Excellent Post about Historical Polygamists
http://www.examiner.com/judaism-in-salt-lake-city/father-abraham-practic...
Father Abraham Practiced Polygamy
September 30th, 2010 9:57 am MT
With recent controversy in the State of Utah of the practice of polygamy on account of a new cable television show, it is interesting to note that some of the historical all-stars of Jewish history have participated in plural marriage. Polygamy is not simply linked to the past of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons).
The ancient prophet Abraham, one of the key figures in many religions such as Judaism, Christianity, Baha’I and Islam had multiple wives. In fact, each of those religions at one time or another embraced the practice. Through Abraham’s wife Sarah, Isaac and eventually Jacob derive. Through Sarah’s handmaiden came Ishmael. Both Isaac and Ishmael became the heads of mighty groups. This is of course fitting since the name Abraham means “Father of Many Nations”.
Abraham’s grandson, Jacob (later named Israel) had several wives and sired twelve sons and who knows how many daughters.
However, Abraham and Jacob’s wives pale in comparison to the number of King David and his son Solomon. King David took many wives for both political and personal reasons. The wise King Solomon took hundreds of wives.
The practice of plural marriage really ended for the Jewish Community at the time of the Babylonian Captivity. However, just because modern Jews do not participate in polygamy does not mean it is acceptable to persecute those who do.
Polygamists and the societies they belong to
The Hebrews back in the "Patriarchal Age" were a pastoral people-- much like the Bedouin, perhaps. Like many such peoples, family was traced through the male line ie "patrilineally". A child belonged to his father's (and paternal grandfather's) family. Their language, culture, and ethnic identity, was also his. This patrilinearity is clear in the ancient genealogies. Now, according to Murdock's Ethnographic Atlas, some 90% or more of patrilineal socieites have a tradition of polygamy--so it is not surprising that the ancient Hebrews were no exception to this rule.
Things began to change after the release from Babylon. They had spent some 70 years in slavery, and most families must have died out through the male line. The females still had children, of course--but by their babylonian owners. So, in order to retain a link with the Hebrews of Moses' time, they switched to matrilinearity. To this day, you are jewish only if your mother is jewish. Christianity too tends to be matrilineal, in the sense that you inherit christian faith from your mother, as a rule, and your wife passes it on to the children. Now, according to Murdock's Ethnographic Atlas, matrilineal societies have a much lower incidence of polygamy. I forget the exact figure, but I believe around 25%--30% only. The "spirit" of such a society gravitates more to monogamy.
Polygamy and Jesus
Jesus used the example of the ten virgins. In that story they were going to the wedding feast. In Hebrew custom this was the wedding. The virgins would have been potential brides. Five were wise enough to bring oil and entered and five were foolish and missed the entire thing.
When Jesus was asked about a woman marrying a brother who died and then became the wife of the next brother, till she had been married to all seven brothers, the question concerned polygamy. I mean can anyone ever really believe that all seven brothers were not already married?
Polygamy was an accepted part of Hebrew culture and at no point did Jesus speak against it. When we look at the writings of Paul, one must remember that Paul was (generally) writing to Greeks, who practiced a form of monogamy. In that light Paul addressed them culturally and again never spoke against polygamy.
T.D. Bennett