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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: Thank you, Steve, for your comments. I think that if you read Mark 10:4-5, you will see that Jesus clearly identified the fact that it was Moses who allowed for divorce, not the Lord Himself. God took no credit for allowing divorce. However, the Lord made no mention of his displeasure with a man having more than one wife. As for God's Law making governing provision for a man to have more than one wife, all you have to do is look up Ex. 21:10. Also, sir, I did not emphatically state that Adam had more than one wife. Please read my statements for what they say. I said that Adam MAY have had more than one wife. I CLEARLY stated that we cannot know for sure one way or the other. There is no integrity in twisting my words into what they clearly did not say. I do not have the reference before me of where the Lord declared Judah and Israel to be His wives in the midst of their being a split nation, but that is beside the point. God still utilized langauge that clearly portrayed a plurality of wives in reference to His own posession of these two distinct nations (tribes or whatever you want to call them). Whether they were physically split or not, the Hebrew language itself still carries great meaning in this regard. There is no less integrity in pointing this out than there is Adam's having been given one wife. We still see that the Lord had given king David several of his already plural wives. This clearly indicates that the Lord is not so set against a plurality of wives as many people would like to think. I would agree that a plruality of wives is certainly not for all men. I just wanted to make that clear before moving on. The argument of Adam having been given one wife as a sign of God's perfect will for ALL mankind to have only one wife is just as much a "red herring" as the power and the garden argument. You have simply caught on to the direction of my arguement. I was making that very point in reference to Adam's having been given only one wife. "So what?" is a general overview of what I was trying to say in all that. I only wish others would be as discerning as you have been. Read my other posting in reference to the Lexicons and "mia". As for singular or plural, the Hebrew and Greek languages are not always so specific as the English language in this regard. Many times the plurality or the singularity of a word is left to the mercy of the bias of the translators. Standing solely upon the English translation of "wife" versus "wives" is generally an exercise in futility where the original languages are concerned. My two Th.D. friends knew this, so they knew better than to rest their case upon this very weakness. Thanks Steve. Don |