If you tasked me with proving polygyny is righteous and limited me to one chapter in the scriptures, it would be a difficult choice, but I believe I'd ultimately go with Genesis 20. If you breeze through this story without actually considering the details, you will likely miss it. Let's spend a little time unpacking it to show why I believe you can prove that polygyny is a righteous and lawful act in the eyes of the God based on Genesis 20 alone, if you had to (thankfully, we don't have to.)
If you recall, the story begins with Abraham traveling and Sarah has been told to say that she is his sister, many folks disparage Abraham for this act (Gen 12:3), claiming he was faithless and a liar, but that is not the focus of this article, suffice it to say I don't believe that or take that position. I would urge you to consider that "sister" in Hebrew can mean many things outside of our strict understanding of a biological female sibling as we consider it in English.
[Gen 20:12 NASB95] 12 "Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife;
Believing Sarah was marriageable, Abimelech took her to be his own:
[Gen 20:2 NASB95] 2 Abraham said of Sarah his wife, "She is my sister." So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
What happened after this? Well we see that God immediately steps in coming to Abimelech in a dream:
[Gen 20:3 NASB95] 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, "Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married."
This was clearly a serious offense to God and He ensured that Abimelech understood this. Notice what He said, you are a dead man because of the woman you have taken. Why? Because she is married. Interesting, do we know of Abimelech's marital "status" at this point in the story? I don't believe we have any indication based on prior scripture, however later in this chapter we get confirmation that he does in fact, have a wife already. So he is also a "married man" as the modern world would describe him. It doesn't appear God is concerned with the fact that he is married though.
Here we have God speaking to Abimelech in a dream telling him he is a dead man for taking another man's woman because she is married. Remember, this is prior to the Ten Commandments being given, prior to the Law of Moses being given, but after the flood. Why did God flood the earth?
[Gen 6:5 NASB95] 5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
We know that evil continued after the flood, but in order for there to be "evil" or acts that violate God's morality, God's morality, or laws, have to be established. We left the Garden with the knowledge of good and evil, that knowledge being put on stones or given to Moses doesn't change the fact that they are God's ways, delivered to us in varying forms throughout our generations.
Clearly, taking a married woman, was a death penalty level offense against God, well before the Law of Moses was given to state that in the Torah, and even before "you shall not commit adultery" was put on to a stone tablet by the hand of God.
As we have discussed in previous articles, adultery requires a married woman. Adultery is a sin against the man she belongs to, and a sin against God. Modern definitions of adultery, whether Christian or secular, do not overlay onto the scriptures, without causing serious errors and contradictions. We have wildly strayed from the biblical definition of adultery and have made an absolute mess of things as a result.
[Gen 20:4 NASB95] 4 Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, "Lord, will You slay a nation, even [though] blameless?
Notice what he said, "will you slay a nation even though blameless?" This is the issue, based on modern Christian understanding tradition of morality concerning marriage, there is no way that he could be blameless here, regardless of his belief that Sarah was marriageable, he has a wife already (we find out later in this chapter).
Christianity would say that he took another woman, in an adulterous act, regardless of the marital status of that 2nd woman because he already has a wife, and in fact, most Christians would say that Abimelech simply "looking at her with desire" (they would use the translation, lust after) was committing adultery in his heart. (Read my article on what Jesus really meant in Matt 5 for the explanation of why this isn't so). They would repeatedly cite their interpretations of Christ's words on divorce and remarriage and try to draw inferences from that in order to explain how Abimelech taking another woman while having a wife is in fact, adultery.
So how could Abimelech be blameless? Abimelech explains to God further:
[Gen 20:5 NASB95] 5 "Did he not himself say to me, 'She is my sister'? And she herself said, 'He is my brother.' In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this."
He's actually gone further than just claiming to be blameless, explaining that he truly believed she was marriageable, and not only is he blameless, but he did this act in the integrity of his heart and the innocence of his hands. Again I ask you to consider, if polygyny is a gross moral violation of the marriage laws of God, can this be so? Adultery is no small sin, that we can all agree on at least. Surely God is going to set him straight and explain to him that he was not innocent, he was not blameless, and he did not do anything in the integrity of his heart, because he already had a wife and taking another is a violation of the "creation ideal" that I hear so many Christians in this conversation reference, but I have yet to find outlined anywhere in God's word, right? Let's see how God responded:
[Gen 20:6 NASB95] 6 Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.
He agreed. He confirmed that Abimelech took another wife in the integrity of his heart, but not only that, God says something else that is important to this argument, "and I also kept you from sinning against Me". How did He keep Abimelech from sinning against Him? By not letting him touch a married woman. Not stopping him from taking another woman, but stopping him from taking another man's woman. If taking two or more wives is a sin against God, it wouldn't matter that she was a married woman, either way he would be sinning against God, unless taking two wives is not in fact, a sin against God.
There is simply no way to argue that taking another woman (polygyny, the specific type of polygamy where a man has multiple women) beyond the woman you already have is wicked or a violation of God's ways, when God flat out agreed with Abimelech that because he believed she was marriageable, taking her was:
- blameless
- done in the integrity of his heart
- and the cleanness of his hands
It would be entirely contradictory for God to agree that Abimelech did what he did in the innocence of his hands, if it was adultery to take another woman at all, regardless of her marital status. But let's continue, because the chapter only continues to prove the case as it continues.
[Gen 20:7 NASB95] 7 "Now therefore, restore the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore [her,] know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours."
Return the man's wife, or you and your entire family will die, it doesn't get much more serious than that.
[Gen 20:11 NASB95] 11 Abraham said, "Because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.
Abimelech ultimately returns Sarah, thanks to the LORD intervening, but the story, and the case for why it proves the righteousness of polygyny, is not over. After returning Sarah, Abraham did in fact pray for Abimelech as the LORD said he would:
[Gen 20:17 NASB95] 17 Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maids, so that they bore [children.]
God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his maids, or concubines. As it turns out, not only did Abimelech have a wife already, he had other women as well in his house, or his family. Not only did God restore his wife and open her womb, he restored his maids and opened their wombs as well so they all bore him children.(Psa 127:5)
Let's recap what we have learned:
- Abimelech almost sinned against God for taking a married woman but God stopped him
- Abimelech told God he did this in the integrity of his heart, innocence of his hands, and was blameless, and God agreed (because he thought she was marriageable)
- Abimelech already had a wife, and concubines or maids that belonged to him, he was already a polygynous man, yet took another woman and God agreed, it would be a sin against God because she was married -- not because he was. (Men do not have a "marital status" in this way, more on that later)
- After Abimelech restored Sarah to her husband, God healed all of his women and opened their wombs and blessed him with more children
As I said at the top of this article, this one chapter has all the elements one needs to prove that God has no moral issue with polygyny. To say that He does, requires that He either changed (Mal 3:6) from this point at a later time, where He was ok with polygyny at one point, but no longer is anymore. The problem with that is, why did He never actually outlaw it then? When He gave the Ten Commandments why did He not include "you shall only marry one wife at a time" or something along those lines? Why then when He gave Moses the Torah did He not include in the many laws forbidding His people from doing what the nations around them do, a law against polygyny? How could He continue to allow this supposedly "wicked" practice to continue in His set-apart (holy) land and among His set apart (holy) people?
Why would He not simply explain to us through a prophet that while He accepted this behavior at one point, and even blessed it, exampled it Himself allegorically (Ez 23, Jer 3, 31), that it was no longer morally good and acceptable for man to do it and it must cease in order to be set apart (holy)? The simple answer to that is because it's always been set apart, holy, because it is marriage, and marriage is to be held in honor among all (Heb 13:14). A man takes a wife, and that marriage is to be honored, if he takes to himself another (Exo 21:10), should that marriage not be honored too? Ruth 4:11 honors the marriages of Rachel and Leah, not one or the other. Why do so many disparage and dishonor their marriages then? Something to consider, when God never did.
Christ did not come to contradict His Father's ways. If you believe Christ came and "restored marriage" by forbidding polygyny, or that Paul did any such thing, you pit them both against the Father in Heaven who I believe quite clearly shows throughout all of His scripture, that He has absolutely no problem at all with men covering more than one woman, or having multiple marriages at once, so long as they honor those marriages and Him by obeying His commands on how to be a husband, to a wife.
Further, if you believe Christ or the apostles taught that, where are the instructions for what to do with all the polygynous families they would have been casting into (new) and perpetual sin unless repented of? Where are the instructions on what to do when we convert polygynous families to Christ? There aren't any specific to that, don't you find it odd given the gravity of accusing them of living in adultery based on the modern Christian traditional belief that polygyny is in fact, adulterous?
I have more articles on polygyny throughout the bible for more detailed breakdowns of this issue. I love this chapter in that it proves so much in such a short story, if you're willing to not gloss over it and spend the majority of your time disparaging your father Abraham for his choice to have Sarah say she was his sister, which is what I find all too many Christians doing, and that is something I pray they consider and repent of, given the seriousness of disparaging Abraham. (Gen 12:3)
May the LORD bless you in your walk with Him, may He grant you eyes to see, and ears to hear.