polygyny – Page 2 – 11:3 Restoration

Martin Madan Explains Ruth 4:6

When the Reverend Martin Madan wrote the first volume of his seminal work, Thelypthora, he took the time to consider the case of Boaz and the kinsman who was nearer to Ruth than he was. This is recorded in Ruth chapter four. He offers a succinct and common-sense analysis of why the kinsman refused. Let’s read Ruth 4:1-12 (NASB).

Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there, and behold, the close relative of whom Boaz spoke was passing by, so he said, “Turn aside, friend, sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down. ²He took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. ³Then he said to the closest relative, “Naomi, who has come back from the land of Moab, has to sell the piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. ⁴So I thought to inform you, saying, ‘Buy it before those who are sitting here, and before the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if not, tell me that I may know; for there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am after you.’” And he said, “I will redeem it.” ⁵Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also acquire Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of the deceased, in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance.” ⁶The closest relative said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, because I would jeopardize my own inheritance. Redeem it for yourself; you may have my right of redemption, for I cannot redeem it.” ⁷Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning the redemption and the exchange of land to confirm any matter: a man removed his sandal and gave it to another; and this was the manner of attestation in Israel. ⁸So the closest relative said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself.” And he removed his sandal. ⁹Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon. ¹⁰Moreover, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, to be my wife in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance, so that the name of the deceased will not be cut off from his brothers or from the court of his birth place; you are witnesses today.” ¹¹All the people who were in the court, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built the house of Israel; and may you achieve wealth in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem. ¹²Moreover, may your house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah, through the offspring which the Lord will give you by this young woman.”
Ruth 4:1-12 NASB

The “Thlibo” Path of Polygyny Marriage as a Positive

A common objection thrown up by those who argue against Biblical polygyny is the fact that in Biblical polygynous families, we see a lot of family difficulties and sometimes, outright pain. Setting aside the equally common rebuttal that in monogamous families, we see the same kind of pain, there’s something about the difficulties that polygynous families experience that naysayers are not considering, and quite possibly that’s due to a monogamy-only translator bias, as well as the all-too-human reflexive avoidance of pain.

Before we go into the weeds with the Greek-to-English translations, I want to note that a recent story broke about when a Tanzanian miner became an overnight millionaire when he sold two of the largest chunks of Tanzanite ever found in that African country. The BBC article that reported the find also mentioned that the miner had 4 wives and 30 children. The Fox News article that reported the same story linked to the same BBC article mentioned the 30 children but was silent on the 4 wives. This is an excellent current example of how discomfort with polygyny will lead to suppression of relevant facts.

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Matthew 7:13-14 KJV

Marriage and Sanctification

While I have long understood that one reason God created marriage was to image His relationship with His people (Eph. 5:22-33), to a much lesser degree, I understood that a purpose for marriage is sanctification. It was not, however, until the last couple years of understanding Biblical marriage, that I began to understand how very significant the aspect of sanctification is.

Sanctification, by definition, is the process of ‘making holy.’ Holy means ‘set apart’ or ‘consecrate,’ so ‘sanctification’ means ‘the process of setting apart, or making holy.’ See the following snip from an online dictionary:

Marriage Laws – God or Caesar?

When people put forth arguments against the polygyny laws of the Old Testament, one of them is that if there are laws on the books that make polygyny illegal, then even if it’s legal in the Old Testament, it’s not legal in the present day, and the secular law is the controlling authority and should be obeyed.

Battling lawlessness and cold love with polygyny

In sober tones, Messiah Yeshua warned His disciples that “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). This warning is in the passage about the end times. We know from I John 3:4 that “everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness”. In other words, sin increases and love grows cold.

Our Polygynous Fathers

*not an ‘accurate’ representation of the persons or events depicted…. 😉

A central thread that runs through the whole of Scripture that both Christendom and Judaism try to hide, minimize, or ignore is polygyny. So, to expose that thread and demonstrate how very central the subject is, let’s take a gander at it by considering various angles.

Characters:

Hebrews 11 names many of the following as ‘men approved by God’…
Abraham had at least two concubines besides Sarah. (Genesis 25:6)
Jacob had four wives, therefore, all who are descended from or grafted into Israel have a father who is polygynous.
Moses married the Zipporah and the Cushite woman. The latter incurred Miriam’s displeasure and we see God’s response…. (Numbers 12)
Caleb, Joshua’s righteous companion who entered the land, had …wives.
Gideon had 70 sons, plus. (Judges 8:30-31)
Elkanah, father of Samuel, had two wives.
David, man after God’s own heart, had eight wives and ten concubines (1 Chronicles 3:1-9).
Solomon, greatest king of Israel.
Joash was given two wives by the High Priest and ‘did what was right in the sight of the Lord…’ (2 Chronicles 24:2-3, 15-16)
Oh, God, by His own Word testifies to (allegorically) having two brides. (Ezekiel 23:2, 4; Jeremiah 3:8; 31:32)
Others…

Authors of Scripture:

A Lament for the Lost

Reverend Martin Madan, courtesy of Wikipedia

Three centuries ago, tales of the horrific abuse of young girls and women by male rogues and cads inspired one of the great Christian men of his time to write a book titled Thelyphthora. His name was Martin Madan (b. 1726 – d. 1790). You haven’t heard of him or this book before because Madan prescribed a biblical remedy for the abuse of the fairer and weaker sex by the stronger: polygyny, governed by the regulations contained within the first five books of the Bible, also known as the Torah. The fourth chapter of the first volume of Thelyphthora is a very thorough discussion of polygyny (one husband with one or more wives).

Madan wrote about how his heart broke over and over hearing these stories. He wrote,

Strong Families Weather Tough Times Better

Credit: http://outagamie.uwex.edu/family-living/building-strong-resilient-families/

The above title would seem to be one of those axiomatic statements that are self-explanatory. However, I just read in National Review a plea not to penalize marriage in bills working their way through Congress as I write this.

Families headed by married parents — because they have access to more potential income streams, not to mention more heads, hands, and hearts — will weather the crisis more successfully and be better able to help others outside their circle than will other families.
W. Bradford Wilcox, National Review.com, “The Federal CARES Act Shouldn’t Penalize Marriage”, 3/23/2020

Mr. Wilcox is thinking here of “traditional marriage” as in a single pair of husband and wife, or two income streams. What I don’t think he realizes is that if the family in question is a polygynous family, led by one husband and assisted by one or more wives, there are “more heads, hands, and hearts” and such a family would “weather the crisis more successfully”.

The entire article is here.

Paul’s Perspective on Polygyny

Is it possible that the vow taken by the groom in the traditional Christian ceremony to “forsake all others” is rooted in Gentile tradition and law and without biblical justification? Is it possible Christendom has used Pauline verses, improperly translated and incorrectly understood, to prop up a position he never took and likely never believed? Does research actually show that the real root of monogamy-only is entirely Greco-Roman, used to empower the State and reduce the authority and power of men and their families?

Take a hard look at a few passages written by Paul within the historical and cultural context of his writing and see what the truth may be. Read the newest paper in our Articles section titled, Paul’s Perspective on Polygyny.

Refuting 119Ministries Polygyny Video

It is with deep regret that we find it necessary to refute 119Ministries for significant error in their most recent video regarding their (un)Biblical position concerning polygyny.

While we admit this is a third rail topic laden with cultural and emotional baggage, we also believe that Truth is more important than public opinion. And, defending our Elohim, His Word and the honor of our fathers, the Patriarchs, is well worth the potential cost.

In the interest of ‘Testing Everything’, we present our well articulated response to 119Ministries’ error laden video. We are deeply sorry to see 119Ministries sacrifice their once solid reputation by handling clear Scripture so very poorly.

Refuting 119Ministry Errors on Polygyny