Elsie, you have asked a good question, one that I cannot fully speak to as I have not studied it out. I have; however, spent much of the last year trying to understand what the Bible says about polygyny, and the website I posted is my attempts to document what I have learned.
Regarding slavery, as I said, I am unable to fully speak on that topic, as I have not studied it with the intensity it would take to understand it. Out of curiousity, have you?
When I pointed out in the comment that being a believer matters, I was trying to say that if you are not a believer, then nothing the Bible says matters anyhow. Are you a believer? Yes, context absolutely matters, but if you are not a believer, then debating the Bible is a waste of time.
Now, regarding slavery, from what I understand it is a much different use of the word that most Americans (and much of the rest of the world) understand. It was more like an indentured servant, which I personally do not have an issue with. The little study I have done indicates God commanded his people to treat these “slaves” well, and He even commanded their release. Again, I am uninformed, but from what I see, it looks like something of which some people today would take advantage. I, for one, at an early part of my life when I was heavily endebted, would have served someone fully for 7 years to pay off all my debt and be cared for.
Do I support slavery as it was in the United States? Absolutely not. I don’t believe you will find Biblical support for that either - at any time in the Bible.
As already noted, I am not studied up on this topic enough to speak with certainty about it, but my above comments are my opinions with what little I know. I also suspect you haven’t studied this topic with intent. What I do know is that I have studied polygyny with intent, and I have found it was widespread in the Old Testament with many of the patriarchs having multiple wives. Even God the Father describes Himself as a man with multiple wives.
Regarding David, he was known as a man after God’s own heart, and the Bible says he did right in the sight of The Lord except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite, which was obviously wrong, but not because it was polygyny, but because it was taking another man’s wife and having him murdered. His wives may have been spoils of war, but they were given to him by the Father. That doesn’t change the point.
www.biblicalpolygyny.com
I take exception with the word 'except'.
The Book says...
Acts 13:22 (niv)
After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him:
‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’
Refering to...1 Samuel 13:13-14And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”But...David committed adultery with Bathsheba. He then tried to cover up her pregnancy, and when he failed with that, he had her husband Uriah the Hittite killed.
David took a census of the people, willfully violating God's command not to do that.
David was often lax, or absent as a father, not disciplining his children when they needed it.
2 Samuel 12:12-13
Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the LORD, the son born to you will die." (NIV)
Oh?
This is quite interesting.
Got verses?
Again, this is true, but it was NOT the way GOD had designed it; but how man had distorted it.
Much like divorce (which the Book tells us that GOD hates) it was PERMITTED, but I've NEVER found it endorsed.