I absolutely agree with monogamy, but --- as I'm sure you know --- there are some “Sripture-alone” people who say Scripture doesn’t forbid polygamy..
This is not my argument, it is theirs:
The first polygamist mentioned in the Bible is Lamech, whose two wives were Adah and Zillah (Gen 4:19).
Abraham's three wives were Sarah, and concubines Hagar and Keturah, who are also referred to as "wives" in other parts of the Bible. (Gen 25:6).
Jacob's first two wives are the sisters Leah and Rachel (Gen 29:28) and despite an oath with their father Laban to not take any additional wives, he took Bilhah (Gen 30:4) and Zilpah (Gen 30:9).
Moses' two wives were Zipporah (Ex 2:21, Ex 18:1-6) and an Ethiopian woman (Num 12:1), who Moses was permitted to marry by God, despite ALL the rest of his people being forbidden to take a foreign wife (because foreigners were pagan). Interestingly enough, Aaron and Miriam were punished for disapproving of Moses' forbidden marriage.
Gideon "had many wives" (Judges 8:29-32).
David’s five named wives were Michal, Abigail, Ahinoam, Eglah, and of course, Bathsheba. David also took "more wives and concubines" (2 Sam 5:13) The prophet Nathan, confronting David with the murder of Uriah, said that God would have given David more wives if he had wanted them.(2 Samuel 12:8)
In support of polygamy, the Bible gives rules concerning the taking of multiple wives; noting that "If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights,(Exodus 21:10) and making it an obligation for men to marry the widow of a deceased brother.(Deuteronomy 25).
And even though Genesis says that a man cleaves to his wife (singular) and they become one flesh, it doesn't say he can't be one flesh with more than one woman. Otherwise you'd have to say that the women called "wives" of David and Jacob and so forth weren't really wives, which raises the question of, is the Bible mistaken when it calls them wives?
In the Bible marriages to additional spouses are considered valid. If this is not true, then there is a theological problem with the lineage of Jesus Christ which does not always go through the first wife. For instance, his genealogy in Matthew's Gospel says he was he descendant of David from Bathsheba.
The Jews themselves didn’t see Jewish Scrupture as requiring mongamy. Polygamy was not banned in the Jewish community until about 1000 A.D. by Rabbi Gershom. They knew what Genesis said about "one flesh," but they thought a man could be "one flesh" with a number of wives. Neither does the New Testament explicitly ban polygamy. The job-descriptions you quoted from the Epistles don't say that the one-wife requrement is for everyone, just for deacons, overseers, and elders.
Once again, this is not my argument. I am strictly pro-monogamy. Polygamy disappeared wherever Christianity was established. Why? Because Tertullian, Augustine, and other early Fathers of the Church, interpreted the Scriptures differently than than the Jews of their own time, and differently than Moses and David did. I am a monogamist because of the Church.
But not at the same time.
MORMONism LIES and says that GOD told Abram to take HAGAR as a wife. The bible CLEARLY shows that Sari pushed her onto Abram. (and a guy is gonna say "no!"? wink-wink).
Sari ran her off into the desert.
Some time later; Abraham married Keturah after the death of Sarah.
I am one because I want to live longer!!