My friend is asking me this question, I assume, because I have a degree in theology. But this question is really outside my field, and I don’t quite know where to begin with it. The reference to holding a woman up in “a ‘princess’-like manner” reminds me of a teaching popular in some conservative Protestant circles, that the husband is the “head” of the household but must put the wife on a pedestal. The concept that polygamy in ancient Israel was “disrespectful” of women seems intuitive, although I don’t quite get the reference about “later bibical correction was made,” unless she simply means that the Bible later forbade polygamy. But like I said, I really am not sure where one begins answering her question, and I have a nagging suspicion that I don’t understand where it is coming from. Can anyone suggest a more astute answer? (I am posting this question in General Questions because I interpret it as seeking an exposition about doctrine, rather than a moral argument about a woman’s place in a household or in society.)
I don’t see how polygamy is inherently disrespectful of women.
Maybe it’s in the Christian testament, which I then wouldn’t know about, but polygamy was only forbidden amongst Jews by Rabbinic edict, not by anything in the Scriptures.
David’s many wives were more than God said was ok and condemned in the bible. While I don’t think polygamy is inherently hurtful or disrespectful of women, having more wives than you can reasonably do your marital duties to (or even meet with) on a regular basis and yet expecting faithfulness from them is hurtful.
The bible actually gives wives quite a bit of independence as well as responsibility. While having as their main duty the manegement of the household, from seeing that supplies are well stocked, to making sure that servants are productive, they can also negotiate business deals, make and invest money, go to the market, and own property. Their husbands are expected to trust their judgement as he has his own duties to fulfill.
I don’t intuitively get that. There are plenty of examples in the OT where women were treated as property or worse: being sacrificed to God, pregnant women having their unborn children cut out, handed over to be pack raped and murdered to save men, women being raped after seeing all their fathers, mothers and brothers slaughtered in front of them. Women as a whole weren’t well regarded in the OT. But polygamy is not particularly disrespectful. In a society where a lot of men were routinely being killed at war the alternative was that many women should never be allowed to marry and have children. In a society where children were the primary social security that meant condemning a lot of women to poverty in old age. That seems more disrespectful than polygamy could ever be.
David’s many wives were more than God said was ok and condemned in the bible.
David only had 8 wives (plus about 10 concubines). Sure, that’s a lot, but a drop in the bucket compared to his son, Solomon. Solomon’s 700 wives were his ruin not because he had so many but because most of them were pagans, and they weren’t a good influence on him.
AFAIK God didn’t place a limit on the number of wives a man could have in the OT. Many times a wife was a political match only and not a wife in the sense that we think of it.