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Polygyny is the practice of one husband and multiple wives.
This differs from polygamy where there are multiple partners 3
or more. Despite the teachings of the false church, polygyny
is scriptural. Being established by God's law. DEU 21:15
If a man have two wives, one beloved, and
another hated, and they have born him children, [both] the
beloved and the hated; and [if] the firstborn son be
hers that was hated:
DUE 21:16 Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons
to inherit [that] which he hath, [that] he may not make the
son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated,
[which is indeed] the firstborn:
EXD 21:10 If he take him another [wife]; her food,
her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.
EXD 21:11 And if he do not these three unto her,
then shall she go out free without money.
Polygyny is also required in the case of the Kinsman
Redeemer who not only has the responsibility to raise children
to inherit his land, but also give children to a kinsman's
widow to inherit his kinsman's land.
DEU 25:5 If brethren dwell together, and one of them
die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry
without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in
unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of
an husband's brother unto her.
DEU 25:6 And it shall be, [that] the firstborn which
she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother [which
is] dead, that his name be not put out of Israel.
DEU 25:7 And if the man like not to take his brother's
wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the
elders, and say, My husband's brother refuseth to raise up
unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the
duty of my husband's brother.
DEU 25:8 Then the elders of his city shall call him,
and speak unto him: and [if] he stand [to it], and say, I like
not to take her;
DEU 25:9 Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in
the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his
foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall
it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's
house.
Many preachers catch that the book of Ruth shows a contrast
of two women Ruth and her sister-in-law, but miss that there
is also a contrast between Boaz and the nearer kinsman, who's
shame is that his name is not even mentioned.
RTH 4:3 And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is
come again out of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of
land, which [was] our brother Elimelech's:
RTH 4:4 And I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy
[it] before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my
people. If thou wilt redeem [it], redeem [it]: but if thou
wilt not redeem [it, then] tell me, that I may know: for
[there is] none to redeem [it] beside thee; and I [am] after
thee. And he said, I will redeem [it].
RTH 4:5 Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field
of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy [it] also of Ruth the
Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the
dead upon his inheritance.
RTH 4:6 And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem [it] for
myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right
to thyself; for I cannot redeem [it].
RTH 4:7 Now this [was the manner] in former time in
Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to
confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave [it]
to his neighbour: and this [was] a testimony in Israel.
RTH 4:8 Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy [it]
for thee. So he drew off his shoe.
Notice two important things, the nearer kinsman said "I
cannot redeem it for myself lest I mar mine own inheritance"
translated that means his wife will leave him and he won't
have children to inherit his land. How many men today say in
their own heart they are the heads of their homes yet would
not obey God's requiring them to be a polygynist because their
wives won't let them? Second, He admitted his own disgrace by
taking off his own shoe as in Deu 25:9. I will say this for
him over today's men, at least he recognized his failure.
Now for the shocker of the book of Ruth. Boaz married both
women Naomi and Ruth.
RTH 4:11 And all the people that [were] in the gate,
and the elders, said, [We are] witnesses. The LORD make the
woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah,
which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily
in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem:
The word translated woman is Strong's number 802 'ishshah'
the same word use in Deu 21:15 If a man have two 'wives'.
That is why the comparison is made to both Rachel and Leah.
RTH 4:16 And Naomi took the child, and laid it in
her bosom, and became nurse unto it.
RTH 4:17 And the women her neighbours gave it a
name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called
his name Obed: he [is] the father of Jesse, the father of
David.
Some will say that polygyny was not widely practiced in
Israel. Here are some Abraham (Gods Friend) Jacob (God called
Israel, ruling with God) Samuel (Gods prophet and judge was
born in a poly household) David (a man after Gods Heart)
Solomon (who built Gods temple) Gideon (Gods warrior), Boaz,
Saul, Judah, .....
Compare the numbers of first born children in Israel at the
exodus compared to all the males
NUM 3:42 And Moses numbered, as the LORD commanded
him, all the firstborn among the children of Israel.
NUM 3:43 And all the firstborn males by the number
of names, from a month old and upward, of those that were
numbered of them, were twenty and two thousand two hundred and
threescore and thirteen.
EXD 38:26 A bekah for every man, [that is], half a
shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that
went to be numbered, from twenty years old and
upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five
hundred and fifty [men].
Notice there are for every 28 men 20 years and older there
is 1 firstborn of any age. which means the average Israelite
man had in excess of 56 children.
ISA 4:1 And in that day seven women shall take hold
of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our
own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away
our reproach.
ISA 4:2 In that day shall the branch of the LORD be
beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth [shall be]
excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.
Isaiah 4 shows a prophecy of God's kingdom to be fulfilled
in polygyny (which has not come to pass yet)
Yhwh described Himself as having two wives.
EZE 23:1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
EZE 23:2 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of
one mother:
EZE 23:3 And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed
whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed,
and there they bruised the teats of their virginity.
EZE 23:4 And the names of them [were] Aholah the elder, and
Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons
and daughters. Thus [were] their names; Samaria [is] Aholah,
and Jerusalem Aholibah.
And Jesus describes Himself as a bridegroom that marries 5
virgins.
MAT 25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened
unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to
meet the bridegroom.
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