Polygamy destroys the central reality of exclusive faithfulnessby subsituting lesser "goods" or necessities. Every practical necessity served by polygamy as portrayed in the OT actually points to a failure trustingly to accept God's will. For example, sometimes polygamy was practised to increase childbearing. For a royal family especially, this is a crucial issue. Childbearing is the will of God, but it is remarkably absent from Genesis 2 (Jesus" central text on marriage). To take a second wife in order to have children says that the marriage bond is only exclusive IF children are born, which means it isn't in fact the unconditional and total commitment God intended. The story of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1 poignantly displays the grief and anguish of a woman who senses her own value diminished because she cannot bear. Her husband's marriage to a "rival" gives the lie to his efforts to reassure her of his love. Likewise, had David truly trusted in God's promise that he would never lack an heir to the throne, he would not have felt the "necessity" of taking more wives to insure an heir. .
Another reason for polygamy is social and political. Allegiances among tribes, clans, and nations were often sealed by marriages, since a bond, and the blood ties of children, would cement the relationships. Though such ties are very significant, this again dilutes marriage by making one of its benefits, the union of the larger groups represented by the couple, the central reality. Again, the total-commitment to one and only one person is turned into a conditional commitment. In political situations, like Solomon's marriage to Pharaoh's daughter, marriage has simply become a tool of foreign policy. .
A third reason polygamy was practised is simply that ancient societies did not value women as much as men. Genesis 1 very clearly teaches that men and women equally share the image of God, and they together receive God's commandment to subdue the earth.
For many years, numerous individuals have debated the fiery issue of the relationship between morality and religion. Greek mythology is riveted with myths about superhuman gods who controlled everything from nature to enforcement of people's behaviors. In cultures across the world, people are ac...
Yoruba People An Overview: History, Geography, Ecology, Subsistence, Technology The Yoruba People, of whom there are more than twenty-five million, occupy the southwestern corner of Nigeria along the border with Benin Republic and extends into Benin Republic itself. To the east and north the Yoruba culture reaches its approximate limits in the region of the Niger River. However ancestral cultures directly related to the Yoruba once flourished well north of the Niger. Portuguese explorers "discovered" (for the Europeans) the Yoruba cities and kingdoms in the fifteenth century, but citie...