Why didn't God rebuke David's polygamy?

[angelmom01]

Hi angelmom01,
Saul died in 2 Samuel 1 before David took these women as wives.

Til death do us part...

Ha, my only excuse (besides sheer stupidity ) is that it was late and I had a major migraine headache last night.

Thanks!

 

[janxharris]

Til death do us part...

Ha, my only excuse (besides sheer stupidity ) is that it was late and I had a major migraine headache last night.

Thanks!

No problem

 

[Reanbell]

For the same reason he never mentioned Solomon's to him. He didn't care. God is more concerned with how people follow him, love one another and help the world than who we are married to or how many partners we have.

 

[janxharris]

For the same reason he never mentioned Solomon's to him. He didn't care. God is more concerned with how people follow him, love one another and help the world than who we are married to or how many partners we have.

But 'thou shall not commit adultery' begins to sound a bit hollow don't you think if, as you say, God didn't care?

 

[iambren]

I'm with you JH, you are reasoning clearly. I am one who sees adultery as a sin but polygamy not to be sin. I'm just kickin' it here:

It's not a sin as long as you are married to them? If a man has 1+ wives and he wants another she IS marrying a man who is already married. But her presence is vindicated by a legal marriage, original wife's blessing shaped by culture.

Sorta sloppy but SOMETHING must make it ok, given that it's one of the 10 commandments. I mean why was David's sin against Uriah so sinful yet his plural marriages were winked at? Interesting.

 

[angelmom01]

The more I look at it the more I wonder if it's not "adultery" that needs to be better defined?

Obviously, Jesus defined it in terms of lust. We also know that there must be a "spiritual" application in terms of God and idols, as well. Bet when it comes to men and marriage, what does it mean to commit adultery?

If it means that you cannot have more than one wife then why does Moses go on (in the same book the commandment is given, next chapter as we have the bible today) to give guidelines related to men taking "another wife"? (Ex 21:10)

Why, in Deuteronomy, was Israel told how the law of the firstborn was to be followed if a man had two wives and favored one over the other?

People claim that divorced men/women are guilty of adultery, yet Moses commanded the men who wanted to put away their wived (for reasons other than adultery, which was punishable by death) to give them a bill of divorcement. This allowed those women to remarry without being guilty of adultery.

So then... what is "adultery"?

Might be a good study to take up, since I am off for the holidays and looking for something to study.

 

[janxharris]

The more I look at it the more I wonder if it's not "adultery" that needs to be better defined?

Obviously, Jesus defined it in terms of lust. We also know that there must be a "spiritual" application in terms of God and idols, as well. Bet when it comes to men and marriage, what does it mean to commit adultery?

If it means that you cannot have more than one wife then why does Moses go on (in the same book the commandment is given, next chapter as we have the bible today) to give guidelines related to men taking "another wife"? (Ex 21:10)

Why, in Deuteronomy, was Israel told how the law of the firstborn was to be followed if a man had two wives and favored one over the other?

People claim that divorced men/women are guilty of adultery, yet Moses commanded the men who wanted to put away their wived (for reasons other than adultery, which was punishable by death) to give them a bill of divorcement. This allowed those women to remarry without being guilty of adultery.

So then... what is "adultery"?

Might be a good study to take up, since I am off for the holidays and looking for something to study.

yet Moses commanded the men who wanted to put away their wived (for reasons other than adultery, which was punishable by death) to give them a bill of divorcement. This allowed those women to remarry without being guilty of adultery

Mat 19:3-8
Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 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’? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”
“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.

That the Law should permit that which God would rather not permit is very, very intriguing is it not? Makes you wonder how much of the Law is there because of man's hard hearts?

Please do study it

 

[angelmom01]

In just looking at the various mentions of “adultery” in scripture, it almost seems to be a matter of “betrayal”, whether it be a betrayal to God through the worship of other gods/idols, a betrayal of your spouse by having relations with someone other than your spouse or a betrayal of your neighbor (whom you are commanded to love, as yourself) by having relations with their spouse.

Proverbs 6:32 says that he who commit adultery “lacks understanding” (I like how the CLV puts it “has lack of heart wisdom&#8221 and “destroys his own soul”.

Rom 13:9 puts all commandments, whether they be about adultery, murder, stealing, etc in the same light, all to be comprehending in this one saying… “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”.

So there is definitely a strong connection with “love” and God’s desire that we not betray that love we are supposed to exhibit/exercise towards one another through our actions.

Still looking… (gonna answer your last post in another post...)

 

[angelmom01]

Mat 19:3-8
Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 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’? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”
“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.

That the Law should permit that which God would rather not permit is very, very intriguing is it not? Makes you wonder how much of the Law is there because of man's hard hearts?

Please do study it

Absolutely, but people take it a step further and claim that divorce is not lawful and that those who remarry or marry those who are divorced are guilty of adultery. I do not believe the scriptures say this, but translation problems have clouded the issue.

There is a difference between a woman who has been "put away" (only) and a woman who is "divorced". A bill of divorcement was not required to put away ones wife in the case of adultery (most likely because the penalty for adultery was death - there's your "divorce" ) but the men were putting their wives away "for any cause".

For this reason, Moses commanded them to divorce their wives (and not just put them out). This was to protect the women. It allowed them to remarry without being guilty of adultery (punishable by death, under the law) and it prevented the men from being able to come back later to claim adultery (the woman could produce the bill of divorcement).

If divorce were a sin, as some in the church will claim, then I hardly think that God would have allowed Moses to command men to sin. He would have made them stay married; he wouldn't have allowed them to put their wives out for any reason other than adultery. But even if one could claim God made this provision in the law despite its sinfulness, I would have to wonder why the scriptures say that God not only put away Israel for her adultery, but gave her a bill of divorcement. (Jer 3:8) Why would he do that if divorce was sinful (and not even required in the case of adultery)?

A woman (or man) who is merely "put away" is still legally married to his/her spouse and can still be found guilty of adultery. Those who are divorced are no longer married. They are free to remarry without being found guilty of adultery. Nothing Jesus said changed that. (Even if it is still true that "God hates divorce".)

That's my understanding of the divorce issue as it relates to adultery, anyway. I have studied that quite extensively before.

 

[angelmom01]

Still looking, but thought to come back and add a few more comments given some of the things I am looking at in case others might have some thoughts.

Many of the references in the OT to adultery (fornication, whoredoms, etc) are really made in reference to Jerusalem, Judah, etc.

Now we know that the marriage relationship itself serves as a "figure" for Christ and the church and in the OT God made a covenant with a people whom he likened to His "wife" (and He their "husband").

What is interesting is that it also appears (at least as it pertains to this "figure") that God also has more than one wife.

Jeremiah mentions backsliden Israel and her treacherous sister Judah. Eze 16 speaks of the abomination of Jerusalem, but when we get to Eze 23 we see "two women", Samaria and Jerusalem (sisters).

All kinds of cities/wives... sisters... sons and daughters, etc.

All very interesting stuff.... that is starting to make my head hurt.

 

[johnalv]

He did punish David. He took his first born. And you can read that It tore him apart and that he repented of that. To prove that Christ indeed will keep His promise of forgiveness is that God promised to Abraham that his physical seed and the offspring from that tribe, wherever they are, would be taken care of, yea punished if they do wrong, but it wouldn't be extreme. But He kept that promise, but David lost a lot of blessings due to what he did. Thats what I understand. David had it all going, but look at what happened after that. He lost a baby son. Have you lost anyone? I have lost a lot of people close to me and I have seen the suffering and pain. I have my family with me still thank God. But that is a huge attention getter, and he knew why it happened. God told him for his sin and wrong doing.

 

[janxharris]

He did punish David. He took his first born. And you can read that It tore him apart and that he repented of that. To prove that Christ indeed will keep His promise of forgiveness is that God promised to Abraham that his physical seed and the offspring from that tribe, wherever they are, would be taken care of, yea punished if they do wrong, but it wouldn't be extreme. But He kept that promise, but David lost a lot of blessings due to what he did. Thats what I understand. David had it all going, but look at what happened after that. He lost a baby son. Have you lost anyone? I have lost a lot of people close to me and I have seen the suffering and pain. I have my family with me still thank God. But that is a huge attention getter, and he knew why it happened. God told him for his sin and wrong doing.

The punishment was because of Bathsheba and Uriah, not for polygamy.