When Adam was in the garden in the presence of The Most High, he only had one woman. Genesis 2 v 18-25. Polygamy started after man’s rebellion when he was put out of the garden, after he was put out of the presence of Elohim. The first record of polygamy was Lamech the seed of Cain. Genesis 4 v17-19. We cannot deny that this was the practice of the culture in the Middle East, in the land of Yisreal and that it was practiced by many of the patriarchs. But was it the original plan of The Father, and is it a solution for lust? No it is not because Lust is a sin problem.
To be clear, polygamy was a common thing among the Old Testament patriarchs. The list is not short:
- Lamech (a descendant of Cain) practiced polygamy (Genesis 4:19).
- Abraham had more than one wife (Genesis 16:3-4; 25:6, some are called concubines).
- Nahor, Abraham’s brother, had both a wife and a concubine (Genesis 11:29; 22:20-24).
- Jacob was tricked into polygamy (Genesis 29:20-30) and later he received two additional wives, making a grand total of four wives (Genesis 30:4, 9).
- Esau took on a third wife to please his father Isaac (Genesis 28:6-9).
- Ashur had two wives (1 Chronicles 4:5).
- Obadiah, Joel, Ishiah, and those with them “had many wives” (1 Chronicles 7:3-4).
- Shaharaim had at least four wives, two of which he “sent away” (1 Chronicles 8:8-11).
- Caleb had two wives (1 Chronicles 2:18) and two concubines (1 Chronicles 2:46, 48).
- Gideon had many wives (Judges 8:30).
The problem started after Adam sinned and is corrected in Mashiach
Does The Almighty approve of this? We have no evidence that He does. All mankind since Adam is in a state of needing redemption including the patriarchs. Romans 3 v 10-12 As it is written
“There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks Elohim.
12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”[a]
Romans 3 v 23 since all have sinned and come short of earning The Almighty’s praise.
The Mashiach came to fix man’s broken condition, in order to return us to the presence of The Father through covenant with him by so doing fix what Adam had broken.
Here is how it works: it was through one individual that sin entered the world, and through sin, death; and in this way death passed through to the whole human race, inasmuch as everyone sinned. 13 Sin was indeed present in the world before Torah was given, but sin is not counted as such when there is no Torah. 14 Nevertheless death ruled from Adam until Moshe, even over those whose sinning was not exactly like Adam’s violation of a direct command. In this, Adam prefigured the one who was to come.
Romans 5 v 12-14
Mashiach has the solution
One of the things Mashiach addressed was the subject of marriage. Our Ancestors had a problem of violating Yah’s instruction by putting away their wives for any reason, in order to marry other women even those who were gentiles from other nations. As we could in Malachi 2 The Most high called this an abomination after they came to worship The Father with their presumptuous sin. Malachi 2 v 11 Y’hudah has broken faith; an abomination has been committed in Isra’el and Yerushalayim. For Y’hudah has profaned the sanctuary of Adonai, which he loves, by marrying the daughter of a foreign mighty one (god).
Messiah is our standard he came to fix what was broken not only by Adam and Isreal. What is the standard that he set or re-enstated? The Father was the one who joined Adam with Chawah in the garden and said a man should leave his mother and father and cleave to his wife. Genesis 2 v 24, This is why a man is to leave his father and mother and stick with his wife, and they are to be one flesh. This is the original standard before mankind’s rebellion.
Let us return to the garden and to the beginning
In Mathew 19 the Mashiach went back to the beginning before Adam left the garden. He replied, “Haven’t you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and female,[a] 5 and that he said, ‘For this reason a man should leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two are to become one flesh’?[b] 6 Thus they are no longer two, but one. So then, no one should split apart what The Almighty/ God has joined together.”
The Father should be the one to put people together not Satan He put one man with one woman and not one man with many women. Notice that Messiah went back to the beginning before Adam rebelled and that is where we should go back to as well. Mankind after Adam sinned took on the nature of the serpent, born in sin and sharpened in iniquity and need deliverance. Mashiach pointed to the hardness of the heart that caused divorce and it is this same condition that cause polygamy.
Mathew 19 v 7-8 They said to him, “Then why did Moshe give the commandment that a man should hand his wife a get and divorce her?”[c] 8 He answered, “Moshe allowed you to divorce your wives because your hearts are so hardened. But this is not how it was at the beginning.
What man has been practicing is their own way of doing things with a satanic nature. Mashiach is our goal and example, he is the standard. At one time in my life I was between two opinions I thought polygamy was ok, but really it really was taking care of the carnal not the spiritual. The Levitical priesthood had a higher standard to live by and they did not practice polygamy. We are called to an even higher standard than the Levitical priesthood that is the Melkitzedeq priesthood. One husband to one wife like Adam and Chawah.
Sin is the problem and obedience is the cure
Don’t you know that your bodies are parts of the Messiah? So, am I to take parts of the Messiah and make them parts of a prostitute? Heaven forbid! 16 Don’t you know that a man who joins himself to a prostitute becomes physically one with her? For the Tanakh says, “The two will become one flesh”;[a] 17 but the person who is joined to Yah is one spirit. 18 Run from sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the fornicator/whore sins against his own body. 19 Or don’t you know that your body is a temple for the Ruach HaKodesh who lives inside you, whom you received from The Almighty? The fact is, you don’t belong to yourselves; 20 for you were bought at a price. So use your bodies to esteem/honor Yah.
Mashiach said in Mathew 5 You have heard that our fathers were told, ‘Do not commit adultery.’[c] 28 But I tell you that a man who even looks at a woman with the purpose of lusting after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Who may go up to the mountain of Yah? Who can stand in his setapart place? 4 Those with clean hands and pure hearts, who don’t make vanities the purpose of their lives or swear oaths just to deceive.