Is Polygamy a Sin?

In this article, my goal is not to make you a believer in polygamy. So you know upfront, I am not a polygamist and do not care to become one. Further, I have personally never known one polygamist. I am not Mormon or LDS. And, I believe they are both incorrect viewpoints and deviations from the true Faith. So, I have no "direct" motivation for making an argument for polygamy. And, if you are wondering, I am against the LDS polygamists in Eldorado, Texas and believe their compound was no more than a cult with very perverted ideals.

So, why am I making this article? Well, over the years, I have spoken with various Christian friends about polygamy and decided out of curiousity to study the topic, to see what the Bible really said on it. I decided to be open minded and give it a fair shake, as I am a person who desires the truth, not what is popular or considered to be correct.

And, what did I discover? Well, the argument against polygamy is very weak, at best. There are simply way too many Bible passages people seem to ignore, which are bluntly pro-polgamy throughout the Old and New Testament.

One very simple logic progression you should consider: Many revered Old Testament characters were polygamists. If you assume it is a sin, it would follow, God would require blood to be shed for their sin of polygamy and we would have read several examples of God punishing people for the sin of polygamy. After all, if you committed adultery in the Old Testament, you were stoned to death. How is it God is double-minded and just let polygamy slide under the carpet?

The simple logical progression I just mentioned above is the least of your worries if you are a die hard anti-polygamist. The reason I say this is because there are several Bible passages where God directly and indirectly justifies polygamy. You would have to literally ignore several passages in the Old and New Testament, to continue to believe God is against polygamy. And if you are one of those "die hards" please continue reading, as I would like to challenge your thinking on this topic.

For Example:

1. Exodus 21:8 - Establishes rules for slaves who became wives. Note there is no mention of the man having to be single to marry a slave.
2. Exodus 21:10 - A man is not allowed to diminish food, clothing and marital rights, if he marries an additional wife.
3. Leviticus 20:14 - Prevents a man from marrying a woman and her mother at the same time. This rule would be irrelevant if polygamy was a sin.
4. Deuteronomy 22:28-29 - A man is to marry a virgin he had sex with, as long as the father did not refuse him. However, notice there is no mention on whether than man is single or not. If it was a sin to be a polygamist, there would have been a rule here saying if the man was already married, he would be punished or stoned.
5. Judges 8:30 - Gideon had "many wives". He was a man of God.
6. 1 Samuel 1:2 & 13:14 - Elkanah has two wives. One of his wives, Hannah, gave birth to the prophet Samuel. Wouldn't he be an illegitimate child, if polygamy was a sin?
7. 2 Samuel 12:7-8 - David was given his dead master's wives. Also God said he could have given him more than what he had. However, David chose to kill a man to steal his wife and that was where his sin was. God indirectly promotes polgamy in this passage.
8. 1 Kings 11:1-3 - Solomon had 300 wives and 700 concubines. However, it is made clear, his sin was marrying strange(foreign) wives, not having many wives. His foreign wives ended up leading him to idolatry later on in his life.
9. 1 Kings 15:5 - King David married atleast seven wives, but it says David did what was right in the sight of the Lord. If polygamy was a sin, David would not be right in God's eyes.
10. 1 Chronicles 2:46-48 - Caleb had two concubines. Yet, he was one of only two men allowed to enter the promised land! And, as you know, Moses was not even allowed to enter the promised land due to one sin!
11. 2 Chronicles 24:3 - Joash had two wives that were chosen by Jehoida the priest!
12. Nehemiah 13:26 - Solomon is again shown to have sinned because he took foreign wives, not because he had many wives.
13. Esther 2:2-4 - Esther was atleast the second wife of the King. God orchestrated the salvation of the Jews through her marriage to a polygamist.
14. Job 27:15 - Job mentions a man who's "wives shall not weep".
15. Song of Solomon 6:8 - The shulamite is praised by many queens and concubines of the king who loves her. If you add up all the queens and concubines, you discover that the shulamite who is courting with King Solomon here is the 141st wife of King Solomon. Remember, this is a story on how God desires us to be with our spouse.
16. Jeremiah 3:6-10 - God portrays himself as a polygamist with more than one wife.
17. Jeremiah 31:31-32 - Same thing again here. God with more than one wife.
18. Matthew 25:1-13 - Parable of the 10 virgins, where Jesus has himself as the groom marrying 5 of the 10 virgins, making himself a polygamist in the parable.
19. Romans 5:13 - If there is no law for something, it is not a sin. There is no law against polygamy, therefore, it is not a sin.
20. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 - Mentions that adulterers will not inherit the Kingdom of God, yet in Hebrews 11, we see many polygamists listed who inherited the Kingdom of God. Therefore polygamy is not adultery.
21. 1 Corinthians 7:2 - If you look at the greek behind this scripture, you will notice that the words used for "his own" and "her own" are not the same. The terms seem to allow for polygamy under close scrutiny.
22. 1 Timothy 3:2 - Must be husband of one wife. At best or worst, this is saying certain leaders can not be polygamists. Perhaps doing the work of the church in some leadership roles require an amount of devotion to where polygamy is not compatible. Or, perhaps, it is not limiting to one wife, but rather saying that he has to atleast have one wife. Not sure which, however, might as well take the safe ground with the former viewpoint.
23. James 2:23 - Abraham was called a friend of God, but he was a polygamist.