Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | 1 Kings 11:3 He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Kings 11:3 He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away [from God]. |
Subject: Does God endorse polygamy? |
Bible Note: Hi Hugh, Considering the straightfoward aspect of Gen. 2:24 "he shall cleave to his wife", I would look for very specific Scriptures before I sought to modify that directive. "He" and "wife" are both singular, therefore I do not think God is saying, for instance, "they shall cleave to their wives". With this as a starting point, we work our way through Scripture, looking at all God has to say about marraige. When we come to Joash, we read that he had two wives, and that he is declared to have done everything right. So unless the Bible says one way or the other, if I would to make an assumption of whether these wives were simultaneous or not, I will refer to God's first directive on marraige, that it is between on man and one woman, and I would assume that Joash was married to one at a time, and that his first wife died, or left him through no fault of his own, or some such. There were many in the Bible who were married to more than one woman at once, but it is not said of them that they did everything right. I would maintain that the passage lacks any information regarding the timing of his wives. Where the Scripture is silent, we should not add to it to support our view. You mention Lot. He is declared righteous, but not because his works were all righteous. I hope this clarifies how I look at these Scriptures. Love in Christ, Mark |