Please in time to come I will like to give u a teachings on Polygamy! I over heard a statement, made by a very notable preacher, ''God is not against Polygamy''. Polygamy is not a sin?
There are examples throughout the Bible where even men of God committed adultery and polygamy. God, Himself, when giving instruction to Israel about the behavior of the king of Israel made it clear that he should be a man of one wife. (Deu 17:17) "Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold."
We do read, later in Deuteronomy, about a brother marrying the widow of his brother to allow for heirs to be born. (Deu 25:5-10) If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her.
And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel.
And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband's brother.
Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand to it, and say, I like not to take her;
Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house.
And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed."
While the Bible does not specify, it is my belief that this would hold true only if the brother was not already married. After all, I look at my own situation. Both of my brothers are married. While they would gladly look after my wife in the event of my death, they would not be in a position to father children by her or marry her without it compromising their own marriages. If, however, one of them was not married, he would fall under this instruction.
Solomon, we see, married many women who worshiped pagan gods. He did this thinking that doing so would bring favor on the gods (obviously he was lacking faith in the one true God), and also on the rulers of the nations these women were from. Throughout history, marriages have taken place to form alliances between nations but generally not when one person was already married to someone else. When we look at what happened to Solomon when he did this, we see that he fell out of favor with God!
The New Testament is full of references of how a man is to be faithful to only one woman. In fact, the instructions given to Timothy about the requirements for church leaders such as bishops and deacons are that they are to be men with only one wife. He also tells the church in Corinth, a church riddled with immorality, in his first letter very sternly, (1Co 7:2) "Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." Notice that he says every man his own wife and every woman her own husband! The entire chapter is about the morality of intimate relations and how they are to be.
Ephesians 5 is often used to show us about good marital relationships. It not only tells us about how a wife is to be toward her husband but how a man is to love his wife "as Christ loved the church...". Think about this for a moment; if Christ loved the church as if it were one of many churches, He could not have loved it completely. Likewise, if a man loves his wife as if she is one of many, he cannot love her completely.
I hope that this answers your question for now. I will gladly do a more complete study and writing on this in the future.
Please in time to come I will like to give u a teachings on Polygamy! I over heard a statement, made by a very notable preacher, ''God is not against Polygamy''. Polygamy is not a sin?
There are examples throughout the Bible where even men of God committed adultery and polygamy. God, Himself, when giving instruction to Israel about the behavior of the king of Israel made it clear that he should be a man of one wife. (Deu 17:17) "Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold."
We do read, later in Deuteronomy, about a brother marrying the widow of his brother to allow for heirs to be born. (Deu 25:5-10) If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her.
And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel.
And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband's brother.
Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand to it, and say, I like not to take her;
Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house.
And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed."
While the Bible does not specify, it is my belief that this would hold true only if the brother was not already married. After all, I look at my own situation. Both of my brothers are married. While they would gladly look after my wife in the event of my death, they would not be in a position to father children by her or marry her without it compromising their own marriages. If, however, one of them was not married, he would fall under this instruction.
Solomon, we see, married many women who worshiped pagan gods. He did this thinking that doing so would bring favor on the gods (obviously he was lacking faith in the one true God), and also on the rulers of the nations these women were from. Throughout history, marriages have taken place to form alliances between nations but generally not when one person was already married to someone else. When we look at what happened to Solomon when he did this, we see that he fell out of favor with God!
The New Testament is full of references of how a man is to be faithful to only one woman. In fact, the instructions given to Timothy about the requirements for church leaders such as bishops and deacons are that they are to be men with only one wife. He also tells the church in Corinth, a church riddled with immorality, in his first letter very sternly, (1Co 7:2) "Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." Notice that he says every man his own wife and every woman her own husband! The entire chapter is about the morality of intimate relations and how they are to be.
Ephesians 5 is often used to show us about good marital relationships. It not only tells us about how a wife is to be toward her husband but how a man is to love his wife "as Christ loved the church...". Think about this for a moment; if Christ loved the church as if it were one of many churches, He could not have loved it completely. Likewise, if a man loves his wife as if she is one of many, he cannot love her completely.
I hope that this answers your question for now. I will gladly do a more complete study and writing on this in the future.