So earlier this week, I wrote an initial blog discussing monogamy. I answered some very basic claims and you can read that here.
Here was the claim:
Claim: Monogamy is unrealistic and unnatural. Monogamy is a religious ideal pressed upon humans. We find in the animal kingdom monogamy, polygamy, and same-sex activities and humans are animals, too. Abraham in the Bible was a polygamist, so even the “Father of the Jews” practiced it.
I didn’t have a chance to answer the last part of the claim, because of space and time, so today, I’d like to explore this. I see throughout the internet, many proponents of polygamy, using Abraham to justify polygamy.
Claim: Abraham was a polygamist. Even in the Bible, “holy” people engaged in polygamy and God didn’t do anything about it.
First, just because something is in the Bible does not mean God condones it. The Bible is a story of fallen humans. We can’t expect to find only perfect people in there or otherwise how could we ever relate to anything in the Bible?
Second, verses must always be read in context to the chapter of the book they’re in. And chapters must be read in context with the book they’re in. And books must be read in the context of the whole story.
So Abraham. What’s the story? These are the verses people usually refer to:
Abraham had three wives: Sarah, Hagar and Keturah
“Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.” Genesis 16:1
“And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.” Genesis 16:3
“Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah.” Genesis 25:1
The last verse is the easiest to deal with, because the preceding verse shows that this was not an instance of polygamy. Sarah had died and Abraham took another wife. Once a spouse has died, it is okay to marry another. It’s almost laughable that people use this as proof that Abraham was a polygamist, because you just have to read the verse before to see that his wife had died.
So, what about Hagar? This situation is a little more complex. Some Bibles say Sarah gave Hagar as a wife, others translate as concubine. When looking up the definition of concubine it can mean “lesser wife,” so there really is no conflict here. So, yes, Abraham appears to have engaged in polygamy. But, did God condone it? No where in my readings could I find where God encouraged it or told Abraham that’s what he must do. Just because a person does something in the Bible doesn’t mean God condones the act. He gave us free will and we are allowed to choose right and wrong. So, were there ramifications because of this polygamous situation? Why, yes, there were. I found the most concise (and entertaining) explanation online at the Catholicanswers.com forum from someone named Fidelis:
A good example of this is polygamy. People always ask, “If polygamy is bad, why doesn’t God condemn his servants or punish them when they engage in it?” Well, actually God punishes them by allowing the chips to fall where they may. In every case we read about bigamy and polygamy in the OT, something bad always happens as a direct result of it. It might take a long time sometimes, but you can easily trace it back if you take the time to do it.
Another example that constantly comes up is Abram’s actions in Egypt, where, to save his own skin, he tried to pass off Sarai as his literal sister, not mentioning that she was his wife. Well, after Pharoah found out, he gave Abraham a bunch of gifts and sent him on his way. What’s wrong with that?
W-e-e-e-l-l – you might say that he consented to taking a little bit of Egypt with him when he left (much like the Israelites would do 500 years later, keeping Egypt in their hearts –it’s luxuries and idols — when they left). One of these gifts was a maidservant for Sarai, Hagar. What’s wrong with that?
W-e-e-e-l-l – it seems Sarah and Abraham got tired of waiting for God to make good on his promise of a son so they used Hagar to speed things up. Sarah nagged Abraham to produce a child with Hagar, the result of which was Ishmael. So what’s wrong with that?
W-e-e-e-l-l – As you know, when the son of the promise (Isaac) did finally come along, Hagar and Ismael were cast out. Stinks for those two, but, ultimately, what is wrong with that?
W-e-e-e-l-l – as you also must know, the descendents of Ishmael went on to become traditional bitter enemies of Israel and caused them no end of death and trouble, especially when it came time for Israel to try to make their way to the Promised Land during the Exodus. It took a while, but what went around, came around.
Finding: Yes, Abraham had more than one wife, but this does not prove that God wanted it to be this way or that He condoned it in anyway. In fact, we see that this polygamist situation sets up great trouble down the line. God has given us free will and often the consequences of the decisions we make are our punishment.
