is polygamy adultery in the bible

Now, in context, when used with a word that indicates exclusive possession as it is here, I think the non-exclusive component is the point. 18, sexual intercourse with a divorced man or woman; Mk. Some have said this verse talks about Gomer again, but thats simply not possible. James 1:13 tells us that God does not tempt people to sin. 9 But the prudent answered, No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves. Perfective action involves a present state which has resulted from a past action. NAS Exhaustive Concordance: Under Gods inspiration, he chose words that specifically allow for polygamy (polygyny). Polygyny doesnt degrade women or even devalue them (it actually increases their value for reasons that will become obvious in a yet-to-be-published follow-up article). If you read it, youll notice that something is conspicuous by its absence: a requirement for sexually purity. But it is not required. The word translated fulfill his duty if the Greek word (opheil ), which means: Cognate: 3782opheil(a feminine noun) aspecific(applied) kind of indebtedness, implying an applied obligation due to the debt (what is owed). Transgenderism. 1 Timothy 5:9 7 But if the man (ish) does not desire to take his brothers wife, then his brothers wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, My husbands brother refuses to establish a name for his brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husbands brother to me., 8 Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. Remember that 1 Timothy was written to Timothy while he was at Ephesus (1 Tim 1:3). Therefore, the husband is the exclusive property of the wife. But if idios can be used that way, who is to say it isnt also used this exclusive way in 1 Corinthians 7:2 passage? The wife is said to have her own husband. Theres a popular article from Never Thirsty which does this twisting in a typical fashion to prove this verse doesnt allow for polygamy (polygyny). By Gods command, a husband was required to have sex with all of his wives; plural. This shout would be accompanied by the blowing of a shofara trumpet made from a rams horn. She simply wasnt able to in that culture. (. Therefore, a man who has sex with multiple wives must not be committing adultery because God commanded men to do it, whereas He commanded us not to commit adultery. Welfare (which is basically state-sponsored prostitution since it pays women to have children if there isnt a man around) removes even more women from the marriage pool. However, its too long to get into here. Martin Luther said this: Well get to the data and historical context in a minute, but first lets do a common sense check. Large numbers of these diminutive rings have survived, and a common symbol on them is an erect phallus. Ephesus was under Roman jurisdiction, so polygyny was already illegal. The following verse is from a passage where Paul describes the required qualifications for elders. Her husbands brother shall go in to her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husbands brother to her. At a first glance it makes some sense. 1438heauto(reflexive pronoun of the 3rd person) 1438/heauto(himself, herself, itself, etc.) I dont like to make too much out of the whole Bride of Christ thing because in the middle ages, there was an idea going around for ~100 years that every believer individually was the bride of Christ, which led to some interesting views. It wouldnt happen. Photo credit . Notice that himself is listed as a definition above. Definition: bosom. In these two passages, God describes Israel and Judah as being His wives plural and in Jeremiah chapter 3, He says they both committed adultery against Him. For more proof that this is an idiom, well look at the cultural context. Question: If a man promises a monogamous marriage to his bride then changes his mind later in the marriage, could his wife divorce him for breaching their marriage covenant since he had vowed to be only her husband or could she say no to adding another wife into the family? I repeat: non-exclusive. Polygamy (from Late Greek (polugama) "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses.When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny.When a woman is married to more than one husband at a time, it is called polyandry.In sociobiology and zoology, researchers use polygamy in a broad sense to mean . Its impossible for a woman to remain in the ongoing state of being a wife when she doesnt have a husband. Here are two good explanations of what the perfect tense means: Several of the possible meanings are: Please see my article on divorce, since something very close to that topic comes up. If God offered more wives, wouldnt that mean that multiples wives are a good thing given and a perfect gift? Jesus didnt marry and the following is a parable. (and I think they would fall FAR better than you think). They cant mean monogamous because no one practiced bigamy (it was against Roman law); and they cant mean married only once because Paul elsewhere advises young widows to remarry (1 Timothy 5:14). Polygyny, which is the proper term for when a man takes multiple wives, and to a much lesser extent polyandry, a woman taking multiple husbands, was overwhelmingly common in our past. 1 Then the LORD said to Noah, Enter the ark, you and all your household, (bayith) for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time. You did a great job of covering the idios issue. 5 Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. there were more brothels in Roman streets than pubs in English ones. a house and everyone who lives there. As an admittedly imperfect solution, and Ill have another lower down, I suggest translating of himself as to himself because it retains the emphatic sense of possession in Greek while being readable in English. Hebrew men around the time of the conquest of Canaan could marry a captive Canaanite woman and that would have largely solved the problem of there not being enough women to go around. Click here to expand a ~2000 word more detailed/technical explanation In these two passages, God describes Israel and Judah as being His wives plural and in Jeremiah chapter 3, He says they both committed adultery against Him. A husband marrying another wife regardless of if he promised monogamous marriage isnt cause for divorce, and the Bible is actually quite explicit about this. God Commanded Polygamy/Polygyny Round #2 From polygamy to incest, confronting the Old Testament's strange sexual You cant just deny that this will happen. 8 The foolish said to the prudent, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. Usually the word faithful is used in most wedding vows, which could go either way (being sexually faithful means something different in marriage for men and women; see my article on divorce for more information). The word used for the husband is (heautou). I dont believe theres a single bible verse in which God rewards a non-righteous act. Im talking about a scholarly and reputable source that confirms the existence of bridesmaids in 1st century Jewish weddings, or even before that. 10 And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. And few will forget the warning at the end of Revelation, which is in the same vein. Paul didnt need to write it this way. Paul didnt need to write it this way. Since he knew that wouldnt be the case, he simply excluded them. Put simply, there is simply no Biblical evidence that Gods opinion on polygyny has changed. Well get to why thats important in a minute. When the Christian Church came into being, polygamy was still practiced by the Jews. But then in chapter 3, God tells Hosea to marry another woman. In English, adultery means a man or woman having sex with someone who isnt their current spouse. Those who claim that 1 Corinthians 5:1 is an example of polygamy have missed the meaning of the verse, If you dont meet both conditions, (divorce and remarriage) then you arent an adulterer. However according to 1 Kings David also didnt sin by marrying multiple wives. Gender Differences and the Biology of leadership Well get to that definition in a moment, but the verse below indicates that a man who has multiple wives must have sex with all of them because God Himself commanded it. You wrote: how long would the bridesmaids need to wait with the bride for the groom? This is awesome and definitely going into my list of go to arguments. Therefore, Paul talking about elders in a Roman city simply couldnt refer to polygamy. But for the cowardly, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and sexually immoral persons, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their partwill bein the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. The evidence that God allows polygyny is absolutely overwhelming The argument here is that God obviously wouldnt do anything that was wrong, and wouldnt portray Himself doing something that was wrong either. 1 Corinthians 7:2 If a man marrying multiple women was wrong, why would Jesus set a bad example by picturing Himself as a polygamous (polygynous) man? Polygyny isnt mentioned even once in that passage. Marriage (one flesh between betrothed) is private and has no witnesses Gen 24:67. Polygyny changes the power structure. Click below to expand the explanation, or feel free to skip it if youd like. Biblically, Whats the Role of Women in Society and Marriage? Even in this situation I have no answer, since the number of children is never commanded by God. That strains credulity. To put it bluntly, thats silly. I see you dont have any answer for the fact that dating apps show that 20% of men monopolize 80% of women. (Note: the NLT and a few obscure translations have bridesmaid instead of virgin. Therefore, the husband is the exclusive property of the wife. Therefore, we now have a third place where God commanded polygamy/polygyny. From a purely practical pick your poison perspective, you will either have polygyny or feminism. Like we saw earlier, Rome was strictly monogamous by law. This practice became very widespread, so much that it was nearly ubiquitous. a.external,lie in bosom, of wife On the other hand, God commanded polygyny several times. (And you can double check this by looking at this verse in an interlinear Bible. The first instance of polygamy/bigamy in the Bible is that of Lamech in Genesis 4:19: "Lamech married two women." Several prominent men in the Old Testament were polygamists. Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon, and others all had multiple wives. (still writing it) The Linguistic Argument This is 100% true, but only in English. Remember that 1 Timothy was written to Timothy while he was at Ephesus (1 Tim 1:3). 3 So they searched for a beautiful girl throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. There are two different Greek words in this verse that are translated own; one for the husband, and a different one for the wife. Does God Endorse Polygamy? - STR I like this idea, and would like it to be true, but I do not know if it is. Basically, God says in Genesis 2:24 that theyll get married then have sex. For that matter, look throughout the Mosaic Law and youll see that God often makes a law, and then adds a few exceptions to it. Its used a ton of ways: fair skin, fair weather, fair play, going to the fair, etc. Its completely made up. Christianity portal v t e Polygamy is "the practice or custom of having more than one wife or husband at the same time." [1] Polygamy has been practiced by many cultures throughout history. 1 Corinthians 7:2 God actually rewarded Leah for giving her maid to Jacob to be his wife. My near 700 word aside;) about the premarital sex article that Im putting here because it gives background for my comments: Your treatment on Deuteronomy 22:13-14 in the premarital sex article reads into the text that the misconduct was sex before marriage without any recognition of the other possibilities, namely the misconduct that is described at the end of the same verse that the man, *expecting to find his bride a virgin* didnt find her a virgin. Each time a man takes an addition wife, that is one less wife for someone else. I believe the evidence that this is a sinful act is extremely solid given the use of the term abomination in Lev 18 and the references to uncleanness and impurity in various NT passages. It follows logically that He doesnt command them to sin either. Ive even heard people twist this passage by saying that Gomer sold herself into slavery and Hosea had to buy her back. The phrase having been in this verse is in the Greek perfect tense, so well spend a little time examining it. Adultery was committed when a man married a woman while he was still biblically married to another. Of course, it is never acknowledged that Biblical polygamy involves multiple marriages with different women, not one big marriage in which the wives are married to one another! Thus says the LORD God of Israel, It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. In reference to polygyny, a man could absolutely have sex that is, become one flesh with two different women. Its worth considering. There is only one verse that can reasonably be used to argue that men cant have multiple wives (1 Tim 3:2, the husband of one wife). At least not without demonstrating why it wont happen this time when it has happened every other time. There arent any more verse to go to. unless it doesnt actually mean wife of one husband at all. Further, God pictures Himself as a polygynist married to two unfaithful wives (Israel and Judah), and Jesus likewise pictures Himself as marrying 5 women in a parable. Further Proof That Husband of One Wife Isnt about Polygamy (Polygyny) And again: What say you? Here is the words definition from multiple lexicons: Or cheq {khake}; and chowq {khoke}; from an unused root, apparently meaning to inclose; the bosom (literally or figuratively) bosom, bottom, lap, midst, within. And if he persists and says, I do not desire to take her,, 9 then his brothers wife shall come to him in the sight of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face; and she shall declare, Thus it is done to the man (ish) who does not build up his brothers house., 10 In Israel his name shall be called, The house of him whose sandal is removed.. Biblically speaking though, its the marital status of the woman not the man that determines if its adultery or fornication. Adultery was regarded as a great social wrong, as well as a great sin. Ill give two answers to this verse; a short one and a long one. 7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. On the other hand, Jews living in the Islamic world, where polygam. Indeed when in 212 A.D. the lex Antoniana de civitate gave the rights of Roman Citizenship to great numbers of Jews, it was found necessary to tolerate polygamy among them, even though it was against Roman law for a citizen to have more than one wife. (And it can be non-exclusive possession as other verses indicate) Weve also seen that the husband gets the wife to himself. 5 So it shall be when he becomes guilty in one of these, that he shall confess that in which he has sinned. 2 You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. Finally you have not provided any solution for what the inevitable surplus of unmarried men are supposed to do. Wow. However, polygyny does fundamentally change the relationship between men and women in a very important way. As we saw, in Hebrews 12:2 the ESV translated a perfect tense word as is seated (present tense) to highlight this ongoing state. Again, Paul was using a common idiom of the day to say elders cant sleep around. When a Roman father decided his son was old enough to take on some adult duties (at about age 14) the family celebrated, and his parents gave him a ring to demonstrate his status to others. I have heard the idea that the government often has the power to enforce some law, even if they do not have the God-given authority to do so, and such laws we do not need to obey since they are outside the realm of authority God has given them. Polygamy was a common practice in Judaism since ancient times, though it has become exceedingly rare in the modern era. Theres more than one word used for own here in Greek, but you cant tell by reading most English translations. This isnt the only place where God commanded it either. Its an idiom. (Note: the chapter heading added to Hosea 3 in the NASB 95 is: Hoseas Second Symbolic Marriage) Well look at that in a follow up article (that Im still writing), plus look at how allowing polygyny causes some very significant changes in a society. Later, the righteous saints of blip will be BROUGHT INTO . For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress And embrace the bosom of a foreigner? Adding wives doesnt eliminate a husbands God-given requirements on how he treats his wife/wives. James even specifies that God doesnt change, so why wouldnt it be a good thing now? As we saw, in Hebrews 12:2 the ESV translated a perfect tense word as is seated (present tense) to highlight this ongoing state. What youre proposing is to formalize this and make it even worse. The full meaning of the Greek is lost because our English language is more limited than the original Greek in some ways. }); Further Proof That Husband of One Wife Isnt about Polygamy (Polygyny). 43 Bible verses about Polygamy - Online Bible Lets say a non-Christian makes an oath, but later becomes a Christian and recognizes the thoughtlessness of his oath; based on Leviticus Chapter 5, that man can come to the High Priest (King Jesus), and admit his sin and error he made. (Fair warning, its ~4700 words long) (which obviously they arent; see my series or even just Eph 5:22-33), Awesome work here. 1.230; 9.99), spouse, son or daughter. Polygamy is not technically adultery, although it does adulterate God's original plan for marriage. Suffice it to say for now that polygamy isnt a predictor of high crime once you control for other factors. We as belivers should not have permitted civil OR religious authorities to take away what God has givn to us. For more information on how Biblical marriage is supposed to be contracted, please see the 5th article in my series on marriage. Marriage Series Index: Polygamy in the Bible. Jesus allowed Polygamy! - Answering Christianity matthew - Does Jesus' teaching on marriage implicitly condemn polygamy If a man has promised not to, then according to Numbers 30: 2 If a man makes a vow to Yahweh or swears an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not violate his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. Solomon was the classic with about 700 wives and a number of concubines. In three places in the Bible, God Himself commanded polygyny In fact, it breaks it completely. marriage, monogamy, polygamy, bigamy, divorce, adultery, kind words such a restriction.
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