Why could men in the Bible have many women?

Question

I am reading the Bible for the first time and have noticed that most of the men in the first couple of books of the Bible either had multiple wives or had lovers on the side. How was that ok??

Answer 1

This really bothered me for a long time too....but then...I realised something.

It was actually NEVER OK for a man to have several wives, God has always wanted one husband for a woman and one wife for a man and for them to be faithful to each other. The reason why men had so many wives was because of sin and death. If you read the stories further, you will se there were consequences for a man having more than one wife if not in the first generation, then the secound, third and so on.

Examples:
Abraham ignores God`s plan to bless Sarah with a son and marries Hagar with permission from Sarah: result: Hagar treats Sarah badly and the two women hate each other. Eventually their sons hate each other and now we have two groups of people who decended form Sarah and Hagar (Jews and Arabs) who to this very day hate and kill each other.

Jacob married Leah and Racheal (two sisters), mainly because he was tricked into marrying Leah. Leah and Racheal hate each other and try to outwit each other by having more and more children. Because Racheal is the favored wife, Leah`s children hate her child (Joseph) and kidnap him and sell him to Egypt. God ends up cursing Leah`s children.

David marries more then one wife, finds he has a lust for even MORE women, married women as a matter of fact. It nearly destroys his career as a great king. Many of his offspring also became very evil (one son rapes his daughter, another son trys to steal David`s throne and even sleeps with David`s other wives).

Soloman.. the many wives he had eventually turn him away from God.

So you see, having more than one wife was never "OK" but people did it anyway and the results of all sin (made by us, as humans) take Jesus`s death to heal.

Answer 2

Why did God allow polygamy in the Old Testament? The Bible does not specifically say why God allowed polygamy. The best anyone can do is “informed” speculation. There are a few key items to consider. First, there has always been more women in the world than men. Current statistics show that approximately 50.5% of the world population are women, with men being 49.5%. Assuming the same percentages in ancient times, and multiplied by millions of people, there would be tens of thousands more women than men. Second, warfare in ancient times was especially brutal, with an incredibly high rate of fatality. This would have resulted in an even greater percentage of women to men. Third, due to the patriarchal societies, it was nearly impossible for a woman to provide for herself. Women were often uneducated and untrained. Women relied on their fathers, brothers, and husbands for provision and protection. Unmarried women were often subjected to prostitution and slavery. Fourth, the significant difference between the number of women and men would have left many, many women in an undesirable situation (to say the least).

So, it seems that God allowed polygamy to protect and provide for the women who could not find a husband otherwise. A man would take multiple wives, and serve as the provider and protector of all of them. While definitely not ideal, living in a polygamist household was far better than the alternatives: prostitution, slavery, starvation, etc. In addition to the protection / provision factor, polygamy enabled a much faster expansion of humanity, fulfilling God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth” (Genesis 9:7). Men are capable of impregnating multiple women in the same time period…causing humanity to grow much faster than if each man was only able to produce one child each year. Again, these are only “informed” speculations.

Answer 3

There is actually a very, very long answer to this, but I will try to be as concise as possible.

side note:
The Bible points specifically to Christ throughout both old and new testaments.

main point:
The Bible is a chronological history and a spiritual journey of God's people. The Bible can be compared to a human life and personal development.
Genesis - God made everything and everything and it was all about man. On the path of personal development, "It's all about me." As a baby or a small child, "It's all about me." The only way Adam and his family learned were as a baby or small child (ie: punishment for wrongs and reward for rights). Eventually God formed his people, "It's all about us."
In Judges the Jewish people continued to just follow the leader. If a few started to complain, they all complained. If most of them started to do something they all started. They just wanted to fit in, not all that much unlike teenagers.
New Testament - Jesus Christ died to save us from our sins. "It's bigger than me and us." Mature adults can make decisions from this area of wisdom and maturity.

Now looking back at a baby or a small child... this is how God's first-formed people were spiritually. Look at how Adam and Eve went and hid in the garden. Like a small child that did something wrong. God provided guidance that fit in with their level of spiritual maturity. Having multiple wives was wrong, but for the time God didn't judge them for that because they just weren't ready yet.

I hope that helps and doesn't just confuse you more.

Answer 4

Because it is a book filled with stories written by very old men nearly a century after Jesus died. Who was left to keep anyone honest? Sorry, it's a book of fables and is fabulous when considered in that light. When considered as some sort of law book, come on, the list of contradictions and impossibilities explained by way of God's will abound.

Yeah. You just scratched the surface. Wait until a witness tries to explain away the creation in a week theory with the well, each day was a thousand years long....uh huh.

I believe in God. I do not believe the bible is anything but a way to keep people in line, back then, and now. A whole bunch of fairy stories but without a whole lot of happy endings.

Answer 5

Some countries and religions still permit multiple wives today.

But I think in biblical times, men were always killing each other (according to the Bible) and there were not enough men to go around. (lol)

Answer 6

Keep in mind the time period, the culture, and region where the story takes place. Even today, it is nothing for a man in the middle east to take many wives. Each society makes their own rules and conforms their religion to match those rules so that whatever they decided to do was okay in the eyes of their god. Just look at the crusades.

Answer 7

Because that is just how it was back in the Bible times. Men had more than woman with them. They did have more than on wife but that is what happened to them with getting more than one wife for some reason. Keep reading and you will find out those reasons why they had more than one wife as they do tell why some of them had more than one wife.

Answer 8

Because the Bible wasn't written by a deity. It was written by misogynistic men over 2,000 years ago and select books were pieced together by vote in the Late Roman Empire. The bible reflects the views of its authors.

Reading can be enlightening.

Answer 9

That wasn't American social norms back then. Our laws didn't exist yet.

The question is - Why can't we have more than one wife now? The Bible says to be fruitful and multiply. What better way than to have a gazillion kids than to have a gazzilion wives?

Answer 10

If you are reading it from the start please notice that God didn't enforce any laws until the time of Moses. Therefore, it was perfectly fine to have many women, and it was perfectly fine to have sexual relations in family since the gene code was much more pure than we have one today. There is no error.