Okay, so 1 Timothy 5:9 talks about an older widow of good repute who has been the wife of one husband. Perhaps this has been brought up before, but no one I know has ever assumed that this was a Biblical injunction against Polyandry (as that was not ever Biblically acceptable) or that she is forbidden to take a 2nd husband if her first died (reference further on the conduct of younger widows ain the same chapter)... and since adultery was never on the menu, this notion of "wife of one husband" would seem to be talking specifically about a woman who hasn't been going about divorcing husbands without cause and entering into multiple serial monogamous marriages as is commonly done in the Church today.
We know that divorcing a spouse without proper cause was something of a big issue at the time, so much so that it was a question posed to Yeshua, and something which He clarified.
Thus, if it is reasonable to conclude this reference to a wife of one husband is specifically an injunction against serial monogamy via unjustified divorce, and not addressing the already well established boundaries regarding polygamy, would it not be fair to conclude that the notion of a husband of one wife has a similarly restricted meaning?
What do y'all think?
We know that divorcing a spouse without proper cause was something of a big issue at the time, so much so that it was a question posed to Yeshua, and something which He clarified.
Thus, if it is reasonable to conclude this reference to a wife of one husband is specifically an injunction against serial monogamy via unjustified divorce, and not addressing the already well established boundaries regarding polygamy, would it not be fair to conclude that the notion of a husband of one wife has a similarly restricted meaning?
What do y'all think?