As we study our Bibles carefully we not only discover that having multiple wives is permitted but that it is perfectly normal, and to such an extent that Yahweh allegories His relationship to Israel, and Christ to the Church (Messianic Community), in the language of multiple marriage. We can confidently say, then, that plural marriage is not only fully integrated into the way of life of Israel and the Church (Messianic Community) but that it is positively promoted as a symbol of the relationship between the Divine and the fellowship of those who are saved and walking in complete obedience to the Torah.
A common accusation levelled by Westerners is that plural marriage belongs to the Old Testament whereas monogamy is the rule of the New, as though the two were somehow antagonistic and as though Yahweh suddenly changed his moral and ethical laws. They say that because multiple marriage is nowhere mentioned directly in the New Testament that this is evidence enough that it was done away with by Christ. However, you cannot argue from silence. If Christ said something like, "It is written, if a man has two wives ... but I say to you that a man shall only have one wife," then the matter would be settled for Christians, but no such Torah modification exists. The Rabbis themselves, strongly influenced by Greek- influenced Western culture, did not outlaw polygamy until a thousand years after Christ, and then only for a thousand years. Instead, what do we find? We find Paul saying that anyone who forbids marriage is teaching a doctrine of demons:
"Now the Ruach (Spirit) expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which Eloah (God) created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth" (1 Tim.4:1-3, NKJV).
'Traditionally', of course, this passage has been 'interpreted' to mean forbidding a man from taking one wife to be "forbidding to marry". But as we know this is not how the Bible defines marriage. If I have one wife, and a priest says to me, "You can't take a second wife", then the meaning is the same: he is forbidding me to marry in the biblical sense. He is giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. That's right, the doctrine that a man may only have one wife is demonic! It is plain evil. Anyone who outlaws plural marriage is therefore an agent of those powers who oppose Yahweh's Kingdom.
Notice that this is a "latter times" phenomenon. According to the New Testament, the "latter times" or "last days" began at Pentecost (Shavu'ot) when the prophecy of Joel was fulfilled:
"And it shall come to pass in the last days, says Eloah (God), That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams" (Acts 2:17, NKJV).
We have been in the "latter times" or "last days" ever since as a specific kind of wickedness unfolds. In our 21st century we are witnessing the fulfilment of many New Testament prophecies as the end-time scenario winds itself up. The banning of multiple marriage is a sign of it.
We know that plural marriage existed amongst the early Christians from the sayings of Paul. For instance, he writes:
"It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles -- that a man has his father's wife!" (1 Cor.5:1, NKJV).
Now had Paul meant that a son was sleeping with his mother, he would have said that "a man has (or "went into") his mother". Quite clearly a man had been sleeping with one of his father's plural wives, a sin as recorded in Leviticus:
"The nakedness of your father or the nakedness of your mother you shall not uncover. She is your mother; you shall not uncover her nakedness. The nakedness of your father's wife you shall not uncover; it is your father's nakedness" (Lev.18:7-8, NKJV).
Notice that there are two categories - mother and father's wife, the latter a plural wife and not the same as the man's mother. This all Jews understood, and it is the latter Paul is referencing here.
Many ignorant Christians accuse King David of the imaginary 'sin of polygamy'. Quite apart from the fact that we have established beyond doubt that plural marriage is not a sin, it is perfectly clear that David's sin was not 'polygamy' but adultery against another man's wife, namely, Uriah, the lawful husband of Bathsheba. To this crime he added the sin of murder, murdering her husband so he could have Bathsheba to himself. And his punishment, as we know, was great. However, his sin was not marrying more than woman, as is made very plain in the following passage:
"Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! Thus says Yahweh-Elohim of Israel: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! Why have you despised the commandment of Yahweh, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon" (2 Sam.12:7-9, NKJV).
In these three verses, Yahweh condemns murder and adultery whilst saying that it is He who gave David his plural wives in the first place and would have given him more wives had he not been satisfied with just the ones he had! Now how can having multiple wives be a sin or adultery if Yahweh says plural wives are a gift to a godly man .... that is, godly before David turned to adultery and murder?
Wherever you look, you will find scriptural consistency. Marriage - one or more wives per husband - is a gift of Yahweh. I repeat, nowhere in the Bible is having multiple wives declared a sin or adultery by the Most High. Nowhere! Such 'sins' are in the imagination of fallen man.
This was not the only time that Yahweh blessed multiple wives. Leah, first of four wives of Jacob, declared upon the birth of her son Issachar:
"Leah said, "God (Elohim) has given me my wages, because I have given my maid to my husband." So she called his name Issachar" (Gen.30:18, NKJV).
Here Leah clearly understands that she has become pregnant and had another child after she thought she was past giving birth because Yahweh is blessing her for giving her husband her maidservant to be his fourth wife.
The Scriptures are plain: plural marriage is divinely sanctioned and protected. Prophets and wives themselves understood that multiple wives were Yahweh's gift both to themselves and their husbands.
