Though in polygamy they're technically all married...
Are you taking a secular view or a Christian view?
The secular view of marriage is that there is a legal document declaring a couple is 'married'. So long as the laws in a country allow it they are 'married'. It's a legal thing. So a society could legalize polygamy as marriage if they wanted but that doesn't mean its marriage in God's view.
If they moved to another country they may face a different law. Reminds me of how in the US back in the 60's some states allowed marriage between black and white couples and some did not and the story of Loving vs Loving where a black and white couple could not move back to their own state without facing arrest. This was the legal and society view of marriage at that time, and it's changeable.
God's view of marriage, what he gave to us, is one man to one women for life.
Matthew 19
4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
That is marriage and only that is marriage in God's sight. God doesn't care about country law or legal papers. God also doesn't care about race or skin colour. They simply had to be one man and one woman. Anything outside of that is not seen as marriage. So extra 'wives' are not actually married nor are gay couples because it falls outside the institution of marriage that God set up. Secular society can do whatever it likes, call whatever it likes marriage, doesn't mean God views it as such.
According to Jesus that is... perhaps so that it is more difficult to be righteous....
No one said it was suppose to be easy.
Well you seem to be ok with slavery during Old Testament warfare so if God doesn't change then that implies that slavery with modern warfare is ok too....
Doesn't mean I think it is a nice or a good thing, warfare itself isn't nice. The warfare was based on nations being enemies of God, nothing else. It wasn't based on their skin colour. If they had repented and turned to God there would not have even been any wars. That is all God asks for, repentance.
This is why he spared Nineveh. He sent Jonah to preach to them and then they repented and this made Jonah very angry because he thought they deserved to be wiped out.
Jonah 3
10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
God doesn't change but how he deals with humanity has changed. This is why he died on a cross. His own blood allowed the New Covenant.
If God was against polygamy why didn't he have any laws against it like he did for homosexual sex, inappropriate behavior with animals, incest, etc? "Unlawful sexual relations" is nearly a whole chapter in
Leviticus 18...
Polygamy was mentioned many times in the Old Testament (Solomon had hundreds of wives and concubines) so it should have been mentioned in Moses' laws... BTW there is also the concept of "concubines" but I'm not aware of anything against that....
I think Moses also had two wives at once....
Q&A 1442—Did Moses have more than one wife? | Douglas Jacoby
You will also notice it was his wives, in particular a non Godly women (God had already warned them not to take wives from this nation) who was his downfall. This is why its included so we reading can see how a mans decisions both good and bad effect his life. These are life lessons. They are not there to say 'do this' but rather 'look at this man and see what his decisions reaped in his life, learn form them.'
Due to the stubbornness of their hearts God gave in to them, many times. You may think God would not give in, but he did. He gave in and he bargained with them.
Like a parent relents and gives a child what they keep bugging them for, doesn't mean the parent wants to or agrees with it. God was handling a group of barbarians who would have completely rebelled. So in some case he 'gave in' for want of a better way of putting it. At other times God would move away and let them have a taste of the consequences of their actions.
Psalm 81:11-12
“But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.
Polygamy was there own council not what God wanted.
He did this when they kept on at him for a king too.
6But when they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” their demand was displeasing in the sight of Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. 7And the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king. 8Just as they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking Me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9Now listen to them, but you must solemnly warn them and show them the manner of the king who will reign over them.”
Shortening this because I know it is long but verses 10-17 talks about all the terrible things this king will do to them.
18When that day comes, you will beg for relief from the king you have chosen, but the LORD will not answer you on that day.” 19Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us. 20Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to judge us, to go out before us, and to fight our battles.” 21Samuel listened to all the words of the people and repeated them in the hearing of the LORD.
22“Listen to their voice,” the LORD said to Samuel. “Appoint a king for them.”
They had a chance to say, yeah we really don't want this king but no, they still wanted a king even after being warned.
It wasn't because God wanted them to have a king, he was giving in to them. God wanted them to learn from their own decisions.
edit: I found laws against polygamy....
Deuteronomy 17:16-17
The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.
That implies a king with a couple of wives is ok. Or maybe to have "many" if you're not a king....
Do you have children? If you picture God as a long suffering father whose children keep rebelling and coming back and rebelling maybe you will understand why he allowed certain things but didn't actually want them.