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>>Those men sinned too; hence the sacrifices.

Man O man, so Abraham is now a “Sinner” to you? (If you mean that in the “all have sinned” context, point taken, if you mean he was committing a sin (being married to two wives) while God was blessing him, we disagree.)

>>To claim God sanctioned polygamy is crazy.

No, it’s correct. Abraham was married to two women while being blessed,

Second Samuel Chapter 12
7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;
8 And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things.

Then I am crazy.

>>The ten commandments state clearly that adultery is a sin.
Polygamy - (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Polygamy)
Adultery - (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/adultery)
Polygamy is not Adultery.

“Words mean things.” – Rush Limbaugh

>> So having concubines was o.k.?
IF ok means lawful, then Yes they had no law against it.
If you mean moral, then yes for some of the men who practiced this were highly blessed of the lord.

Try this on for size. God commanded Adam to multiply and replenish the earth. That command has never been repealed that I know of. Those who are more righteous keep the commandments to a higher standard, so they multiply more.

(Just for the record, I am not, nor have I ever been in favor of polygamy, but the statements here require that I state the truth that polygamy is biblical, and that “Logic” supports it, not the “polygamy is not Biblical” view.)

>> What is the purpose of the commandment against adultery if it was o.k. to have so many wives and concubines?

The purpose of the commandment against Adultery was to keep people from having sex outside of a marriage. (I mean really, you didn’t get that?)

Polygamy is a Marriage, just like the first marriage, only you have more than one wife.

Polyandry is a marriage, just like the first marriage only you have more than one husband.

Anti Adultery commandments are a prohibition against Sex outside of a legal union. What is a legal union has changed and now polygamy is illegal. There was no such provision in the Law of Moses, or before.

So Abraham was committing adultery whenever he slept with his concubines.

A concubine is not a wife. That would be adultery.

Hagar was no blessing to Abraham. She was given to him by Sarah because Sarah thought she was too old to have a child. She doubted God. The Arabs are the punishment for that sin. No blessing there.

And frankly I don't put much stock into what Nathan said. Anyone can say anything and claim it came from God.

DU, Abraham's polygamy is an extremely poor case study if you are arguing for divine approval of polygamy.

God gave Abraham assurance that he would have many descendants.

Yet Abraham and Sarah did not have faith in this assurance and the taking of Hagar as a concubine was an act of doubt in God's providence.

The issue of the concubinage with Hagar was a curse to Abraham, Ishmael and his descendants were persecutors of his true heirs and are to this very day.

Scripture shows that Abraham's polygamy was an utter and enduring disaster.