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How do we make sense of the Torah’s polygamy regulations in light of the Bible’s overall condemnation of this practice? https://davidwilber.com/articl....es/understanding-the
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Jeremy Guiton
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Joshua Williams
The penalty for breaking Lev 18:18 is to be executed or removed from Israel (see verse 29). This would mean that there are no polygamous men within Israel under Moses. Yet Moses still wrote about how to deal with children of multiple wives.
The counter argument based off the "price of a harlot" does not seem to be a fair one even though harlotry is also worthy of death, because the price paid for the harlot (e.g. a kid of the flock) would still be around even after the harlot was killed. That animal could not be brought to the tabernacle, so the existence of this statute in not negated because harlots are put to death.
On the other hand, those who break Lev 18:18 would have been purged from Israel under Moses, meaning that the "who can I make the heir" question in Deuteronomy 21:15-17 could never be encountered. It seems like taking Lev 18:18 to be a prohibition of polygamy invalidates other parts of the law.
(Plus Moses should have executed or expelled Caleb from Israel as he had multiple concubines, but he did not. Makes it seem like Moses interpreted this verse differently than you do.)
What are your thoughts?
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