[CS-FSLUG] God's plan for the family.

[David Aikema]

Just how clear though is the Bible on the pairing of one with one.  We
see plenty of people in the Bible with multiple wives as well as with
concubines (can someone expand on the difference b/w wives and
concubines ... my understanding is that the latter were never
officially married to the person in question) - Jacob and David to
name a couple.

The closest I can find to a prohibition on this is Deuteronomy 17:17
in which states (NIV): "The king ... must not take many wives, or his
heart will be led astray."  How many is "many" ... does the word mean
any number greater than one?

David is rebuked by a prophet (2 Samuel 12) for committing adultery
with Bathsheba and causing Uriah's death, but there the rebuke appears
to be directed towards depriving a "poor" man when he was "rich"  (he
already had at least 6 wives/concubines, I think, at the time), and
not necessarily against this "richness".

There's also 2 Chronicles 24:3, in which the priest Jehoida chooses
not one - but two - wives for the king.

I'm not in favour of polygamy, and I'm not suggesting that God's
people don't sin (or that their possession of wives/concubines didn't
cause problems .... I'm thinking particularly of Jacob and Solomon
here), but I don't think that the situation is quite as clear as the
statement would suggest.

David

On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 00:32:11 -0500, Fred A. Miller
<fmiller at lightlink.com> wrote:
> The Book of Genesis clearly lays out God's plan for the family.  One man,
> one woman, in marriage for one lifetime.  Throughout the Bible, we get God's