Meat Proof desiring second wife righteous….

[The Revolting Man]

I hadn’t noticed this verse before today but it seems like we should add Genesis 20:6 to our list of pro poly arguments.

In this well known passage a king called Abimelech has taken Sarah into his household to become a wife. God comes to him in a dream and tells Abimelech that he has taken a married woman and will be judged.

Abimelech protests his ignorance and God agrees with this statement in verse 6, “6 ¶ And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.”

Later on in verse 17 we learned that Abimelech had at least one other wife; so God said, in a direct statement that Abimelech desired Sarah as a second (at least) wife “in the integrity of they heart”. That kind of puts to bed the whole, “it’s all about lust thing”.

 

[PeteR]

Excellent. .. Torah, this time of year is always fun... Lamech, Abraham, Avimelech, Esau, Jacob, etc..

 

[Bartato]

I hadn’t noticed this verse before today but it seems like we should add Genesis 20:6 to our list of pro poly arguments.

In this well known passage a king called Abimelech has taken Sarah into his household to become a wife. God comes to him in a dream and tells Abimelech that he has taken a married woman and will be judged.

Abimelech protests his ignorance and God agrees with this statement in verse 6, “6 ¶ And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.”

Later on in verse 17 we learned that Abimelech had at least one other wife; so God said, in a direct statement that Abimelech desired Sarah as a second (at least) wife “in the integrity of they heart”. That kind of puts to bed the whole, “it’s all about lust thing”.

In my mind, this passage has long stood out as one of the strongest Biblical supports of polygyny (along with 1st Samuel 12).

Like you said, God agreed with Abimelech's statement that he acted in integrity of heart (not knowing Sarah to be a married woman).

We have an obvious distinction between polygamy and adultery. The first can be done in "integrity of heart". The other brings the penalty of death.

In this passage, we have God's clear affirmation and approval of Abimelech's polygamous motives and actions.

 

[Bartato]

I'll also throw in that while we have God's approval of Abimelech desiring and taking an additional wife, it doesn't necessarily logically follow that God always approves of every man in every situation desiring and taking additional wives. Some men might not be in the right situation to do so, and some men might have wrong motives.

Nevertheless, God's clear approval here with Abimelech does indicate that He regards polygamy as legitimate marriage in general, and that a man might righteously desire it.