Who had multiple wives in the bible

Abraham, jacob, david, solomon, and others all had multiple wives. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines essentially wives of a lower. In sum, during the old testament times, polygamy was not only permitted, it was sanctioned. When did god stop allowing multiple wives uncovering intimacy.

Elkanah, a presumably godly man and the father of samuel, had two wives. Also vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged. Typically around the world, marriage is between two people. The limit the bible puts on the age of cain and abel is years. Moses was married on two separate occasions, to zipporah, the daughter of hobab, and the cushite woman. Today, even christians have more than one wife, one at a time, by way of divorce. Many jews living outside palestine, therefore, got used to the principle of one wife, and it seemed natural to them. Thus, solomons taking of many wives and concubines was in direct violation of gods word. These men were great men who god spoke to and used in mighty ways. Posted on january 20, 2006 by john oakes wrote in general, practical christianity, theology and doctrinal questions. The bible clearly states that adam had only one wife eve. Holman christian standard bible he had 700 wives who were princesses and 300 concubines, and they turned his heart away from the lord. King david had multiple wives scholars say up to 19 all of them given to him by the lord god.

How many wives a man can have according to bible yahoo. Just as god had predicted, as solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the lord his god 1 kings 11. God allowed men to have multiple wives in the old testament eventhough god intended only one wife for a man originally. A man can have as many wives as christ has churches. This raises the possibility of dozens of children from that couple alone. Heres my perspective on this difficult topic and what it means for our marriages. Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden. What it really means is that a man should have too many wives. That would have been nice for us today or for certain cultures if he had, but he didnt.

God did not design men to be married to a lot of women, but sometimes men did it anyway. King david had many wives, according to the bible, although only eight of them are named. Christ has only one church so a man can have only one wife. Does jesus contradict the old testament on polygamy. Does the holy bible kjv say a man can have more than one wife. Beginning in genesis it is clear that god intended marriage to be between one woman and one man. The mosaic law likewise accommodated the practice of marrying more than one wife, including captured prisoners. Polygamy in the bible doesnt mean god endorses polygamy. According to these scriptures one can marry as many as one wishes. We are told the names of some of his wives in the verses below, however, it says in 2 sam 5. Why did great men of the old testament have so many wives.

Why is it that the men of the old testament including the heroes of the christian faith abraham, jacob, gideon, david, solomon etc etc all could have multiple wives, concubines, sex slaves of the beautiful captives deuteronomy and with some of these guys they with their wives permission could have sex with others. To the modern proponents of polygamy as opposed to biblical polygamy, which was entirely different, our forefather jacob is the shining example after all, he had four wives right. The most authoritative source for davids wives is 1 chronicles 3, which lists davids descendants for 30 generations. The sin he had with bathsheba was different she was someone elses wife and so that was why that was a sin. King david had at least seven wives and thousands of women in his concubine. Ever wonder why god allowed polygamy in the old testament. For when solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods. God selectively grants multiple wives to those who have a true, mighty call from god, who have accepted the call from god fully, and who are moved, not by the compulsions of the flesh, but are moved by the holy spirit, as the other holy men of god were, whom god provided multiple wives for. Polygyny is found in the old testament and over 40 important figures had more than one wife, such as esau, elkanah, and solomon. Indeed, the nation israel comes from the offspring of the four wives 2 wives, 2 concubines of jacob.

While the bible names seven women as davids spouses, its possible that he had more, as well as multiple concubines who may have borne him unaccountedfor children. The highest number of wives any man had in the bible was 700. It was a decesion from man that they took multiple wives in the bible. The truth is that the story of polygamy in the old testament is, well, a problem. However, in some cases, men have intentionally married more than one woman. Why did god allow multiple wives in the old testament. Polygamy is found in the old testament and over 40 important figures had more than one wife, such as esau, elkanah, and. After saul gave her to david to wife, he took her and gave to someone else. The patriarchs abraham and jacob themselves had multiple wives and concubines. Well, thats what i thought for many years as well and it was no wonder i was looking through a lens colored by modern movies, television shows, and ten. In abrahams case, god used abrahams marriage situation to illustrate two covenants. Here are just some of the men in history who have had the most wives. Liberated christians cyber swingpolyamory resource center promoting intimacy and othercentered sexuality.

In biblical text, however, moses is also castigated by his brother and sister for marrying a cushite, which is a person from modern day ethiopia. If a man has two wives, one loved and other unloved. Some bible commentators have suggested that the lord allowed men to have more than one wife or several concubines during the period from the great flood until the old covenant in order to build up the worlds population which had obviously been decimated by the flood, but from the time of moses receiving the legal package on mount sinai. And gideon had three score and ten sons of his body begotten.

Moses had one or two wives, depending on how the biblical text is interpreted. Cush is the ancient name for the region called ethiopia today. Bible does not say one man and one woman women, church. Examples include abraham, jacob, david and solomon. So, if the teaching of god is that polygamy is clearly wrong why did some great old testament men of god have more than one wife. I was reading and realized that a lot of people in the bible had multiple wives so does that still stand today. Why did god allow some men to have multiple wives in the. Multiple wives bible verses in the king james version kjv about multiple wives. Its important to understand that the bible was written to a culture that did not prioritize protecting or providing for. In none of the other religious scriptures, whether it be the vedas, the ramayan, the mahabharat, the geeta, the talmud or the bible does one find a restriction on the number of wives. How many wives and children does king david have in the bible.

Moses had at least two wives, with good proof showing he actually had three wives, in addition to a concubine. More recently, those who live in communities of open relationships have been called polyamorous, having multiple husbands, wives, boyfriends. Why did godly men in the ot have more than one wife. There are a number of instances where multiple wives are reported in the bible.

When did god stop allowing multiple wives uncovering. Jesus christ shows that god never wanted man or woman to divorce. How many wives are men allowed to marry according to the. King david had several wives with children by each of them. In times of old, believers had more than one wife, all at the same time. We read that moses had taken a cushite woman as a wife. There were possibly as many as 32,000 people living at the time cain killed. Nowhere does the bible speak of a man one being over wives many and that being right with god. But if you read the old testament you see that men used to have multiple wives. G odly wives are such a blessing to any man and greatly blessed is that family with a godly mother, however it is totally unfair to compare any woman with the standard given in proverbs chapter 31. And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.

We cannot not know for certain how many wives david had. The many wives of the holy men of god the polygamists. There is no passage in the bible that condones polygamy. King solomon was so rich that he could do anything he wanted. Although monogamy was clearly gods intent genesis 2. People werent coming to him with multiple wives and saying, is this okay. The name of the one was hannah, and the name of the other, peninnah. All of biblical teaching points to marriage as the unity of one flesh from two in physical, sexual, spiritual intimacy and this rules out polygamy. Midian and cush are different places in the bible, so this cushite woman must be a different wife than the one moses took while in midian.

They were married as an example for others genesis 2. International standard version he had 700 princess wives and 300 mistresses who turned his heart away from the lord, net bible he had 700 royal wives and 300 concubines. We are not told specifically how many, but we are told that adam lived 930 years. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines essentially wives of a lower status, according to 1 kings 11. Why did god allow some men in the old testament to have multiple wives. Davids first wife was michal, the daughter of king saul. The bible defined marriage as one man and multiple women. The mosaic law likewise accommodated the practice of marrying more than one wife, including captured prisoners from foreign conquests deuteronomy 21. Moses prescribed that a man had to treat the offspring of a disfavored wife equally. Yes, some old testament prophets did have multiple wives. The first instance of polygamybigamy in the bible was that of lamech in genesis 4. In only two of those cases are the practices condemned by god and for. Why did god allow so many prophets to have multiple wives. Does the holy bible kjv say a man can have more than one.

He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. If it meant that, then the bible would be contradicting itself. And peninnah had children, but hannah had no children. Ok, i know adam and eve are often used by the church to support the one manone woman concept of marriage. Abraham had at least three wives and the list goes on. As did a great many other great men of the bible who were men of. By genesis 4, you have cains son lamech taking two wives. Two wives, eight sons that we know of but the bible says he had children by his concubine.

No woman alive can possibly be all that but just like the husband needs supernatural power from god to love his wife like christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, the godly wife should. Several prominent men in the old testament were polygamists. David and solomon, to name but two such major old testament figures, had many wives and concubines. So the point there was there is a way to understand the tolerance of an act in the old testament which now is forbidden.