Why did God forbid adultery in the Ten Commandments, yet many of the men in the Bible had more than one wife and numerous concubines?
Exodus 20:2 - 17
ESV - 2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 You shall have no other gods before me.
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Aurel Gheorghe
I will start by saying that God never sanctioned bigamy or polygamy – I’m not aware of any Bible text saying that. The fact that God is so loving, full of mercy, and longsuffering, and for a while allows deviant human behavior, does not mean he condoned it. God's plan for humanity was from the very beginning (and still is), one man married to one woman (Gen. 1:27, 28; 2:24). Unfortunately, only four chapters into Genesis and we read how Lamech, one of Cain's sons, took two wives (Gen. 4:19). One day the Pharisees were questioning Jesus about divorce. In response, Jesus simply quoted Genesis 2:24, and pointed to the cruelness of their hearts as the reason for Moses allowing divorce (Matt. 19:3-8). Yes, Abraham, Jacob, Judah, David, and Solomon (to mention just a few) married multiple wives; however, I cannot find one single happy story in the Bible regarding these polygamous families. On the contrary, the jealousies, strife, and family conflict never departed from these Bible characters' households. Jacob's marriage to Leah, Rachel, Bilhah, and Zilpah was nothing but a nonstop heartache. God knows that happiness, peace, fulfillment, and sexual intimacy are best achieved in a monogamous family situation. Just like a loving parent who is watching his kids ignoring sound advice, God probably shook his head and said, “Okay Jacob, okay David, okay Solomon, you think you will be happier with many wives, go and let me know how you like it.” Is polygamy a transcreation of the 7th Commandment? I believe it is. In conversations with other Christians, I find it interesting that many are bothered by David being allowed to marry Bathsheba, but less disturbed by David’s murder of Uriah. I believe David transgressed both the 6th and 7th Commandments; however, he bitterly repented of his sins (Ps. 51) and God forgave him.
Rex Halstead
My opinion is that they had multiple wives; however, it was classified as a sin and they had to repent of this sin. Now under the New Testament, GOD makes it perfectly clear that we are allowed to divorce, but nowhere in the scriptures does it give us the right to take on another wife until the first wife is dead.
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