Men of The Bible With Multiple Wives

Men of the Bible with Multiple Wives
http://www.rickbeckman.org/bible-polygamists/

When you think of polygamy, what do you think of? The Mormons? Islam or Muhammad?
Maybe you think of Big Love?
If you are a Christian, though, I want to give you something else to think of when the subject of
polygamy comes up. You see, our minds shouldnt be instinctively drawn to the world, its false
faiths, and its entertainment, when there are loftier subjects to focus on.
Our thoughts should gravitate to the Scriptures, to those men throughout the history of our faith
which lived out their lives with multiple wives, some with two or three, others with wives
numbering in the hundreds.
I want to introduce you to these men.
For simplicity, Ill present this list alphabetically. Also, I will from now on be referring to these
men with the more correct term polygynist. Polygyny is the practice of one man having multiple
wives; it is a type of polygamy.
Abdon
After him Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel.
14
He had forty sons and thirty
grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys, and he judged Israel eight years.
The Book of Judges 12:1314, emphasis mine
Alphabetically, we get to start our list with a man, Abdon, who isnt explicitly said to be a
polygynist. However, due to the large number of children he is said to have had, it is possible
that multiple wives bore these children to him.
Abijah
But Abijah grew mighty. And he took fourteen wives and had twenty-two sons and sixteen
daughters.
The Second Book of Chronicles 13:21, emphasis mine
You should read the rest of chapter thirteen to get the full picture of Abijah; when you do, youll
come away with the distinct impression that God was on his side.
Youll find out that while Abijah was ruling over the kingdom of Judah, the Jeroboam and the
kingdom of Israel rose up against them. Jeroboam and his men stood under the careful, watchful
protection of their golden calves and idols; Abijah and his men rose up under the watch, care,
and protection of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And what happened? God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah (v. 15).
Later on, were told that the rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways and his sayings, are written in
the story of the prophet Iddo.
Despite all that were told about Abijah, it is telling that were never given a hint of disapproval
regarding his having multiple wives.
Abram / Abraham
Now Sarai, Abrams wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose
name was Hagar.
2
And Sarai said to Abram, Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from
bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her. And Abram
listened to the voice of Sarai.
3
So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai,
Abrams wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband
as a wife.
The Book of Genesis 16:13, emphasis mine
Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah.
The ESV Study Bible says of Genesis 16:3, While the OT records occasions when particular
individuals have more than one wife, such instances are almost always fraught with
complications and difficulty. The taking of multiple wives is never encouraged in the Bible and
usually arises out of peculiar circumstances.
I wonder if the authors of that note have paid much attention to marriage in general: even
monogamy is almost always fraught with complications and difficulty. Thats just the nature of
human relationships!
Did any of those polygamist unions found in the Scriptures end in divorce? What about todays
monogamous marriages? Im willing to bet that monogamous societies have a much higher rate
of divorce than do polygynous ones. Why that is, I cannot say for certain.
In any event, Abraham had at least three wives two of which for certain were concurrent. An
additional curiosity of this family was that Abrahams taking of a second wife the idea of Sarai,
his first wife.
That is a curiosity because it shows a great lack of self-centeredness on the part of Sarai; she
knew the promise that Abraham would have children despite his age, and feeling as though the
promise could not be fulfilled in her, she arranged for her own servant to be Abrahams second
wife, so that the promise could be fulfilled through her.

The study Bible notes that polygamy is never encouraged; notice here, though, that the angel of
the Lord intervenes to mend the relationship between Hagar and Sarai but in no way expresses
any sort of disapproval at the polygynous unions between Abraham and the two women (vv. 9
12)!
Ahab
Ben-hadad the king of Syria gathered all his army together. Thirty-two kings were with him, and
horses and chariots. And he went up and closed in on Samaria and fought against it.
2
And he sent
messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel and said to him, Thus says Ben-hadad:
3
Your
silver and your gold are mine; your best wives and children also are mine.
The First Book of Kings 20:13, emphasis mine
We arent given details regarding these marriages, just that they exist: Ahab, king of Israel, had
multiple wives, and a disapproving word from the prophets or God Himself cannot be found.
Ahasuerus
Queen Vashti also gave a feast for the women in the palace that belonged to King Ahasuerus.
The Book of Esther 1:9, emphasis mine
Ahasuerus situation, like Abdons, is a bit speculative. Were all the women wives of
Ahasuerus? Or was it just the palace that belonged to the king rather than the women in the
palace? Im not knowledgeable in Hebrew grammar, and the English translation is a bit
ambiguous.
In any event, we know that Ahasuerus was married to Vashti, and that later, she would lose her
royal position to Esther (ch. 2). Were both women concurrent wives of Ahasuerus?
Whatever the situation, at the very least we can be certain that no disapproving words regarding
polygynous marriages are spoken by God or His prophets.
Ashur
Ashur, the father of Tekoa, had two wives, Helah and Naarah;
The First Book of Chronicles 4:5, emphasis mine
Appearing in a much longer list of the descendants of Judah, we are told simply that Ashur had
two wives. No disapproval. No stated need for repentance.


Belshazzar
Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that
Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and
his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them.
The Book of Daniel 5:2, emphasis mine
I admit that Belshazzar isnt the best possible example, but he is a biblical polygynist
nonetheless.
We are told of his drunkenness, of his idolatry things which elsewhere are revealed to be
against the Law of God.
That Belshazzar had multiple wives, though? That was a common practice among many cultures,
just as it is today, and there is no sign that the practice of polygyny violated the Law of God.
Ben-hadad
We can infer that when Ben-hadad would take Ahabs wives, he would take them to be his own
wives.
Caleb
Caleb the son of Hezron fathered children by his wife Azubah, and by Jerioth; and these were
her sons: Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon.
19
When Azubah died, Caleb married Ephrath, who bore
him Hur.
Ephah also, Calebs concubine, bore Haran, Moza, and Gazez; and Haran fathered Gazez.
The First Book of Chronicles 2:46
Maacah, Calebs concubine, bore Sheber and Tirhanah.
The First Book of Chronicles 2:48
At least two concurrent wives plus some concubines, and there is no sign that this wasnt a
normal, expected, healthy family structure.
The study Bible notes mentioned above said that polygyny was never encouraged; how is
portraying something as perfectly normal not at least implied encouragement?

David
David arose and went, along with his men, and killed two hundred of the Philistines. And David
brought their foreskins, which were given in full number to the king, that he might become the
kings son-in-law. And Saul gave him his daughter Michal for a wife.
The First Book of Samuel 18:27, emphasis mine
When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the Lord who has avenged the
insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The Lord
has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head. Then David sent and spoke to Abigail, to take
her as his wife.
David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and both of them became his wives.
And the sixth, Ithream, of Eglah, Davids wife. These were born to David in Hebron.
The Second Book of Samuel 3:5, emphasis mine
And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron, and
more sons and daughters were born to David.
Nathan said to David, You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I anointed you
king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.
8
And I gave you your masters
house and your masters wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah.
And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more.
Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a
son, and he called his name Solomon. And the Lord loved him.
David is the most significant man on this list thus far; not only was he the king of Israel, he is
also the penman behind hundreds of chapters of Scripture.
And he was a man after Gods own heart (Acts 13:22).

Make no mistake that there was sin in Davids life. He committed adultery, and murdered to get
away with it. He was as human as the rest of us, yet he was highly favored by the Lord.
And he was a polygynist.
Its easy enough to attribute Davids problems to some sort of insatiable lust, but the Scriptures
do not point us in that direction.
On the contrary, 2 Samuel 12:78 (quoted above) and the surrounding context show that David
rebelled against the Lord despite having multiple wives. The Scriptures go so far as to say that
God Himself gave David multiple wives and that, if they were not enough, He would give David
even more!
Does God sin? Can iniquity be found in the Almighty? Does God change?
Keep in mind that the ESV Study Bible said that the Scriptures never encouraged polygyny.
What does it have to say about God giving multiple wives to David? There is no other record of
David marrying Sauls wives, but he was certainly in a position to do so.
Basically, they avoid the issue. When confronted with undeniable, incontrovertible evidence that
polygyny is an acceptable practice, rather than admit such, the editors of the study Bible sidestep
the issue. I hope you wont make the same mistake.
Eliphaz
The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.
12
(Timna was a concubine of
Eliphaz, Esaus son; she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.) These are the sons of Adah, Esaus wife.
The Book of Genesis 36:1112
We are only told the name of one of Eliphazs wives, but what we are not told is that God
disapproved of his family structure. We must not read into the Scriptures disapproval where none
in fact exists.
Elkanah
There was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was
Elkanah the son of Jeroham, son of Eliju, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephrathite.
2
He had two
wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah
had children, but Hannah had no children.
The study Bible actually makes sense in its handling of this passage, so Ill let it speak on it:
Probably Hannah was Elkanahs first wife, since she is named first. Presumably he married

Peninnah because Hannah was barren; lack of an heir was a major problem in the ancient Near
East, as in many other societies. Taking a second wife was one way to try to solve the problem
(Gen. 16:2), as was levirate marriage. Elkanahs pedigree suggests that it would be important to
him to have an heir to continue the family and also that he was prosperous enough to afford a
second marriage.
If marriage was the only legitimate avenue of fulfilling the command to procreate, then how
much more does polygyny allow this command to be fulfilled? We saw this sort of thing earlier
in the case of Abraham; so that he may have a child, Sarai encouraged him to take Hagar to be
his second wife.
Seems to me that polygyny is in fact an encouraged alternative to remaining childless. Curious,
no?
Esau
When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his
wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
Multiple wives with no disapproval. Noticing a pattern yet?
Ezra
The sons of Ezrah: Jether, Mered, Epher, and Jalon. These are the sons of Bithiah, the daughter
of Pharaoh, whom Mered married; and she conceived and bore Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah,
the father of Eshtemoa.
18
And his Judahite wife bore Jered the father of Gedor, Heber the father
of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah.
Verse 17 lists the sons of Ezrah with one wife; verse 18 details his family with his Judahite wife
(or as some translations render it, his wife Jehudijah).
Family details aplenty, but not a word of divine disapproval.


Gideon
Now Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives.
The Book of Judges 8:30, emphasis mine
This passage doesnt mince any words: Gideon had many wives. Plain. Simple. Unpunished.
List Source: Polygamy in the Bible: Polygamy Really Is Biblical!
What comes to your mind when you think of polygyny? If this post was successful, youll now
think of any of a number of men from the Bible. Perhaps most significantly, you should think of
David, who not only was a man after Gods own heart, but was also a man to whom God gave
multiple wives with the promise of more if desired.
I fully recognize that polygyny is a foreign concept to many people today, and overwhelmingly it
is seen as a step below homosexuality if we allow gay marriage, there will be nothing to
stop polygamy and so on. Feminists will claim that allowing a man to have multiple wives,
especially using language such as take wives or gave wives, is supposedly harmful to the
women involved. Egalitarian folks will claim that it is unfair for a man to be allowed multiple
wives if a woman cannot have multiple husbands.
Yet we mustnt allow our beliefs about marriage to be colored by the culture around us without
first having a firm grasp of what the Scriptures teach about marriage. Only after affirming what
the Scriptures teach about marriage polygyny is okay, divorce is despicable, adultery and
fornication are sins, etc. can we allow ourselves to adopt certain cultural traditions the
marriage ceremony, honeymoon, and so on without compromising the foundation laid by the
Scriptures.

Men of The Bible With Multiple Wives

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