Distortions of God's Design: Polygamy

********** Start Timer **********

-We’re going to be continuing our study...

…of Marriage, Family, and Sexuality this evening.

-We don’t have a primary text, tonight...

But, you may still want to keep your Bibles in the ready position...

…because what we look at (on the screen)...

…may cause you to want to follow along, anyway.

-Thus far in this study...

…we have spent our time looking at:

The structural foundations for marriage in Genesis 2...

The corruption of that design that began in Genesis 3.

...Tonight, we’re going to begin tracing out the OT’s treatment of Marriage...

…outside of these two chapters.

-Now, upon my surveying of this...

…in preparation for tonight’s sermon...

...I noticed that because of the way the OT chronicles...

…the effects of the spread of sin the way it does...

...I noticed that (for the most part)...

...what we see exemplified in these narratives...

…serves more to instruct us by way of negative example…

...Than it does by giving us good examples to follow.

-Now, that is not an absolute statement...

(So don’t read into it too deeply)

…but it was prevalent enough to cause me...

…to entitle this sermon with the heading:

“Distortions of God’s Design”

...With an emphasis on, at first, Polygamy!

-So, after some introductory material...

…And a bit of necessary review...

We’re going to focus our time on...

…the survey of this one topic in particular.

-But, let me caution you against something at the outset:

Please try to avoid dismissing this as irrelevant...

…because of the fact that polygamy is illegal in our land.

I have two reasons for asking you that:

1.) As rapidly as our cultural mores are shifting...

...We could be confronted with it sooner than you think!

2.) The principles that undergird our rejection of it as Christians...

…are very applicable to us, even now.

So, let’s pray, and ask for the Lord’s help and guidance.

Pray

Let’s begin by being reminded of the Foundation:

Genesis 2:18–24 (ESV)

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.

21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.

22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

How many Men involved here?

How many Women?

Could the Lord (hypothetically) have made multiple women from the one rib?

(that would have “filled the earth” faster!?!)

So God’s design was (without question):

One biological male

One biological female

In One Lifelong, Faithful Covenant union

But, then sin entered into the world.

And within six generations, we see this:

Chronicling the seed of the Serpent through Cain...

…we read this:

Genesis 4:17–19 (ESV)

17 Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.

18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech.

19 And Lamech took two wives...

Cain’s descendants were physically thriving...

Yet, they were profane!

They, like their father, throw off the will of God...

…to pursue their own success and worldly pleasure.

-BUT…Even After the Flood…

…we see these same sinful distortions occurring...

…Even within those through whom the Seed of the Woman would come:

Consider this Sobering commentary from Kostenberger:

In addition to Lamech, individuals who engaged in polygamy include prominent men such as...

Abraham (Gen. 16:3), Esau (Gen. 26:34; 28:9), Jacob (Gen. 29:30), Gideon (Judg. 8:30), Elkanah (1 Sam. 1:1–2), David (2 Sam. 3:2–5; 5:13), Solomon (1 Kings 11:3), Ahab (2 Kings 10:1), Jehoiachin (2 Kings 24:15), Ashur (1 Chron. 4:5), Rehoboam (2 Chron. 11:21), Abijah (2 Chron. 13:21), Jehoram (2 Chron. 21:14), Joash (2 Chron. 24:1–3), and Belshazzar (Dan. 5:2) — Kostenberger

Should we take this staggering list to indicate to us...

…that this was an acceptable practice?

I would say it actually shows the opposite!

First, consider Kostenberger’s assessment...

…then I’ll show you what I mean from these examples:

Although no explicit rationale is given in Scripture by those who were polygamous, among other possible reasons, the practice was likely engaged in for financial increase and stability, as an expression of authority and power, and in order to increase the number of one’s offspring. — Kostenberger

In other words...

Pride and Pragmatism!

It’s trying to obtain the blessings of God...

…without God’s blessing!

-Now, here’s the thing.

Even though it was so frequently done...

…the OT doesn’t usually record the effects of polygamy in a positive light:

Let’s start with good Ole father Abraham:

Genesis 16:3 (ESV)

3 So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.

A. This is a Spiritually-mixed marriage (An Egyptian)

B. It produced a son (Ishmael) that was...

“a wild donkey of a man”

whose “hand (to this day) will always be against everyone!”

Extremely negative light...

…from a Jewish perspective.

-Next: Esau!

Profane

Despised his birthright

Gave up the blessings of God for his stomach!

Genesis 26:34–35 (ESV)

34 When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite,

35 and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.

Unholy unions

Vandalized the shalom of the family

Esau’s solution:

Genesis 28:8–9 (ESV)

8 So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father,

9 Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.

This is not positive!

-Jacob, on the other hand...

…obeyed and went to find a wife among his kinsmen.

But, he was tricked by his wicked father-in-law...

…and ended up a polygamist himself!

And, as the Law would later forbid:

Genesis 29:30 (ESV)

30 ...he loved Rachel more than Leah...

Here’s how we know that this isn’t being sanctioned...

…just because Jacob is doing it:

Leviticus 18:18 (ESV)

18 ...you shall not take a woman as a rival wife to her sister, uncovering her nakedness while her sister is still alive.

The Law had many protections for women...

…who found themselves in this position.

-But, Jacob’s polygamy (intentional or not)...

…led to constant strife and conflict...

…and more and more sin!

In direct violation to God’s revealed will...

…Jacob hated the wife of his youth...

…but loved Rachel.

And there was constant friction and infighting...

...That led to two more violations...

…in the form of concubines...

...And, ultimately the persecution of Joseph later in life!

-But, guess what?

Guess who the seed of the woman came through?

LEAH!

The one Jacob never wanted!

-What do we read of (once humble) Gideon...

…after the Lord gives him military success?

Judges 8:30 (ESV)

30 Now Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives.

Did this cement the prosperity of Gideon’s line?

No! It destroyed it!

One brother murdered the rest...

And for his troubles...

…a woman crushed his skull with a millstone!

Positive or Negative?

-Even in the birth of the good prophet Samuel...

…Polygamy is viewed in a negative light.

Speaking of his mother, Hannah, we read:

1 Samuel 1:6–7 (ESV)

6 And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb.

7 So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat.

-Perhaps (Second to Abraham) the most telling are...

David and Solomon!

Notice this regarding King David:

2 Samuel 3:1–5 (ESV)

1 There was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. And David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul became weaker and weaker.

2 And sons were born to David at Hebron: his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam of Jezreel;

3 and his second, Chileab, of Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur;

4 and the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital;

5 and the sixth, Ithream, of Eglah, David’s wife. These were born to David in Hebron.

What’s David doing?

He’s acting like the kings of the nations...

…who don’t even fear the Lord.

It gets worse:

2 Samuel 5:13 (ESV)

13 And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to David.

What’s the main problem with this?

Deuteronomy 17:14–20 (ESV)

14 “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’

15 you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you...

16 Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’

17 And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.

18 “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests.

19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them,

20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.

-But, once Israel’s Kingdom was so firmly established, with...

Military Strength

Political Influence

A Strong Economy

Millions of People...

…then that’s no longer necessary to their success, right?

WRONG!

(And this is a lesson we had better learn today before it’s too late)

Solomon is the perfect case study.

He inherited a (seemingly) impregnable Kingdom.

He was wealthy and powerful...

…beyond what the world had ever seen...

And yet, we read this:

1 Kings 11:1–11 (ESV)

1 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,

2 from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.

3 He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart.

4 For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.

5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

6 So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord...

7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem.

8 And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

9 And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice

10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded.

11 Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.

And on and on we go!

-So, I hope you can see that...

…the mere presence of polygamy in the Old Testament...

…should not be seen as an endorsement of it.

-Now, I’m sure we’ll revisit these NT texts many times...

But, do notice how applicable they are to this study as well:

For starters, Jesus affirms our interpretation of Genesis 2:24.

It was in response to this question from the Pharisees:

Mark 10:2 (ESV)

2 . . . “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

They were trying to get him to teach contrary to the Law!

Mark 10:3–5 (ESV)

3 He answered them, “What did Moses command you?”

4 They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.”

5 And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.

In other words...

…some/many of the OT Judicial Laws...

…were put in place to provide order in a fallen world.

That I’m aware of...

…these Laws never promoted divorce...

…they (at best) permitted it if (through sin)...

…the “union of one flesh” had already been broken...

(even that, is debated)

…and governed what should happen...

…in the event of a divorce...

…in order to protect the innocent parties...

…and prevent God’s judgment from falling on the land.

(Look into that)

-But, that isn’t really the point for us.

The point is in what Jesus says in response:

Mark 10:6–9 (ESV)

6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’

7 ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife,

8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh.

9 What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Notice also, how Paul includes monogamy and marital fidelity...

…in various lists of aspiring virtues.

Of qualifications for elders, he writes:

1 Timothy 3:2 (ESV)

2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,

Of qualifications for enrolled widows, he writes:

1 Timothy 5:9–10 (ESV)

9 Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband,

10 and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.

See the similarities?

There’s a certain Virtue that’s associated with marital singularity...

And, a certain implied Vice that’s associated with going beyond that!

-But, probably the most convincing passage, is Ephesians 5.

Paul commands:

Ephesians 5:25–32 (ESV)

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her...

28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,

30 because we are members of his body.

31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

Does the Church have multiple saviors?

Does Christ have multiple churches?

NO!

Ephesians 4:4–6 (ESV)

4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—

5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Does the church have multiple husbands?

Does Christ have multiple brides?

(Story about Todd B)

That’s why polygamy matters!

It distorts a proper view of the Marriage Covenant...

And the marriage covenant is...

...a pictorial representation of the Gospel!

Let’s Pray!