Published by Is polygamy -one husband, more than one wife- unethical or can family demands excuse it? Is it morally wrong, under any circumstances, for a member of the church to marry more than one wife? In short, is polygamy consisting with Christian ethics? In other to make an attempt at answering them without prejudices, a general commentary on the function and value of matrimony will be appropriate, so that we can come to grips with the socio- economic factors that may dictates a man’s inclination towards monogamy or polygamy. First of all , let us accept the fact that marriage is a complex and enduring custom with social, economic, religious and biological implications. For one thing, it is more than a baby-making contract between bi-sexual individuals, because its social bond unites those people to whom the husband and wife are related. For another, it is, in many respects, an economic union between married couples. It is also a religious duty. For this reason, the Catholics church makes matrimony one of its seven sacraments. Thus, marriage is a holy ordinance, with outward and inward significance. It is biological necessity by means of which the individual distributes the seed of life towards man’s struggle to perpetuate or immortalize himself on earth. That is to say ,both husband and wife are reproduced in their children , thus perpetuating human existence defined as life. Because of God’s decree: “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth……” (Gen 1:28), Christians rightly infer that marriage implies the licensee to make babies. Bur from the proposition ” a man cleaves to his wife” (Gen 2:24), they falsely infer that polygamy is inconsistent with biblical ethics. But then there is nowhere in the bible where it is categorically stated ” thou shalt marry only one wife ,” or ” thou shalt not marry only one wife”! Incidentally, polygamy was commonly practiced in ancient Israel, and it is nowhere condemned in the Old Testament.
For instance, Abraham, the first Hebrew Patriarch, had three wives- Sarah, Hagar and Keturah. This is not because he is a womanizer seeking carnal pleasures, but rather because the first, Sarah was barren till the age of ninety. It was in order to avoid the disgrace of barrenness that made Sarah recommend to Abraham her Egyptian maid as a second wife. And the family through Hagar was blessed with a son – Ishmael. Keturah has six sons from Abraham (1 Chr 1:32). It was at the age of ninety that Sarah had her first baby-Isaac -the child of great promise to succeed Abraham. Jacob was a polygamist with three wives, -Leah, Rachel and Bilhah. Those three wives produced the twelve sons of Jacob who played vital role in Jewish history ( Gen 16-50). What is interesting in those two examples of polygamous marriage is that none of them was condemned in the bible. Thus, in spite of Abraham‘s polygamy and concubinisim, he was a friend of God who implicitly trusted the divine promises. Even more, the three world religion-Judaism, Christianity and Islam- revere Abraham as one of the eminent men of all times. In spite of Jacob’s polygamy, God “designed for him some superior blessing” which Joseph, one of his sons, justified
Note that I am not in any way advocating for uncontrolled plural marriages for church men. Neither should anybody think that it is ethical to toy with concubines. and of course I condemn men who pretend that they are monogamists while keeping other ‘wives’ outside and do ‘over time’ after work.
The church should excuse a man with a barren wife to try his luck in another wife, instead of him to pine in silence and agony as a result of childlessness. After all, laws and doctrines are man -made for man’s benefit, not to worsen his earthly agony.
