I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately to the fundamentalist view of the Bible versus the approach that more liberal Christians take, particularly as it pertains to opinions about homosexuality and what the Bible has to say about it.
Eventually, this thought process led me to the issue of polygamy. I’ve just started reading the Bible for the first time in my life, and while I’m not very deep into it, there is, of course, quite a bit of polygamy that is condoned and even encouraged throughout. I don’t think I’ve run across a major character yet (I’m nearing the beginning of Leviticus) outside of Adam who didn’t have at least two wives. And yet, I know of few fundamentalists (or Christians and Jews in general, for that matter) who approve of polygamy today.
So my question is, where in the Bible, if at all, does the attitude toward polygamy change? And if this change isn’t present in the Bible, how did we arrive at the conclusion it is now a bad thing?
Pardon me if the phrasing of my question is poor…I hope I’m getting my point across.
Rabbi Joseph Telushkin makes an interesting point about polygamy in the Torah- biblical law allowed polygamy, but all of the polygamous marriages in the Torah narrative are unhappy for at least one of the parties involved.
For Ashkenazi Jews, Rabbenu Gershom ruled that polygamy was unacceptable in the 11th century. Some non-Ashkenazic Jews practiced polygamy until the 20th century. I think Israel recognizes polygamous marriages among immigrants, but won’t perform any new polygamous marriages.
There is no place in the bible where the attitude changes.
Polygyny among the Hebrews would have been limited to the very wealthy (who could afford to pull it off), so if the early Christians were mostly drawn from the poor, their custom would have been monogamy.
Similarly, monogamy was the more common practice among the Romans from whom the Christians next drew their converts.
The Pauline Pastoral letters argue that church leaders should be men of only one wife, although they do not argue against polygyny in general.
Tertullian argued for monogamy over polygyny.
Augustine of Hippo also argued for monogamy in his day, saying that the polygynous elders of the Hebrews were carrying out God’s plan at a different time and the plan had changed. (Augustine and Paul, and possibly Tertullian, we also all arguing from a position that lust was an evil that could only be “tamed” by marriage, with Augustine explicitly stating that multiple partners led to sinfulness.)
Rabbi Gershom’s ruling may have been as much practical as based in theory: polygynous Jews were in danger of drawing the ire of their monogamous Christian neighbors and resorting to monogamy may have been a way to blend in to a hostile society.
No. There was also the fact that the Christians among whom the Ashkenazic Jews lived didn’t practice polygamy, and considered it immoral. One of Rabbenu Gershom’s arguments against allowing polygamy in that situation was that it would make Judaism look bad if Jewish law condoned what most non-Jews around thought of as immoral behavior.
A modern equivalent might be if Jews kept slaves now, because the Torah allows slavery. It would be legal according to the Torah, but it would definitely discredit Judaism in the eyes of others.
Many believe that Moses’ wife Zipporah, from the tribe of Midian, is different from the Cushite/Ethiopean wife mentioned in Numbers 12. Although some have tried to say they are the same person, there are a few gymnastics they have to go through, particularly: 1) Why would the author describe a Midianite as a Cushite - very different things. 2) Why would Miriam and Aaron murmur and grumble in Numbers 12 about a wife Moses had since before he returned to Egypt. 3) Why would Miriam and Moses grumble about Zipporah at all?
Also, although Isaac and Joseph are only recorded as having one wife, they sure didn’t seem to ming Jacob (Isaac’s son and Joseph’s father) having 4 (2 wives and 2 concubines.) Isaac’s dad, Abaham had 3, 2 of which we know were married to him at the same time.