pomegranates, and grapes.

Yet he wrote the book of Proverbs, and all thoughout he was warning his son dont go after strange women!
So maybe he did repent after all that to write that book.
I just wonder who he could be possibly referring to in Proverbs 31. His first wife, or number 359?

 

[tourist]

Yet he wrote the book of Proverbs, and all thoughout he was warning his son dont go after strange women!
So maybe he did repent after all that to write that book.
I just wonder who he could be possibly referring to in Proverbs 31. His first wife, or number 359?

Proverbs 31 was about the sayings of King Lemuel and apparently he was the one who described a woman of noble character and not David.

 

[Miri]

I suspect that multiple wives were not the ideal, but were permitted in the
OT, to multiply mankind. Imagine for example if Adam was only permitted one
wife and every man after him. What about illness, accidents etc. With one wife
there was a possibility mankind might have become extinct. Plus God did say go
forth and multiply, so it seems God give the go ahead!

When we get to the New Testament it seems a very different culture had
developed.


1 Tim 3 v 2 elders were to have one wife only for example.
The woman of sameria confessed she had known many men and knew it was wrong.
The Pharisees questioned Jesus about what would happen if a man had more than
one wife in heaven.

 

[Dino246]

Then solomon had like 700 wives and 300 concubines I mean how is that even possible??

He must have chosen the blue pill.

 

[Dino246]

Was abigail barren, did she have any children with Nabal, did she have any with David? Am quite puzzled about that. The story always goes on about Uriah because Bathesheba was married to him already, but doesnt mention that David was married to Abigail, nor that she ever found out. Or tried to kill him...when she did find out, which would be a common reaction amongst wronged wives, you would think.

Instead its Nathan who confronts David. But we dont hear how it affected Abigail.

Abigail had (at least) one son by David, named Daniel (1 Chronicles 3:1). Any children with Nabal are unrecorded. There is no record of a divorce from David. 1 Chronicles 3 lists all of David's sons by his wives; seven wives are listed, and more are implied. He also had several sons by concubines, none of which are named.

How the situation with Bathsheba affected Abigail or David's other wives is simply not recorded. Any comment on that subject is speculative, though given that there were several wives plus concubines, they probably did not see it the way a modern "lone" wife would see adultery. The culture of marriage, especially at the king's court, was very different to our present "Western" culture.

What we find difficult to comprehend, and what Scripture never explains, is why polygamy was "accepted" in the OT. God just doesn't tell us.

 

[AuntieAnt]

What we find difficult to comprehend, and what Scripture never explains, is why polygamy was "accepted" in the OT. God just doesn't tell us.

But the Bible does tell us in Psalm 14 that people do abominable deeds and that nobody does good. They say, "There is no God." And in Romans 3 it's written that nobody is righteous, not one person. Everybody goes their own way and ignores God.

Polygamy was no more acceptable in God's sight than was adultery, fornication, or murder. But people committed those acts anyway.

We only have to look at King David’s life to see how lust, greed, and power can destroy a family. There was always the problem of playing favorites, which caused jealousy, deception, and war. The lust of the flesh is never satisfied. David having several wives, including Abigail, did not prevent him from being susceptible to lusting after Bathsheba. This led to her unplanned pregnancy, her husband Uriah’s murder, and the death of a baby boy. Then came the birth of a son (Solomon) who was never his father’s favorite.

In fact, David didn’t want Solomon to have the throne. Bathsheba and Nathan concocted a plan to make sure Solomon was crowned king. Later, Bathsheba & Solomon had David’s son Adonijah killed so he wouldn’t take the kingdom from Solomon. Nothing much more is said of Abigail.

And like father, like son, Solomon had many wives and concubines. These multiple women perverted Solomon. His affections for so many women cost him the kingdom. God took it from him because of Solomon’s apostasy. He came to futility nearing the end of his life, realizing that taking pleasure in many women and pursuing an overabundance of things was meaningless. “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity,” he proclaimed.

In Proverbs 5, Solomon is warning men: Let your fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of your youth.

In Genesis, we can clearly see God’s design was Adam and Eve as husband and wife, not polygamy. Mankind has veered off that ideal path ever since. “There is nothing new under the sun,” writes Solomon. There has always been polygamy, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, pedophilia, rape, etc. and every other sexual deviant act under the sun. But none of those are what God had in mind.

 

[SIMON55]

Some bible questions...and I will look up scriptures too, cos I would like to know..

Was David married to Abigail at the time he was going after Bathsheba? If so, why was he going after Bathesheba if he already had a wife? What happened to Michal? And was Abishag also his wife, or just a mistress or concubine?

Did moses laws ever set a limit on how many wives a husband could have? Did things completely change when Jesus came or were there still people marrying more than one wife? Is bigamy the same as polygamy, how about serial marriages. What about women could they have more than one husband?

There are many husbands with two or more wives in the OT, and it does say that one ends up loving one and hating the other.

Eg Lamech..Adah and Zillah. Not sure what happened there but he seemed to have killed someone. genesis 4
JAcob (israel) Rachel and Leah, plus their maids bore children..would they be concubines then. The sisters hated each other and competed for Jacobs affections
Abraham with sarah and maid Hagar, after sarah died he married Ketubah and had MORE children. hagar got uppity and ended up hating sarah who treated her harshly after she gave birth
Elkanah had Penninah and Hannah, Penninah mocked hannah for being unable to bear children till she had samuel

Why did these men bother to have two wives when those wives werent getting along?! What is the rationale for having more than one wife?

Then solomon had like 700 wives and 300 concubines I mean how is that even possible?? Did he have one each week or what. If he had 700 wives, then what a sham the song of solomon was. The bride in it is just one of many or is it just ok for a husband to have many wives but for a woman she can have only one husband.

Can anyone explain.

Back then a man was allowed to use his rod.....whether herding goats sheep cattle camels......WIVES......children
........WITH A GOOD ROD you can manage a lot more.....
Men have been demasculated the world no longer respects a mans right to weild his rod and exercise dominion over what is his.....
.........They won't be pulling that crap when Christ weilds his Iron Rod !!!!!!😀

 

[Lanolin]

Proverbs 31 was about the sayings of King Lemuel and apparently he was the one who described a woman of noble character and not David.

King Lemeuel? i dont recall a King Lemuel in Israel or Judah...can you place him. Does the Bible tell us his wifes name?

 

[SIMON55]

God....gave natural order man Dominion over the earth which he made him from and over that which is in it..... including his helpmeet who was not created from the earth supposedly but was created from man.....
.........When you look at todays world and demasculated man and his diminished dominion it is no real surprise with all the feminism effeminates and deviates and homosexuals of both genders with their corrupted confusions and confoundings.
..... .Claiming rights against Gods natural order and rights to murder children and rights to blaspheme the most Holy and most High having absolutely no respect for the Works of God and the right of natural order man who God gave Dominion over all things to......!!!
........People want to deny the authority of God and deny the authority he gave unto natural order man who wasn't a modern day abomination unto God...
.. ......and deny the scriptures and judge man as not having the authority to establish his domain and dominion and to rule over it with a rod if necessary... ..!
.........people have no real right to complain about the world unless they support the true dominion established by....... ....... God.......!😀
They deconstruct the dominion of man and say he has no right rule over what was given to him by God and tell him how to live and act and be and what is expected of him and make him a bond servant to all their passivities and liberalistic delusions and radicalized abominations and tell him they do not respect his rights to domain and dominions and he must respect the domains of abominations..... .
........That he must be the passive doormat christian. .....
They even tell him the lie
That's what Jesus is.....that's what Jesus wants....
That's what scripture says.....
Have love and tolerance for abominations and don't judge them with Gods judgments......


Sure.......whatever......



WHEN JESUS BRINGS HIS IRON ROD HERE.....WE WILL SEE!!!

There won't be anymore abominations allowed there won't be tolerance for the poop it is demanded natural order man is expected to tolerate trespassing and transgressing all over his domain and dominion !!!!
........The Lion of Judah.....
The rod of Iron.....
By his Grace and for his Glory
No more abominations.

 

[SIMON55]

Abigail had (at least) one son by David, named Daniel (1 Chronicles 3:1). Any children with Nabal are unrecorded. There is no record of a divorce from David. 1 Chronicles 3 lists all of David's sons by his wives; seven wives are listed, and more are implied. He also had several sons by concubines, none of which are named.

How the situation with Bathsheba affected Abigail or David's other wives is simply not recorded. Any comment on that subject is speculative, though given that there were several wives plus concubines, they probably did not see it the way a modern "lone" wife would see adultery. The culture of marriage, especially at the king's court, was very different to our present "Western" culture.

What we find difficult to comprehend, and what Scripture never explains, is why polygamy was "accepted" in the OT. God just doesn't tell us.

I think you may need to factor in another major practice culturally accepted in the OT.....

Would you rather be an enslaved bond woman of servitude or share a husband that offered protection from it because he could support more than one wife ?

You also need to factor in right of property ownership and if you are able to defend it once you own it.