plural marriage commanded to be practiced in the bible by god

8/6/2019 Plural Marriage Commanded To Be Practiced In The Bible By God

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PLURAL MARRIAGE COMMANDED

BY GOD IN THE HOLY BIBLE

By Ronnie Bray

Having decided to attack Mormons and Mormonism over the

subject of polygamy, an Anti-Mormon Attacker [PBUH] on

FaceBook asserts that Mormonism is wrong because, he says

without evidence of any weight, that the Bible clearly teaches

monogamy. That will be a surprise to many Bible scholars that do

not find any Divine condemnation of plural marriage when the

Patriarchs practised it.

He will be surprised to learn that plural marriage is taught as a

religious and social principle from the Mouth of God, rather than it

being condemned. Had it been condemned, the list of what God

says is holy and acceptable to Him, and the lists of what God does

not consider holy and acceptable would have stated this. As it is,

whenever plural marriage is mentioned, it is not to condemn the

practice, but to regulate it. A few examples will suffice:

Exodus 21:10

If he take him ANOTHER wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty

of marriage, shall he not diminish.

This does not refer to a SECOND wife, but to ANOTHER wife,seemingly indicating that in Gods eyes a man can marry an

infinite amount of women without any limit as to number.

2 Samuel 5:13:


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And David took him more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem,

after he was come from Hebron: and there were yet sons and

daughters born to David.

There is NO CONDEMNATION here.

1 Chronicles 3:1-9

These were the sons of David born to him in Hebron: The firstborn

was Amnon the son of Ahinoam [1] of Jezreel; the second, Daniel

the son of Abigail [2] of Carmel; 2 the third, Absalom the son of

Maakah [3] daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; the fourth,

Adonijah [4] the son of Haggith; the fifth, Shephatiah the son ofAbital [5]; and the sixth, Ithream, by his wife Eglah. [6] These six

were born to David in Hebron, where he reigned seven years and

six months. David reigned in Jerusalem thirty-three years, and

these were the children born to him there: Shammua, Shobab,

Nathan and Solomon. These four were by Bathsheba daughter of

Ammiel. There were also Ibhar, Elishua, Eliphelet, Nogah,

Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Eliada and Elipheletnine in all. All

these were the sons of David, besides his sons by his concubines.

And Tamar was their sister.

1 Chronicles 14:3-9

Now these were the sons of David, which were born unto him in

Hebron; the firstborn Amnon, of Ahinoam [1] the Jezreelitess; the

second Daniel, of Abigail [2] the Carmelitess: The third, Absalom

the son of Maachah [3] the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur: the

fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith [4]: The fifth, Shephatiah ofAbital:[5] the sixth, Ithream by Eglah [6] his wife. These six were

born unto him in Hebron; and there he reigned seven years and six

months: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years. And

these were born unto him in Jerusalem; Shimea, and Shobab, and

Nathan, and Solomon, four, of Bathshua the daughter of Ammiel:


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Ibhar also, and Elishama, and Eliphelet, And Nogah, and Nepheg,

and Japhia, And Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphelet, nine. These

were all the sons of David, beside the sons of the concubines, and

Tamar their sister.

Again, there is NO hint of CONDEMNATION for his plural

wives, merely a recounting of his children to each of them.

1 Kings 11:3:

And [King Solomon] had seven hundred wives [700], princesses,

and three hundred concubines: [300] and his wives turned away

his heart.

Concubine, has been interpreted by some Bible scholars to indicate

a SECONDARY WIFE. There is NO CONDEMNATION of

Solomon for the number of his wives, only the remark that

indicates some of his [non-Israelitish] wives turned away his heart

from Israels God.

2 Chronicles 11:21

And Rehoboam loved Maachah the daughter of Absalom above

ALL HIS WIVES and his concubines: (for he took EIGHTEEN

WIVES, and SIXTY CONCUBINES; and begat twenty and eight

sons, and threescore daughters.)

Deuteronomy 21:10-16

10 When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and theLORD thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast

taken them captive, 11 And seest among the captives a beautiful

woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to

thy wife; 12 Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house, and

she shall shave her head, and pare her nails; 13 And she shall put


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the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine

house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and

after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she

shall be thy wife.

15 IF A MAN HAVE TWO WIVES, one beloved, and another

hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the

hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated: 16 Then it

shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath,

that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the

son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn.

Plural marriage is seen here not only to be encouraged, but

provision for the children of such marriages is enjoined in the Law.

The Old Testament frequently mentions plural marriage as

acceptable for the Israelites, and many of the prophets and

patriarchs had multiple wives, including Lamech, Abraham, Jacob,

Esau, Gideon, Saul, David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Elkanah, Ashur,

Abijah and Jehoiada. Some suggest that Moses had a second wifein Tharbis.

In addition to the many examples of plural marriage, the

Pentateuch lists guidelines and rules concerning the taking of

multiple wives; noting as we have seen that IF HE TAKES

ANOTHER WIFE TO HIMSELF, he shall not diminish her food,

her clothing, or her marital rights.

Levirate Marriage makes it a legal obligation for men whose brothers have left widows TO MARRY THEM

[NOTWITHSTANDING THE FACT THEY ARE ALREADY

MARRIED] and support their families. THIS LAW IMPOSES A

LEGAL AND RELIGIOUS OBLIGATION ON Israelite MEN TO

PRACTICE POLYGAMY.


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5 If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no

child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger:

her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to

wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her. 6 Andit shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the

name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of

Israel. 7 And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let

his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My

husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in

Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband's brother. 8

Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and

if he stand to it, and say, I like not to take her; 9 Then shall hisbrother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and

loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall

answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not

build up his brother's house. 10 And his name shall be called in

Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed. [Deut 25:510]

How then can anyone use the Holy Bible argue against plural

marriage and claim it is unbiblical? Why do such people use facileargument our of context to press their non-existent point, excusing

their ignorance by saying, in effect,

Although some men in Bible times had many wives, this was not

Gods will, according to Deuteronomy 17:14-18. Instead of

polygamy, the Bible teaches the sacredness of the commitment of

one man and one woman to each other until death separates them.

We have seen by the previous passages that such anti-Mormons[PBUH], are wrong, since polygamy is encouraged by the will of

God, and the Bible says so.

Some Anti-Mormons that are ignorant of Mormonism insist


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It is interesting that Mormons now deny their church ever taught

this doctrine.

What is interesting is that such Anti-Mormons provide no

reference for this untruthful and nonsensical claim. Nor can theydo, because it is not true. Mormons know their history and

acknowledge plural marriage as taught and practiced during about

fifty years of the first Mormon century, and was terminated to

conform to the ruling of the United States Supreme Court that held

the Edmunds-Tucker law to be constitutional.

The braggadocio of Anti-Mormons includes such obnoxious and

unfounded statements as:

It is obvious that the Mormons have rewritten the Bible to match

their theology rather than taking their theology from the Bible.

[Professor Berry, et al]

What is obvious is that in the first place plural marriage has been

positively and scripturally shown to be not only approved, but also

encouraged by the word of God, and in the second place it isobvious that Anti-Mormons that claim otherwise do not know their

Bibles or what is in the Bible! They do not know the above

passages that not only approve but also prescribe plural marriages!

Little wonder that the Bible has been called The Book That

Nobody Knows!

Further, not only do these attackers not know their Bibles, but they

do not know Mormonism, apart from the scurrilous versionspublished by such prevaricators and knaves as Walter R Martin,

Bill Schnoebelen, the Tanners, John Smith, Wesley P Walters, Lori

MacGregor, and others of their dark ilk. [PBUH]


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Thus we see without equivocation that Mormon Polygamy is

vindicated by the Holy Bible, even from the mouth of the Lord

God of Israel.

Copyright 2011Ronnie Bray @ www.yorkshiretales.com/allaboutmormonism
http://www.yorkshiretales.com/allaboutmormonismhttp://www.yorkshiretales.com/allaboutmormonism

plural marriage commanded to be practiced in the bible by god

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