Is It Time to Rethink Polygamy? | Part 2

The Bible Opens and Closes With Marriage

What do you do with the fact that there really isn't a positive mention of polygamy in the Bible? And then on top of all that, you have the Bible essentially opens with a marriage, right? So, Adam and Eve, Eve is created for Adam, they consummate their marriage, that's the beginning of the Bible essentially, that's the beginning of human history is two people get married.

And then at the end of history, at the end of time, when Jesus has already come back, he's come back for the church, we've been reunited with Christ face to face, it's described as a marriage.

Therefore, forfeit any hope of salvation, any hope of heaven.

The issue is that humanity is in sin, and the wrath of Almighty God is hanging over our head.

They will hear his words, they will not act upon them. And when the floods of divine judgment, when the fires of wrath come, they will be consumed, and they will perish. God wrapped himself in flesh, condescended and became a man, died on the cross for sin, was resurrected on the third day, has ascended to the right hand of the Father, where he sits now to make intercession for us.

Jesus is saying there is a group of people who will hear his words, they will act upon them. And when the floods of divine judgment come in that final day, their house will stand.

Petey. So, okay. So, if the Old Testament is meant to show us the….

Aaron Matter. Folly.

Petey. The, yeah, the folly of, you know, all these negative consequences that come from polygamy, why then does the Old Testament simultaneously regulate polygamy?

Jared. Yeah, so, I think there's, this is the point that I would say for me for many years, I didn't really have a good answer to this question. And so, this is why I'm somewhat sympathetic to the kind of person who says, I don't want to outright condemn this.

I can say it's unwise, I don't want to outright condemn it, but then, because I didn't really necessarily have the most wonderful answer to why this is regulated. So, you know, so for instance, Exodus 21 10, if he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food or clothing or her marital rights.

And if he does these, does not do these, this is talking about like a slave wife, if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing without payment of money. So, I think part of what, part of my problem with landing this plane personally for many years, like in terms of coming up with the, there's a couple of components of it.

This is one of the components that kept me from having, that kept me having more of a tentative position on this topic. And I think I didn't have the most wonderful explanation for why it was doing that for a while.

So, like it was clear, like, so, I mean, if you revisit the first principles, for this reason, man shall leave father and mother, hold fast to his wife, two will become one flesh, and Jesus, you know, and they will become one flesh, and Jesus describes that as two will become one flesh.

Jesus is telling you that marriage is two, you know, one plus one equals one, right? So, two become one, that's what marriage is. So, like thinking about it along those lines, I didn't necessarily, like it seems like Jesus is clear, like when Jesus comes along the scene, he's clarifying what adultery is and what everyone understood it to be, right?

So, that's what he's coming along to do. And, you know, he does that very specifically in a wide variety of ways. So, those things, I mean, like you look at the narratives and you say, okay, hey, like God's original design is monogamy, that's obvious, right?

So, that's true, like, because that, like you could see that every time, like you see through the narratives, you read through the narratives, this goes bad, it goes bad, it goes bad. And then you see, like, there are hints of prohibition against it, like meaning, like, God tells kings not to volunteer by wives.

And then in the New Testament, he tells, like, an elder must be the husband of one wife, right? So, it's like, well, why not say it across the board, right? So, that was my thought process, why not say it across the board?

And then he does clarify what adultery is in Matthew 19 .9, he says to you, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery. So, that should tell you right there, so, like, the issue is, like, if you read that, I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery, what that means is the only way he could marry another lawfully is to divorce his wife.

Does that make sense?

Pete Yeah.

Jared I mean, and that's a significant point that tells you that Jesus' view of adultery was what our view of adultery is, right? So, like, the only way, so, that prohibits, like, so, you think about it that way, that is prohibiting plural marriage in principle.

He's saying, and I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery because it's one man plus one woman for life, that's what it is, right? So, all that, like, all that makes abundant sense, it's very clear, but then you say, well, why is he regulating it?

And here's the answer. So, I've beat around the bush, but here's the answer. I think one of the things that's happened is that we're living in a society where, which has basically successfully normalized fornication, and so, in order to have a good answer to this question, you basically have to adopt, in order to have a good answer to this question, beyond just ignoring the fact that it's regulated and saying, like, beyond just, like, ignoring that it's regulated and just pointing out the principles I just mentioned, you really have to adopt a position that I think very few people want to adopt, and that's part of the problem because there's a lot of societal pressure against it.

And so, in the Bible, like, here's the idea. I mean, in the Bible, like, sex is tied to marriage in a very fundamental way, okay? So, and this is something, we don't have any tolerance for this line of thinking, but this is really the line of thinking that we need to take.

So, like, the idea is that in the Old Covenant, like, you can think of, I mean, in the Bible, in the Bible in general, you see that, like, man leaves, like, definition of marriage, man leaves father, mother, hold fast to wife, two become one flesh.

That two becoming one flesh, that gives you a definition of consummation, that's what it is, right? So, man marries woman, consummates the relationship, two become one. And then when you read through the New Testament, what happens is you see that everyone who joins himself to a prostitute has become one flesh with her, right?

So, like, and that's in 1 Corinthians. So, like, the idea there is just to say, and it appeals to this foundational definition of what marriage is, right? So, like, you're making yourself one flesh with her, and then it points to Genesis 2 .24, for this reason, man leave father, mother, two become one flesh and all that.

And then it says that all other sins are, like, not sins against the body in the same way that this sin is a sin against the body. So, and the idea is that when a man sleeps with a prostitute, what he's doing is he is consummating a marriage union, okay?

Like, that's what he's doing. So, when, you know, Abraham sins for a wife for Isaac and, you know, Rebecca decides to be the wife and she comes along with him, Isaac, you know, marries her by going into the tent and marrying her, right?

Right, so, like, the idea is that, like, sex is the consummation of a marriage union. That's what it is, okay? So, then when you get that principle in your mind, that helps you explain other passages, but then it also helps you explain the polygamy question.

So, and this is a roundabout way of answering it, but I need to play the math, right? So, here's the thing. Exodus 22 .16, if a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and he lies with her, he shall give the bride price for her and make her his wife.

So, this is an idea that everyone literally hates in our society, right? And what it's saying is if a man seduces a virgin, like, if you have sex with a person, you should marry her. That's what you were commanded to do in the Old Testament.

Why? Because you've already consummated a marriage with her. Do you see what I'm saying?

Pete. Right, yeah.

Jared. Like you've consummated a marriage with her, so, like, you've become one flesh with her. That's what you've done. So, now you need, like, but the problem was you consummated it before you made it official, right?

So, like, the idea is just to say that you need to marry her because in some sense you already did, right? Like, that's the thing, right? Now, like, you think about this, everyone hates that verse right now.

Like, they absolutely despise that verse, but if everyone did that verse, you wouldn't have individuals who are fornicating with 30, 40, 100 people, right? So, like, think about which society Pete.

Yeah, you'd avoid a lot of further iniquity with commands like that, right?

Jared. Right, right. So, like, the idea is, like, I mean, and think about how much less STDs you would have. Think about how much less out-of-wedlock pregnancies you would have and everything else. Like, think about how much less sexual sin you would have.

So, like, the idea is just to say, like, in the New Testament, they're saying if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he's become one flesh with her. That's a sin against the body itself because of Genesis 2, 24, right?

So, you have a principle here. Man seduces a virgin who's not betrothed, he lies with her, he shall give her a bride price for her and make her his wife. Now, this one is even more hated, right? So, like, Deuteronomy 22, 28, if a man meets a virgin who's not betrothed, he sees her and lies with her, they're found.

Then a man who lay with her shall give the father of a young woman 50 shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife because he has violated her. He may not divorce her for all his days. So, why does that make sense?

Like, so, no one has any answer to that question other than just to pretend like it was, like, no one likes that. No one wants to apply that. There's, like, everyone hates that, right? But then the idea is just to say if, like, the reason why that's a protection of women, even though it doesn't seem like a protection of that individual woman, the reason why that's a protection of women in general is because of the idea that there is no serial rapist kind of thing happening at that point.

Because if you have some kind of responsibility to pay and to provide for this person that you've, you know, in the language of the Bible, humbled, right? Like, in that way, there's, like, you, like, that was a law that God gave that no, like, everyone detests, but it's based on this reality of two becoming one, meaning something, right?

So, that means something. So, then, like, the idea is then to say, okay, why would God regulate polygamy? Well, because there's, like, because the idea is to say that sex is more significant than what we think it is.

So, if sex is more significant than what we think it is, then the idea is if a man does this, he's made an extra wife, right? So, like, if a man is married, he commits adultery, like Matthew 19, 9, I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery, if he does what Jesus did, and, like, simple people are going to do that, you have a law that's basically coming along saying, well, now you've got to pay the consequences of it, and the consequences of it are going to be that you're going to have two women who basically hate each other, right?

You've made your life miserable for one, you know, man committed adultery has fallen into a deep pit and then poured by the Lord, but you're not going to be able to divorce her all the days of your life, right?

You have to marry, like, this is a marriage, right? You have to recognize it as a marriage. This can't just be your thing on the side and everything else that, like, you have no responsibility to pay for or to own or everything else.

You have to do something about it. You have to make, you have to take on this responsibility forever. And so, but you, so in that kind of situation, then, yeah, I mean, I'm not, like, what you have then is you have the logic of the Bible that's basically coming along and regulating a bad thing, right?

So, you have something that can only come about as a result of sin. That's the only way that it's going to come about. It's only going to come about as a result of sin. Then you have the Bible come along and basically just regulating it and saying at that point, well, here's the consequences of it for you if you don't listen to principle number one, here's what's going to happen to you at this point.

And, you know, that, I mean, like, the issue is, like, you think about society, like, now we don't really have a societal mechanism at this point to even handle anything along those lines. So, you know, a guy just gets a woman pregnant and she's on her own and, you know, the kid doesn't have a father for the rest of his life and it's all a mess.

So, basically you just have a situation where God is regulating the worst-case scenario. If that makes sense.

Peter. Well, every time you read, every time, at least every time that I've read those passages where God is giving commands, you know, for how men ought to treat their wives in these certain scenarios that we're discussing now, they always read as punishments, if that makes any sense.

Like, they never read as, you know, the Bible says that to find a wife is to find a good thing, but then when you read these passages, they never read like the man found a good thing.

Jared Yeah, he's made his life harder on him, right?

Pete. Right, right, yeah, and that's what I mean, you know, that's not a comment on, like, the women, the individual women that he's finding, it's a comment on, they always read like a, well, you're facing the consequences of your actions now as opposed to you found a wife, you know?

And so, I think that's, that just seems like the natural reading of them when you look at it. Jared.

Yeah, I mean, you think about this now, so, basically, what I'm trying to say is, in my mind, I was trying to explain why God regulates this thing instead of, because it didn't make sense he would regulate it, but then, I mean, there is like a due to the hardness of men's heart, you have to figure out what you're going to do along those lines, right?

Kind of thing. So, I mean, there is a situation where something comparable, I mean, slavery is a complex situation, and I'm not trying to speak to the entirety of issues surrounding slavery, but there is, like, a certain aspect of slavery that, the idea of slavery that is comparable to this in the sense that, you know, the Bible absolutely does, like, prohibit the idea of man stealing, you're not allowed to go enslave someone, right?

But then, like, there is an idea that, like, if you were rob someone blind, and then you don't have any money to pay for it anymore, right? Like, you don't, so, you rob them blind, you spend all their money and waste it all and whatever else, and you can't pay it back now.

You have to make restitution somehow, and, like, if the only way you're going to be able to make restitution is, like, the only way you're going to be able to make restitution is to work for this person and be their slave for a while in order to pay it off in that kind of society.

And so, you look at that and you say, hey, yeah, well, is that a endorsement of slavery or something like that? So, God is legislating certain kinds of slavery in that way, is that, like, an endorsement of it in that kind of context?

It's like, well, no, it's, but you have to figure out what to do when men sin in stupid ways, right? So, in a similar way, like, I don't, like, the only way you're, if Matthew 19, like, Jesus' infallible interpretation of Exodus 20 in Matthew 19, 9, I say to whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery, Jesus is prohibiting polygamy there.

So, because he's prohibiting, like, there's no lawful way to enter into a polygamous relationship, but if you get, like, the idea is, like, there's no lawful way to do this, but you can under, because you're a sinner, find yourself in a situation where you've made a second wife, right?

So, in that kind of context, then, like, the Bible's saying, well, you need to recognize it, what you did, and deal with it, right? So, but then, like, in our society, the part of the problem is just to say that we don't really have the categories for that kind of thing anymore because we don't really view virginity as being anything, we don't view sexual purity as being anything, we don't really think that anything happens, like, spiritually or physically even when two people fornicate, right?

So, it's basically kind of like a handshake that you're not allowed to make, and then, but then if you do, it's like, well, oops, I mean, so what, right? But you don't, I mean, like, oops, like, meaning, like, you could shake someone's hand and then you go wash your hand in the sink and you're, you know, even if they had a dirty hand or something like that, you're fine, but that's not really the way the Bible presents sex.

Do you see what I'm saying? It's not like that. It's not like, like, it's, when you do that, the Bible says you receive in yourself the due penalty for your errors yet. I mean, basically, like, the idea is when you do that, you're defiling yourself physically, spiritually, everything else, right?

This is an act of consummation of a marriage that you've done to someone that you haven't married, right? And so now, like, so the idea is that that's really bad. So, I mean, I think with that kind of explanation for, with that kind of thought process in mind, I can see why you would regulate polygamy in a society filled with sinful people while at the same time there being no lawful way to enter into it.

Does that make sense?

Petey. Yeah. So, with that being said, the, you know, the regulations of polygamy essentially being punishments in and of themselves. Why do, you know, you mentioned this passage earlier, I wanted to come back to it.

Why then would God look at someone like David and then give him more wives? You know, so, I mean, this is, you know, because at this point, we're talking about, like, God is, God is almost seemingly gifting David with wives, but then if God views having multiple wives as a bad thing, why would he give that as a gift to anyone?

Jared. Yeah, sure. So, in order to be a king, the king was responsible to personally sit down and write the law, right? So, the king is personally supposed to write out a copy of the law himself, and, you know, at that point in David's reading, he should have read Deuteronomy 17, 17, which says, neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he greatly increase silver or gold for himself.

So, I mean, like, the idea is just to say that he should have read that part. And the idea is, and this, you know, the reason why we're even asking this kind of question is because Saul made a mess of it to begin with, right?

So, like, meaning, like, Saul created the harem, and then when Saul dies and David takes over as king, then you have the harem of women that something has to, you have to do something with, right?

Pete No.

Jared. So, I mean, David had already, I think, taken on multiple wives at that point anyways, but like, I mean, the idea though is just to say, when God's recognizing he gave David these wives, that's not an approval.

Of him having them. It's just an acknowledgement that everything that God gives to anyone, everything that anyone has is a gift. I mean, that's what the New Testament says. Like, what do you have that you've not received?

And if you've received it, like, why do you pretend like it's not a gift, right? So, everything that anyone has been given, everything that anyone has is a gift given to God, given by God, right? So, everything you have is a gift.

Now, that doesn't mean it's like a good thing. So, I mean, that doesn't mean it's like good for your sanctification, right? So, you think about it like along those lines, Deuteronomy 17, 17 says, you shall not multiply wives for yourself, lest his heart turn away from the Lord.

Like, there's already a prohibition against this. And, you know, when God's basically just acknowledging the situation, like, hey, like, you know, obviously if one wasn't enough, two isn't enough, three isn't enough, four isn't enough, it's never going to be enough, right?

Yeah, well, and it's interesting too that, and maybe you were going there with this, but in that Deuteronomy 17, 17, you know, there's the command, neither shall he multiply wives for himself. Well, why?

Yeah, because his heart will turn away from the Lord if he pursues multiple wives.

Jared. Which is what David's heart did, okay?

Pete. Right.

Jared. So, I mean, and then what Solomon's heart did, like, that's the whole point, like, you shouldn't do this because there are consequences to that. So, if you're going to do that, I mean, like, the thing is, yes, like that, like, when men go this route, you have to figure out what you're going to do with it, right?

So, at that point, like, you think about what's happening there, at that point, you know, Saul has multiple wives. I mean, it just, put yourself in the position of one of these women, I mean, particularly, I mean, what a nightmare to be one of Solomon's wives who basically is just a sex slave, right?

I mean, that's what they are, I mean, they're, I mean, you have marriage where you're supposed to have a man, like, and a wife, wife is going to be a helper suitable to that man, and you think about these kind of situations where you have 300 wives, 700 concubines or whatever, I mean, these are basically just sex slaves, that's what they are for you.

I mean, like, you, you couldn't even cycle through them all, like, once a year, you know what I'm saying? If you had multiple wives every day, you know, like, it would take you a year to, them to get their one special night with you, you know, where you finally, and maybe talk to them for a few minutes once a year or something, you know?

Like, you think about that, whatever that is, that's not God's picture of marriage, like, it's just a nightmare, it's just a disaster, but then it also, I mean, it leads to, I mean, David had the same temptations that Solomon had at that point, to where, like, if you think that, like, the answer to satisfaction in marriage is going to be to have more than one, well, it wasn't good enough for David.

I mean, David saw Bathsheba and he's like, hey, I'd like another one, right? Like, these aren't enough for me. So, I mean, God, in that kind of framework, God's saying, hey, I gave you your master's house and your master's wife into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and the house of Judah, and if this were too little, I would have added much more.

But then, like, the idea is just to say that the implied answer is it's not too little, right? Like, the implied answer is, like, it's not, okay? Like, meaning, like, if God thought he needed more than he designed human beings to have, he could have given David way more than that, but then he'd just turn out like Solomon, right?

With a bunch of, which is why he warned them not to do this in the first place, right? So, the idea is just to say that, hey, yeah, he, like, God gave David his master's house, and then, like, that, there were entailments to that.

Now David inherits the harem. So, David is in the position that he's in because God put him in that position. He has all of these wives now, and like, they're never, like, to a, if your heart is filled with lust, they're never going to be enough.

That's the point. It's never going to be enough. So, yeah. So, I think, I mean, so, the short answer is just to say I think it's just a statement of fact. Everything that anyone has is a gift, and I think you let Jesus' words in Matthew 19, 9 interpret it all for you, for sure.

Jesus' Clarification of Adultery and Lust

Pete. So, speaking of Jesus' words, probably one of the, now that we're an hour in, probably one of the passages that most Christians who would say, well, yeah, polygamy is obviously wrong, one of the passages that they're probably thinking of is Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, right?

Because the passage seems to explicitly condemn anything other than a monogamous relationship between a husband and his one wife.

Jared Yeah, Matthew 528.

Pete. Yeah, or 528, yeah. Because it says, you know, this is Jesus speaking. He says, you've heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery, and then verse 28, but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

So, that seems pretty clear, right? I mean, just pretty open and shut. If they're not your wife, if you even desire them. So, no action has been committed other than internally you have desired them. Jesus is saying you may as well have already slept with them.

Jared.

Right, so you notice how he's expanding on you shall not commit adultery right there, and in Matthew 19, 9, I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for her sexual immorality marries another commits adultery.

Basically, he's giving to, he's basically just coming along and telling you all the ways in which the Jews have distorted this, and now he's telling you what it really means. And what it really means is, you know, plural marriage is adultery, and you shouldn't even be desiring anyone outside of marriage because that's adultery of the heart,.

Right? Pete.

Right, yeah. And now, you know, you might read a verse like that and then wonder to yourself, how can anyone read that verse and then come away thinking, well, obviously God allows for a man to have multiple wives?

And I wouldn't blame you for thinking that, but there are still people who look at those verses and say, yes, this does not, this doesn't affect my view of polygamy. So, Tim, can you explain exactly what the argument is that's made to essentially try and explain away a passage like this from those who are pro-polygamy?

Tim. Yeah, they're basically.

Just saying that the word gunakos there for a woman can sometimes be translated woman or wife, and so they're basically, they're trying to uphold the old definition, I mean, the Jewish definition of adultery at that point.

So, basically, they're basically rejecting Jesus' teaching on what adultery actually is. And they're basically saying, hey, yeah, adultery is simply when a man has sex with a married woman. So, then it says, but I say to you that everyone who looks at a, it could be woman or wife.

So, everyone who looks at a wife with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So, they're saying this doesn't mean like a generic woman, this means a wife. But then, I mean, that's really clunky way to talk.

Whose wife? Their wife or someone else's wife? So, in order to actually communicate clearly, in order to actually communicate in a clear manner, you would need some kind of possessive, or some kind of pronoun there at some point, right?

Or some kind of qualifier, some other words, like looks at another man's, another man's possessive pronoun, right? Gunakos there with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in heart. So, basically, they're saying, hey, yeah, that can mean woman or wife.

So, basically, all it's saying is if anyone looks at a wife, a wife, a generic wife, not theirs with lustful intent has already committed adultery within their heart. But I mean, it's, you know, just go down a few verses and you'll see the same kind of thing.

So, it was also said whoever divorces a wife, let him give him certificate of divorce. No, it says whoever divorces his wife, right? So, teen gunakai atu, basically, right? So, you have the possessive pronoun there, so whoever divorces his woman or his wife, let him give a certificate of divorce.

So, often when this word gunakos is used in the sense of wife, you're going to have some kind of indication, meaning like women submit to your husband, right? So, you're going to have something in the context telling you woman is meant to be wife there.

So, like the word husband or his wife, right? His woman, his wife. So, yeah. But this is one of those things where it's just, this is why this is a topic that's pretty concerning is because you do have individuals who basically have given themselves permission to lust after any unmarried woman they want.

They can only not lust after married women at that point because they're defining this as like lust is basically just desiring, like lust, like the idea of the lust itself is like, it's only when you desire another man's wife in that way.

And so, you can't lust after someone's wife. And then also in the other sense, like, yeah. But I mean, go ahead.

Petey That's kind of what I wanted to move into was I think what's really concerning for me is I'm always suspicious of the person who anytime they're defining something that God calls sin, they're defining it in a way to ensure that they are not the one committing sin.

But I'm always suspicious of the person who constantly, I mean, just constantly thinks that they're not committing sin. And that sounds silly, like who even does that? But a lot of people do this all the time where they're not afraid to call something sin, but then they simultaneously will tell you that whatever that sin is, they're not doing it.

And in my mind, this is seeming to be one of those examples for a few different reasons. I think the first one being like, okay, number one, especially in our modern society, what is even the point of a polygamous marriage?

What's the like, what do you gain from that that you cannot gain from a monogamous marriage? You know, so you have that question going on, and then you also have the, like, even in this Matthew context, I mean, the whole point of the passage is Jesus is sitting there, he's addressing the Jews who think they've got the law of God nailed down and Jesus is coming along and essentially showing them that it's been thousands of years at this point, and you still don't have it.

You still don't understand it.

Jared. Yeah, I mean, they should have known, I mean, because Job says, I've made a covenant with my eyes, how then could I gaze at a betula, at a virgin? Essentially, he's saying the same thing, you know, they should have known this at the very beginning.

There was enough in the law to where they should know this. But I mean, you know, even if you were to grant, like, the idea that, okay, well, maybe it could be a woman, and maybe it could be a woman or a wife there and whatever else, like, I mean, the whole Matthew 19, 9, it's clear.

I mean, Jesus tells you that in Matthew 19, 9, I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery. I mean, that's clear. There's no wiggle room in there.

The Greek is clear. There's nothing going on. Everyone knows what you're talking about there. So, meaning, like, that only makes sense if the only way that you can marry another person without committing adultery is if you have a legitimate divorce, okay?

So, if you can't marry another person without, you know, like, the idea is if you can't marry another woman, right, without committing adultery, then, I mean, if you could just take a second wife, this verse would never apply, right?

Pete. Right. Jared. Like, if you could do that without sin, right? So, Jesus would say, I say to you, you know, well, instead of committing adultery, just take a second wife so that you can. Pete.

Yeah, that verse is irrelevant or it's obsolete or whatever, but it doesn't make sense anymore if it works that way. Jared.

But this is what the Jews are, I mean, the Jews are doing what you're talking about. They are, you know, they're ignoring the entire narrative structure of the Bible. They're ignoring how polygamy goes bad at every single point.

They're ignoring the origin of polygamy. They're ignoring the definition of marriage, and they've created a one, like, they've created an asymmetrical standard. So, I mean, I'm not, like, there are different asymmetrical standards in the Bible, like, between men and women and everything else.

I don't, in principle, have a problem with that, but then when that asymmetrical standard is basically saying that a man has the, like, the ability to, you know, basically have, like, sleep with as many women as he wants and his wife doesn't, it does make you think, well, maybe is there something, like, is this an example of men using their authority improperly in order to get themselves off the hook for their natural inclinations, which I would say, yeah, I mean, God's obviously given men 10 times testosterone as women.

They obviously have way more libido than women, but is this just sinful men using their power in order to justify doing, like, sinning with impudence, right, at that point, based on Jesus' words? I mean, obviously, that's what's happening, like, there's no lawful way to go about doing this.

You shouldn't be, like, Job making a covenant with your eyes, you know, how could you, like, Job, right, who is blameless and put forward as a good example, and then you have him, like, telling you, like, what he did and then the text telling you and all this, Job did not sin.