A Response to Andy Concerning My Post "Coming Soon: 'Polyamorist Rights'?

In regards to my post "Coming Soon: 'Polyamorist Rights'?", I received a comment from Andy, who thought that maybe I was confused about what the Bible says about polygamy. Here is his comment and my response.

Andy said...
Yeah, the sky is falling, blah blah blah.
Hey, i'm in a homosexual relationship and it's not "anything goes as long as it feels good". Trust me. Like many relationships it can be trying at times, but that's what love and companionship are about: taking the great with the not so great.
And I really don't see what your problem is with men having multiple wives...many parts of the bible talk about them matter of factly. Or have you forgotten to read you bible?

My response to Andy:
Andy,
Thanks so much for commenting on my site.
To answer your question, yes, I spend time every day in the Word of God seeking Him and what He expects of me. Let’s go to the Word to see what He says about polygamy.

In Genesis 2:24, it says "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh." So here God establishes one man, leaving his parents and marrying one woman.

But in Genesis 4:19, we find this: "Lamech took to himself two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah." Mankind quickly perverted the concept of marriage to allow for multiple wives. This did not come from God, but was decided by man.

In Deuteronomy 17:14-20 we see the rules that God set for choosing a king. The king is supposed to be an example of what is good and right in a people.
"When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,' you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman.
Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, 'You shall never again return that way.'
He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.
Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.
It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel."

In providing another example of what God expects in a leader 1 Timothy 3:2 says:
"An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money."

Another example of leadership is in 1 Timothy 3:12. It says:
"Deacons must be husbands of only one wife, and good managers of their children and their own households."

And one more example from Titus 1:5-6:
"For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you, namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion."

My point here is that time after time we see that the leadership of the church was to only have one wife. The leadership was to be the example to the rest of the church of what He expected of His people. It is safe to say that polygamy is not acceptable according to the Bible. Look at one example of what happens to a polygamist king in 1 Kings 11:1-11:

"Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, "You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods." Solomon held fast to these in love.
He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.
For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites.
Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not follow the LORD fully, as David his father had done.
Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon.
Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
Now the LORD was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not observe what the LORD had commanded.
So the LORD said to Solomon, "Because you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant."