How come in the Old Testament, men had many wives? What happened to make God change his mind?

Question

I am a new believer and I dont want anything to question my faith. I have many questions and want to be clear about what I am learning.

Answer 1

In Genesis, God shows the ideal for marriage--one man and one woman, for life. God appears to have tolerated (not necessarily approve) polygamy in the OT, but if you read you will notice that in just about every case, there were big problems in the families as a result. Look at Abraham with Sarah/Hagar, Jacob with Leah/Rachel/ Zilpah/Bilhah, and David with Michal/Abigail/Bathsheba. (Sin has consequences, and we find big problems when we deviate from God's plan.)

Christ affirms the ideal plan in Mark 10:6-9, when he says that a man will leave his mother and father to join his wife, and the two become one flesh.

Answer 2

Monogomy was pushed towards the forefront of Christian thinking in the "New Testament" era of the dark ages, when the Catholic Church was consolidating it's power in the vaccum left by the fall of the Romans. Remember, the Romans were allowed to have multiple wives as were the Hebrews and most of the other societies. The Catholic Church decided that it was bad to do so and that some one with many wives would "anger god"-pointing to the destruction of the Roman Empire and how much everyone hated (And still hates) the Jewish people. It was a control measure enacted by the church to oppress and shape society into what it thought life should be. Always question your faith.

Answer 3

Nothing changed God's mind (actually, God's Will is immutable); what changed was man's understanding of God's Will, which He clearly told them from the begining.

In Genesis, God created Adam and Eve, his "helpmeet." He did not create Adam, Eve, Jane and Karen! Over the following generations, men figured out that they could appear wealthier, have more children, and satisfy their lusts better if they took more than one wife. Even father Abraham succombed to this temptation, at Sarah's urging.

Gradually, men understood this was not an acceptable practice, so they began taking wives then divorcing them quickly when they grew weary of them. God frowns on this practice, too. Jesus explains at Matthew 5:31-32 and Matthew 19:1-12 that this is adultry and a sin.

I hope this helps. Peace.

Answer 4

In the Old Testament there were different rules. And God did or did not condone them. Mostly the Old Testament was about the history past, present and future.
After Jesus was born. things started to change. And the New Testament confirmed the fulfillment of prophecies from the Old Testament. To learn more about this you should type in your search box "Bible University." Any thing that you want to know is there. This isn't the place for a new Christian to build her or his faith.

Answer 5

God did not change his mind, the church of the Old Testament was wrong, God did not marry Adam and Eve and Patricia and Clydie, etc... He instructed them as a pair to be fruitfull and multiply. I am not saying that the Genesis story is a literal story, but the fact that one man and one woman were involved is literal. Man has always been able to interpret and act freely and that is what happened. Christ came to change that view, and it is stated in His words and also in the letters of Paul, James and other writers afterwards. So God did not change, people out of free will did what they wanted by bending the laws of God to their favor.

Answer 6

God didn't change His mind. Those who had multiple wives were committing a sin in the eyes of God. "For this reason a man shall leave his mother and a woman shall leave her home, and the two will become one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no man separate." -- Jesus Christ, in the Gospel according to Matthew, where he addressed the Pharisees about the subject of divorce and indicated the hearts of the Jews were hardened when they changed the Law of Moses and allowed men to give their wives certificates of divorce.

Answer 7

The Law in the OT stated that men should be husband of one wife. Just because even kings had more than one wife doesn't mean that it was good in God's eyes. As for the time period before the Law was instituted, God allowed this for the sake of His purpose to bring about a seed through a blessed line. But notice, it wasn't something he originally intended. He only created one woman and wife for Adam. And he never assigned him another, nor did Adam take another wife. Once it was ensured that His son would be able to have a means to come to Earth exactly acording to prophecy, it was no longer neccessary for a man to have more than one wife. The line Jesus would come through was secure.

Answer 8

Read the book "The Red Tent" and you will understand polygamy. People lived out in rugged terrain with only their family group. Women frequently died in childbirth. There had to be lots of mothers around to foster the children, so polygamy worked.

God did not change his mind. The needs of humans changed and so their preferred practices changed.

Read Genesis 34 about the daughter of Jacob and her love marriage.

Answer 9

I think it was a Roman law that only one wife.
Nothing to do with God.
In fact most of the Christan Bible is written at a meeting in ancient Rome.
A Roman emperor got all the cardinals together in ancient Rome, and said we are going to write one religion for everyone in the roman empire.
We are going to agree what to put in it and what not to.
Yes OK I simplified it but basically that is what happened.
Yes I know you all don't know or never heard of that happening you weren't supposed to know.

Answer 10

polygamy wasn't disallowed by G-d. It was disallowed in the early 1000s when the jewish leaders decided it should be disallowed because people were abusing the system.

at least this is the jewish beleif.

cheerio