Does the Bible Prohibit Polygamy?

[Harmonious]

The Bible is clear as mud on the subject. How many of the prophets of the Old Testament were polygamists?

While it says nothing about the Prophets, Samuel's father Elkana had two wives, Chana and Penina. Samuel's mother was Chana.

The Old Testament says absolutely NOTHING against polygamy. It was a perfectly valid Jewish practice until the 1000s, when Rabbeinu Gershon made a decree against it. Rabbeinu Gershon's decree was not Biblically mandated; it was because polygamy practiced by the Jews made us look bad in front of our Christian neighbors.

Jews in the Ashkenaz tradition, or Jews primarily from Eastern Europe, were bound by this. Jews in the Sephardic tradition, or Jews primarily from around the Mediterranean Sea, were not; these Jews lived in Muslim countries, and there was no reason Jews should not have continued the practice.

It wasn't until 1948 CE, with the establishment of the State of Israel, that all Jews decided to get on the same page and do away with polygamy. Again, not because it was Biblically mandated, but just to make sure that Jewish custom was in sync with itself.

 

[Yid613]

While it says nothing about the Prophets, Samuel's father Elkana had two wives, Chana and Penina. Samuel's mother was Chana.

The Old Testament says absolutely NOTHING against polygamy. It was a perfectly valid Jewish practice until the 1000s, when Rabbeinu Gershon made a decree against it. Rabbeinu Gershon's decree was not Biblically mandated; it was because polygamy practiced by the Jews made us look bad in front of our Christian neighbors.

Jews in the Ashkenaz tradition, or Jews primarily from Eastern Europe, were bound by this. Jews in the Sephardic tradition, or Jews primarily from around the Mediterranean Sea, were not; these Jews lived in Muslim countries, and there was no reason Jews should not have continued the practice.

It wasn't until 1948 CE, with the establishment of the State of Israel, that all Jews decided to get on the same page and do away with polygamy. Again, not because it was Biblically mandated, but just to make sure that Jewish custom was in sync with itself.

I had heard that the ban was made for only a thousand years so it has expired. However Jews follow the law of the land in which they live. So unless they live in a country that allows polygamy it still would not be allowed. Even if this was the case having been observed for so long many considered it a custom and therefore has the force of law.

From a web site I found:
At a national rabbinic conference called in 1950 by the chief rabbis of Israel, an enactment was passed making monogamy binding upon all Jews irrespective of their communal affiliations.

I would question how a leader of one community could make a enactment binding on members of other communities. Judaism has no central authority.

I also found this:
The Vilna Gaon, whose 200th yahrzeit is this year was the greatest Torah giant for hundreds of years. He was also a great Tzaddik. In the course of a year, he didn't waste a total of five minutes from learning Torah. He said (Ma'aseh Rav Hashalem page 276) "If I would be successful, in accomplishing two things I would be idle from Torah and T'fillah and go from city to city [to get them accepted]. One is to eliminate the prohibition of Rabbeinu Gershom against taking two wives for with this the G'ulah (final redemption) will become closer, and the second that they should have bircas Cohanim (the priestly blessing) every day." In his lifetime he didn't succeed, but his talmidim (students) who came to Eretz Yisroel succeeded to have bircas Cohanim every day in Israel.

 

[Autodidact]

Polygamy is clearly not only not prohibited anywhere in either testament, but specifically regulated. That is, the OT contains passages instructing husbands how to treat their multiple wives.

 

[Harmonious]

I had heard that the ban was made for only a thousand years so it has expired.

This is true.

However Jews follow the law of the land in which they live. So unless they live in a country that allows polygamy it still would not be allowed. Even if this was the case having been observed for so long many considered it a custom and therefore has the force of law.

This is also true.

I would question how a leader of one community could make a enactment binding on members of other communities. Judaism has no central authority.

The idea, I would imagine, is that as a Chief Rabbi in Israel, the decisions they make should indeed be followed by Jews everywhere.

It doesn't always seem to work, but that - I think - is the theory behind it.

But about the Vilna Gaon... I really don't understand that comment that he made, so I would not be able to explain it further.

 

[Muffled]

Deu 17:14 ¶ When thou art come unto the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are round about me;
15 thou shalt surely set him king over thee, whom Jehovah thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee; thou mayest not put a foreigner over thee, who is not thy brother.
16 Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses; forasmuch as Jehovah hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.
17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

More horses, more houses, more servants, more wives, more gold, are all symptoms of greed are they not?

God has promised me 100,000,000 dollars which would be nice if it came in this lifetime and is not just wishful thinking, lol. And as I thought about spending it and how nice it would be to have a vacation home at the beach, God told me not to mutiply houses to myself. I wouldn't mind having a harem but just wouldn't be much interested in being married to any of them. People as toys, trophy wives?

 

[Melissa G]

Jesus said love your fellow man, did he mean spiritually or literally

Melissa G

 

[Autodidact]

Deu 17:14 ¶ When thou art come unto the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are round about me;
15 thou shalt surely set him king over thee, whom Jehovah thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee; thou mayest not put a foreigner over thee, who is not thy brother.
16 Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses; forasmuch as Jehovah hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.
17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

More horses, more houses, more servants, more wives, more gold, are all symptoms of greed are they not?

God has promised me 100,000,000 dollars which would be nice if it came in this lifetime and is not just wishful thinking, lol. And as I thought about spending it and how nice it would be to have a vacation home at the beach, God told me not to mutiply houses to myself. I wouldn't mind having a harem but just wouldn't be much interested in being married to any of them. People as toys, trophy wives?

Are you honestly trying to assert that this passage prohibits polygamy? Does it also then prohibit having more than one horse or more than one piece of gold? In fact, clearly this passage contemplates that:
1. Wives are possessions, like horses, houses, and gold.
2. Men can have more than one wife, and this particular King should not take that to extremes.
This is one of many OT passages that takes it for granted that God's people will practice polygamy.

 

[Harmonious]

Deu 17:14 ¶ When thou art come unto the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are round about me;
15 thou shalt surely set him king over thee, whom Jehovah thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee; thou mayest not put a foreigner over thee, who is not thy brother.
16 Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses; forasmuch as Jehovah hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.
17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

More horses, more houses, more servants, more wives, more gold, are all symptoms of greed are they not?

God has promised me 100,000,000 dollars which would be nice if it came in this lifetime and is not just wishful thinking, lol. And as I thought about spending it and how nice it would be to have a vacation home at the beach, God told me not to mutiply houses to myself. I wouldn't mind having a harem but just wouldn't be much interested in being married to any of them. People as toys, trophy wives?

The fact is that it means that a KING should not have too many wives.

King David, who had 6 wives and 12 concubines was considered to have the upper limit of what was acceptible for a king to have. (Batsheva was in that 6.) King Solomon, who had a total of 1000 wives and concubines had FAR too many.

In case you are interested, Jewish law actually has laws that discuss regulating a household to accommodate a family with a man and more than one wife. It is very complicated and SERIOUSLY expensive.

But that doesn't mean that Jews do it anymore...

 

[MFaraz_Hayat]

As far as i know ( I am no that sure), Quran is the only religious scripture that speaks of Polygamy and discourages it. In fact , it places an upper limit to it. That a person cannot marry more than 4, for it is not possible for him to be just to all his wives. Plus it clearly states that if he marries more than 1 woman, it is his responsibility to do justice b/w all the wives. For if he does not do it, he will be answerable on Day of Judgement.

 

[gnostic]

When Jesus Christ was on the earth, He said: "Did you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will stick to his wife, and the two will be one flesh’? So that they are no longer two, but one flesh." (Matthew 19:4-6, 9) From this it is obvious that taking one or more additional wives is also adultery.

That passage may mention a husband and a wife, but that can hardly be considered "prohibition" to polygamy.

You are pushing more meaning into the verse than there is. I am well aware that the gospels have listed fornication along side adultery, but polygamy is another issue, and neither the OT nor the NT forbid it.

Don't get me wrong, May. I don't favour polygamy, but that's mainly because the Abrahamic religions in the past only allow men to have more wives, but not the other way around.

 

[gnostic]

As far as i know ( I am no that sure), Quran is the only religious scripture that speaks of Polygamy and discourages it. In fact , it places an upper limit to it. That a person cannot marry more than 4, for it is not possible for him to be just to all his wives.

That's load of nonsenses.

Allowing a man to have more than 1 wife, even if your scripture sets a limit does not forbidding polygamy at all. Just because you give another person half an orange, doesn't mean that person is not eating an orange.

If you believe that Qur'an truly forbid or discourage polygamy than it should not allow a single Muslim man to marry more than 1 at the same time. PERIOD.

 

[MFaraz_Hayat]

That's load of nonsenses.

Allowing a man to have more than 1 wife, even if your scripture sets a limit does not forbidding polygamy at all. Just because you give another person half an orange, doesn't mean that person is not eating an orange.

If you believe that Qur'an truly forbid or discourage polygamy than it should not allow a single Muslim man to marry more than 1 at the same time. PERIOD.

But there are reasons why polygamy is allowed............ (I'll give you a link, if you want).
Plus, the fact is that you can be a good christian or hindu etc. even by having 10 wives (no restriction by religion). But you cannot be a muslim, if you marry more than 4. Or marry more than 1 and treat them unjustly.

 

[gnostic]

Sorry, but I don't think you get what I am saying.

Unless women can also have more than 1 husband, then regardless if you are good Muslim, Christian, Jew or Hindu, polygamy should be banned for all. It bl#@dy pointless to have one gender have more than 1 spouse while banning other gender from doing the same.

Which is why I think your scripture is nothing more than Muhammad's adolescence wishful thinking and lust.

If men and women are equal then can you tell me Islam is fair where it has one law for 1 gender, but not for another?

 

[Poisonshady313]

Jewish law comes from the bible. And according to Jewish law, polygamy is not prohibited.

A Rabbinical decree was issued more than a thousand years ago banning polygamy... largely because while the Jews were in exile, they knew who their neighbors were, what they found abhorrent, and we needed to give them less reasons to want to kill us (or otherwise treat us as less than human).

I think in certain Arab countries, some Jews didn't pay attention to this decree until much recently.

Does Judaism currently allow polygamy? No.

Does the bible prohibit polygamy? No.

 

[Beneck]

1 Timothy 3:2 says, A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; This should be read as the husband of AT LEAST one wife.

 

[gnostic]

1 Timothy 3:2 says, A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; This should be read as the husband of AT LEAST one wife.

In English, Beneck, "At least" one wife, means you can have 1 wife at a minimum, but you can have more than 1 wife, with no upper limit.

The words, "at least", only set a minimum, not the maximum.

I think you need to re-write your post, to mean what you mean.

 

[Beneck]

It means exactly what I said. A husband of at least one wife, so with other words, he can have two or more, but should have at least one. Which by the way is very contrary (having at least one) to Catholic doctrine, who believe that he should have none.:clap

 

[Muffled]

Are you honestly trying to assert that this passage prohibits polygamy? Does it also then prohibit having more than one horse or more than one piece of gold? In fact, clearly this passage contemplates that:
1. Wives are possessions, like horses, houses, and gold.
2. Men can have more than one wife, and this particular King should not take that to extremes.
This is one of many OT passages that takes it for granted that God's people will practice polygamy.

Do the Math! There is multiplication when there is more than one. Two is a multiple of one. How many horses can you ride at one time anyway or how many houses can you live in at one time? As for gold the standard was not that it couldn't be multiplied, only that it couldn't be greatly multiplied. I think God might have had Solomon in mind when he said that the extra wives would lead his heart astray. The issue of a divided heart is a very real one and my belief is that there is no way any man can do justice to more than one wife and often they have problems doing justice to the one.

 

[Big_TJ]

Do the Math! There is multiplication when there is more than one. Two is a multiple of one. How many horses can you ride at one time anyway or how many houses can you live in at one time? As for gold the standard was not that it couldn't be multiplied, only that it couldn't be greatly multiplied. I think God might have had Solomon in mind when he said that the extra wives would lead his heart astray. The issue of a divided heart is a very real one and my belief is that there is no way any man can do justice to more than one wife and often they have problems doing justice to the one.

Are you serious? What brand of whisky are you drinking??

 

[Muffled]

Are you serious? What brand of whisky are you drinking??

I haven't had any whiskey since reciving Jesus as Lord and Savior and drink very little of anything alcoholic and never enough to be snookered.

What seems to be your problem? I am a bit of a dreamer but reality is not that far from dreams. Are you saying that you don't believe in the multiplication table?