So let me just start off by talking about polygamy, just for a little bit, okay?
Because again, people can look at a story like this and say, well, Ocana was a godly
man.
You know, Abraham was a godly man.
You know, Solomon was a godly man.
You know, David, who's a man after God's own heart, he was a godly man.
All these men were involved in this, therefore, you know, I guess polygamy is permitted in
the Bible because all these men of God did it.
You know, this is the Mormon view of marriage, obviously, right?
These are like their favorite verses.
But nowhere in this passage does it say that God approved of this, you understand?
And it doesn't take much to see, it doesn't take much to see in the Old Testament that
God does not approve of polygamy, first and foremost, because if you just read the second
chapter of Genesis, verse 24, it talks about a man shall leave his father and mother and
shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh.
Jesus reiterates that in the New Testament and says, they twain, shall be one fresh,
one flesh.
It's pretty fresh though too, I'll just be honest with you, okay?
Nah, day three, okay, shall be one flesh.
He says, they twain shall be one flesh.
That's been God's will from the beginning, okay?
No third party, you understand?
So right from the beginning, we see what God's intent was for holy matrimony was to be between
one man and one woman, no third party involved.
And then, you know, people will make the argument, well, you know, there's all kinds of laws
though in the Old Testament addressing polygamists though.
So that would indicate or imply that God does approve of it because he's giving these
laws for them.
But you know, that's a stupid argument because of the fact that people back then, just like
people today, get saved later on in life.
And when people get saved later on in life, you know, they might have made some really
bad mistakes prior to getting saved, prior to knowing the God of the Bible, prior to
knowing the Word of God.
You know, I'm sure there's people, I know that there's people who have gotten saved
later on in life, and maybe they've been divorced a couple times, you understand?
And God obviously doesn't approve of divorce, but if they get saved during that time.
So you say, so what's that supposed to imply?
What are you trying to say?
Well, I'm trying to say that the laws that we see in the Old Testament addressing polygamists
is for people who may have already made that mistake.
So God basically gives them some rules to abide by as polygamists.
Not saying that he approves of it, but since they're in that situation, let's kind of help
them out to know what to do in certain circumstances and situations, you understand?
And so, nowhere in the Bible does God approve of having two wives, or whatever it may be.
And in fact, all you have to do is read the testimonies of the Lord, or should we say,
read the testimonies of the polygamists in the Bible, and let's see how it went for them.
And right off the bat, we're looking at Elkanah, you know, just in the first few verses, we
see that it's not going well for him, okay?
You know, Peninnah is like hating on Hannah, and she's her adversary, and then we see that
also with Sarah and Hagar, you know, in the book of Genesis.
We see this throughout the Bible.
Any time someone had more than one wife, you know, there's always conflict and strife,
and there is no happily ever after when there's two wives involved, okay?
And this is completely contrary to what a lot of men think it would be like.
You know, it's like, oh man, having two wives, that's probably great.
Well, not according to the examples that we see in the Bible.
It sounds bad, you know?
It sounds terrible.
There's always conflict, and there's always strife, you know, and it's probably a big
headache for Elkanah to have to deal with this, okay?
And so polygamy is not permissible in the Bible at all.
We see that based upon the testimonies that we see of the people who were polygamists.
We see it based upon the first commandment that God gives in regards to marriage in Genesis
2.24, and we see it based upon the fact that he's giving specific laws and rules to polygamists
not to permit them to commit polygamy, but just saying, you know, this is what happens
when you get involved in this, you know, these are the rules you need to abide by, etc.