Does God Endorse Polygamy? Why does 2 Samuel 12:8 say that God gave David wives?

Stand To Reason ^ | Alan Shlemon

[sphinx]

The stories of Abraham and Jacob suggest that the Old Testament is a little more complicated than that.

[RatRipper]

No, original intent with Adam and Eve was one man, one woman. Yes, he allowed some cultural influence to come into play, but as another Freeper pointed out, more than one wife caused trouble each and every time it happened. Jesus reiterated that point in the New Testament.

[sphinx]

I agree that one man-one woman is the ideal. The question is what cultural adaptations are appropriate when the gender ratio becomes seriously skewed. Historically, the biggest chronic culprit in this area has been endemic violence in tribal societies resulting in a shortage of young men. Polygamy is a standard response. A lesser but still significant factor is high female mortality in childbirth. A third factor is high mortality in general prior to modern sanitation and modern medicine, leading to high rates of non-divorce driven remarriage for both men and women.

One man-one woman is a sound ideal and should be the default baseline assumption, but other factors do intrude.

[wita]

“One man-one woman is a sound ideal and should be the default baseline assumption, but other factors do intrude.”

Indeed they do. In that regard I have suspected without proof that low birthrate societies destined for the discovery of demographics have a tendency to have more out of wedlock births to make up for the stupidity of society.

Except for Covid where no one seems to think closeness of any kind is warranted.