5/12/74; 1/26/75

DOCTRINE OF POLYGAMY

A. Polygamy means to have a plurality of wives. It is the antithesis of monogamy.

B. Polygamy is prohibited by Deut 17:14-17; Lk 18:18. It is a sin.

C. Polygamy violates the divine law of right man and right woman, Gen 2:24.

D. Cases of polygamy in the Bible are always related to reversionism and apostasy.

1. Jacob had two wives, Leah and Rachel, plus two mistresses. He always had trouble with his sons.

2. Lamech, an apostate reversionist, Gen 4:19.

3. Gideon, Judges 8:29-9:57.

4. Elkanah, 1 Sam 1:6. 5. Solomon, 1 Kings 11:1-8.

6. David, 2 Sam 13.

E. Polygamy and Culture. African culture has always had polygamy. Arabs limited polygamy to four wives. People of India have been polygamous. Polygamy was practiced in Japan until 1880. Only Greece and Rome in the ancient world were monogamous.

F. Polygamy and the Will of God.

1. Polygamy is not the will of God, either directive or permissive.

2. God doesn’t condone polygamy. All polygamous believers have trouble as a result.

3. Polygamy is one of the best systems of self-induced misery and heavy divine discipline.

4. No man is designed physically or mentally for polygamy. It destroys your sex life.

5. Monogamy is God’s order under the laws of divine establishment.

6. No one should have understood the problems of polygamy more than Solomon and David.

7. It is not justified either in the oriental harem or in the Mormon home. The government has observed this and has passed laws against it since 1862. In 1890 the Supreme Court reconfirmed this.

G. Conclusions.

1. Wherever polygamy is recorded in the Word, it is noted as a sin and a historical fact, but never condoned.

2. It is specifically forbidden.

3. Those who practiced polygamy were never free from discipline, trouble, or misery.

4. They further perpetuated trouble into the next generation through the rivalries of their children.

5. Many great believers such as Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and Peter were monogamous.

6. Polygamy causes everything from incest and murder to rape and violence as illustrated by David’s polygamy, 2 Sam 13.

7. The greatest nations in history, Israel, Greece, and Rome, were monogamous.

8. Both from the standpoint of the laws of divine establishment and the principles of Bible doctrine, everything relating to right man and right woman is based on monogamy.

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