Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: ph600fev@sdcc14.ucsd.edu (Robert O'Barr) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Does the Bible prohibit Polygamy ? Message-ID: Date: 3 Feb 91 03:50:52 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: University of California, San Diego Lines: 56 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article ph600fev@sdcc14.ucsd.edu (Robert O'Barr) writes: >I don't have the Bible in front of me right now but I would refer >you to the following. > >Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (or at least two of the three) had more >than one wife at the same time. Christ on occasion said things to >imply that these men were in paradise, or would rule in the kingdom >of heaven. Never does the scriptures condemn their actions. Never >have I heard a Christian claim that the house of Israel and the Lord >himself came from an illigitimate marraige relationship. > See Matt 8:11, Luke 16:22, Matt 22:32 Matt 8:11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. >What did the phophet Nathan? say to David. He told him a story >about a man who had several sheep and another that had but one most >precious lamb. Even though the one had so many, he desired the lamb >of the poor man and took it by force. David was angry upon hearing >this. Nathan told him that he was this man. He tells him that the >Lord had given him his wives and would have given him many more. > As to the fact that David had several wives before Bath-Sheba, See 2 Sam. 2:2 and 2 Sam 3:2-5 2 Sam. 12:7-8 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and game thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. >Solomon (even while he had many wives) was highly favored in the >sight of the Lord. His downfall was that he began to marry with the >daughters of the "heathens". An act the Lord had stricly forbidden >him. see 1 Kings 11, This clearly identifies his downfall being caused by the unrighteousness not the number of his wives. Often the Bible refers to the marriage relationship being one man and one woman. This doesn't allow us to rationalize that the only marriages the Lord has ever permitted are monogomous. Clearly the Bible idicates that at times the Lord did allow and perhaps encouraged polygomous families. If Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were really adulterous sinners, I don't know why Moses, Paul, and Jesus always used them as examples of righteousness. Robert