Genesis 30:3 – Then she said, “Here is my servant Bilhah; go in to her, so that she may give birth on my behalf, that even I may have children through her.”
Many times throughout Scripture, we see a great difference between what the Word instructs of us and what the world portrays. We see this all throughout Genesis, including in the story of Jacob and his two fives and four baby mamas where we see that polygamy causes strife, anger, and jealousy, among other perils.
If you’ve been following along with us for a while in the book of Genesis, you’ll remember Genesis 2 when God tells us in His Word that marriage to be between one man and one woman, with a covenant and consummation. In Hebrews 13:4, we read about the “marriage bed” and Mark 10:8 echoes the words of Genesis 2:24 that man and wife should become “one flesh” through consummation. Anything that humankind or the world has tried to do outside of God’s design for marriage has and will ultimately fail including polygamy, cohabitation, and homosexuality.
Just as we see this play out in Genesis, we see this even more prevalent in our world today. While polygamy describes the overall act of multiple people of one gender sleeping with a singular person of another gender, we can break this down even more into polygyny (one man with multiple women) or polyandry (one woman with multiple men). Or, as we call it in our culture, The Bachelor and Bachelorette franchises.
In other TV trends, there are shows like “Sister Wives” where one man has four wives and 18 kids, “My 5 Wives” where a married man and woman have four other wives and 25 kids, and “Seeking Sister Wife” about three polygamous couples as the men continue to amass more and more wives.
In culture, there are relationships called “throuples”, open marriages, swingers, cohabitation, serial dating, and serial divorce, none of which were part of God’s plan for marriage and relationships.
Tomorrow, we will look at how polygamy has affected and infected religion.
Where have you seen polygamy in today’s culture, whether in television or real life? Pray for those who engage in these actions, that they will see the truth of what God wants for them in marriage and relationships.
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