As a regular church attender, I can never recall a sermon about divorce, abortion, or homesexuality. These are topics that ministers never tackle in public.
Looking into the Old Testament, how many wives did David “the beloved” have. YHWH looked into his heart (and liked what he saw). How about Solomon “the wisest man in the world”. How many wives did he have? As I recall 700. When did the allowed number of wives become one?
“Looking into the Old Testament, how many wives did David “the beloved” have. YHWH looked into his heart (and liked what he saw). How about Solomon “the wisest man in the world”. How many wives did he have? As I recall 700. When did the allowed number of wives become one?”
The allowed number was one at creation.
Mankind, after the fall, started corrupting that standard. Some, like you mentioned, went with multiple wives. This behavior was sinful and God’s word on it has not changed.
In the New Testament, Jesus gives marriage examples with one husband and one wife, and argues biblical doctrine based on that presupposition.
Men with more than one wife can’t be ordained into the ministry, according to our instructions in Titus.
Solomon and David are presented as sinners, not as saviors. Where they do well and keep God’s word, we can emulate them. But we can hardly copy them exactly. David, was an adulterer and a murderer; Solomon worshiped foreign gods.
David and Solomon lived about 1000 BCE. And reading the Old Testament, you can see the trouble that multiple wives brought to a man: misery and jealousy between the women, strife between the children of different mothers, and having a bunch of wives didn’t stop David from committing adultery with Bathsheba...
the idea of one wife came as the Jewish people slowly came to realize that women were equal to men in dignity, and that polygamy lowered the dignity of women.
So by the time of Malachy, monogamy was accepted, and he insisted that divorce was hated by God.
By the time of Christ, monogamy was the Jewish custom, and at his time there was a big argument among the rabbis about divorce, if it should only be for adultery of the woman, or could it be allowed for lesser reasons. Christ said no divorce, although Paul did allow divorce for a Christian if the non Christian spouse would not allow the practice of religion.
I can’t account for where you’ve gone to church...though I do say divorce has not been addressed very well by the evangelical community...in fact, the push to “love and accept” people who are divorced (which was probably something that was needed) fast became a way for divorce to become “no big deal”...
which is exactly what is the problem with sodomy now.
Yes, we are called to love the sinner but hate the sin.
OTOH, abortion and homosexuality have been addressed by some brave pastors and leaders.
David had many wives, yes....and Solomon did, too. But the lesson of the Tanakh or Old Testament *isn’t* that their familial behavior was exemplary. Indeed, Solomon himself is widely thought to have written an entire book regarding the problems he encountered by his behavior. And one of the two biggest failures of David involved his pursuit of another woman.
It was that way from the beginning. God made one woman and one man, and joined them together. Sinful humans decided they wanted to do it another way.