Abraham had more than one wife Genesis , some were called concubines. Jacob was tricked into polygamy Genesis and later received two additional wives bringing the grand total of four wives Genesis , 9. Esau took a third wife to please his father Isaac Genesis Ashur had two wives 1 Chronicles Obadiah, Joel, Isshiah, and those with them had multiple wives 1 Chronicles Caleb had two wives 1 Chronicles and two concubines 1 Chronicles , Gideon had many wives Judges Elkanah is recorded as having two wives, one of whom was the godly woman Hannah 1 Samuel , David had at least 8 wives and 10 concubines 1 Chronicles ; 2 Samuel , Solomon had wives and concubines 1 Kings Rehoboam had eighteen wives and sixty concubines 2 Chronicles and sought many wives for his sons 1 Chronicles Abijah had fourteen wives 2 Chronicles Ahab had more than one wife 1 Kings Jehoram had multiple wives 2 Chronicles Jehoiada the priest gave king Joash two wives 2 Chronicles Jehoiachin had more than one wife 2 Kings Clearly, polygamy—at least among wealthy and powerful men—was common and brought little condemnation from God or His prophets.
The silence of God does not connote approval, however. Just because something is mentioned in the Bible does not mean that it is approved. For example, God permitted divorce because of the hard hearts of the people cf Matt , but to permit reluctantly is not to endorse or be pleased. Polygamy, whenever prominently dealt with in Scripture i.
Consider some of the following internecine conflicts and tragedies:. Rachel was infertile for many years, but finally gave birth to Joseph and later Benjamin. The brothers hatched a plot to kill Joseph, but due to a combination of their desire for monetary gain and the intervention of Reuben, he was instead sold into slavery.
At the root of this sad story of this bitter conflict was a polygamous mess. Gideon had many wives and by them many sons. Scripture tells the story of violence and death that resulted from this situation, with the sons all competing for kingship and heritage.
Now Gideon had seventy sons, his direct descendants, for he had many wives. His concubine who lived in Shechem also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelech. At a good old age Gideon, son of Joash, died and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. Abimelech, son of Jerubbaal i. He then went to his ancestral house in Ophrah, and slew his brothers, the seventy sons of Jerubbaal Gideon , on one stone. Only the youngest son of Jerubbaal, Jotham, escaped, for he was hidden Judges At the heart of this murderous conflict was polygamy.
Life — and especially love — among human beings is never easy. Though our story is complicated by the fact that two sisters share one husband something that the Torah later forbids , the truth is that even in monogamous relationships, life is often not simple. The Torah is insightful because it lets us know that families have been struggling with these issues for thousands of years.
Perhaps, in some small way, we can better our family lives by seeing the struggles of our ancestors and trying to learn from them. Provided by the Jewish Theological Seminary, a Conservative rabbinical seminary and university of Jewish studies.
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