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What do you think of concubinage?

dayhiker

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Judges 1:16 is an interesting verse. Refers to Moses' father-in-law. Not as a Midianite but a Kenite.

This then means Moses had a 3rd wife.

Doing some research we find the Kenites were reelated to the Midianites. But there are differences. The Kenites worked with metal. The Midianites that Moses was around where shepards.

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dayhiker

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I'd say women can. A patriarchal society like acient Isreal it wouldn't happen. But God never commanded believers to live under a patriarchal system.

dayhiker


So can a woman keep male concubines? Or is this solely the domain of Macho Man Incorporated?

Seeing as I view women as people, not property, I'm going to have to give my big thumbs down on the whole idea.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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chingchang

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that is not the hebrew/biblical meaning though.

†. Rom 4:15 . .where no commandments exist; there is no transgression.

Ah-ha! You are correct. If we're going to be serious students of the Bible then we have to find out how adultery was defined at the time it was prohibited. If one uses examples from the Bible and a little reasoning we'll arrive on the following definition:

Adultery: Taking...or attempting to take the wife of another man.

Essentially...during OT times adultery was a specific kind of theft since the wife was literally the property of the husband. Having sex with another man's wife would make both parties involved adulterers. A married man could have sex with as many women as he wanted...as long as none of them were betrothed to another man...and he would not be guilty of adultery. I'm not saying that is wrong or right...I'm just saying that is how adultery was viewed in OT times when the law was given to Israel.

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chingchang

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As cool as it probably sounds, even unlimited concubines never satisfied King Solomon.

Over focusing on any worldly pleasure will bring the same result...IMHO. We are challenged to control our flesh and focus on the spirit...at least that is the way I feel. The reason I'm participating in this threat is because I hate when "Christians" call something sinful that just plainly is not. There is enough false teaching and guilt to go around already...

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DamianWarS

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DamainWarS,
I don't get how you say that Midian is in Cush?
Unger - Midian is south and east of Palistine. This is where Moses traveled to when he left Eygpt.
Cush is south of Eygpt. If you read Jpsephus' account of Moses you will read that Moses, while a "son" of the King of Eygpt, took a trip south up the Nile River to fight with the Cush ites.

That to me is probably a 1000 miles apart!

dayhiker

there is speculation on the exact location of cush. The KJV assumes it is Ethiopia but many areas of the bible seem to suggest cush might have been a modern day Saudi Arabia as well as Ethiopia and areas bordering it. Numbers 12 is the only area that makes mention of this "cush-ite" woman but it is used in a derogatory context. Median may not have been right inside of cush but it could have certainly been in that direction. Remember the people who spoke this were representing a group of people that were enslaved by Egypt. Any person who escape that slavery could easily not "fit" in with the others and be a target of discrimination and even jealousy which is exactly what we see in Nu 12:1 . We do not know how exact this "cush-ite" name would fit this woman in question. To assume this verse means Moses had a second wife is irresponsible because the verse standing alone really says nothing and there is no other scripture to back it up. Even Judges 1:16 which refers to Moses' father-in-law as a Kenite does not conclusively say anything.

These are 2 lone verses may or may not be referring to moses having multiple wives. No other verse backs this idea up and because of their context they are not there to tell us that moses had another wife but instead to tell us that Moses' father-in-law was a Kenite or that Moses' wife was called a chush-ite the rest is unclear. It is possible they are referring to the Moses having only 1 wife so these verse are a stretch and it is irresponsible to go to those lengths to support your idea. I can respect your position but not when you base it on loose ambiguous verses.

My main premise is about the design of God and how Jesus and Paul both turned back to this design when talking about marriage. I don't really care if Moses had multiple wives or if he had 1 wife that really is not the point. The point is in the design of God there is 1 man and 1 woman and when joined together are one flesh. This design does not support polygamy simply because God did not create this relationship with multiple partners. Don't think of God as so random he does everything with very clear and distinct purpose and it is not a mistake the first marriage is only between one man and one woman. All you can say to this is that is that it should also be a sin to wear clothes and eat meat but I have shown you through the context of the text and other areas in the bible that repeat this concept why this idea stands out among the other pre-fall ideas. It is emphasized by the author of Genesis as something that goes beyond the fall, it is emphases by Jesus as the definition of marriage, and Paul also uses it when speaking about marriage.

When it comes to polygamy vs monogamy the latter is the more accepted by God and taught in the bible and the former is more accepted by man and shown as mistake in the bible. This is not from a few ambiguous out-of-context verses in the bible but by some pretty deliberate wording. I don't think polygamy goes against the nature of God because that's how I was raised but instead because that is what the bible teaches.
 
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daydreamergurl15

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He most certainly did establish a new religion. That is as much a fact as the Golden Gate Bridge is in the state of California.
For the love of God...I'm going to ignore this one.


Hey! You're stealing my point. If God has not specifically told us that a behavior is sinful...and that behavior is compatible with the "Royal Law" of love (see James)...then it isn't a sin! Hello.
When God tells us specifically to do something and we choose not to listen and do the opposite (even though it is not strictly said so) then it is sin. Each husband is to have his own wife, each wife is to have her own husband, anything else that we think outside of that...is sin.


Yeshua commanded us NOT to worry (Matthew 6:25). Is it a sin if we worry?
He told us what we shouldn't worry about:
Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? -Matthew 6:25​
I know first hand that when I started worrying about those things, I started doubting God and what He can do. Just follow what Jesus is telling you, because if not, it opens up an opportunity for Satan to seep in and yes, it will lead to sin.

But for me worrying about me following God's will...look at what Jesus have told us, am I worrying about any of those things He have ask me? No! And am not even using the word "worry" like you are thinking of it, I'm basically saying I care more about God's word in the bible than any other religion out there.

Like I said...they didn't claim to know the day OR the hour...but we are given instruction on how to identify the season...and they got that wrong.
Moving on from this subject. It's baseless.


I agree...that doesn't put their apostleship in jeopardy...but it means we must carefully consider everything in the Bible...especially given the scribes penchant for altering the text.
No where in scripture did it say that those who actually PENNED the scripture altered the text and therefore, I'm not going to look at the bible as if it's falsified. If you read the scriptures, you would wonder to yourself why it describes humans in such a way. We are not looked upon as impeccable, good, honest and decent humans beings, it showcases us as we are SINNERS who needed Christ to die for us so that we can be forgiven and have a personal relationship with God.

By the "Bible" I assume you're referring to II Timothy? Who authored II Timothy? Does it matter? When was it authored and what was going on in Christendom when it was authored?
What is your point?
Paul who was in prison penned those words through the Holy Spirit. And there are many more scriptures that tells us that it is God's words from the OT to the NT.

It said "the lying pen of the scribes". In other words...what they wrote. They altered the text to mean something that was not 1:1 with God.
If we are talking about scribes falsifying scripture than something should go off in one's head that says "if someone claim something is falsified then they must have compared it to the original and see the falsification." So therefore, we know that there were originals. I'm sure the falsified scriptures would not actually contain a section that says "these scribes falsified this particular document" so if we are reading a certain scripture that tells that the scribes were falsifying documents why should we assume that it is this particular doctrine that is being falsified?

In the text in Jeremiah that you are describing, God specifically explaining to Israel, why they are being destroyed. Because they were evil and that the scribes were lying when writing. NO WHERE does God tell us that those HE choose to WRITE His Word was the document that was being falsified. Therefore, I'm not paying any mind to this particular argument. Moving on.

That practice occurred through NT times as well and has been proven by Biblical Scholars.
I don't care if the practice was stilling going on. I am not told in the New Testament that men can have more than one wife or that wife can have more than one husband. I am told that each husband should have his own wife and each wife should have her own husband and that is what I will go by and I'm not going to sit here and say oh yeah, it's okay to have concubines when we are under the NEW COVENANT.

They can used methods to reconstruct a text which is closest to the original letter as possible...but there is still no way of knowing for sure since NONE of the original letters have been recovered...just copies of copies of copies during a time when literacy was extremely low...there were no copy machines and some of the scribes had an agenda. Just sayin'....
Those copies of copies of copies say the same thing, therefore I'm going with the word of God.

The same text that says "In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth" is the same text that tells me "For God so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." I am not going to pick and choose to believe in certain parts of scripture.

Romantic love? Are you saying that romantic love is incompatible with polygamy? You'd have to tell that to the folks in successful polygamous relationships who are happy. But...to be sure...I wasn't talking about romantic love. I was talking about 1 Corinthians 13 love.
First show me in scripture those who had romantic love in polygamy? You always see one husband love one wife and tolerate the other and have babies...But again, I don't care if you can find 1,000 families that have romantic love in polygamy, I'm going to follow what NT tells me to.

Under what new covenant are we told that watching TV is okay? God generally tells us what NOT to do...and there is no prohibition of polygamy anywhere in the text.
Then don't watch TV. I don't care.
But I am not going to sit there and say polygamy is okay because that is what we see in the OT. We are not under the Old law, we are under the New Covenant and under the new covenant we are told one husband, one wife. And in Ephesians God further describes the role of the marriage when he gives the roles of husbands and wives.


Under what example do we see that bathing twice in one day is okay in the NT?

CC
Don't care, bathing have no barring on my salvation. If you never want to bath in your life, that is your choice, but bathing or not has nothing to do with salvation. However telling people that polygamy is okay when under the new covenant we are told one husband, one wife, now that is a salvation issue because instead of someone struggling with sin , they are now living in sin and embracing it.

Where in the New Testament are we told that we can have a polygamous relationship? One husband, one wife, that is what we are told.
 
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dayhiker

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The way I read your arguement is taht you denied what the Word of God says. Your right that the Bible doesn't make an arguement for poly. I also can't find a scripture that says 1 man and 1 woman. I have no problem with a couple staying monogomous. Neither does God. In the same sense I can't find a vese that says God has any problem with poly relationships. We have the Bible clearly saying Moses had 3 wives. Yet you blow these off. I can't blow off what the Bible says personally.
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correct me if wrong but didnt God forbid polygamy for kings of israel??

"When thou art come unto the land which the Eternal thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me. . . . Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away" (Deut. 17:14, 17).

i havent really looked into depth on this but from my understanding i think many situations were polygamy etc is mentioned.. there is also trouble or contreversy or sufferng.. it dosent appear to me like a blessing from God..i dont believe God approved or sanctioned it.. abraham & jacob had more than enough family quarels.. it never brought Gods peace.. and in solomons case, it eventually led to his departure from God.
and from what ive read i thought that after conversion or repentance.. jacob & david for example did not continue to live in polygamy.

"And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, and fed them, but went not in unto them. So they were shut up unto the day of their death, living in widowhood" (II Sam. 20:3).

it seems to me that God always punished those who practised polygamy.
and wasent malachi saying that God could have made more than one wife for adam.. yet he didnt..isnt he condeming polygamy here??
"Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth" (Mal 2:15)."

i read somewhere once that it makes a difference whether we read the Bible in order to answer "what is the most i can get away with" vs "what is Gods pefect will for me".. if we read it the first way, many things might seem okay to us that arent hey..
if ever polygamy was needed it wouldve been when adam & eve had to populate the world.. God wouldve approved it then.. and as weve read in posts here & in Bible..thats not what God did..
noah took one wife into the arc also hey..
if anything God instructed Moses that the kings of Israel were to have only one wife as quoted above should end this argument on whether God approved of it or not..
 
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dayhiker

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Hi Amor,
.. a few wives isn't multipling. When God spoke against Solomon isn't wasn't that he has a lot of wives but that he allowed the wives to worship their idols in the land and Solomon also was invovled with the idols.

To understand the 10 concubines one has to understand that Absalom has consired against David and part of his challange was having sex with these 10 women in front of Isreal. So David stopped his relationship with them because they had commited adultery.

I just reread the account:
2 Sam.15:16 David has fled Jerusalem and leaves 10 concubines in his house.
2 Sam.16:21-22 Ahithophei advises Absalom to go into his father's concubines. A tent is set up on top of the house where Absalom goes into his father's concubines in front of all Isreal.

This act was a well recognized challenge to David's authority. Basically saying see how weak David is. He can't even protect his 10 concubines. I, Absalom am the power and authority in Jerusalem now.

This is reading our view back into Malichi. Moses had 3 wives and he wrote Gen.2 that 1st speaks of a couple becoming one. Moses clearly didn't consider that oneness as teaching monogamy like preachers try to say it does.

Even God says He is a polygamist Ez.

got to go
dayhiker
 
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DamianWarS

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The way I read your arguement is taht you denied what the Word of God says. Your right that the Bible doesn't make an arguement for poly. I also can't find a scripture that says 1 man and 1 woman. I have no problem with a couple staying monogomous. Neither does God. In the same sense I can't find a vese that says God has any problem with poly relationships. We have the Bible clearly saying Moses had 3 wives. Yet you blow these off. I can't blow off what the Bible says personally.
Dayhiker

If you say there is no argument for polygamy in the bible then why are you biblically defending it? If there is also no argument for monogamy then how can I biblically deny something that is not there? What exactly am I denying? And where does the bible clearly say Moses had 3 wifes. Can you show me any verse in the bible where the plural is used when referring to who is married to moses? There are 2 ambiguous verses that you are basing this on in completely different contexts that have nothing to do with showing us moses had more than one wife. But I really don't care if moses had 50 wives these verses are too ambiguous with nothing else backing them up to support this idea that moses had 1 wife, 2 wifes or 3 wifes so I do not use them to support my idea and neither should you (but you already think there is no argument that supports monogamy/polygamy in the bible so you must at least agree with me here). Besides that I am a follower of Jesus not Moses so ultimately it doesn't matter.

The fact that God does not comment on this in a commandment style doesn't mean he doesn't care and he accepts whatever we want to do. That type of theology is a little messed up and it can allow us to do many things all in the name of God. If we cannot biblically back it up then we should be careful how we support it. There certainly are many issues that happen today that are perfectly fine that the bible does not comment directly on but I have yet to find any issue that I cannot use the bible to guide me into the right choice.

Although the bible does not directly address the issues of polygamy/monogamy in regards to if we should accept/reject one over the other the bible does teach us about marriage and we can use these teachings to guide us in how we should approach these issues. These teachings overwhelmingly assume a monogamous relationship and there is clear and direct wording that points back to the design of God from Jesus and Paul.

Lets look at the areas where they point back to the design:

Jesus: in Matthew 19 (and Mark 10) Jesus is addressing the issue of divorce and points back to the design of God. but look at how Jesus points back to the design of God he points out that divorce is man made and that we should look to the beginning to define marriage not through laws designed to control man and protect women.

Paul points back to the design of God in 1 Corinthians 6:16 and Ephesians 5:31. In Corinthians the context is about sexual immortality where the famous verse of "Everything is permissible for me but not everything is beneficial" meaning just because you can do it doesn't make it right. Paul specifically seems to be talking about having casual sex or sex with prostitutes and how this is not what God designed sex for. He points back to the design of God to show how things should be done. In Ephesians the context is the roles of husband and wife in marriage and how the husband should love his wife and the wife should submit to the husband. Again Paul points back to the design of God to show this relationship.

so there is this idea that these areas that point back to the design of God is not just about one issue. Jesus does it directly because of divorce but uses divorce to show that man made ideas do not dictate marriage but we should look to the design of God to do so. Paul uses it to teach about the roles in a marriage and to speak against sexual immorality. 2 issues and 1 teaching which all point back to the design of God and we should not take this so lightly but instead we too, as Jesus and Paul did, look back to the design of God to define marriage.

Sure God doesn't directly comment on monogamy in a commandment style but it is clear that he created a monogamous relationship between 1 man and 1 woman which both Jesus and Paul uses to define marriage. When we look at examples of polygamy in the bible we do not see the handy work of God behind them but instead the desire of Man. We should use the concept Jesus shows us that we should not look to the design of man but instead the design of God when we define marriage.
 
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chingchang

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Hi Amor,
.. a few wives isn't multipling. When God spoke against Solomon isn't wasn't that he has a lot of wives but that he allowed the wives to worship their idols in the land and Solomon also was invovled with the idols.

To understand the 10 concubines one has to understand that Absalom has consired against David and part of his challange was having sex with these 10 women in front of Isreal. So David stopped his relationship with them because they had commited adultery.

I just reread the account:
2 Sam.15:16 David has fled Jerusalem and leaves 10 concubines in his house.
2 Sam.16:21-22 Ahithophei advises Absalom to go into his father's concubines. A tent is set up on top of the house where Absalom goes into his father's concubines in front of all Isreal.

This act was a well recognized challenge to David's authority. Basically saying see how weak David is. He can't even protect his 10 concubines. I, Absalom am the power and authority in Jerusalem now.

This is reading our view back into Malichi. Moses had 3 wives and he wrote Gen.2 that 1st speaks of a couple becoming one. Moses clearly didn't consider that oneness as teaching monogamy like preachers try to say it does.

Even God says He is a polygamist Ez.

got to go
dayhiker

Furthermore; in the OT God told Israel specifically what NOT to do. He never said "thou shalt NOT take more than one wife". To add to the example of David...here is the Prophet Nathan speaking God's words to David after he committed adultery with Bathsheba:

II Samuel 12:7-8(NIV)
Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.

Apparently those wives were given to David by God as a blessing....


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chingchang

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chingchang

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If you say there is no argument for polygamy in the bible then why are you biblically defending it?

I'll defend anything that is not a sin that we are free to do. What I can't stand is when folks try to make something out to be sinful that plainly is not. Notice this disagreement is not over murder. The text is clear on murder. The text is clear on a lot of things...but it is not clear that polygamy is a sin. That is a stretch from those that would heap a yoke of slavery on those that are free in Christ! (Gal 5:1) Polygamy is just one of many examples. Another one is masturbation. Those threads run deep in these forums...

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DamianWarS

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Your right that the Bible doesn't make an arguement for poly

I'll defend anything that is not a sin that we are free to do.

you may defend anything you choose but if you can't biblically support it then I question your ultimate cause. It is Christ or your own personal gain.

Notice this disagreement is not over murder. The text is clear on murder. The text is clear on a lot of things...but it is not clear that polygamy is a sin.

what is this text you are referring to?
 
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DamianWarS

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when it comes down to it your argument is based on the absence of a OT law and the practice of polygamy which together you interpret as God's acceptance for polygamous relationships. Although you also admit the bible does not promote this idea (as well as monogamy) you still use scripture to support your argument which, to me, shows your lack of confidence in the scripture you use.

I disagree in that the scripture does promote monogamous relationships and the practice of polygamy in the OT is an example of God's tolerance just as divorce was. This is confirmed through Genesis 2:24 which the author uses as a concept that transcends the fall. It is emphasized as a the definition of marriage that we should look to by Jesus in Matthew 19 and it Paul uses the same passage to show the roles of marriage.

At the very least the concept of marriage is between 1 man and 1 woman which by nature is monogamous. It is only when you add more women it becomes polygamous. No matter where the marriage turns we all start in monogamous relationships. The bible is clear that it promotes marriage so at the very least it promotes monogamy so monogamy is not the issue but instead polygamy. Through the texts I have shown you it tells us that marriage is a concept from God and we can define it by looking at the beginning which is in a monogamous relationship. Monogamy is not the issue and I know you believe that but the the bible does support this idea by definition of marriage that God has designed. When it comes to polygamy what is more important is not that the law is silent about it but instead that the design of God is absent and this is because it is a man made design. When the law does not comment about the issue yet the design of God is clear and emphasized as a NT concept we should use that design to form our concept of the issue.

You seem to refuse to comment on the verses I have used except using other pre-fall concepts as a counterargument which I have clearly shown you why this concept transcends the fall, the word of Jesus alone should prove this. So I choose not to repeat myself anymore and I will not be posting anymore on this argument. If you want to to hear my responses then read all my other posts as each post says the same thing and is continually ignored.
 
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