top of page

Why God Allowed Polygamy — Torah’s Provisions, Human Hardness, and the Return to God’s Original Design

Polygamy is not in God’s original design (AI generated image)


Polygamy is often a misunderstood topic in Scripture and it is once again a growing discussion in some Christian circles.  Many assume that because the patriarchs practiced it, God must have approved it. A careful reading of the Torah and the words of Yeshua reveal something very different: God permitted polygamy because of human brokenness, not because it reflected His perfect will.


From Genesis to the Renewed Covenant, the Biblical story consistently moves from toleration toward restoration—back to the ideal arrangement established in Eden.


It is the goal of this article to examine what the scriptures truly reveal about this topic.


The first man in Scripture to take more than one wife was not Abraham, Jacob, or any righteous patriarch. Instead, It was Lamech, a descendant of Cain.


“Lamech took himself two wives…” (Genesis 4:19)


This is the Law of First Mention at work:

The first time a concept appears in Scripture, it often reveals its nature, trajectory, and spiritual tone. The Law of First Mention gives us a “clue” to how God feels about a subject, based on whether the story or happening is of a positive or negative nature.


Lamech is portrayed in Scripture as:


• violent

• boastful

• vengeful

• aligned with the corrupted line of Cain


Polygamy enters the biblical story not through righteousness or divine instruction, but through a man who embodies rebellion and moral decline. This first mention sets the stage:

Polygamy begins in a context of sin, not sanctity.


Before sin entered the world, God revealed His perfect pattern:


“This is why a man is to leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they are to be one flesh.”

—Genesis 2:24


Yeshua affirms this as the divine blueprint:


“Haven’t you read… that the One who made them at the beginning made them male and female… So they are no longer two, but one flesh.”

—Matthew 19:4–6


The ideal is unmistakable: One man + one woman = one perfect union.


So why did God allow polygamy? Because of human hardness and cultural reality. It can be compared to Yeshua’s words on Divorce:


In Matthew 19:8 Yeshua declares:


He answered, ‘Moshe allowed you to divorce your wives because your hearts are so hardened. But this is not how it was at the beginning’ (CJB).


So, just as Moses allowed divorce because of the “hardness of hearts”, polygamy was also permitted because of:


• patriarchal culture

• war‑torn societies with fewer men

• survival pressures

• human sinfulness


Permission does not always denote approval. Many times parents may give their children “permission” when they really didn’t want too (for example: taking a graduation trip with another group of kids). Gut instinct said “no” but the pleas finally make a parent consent (sometimes). In the same way “allowance is not always endorsement”.


We find that Torah regulated polygamy in order to protect women. In the ancient Near East, women in polygamous households were extremely vulnerable. Torah steps in not to promote polygamy, but to limit its damage:


• Exodus 21:7–11 — protects a second wife from neglect

• Deuteronomy 21:15–17 — prevents inheritance favoritism

• Deuteronomy 17:17 — warns kings not to multiply wives


These laws function like guardrails in a fallen world.


In addition to polygamy and divorce, Torah also regulated:


• slavery

• warfare


So, Torah regulates polygamy, divorce, slavery, and warfare, not because these things reflect God’s heart, but because they reflect human brokenness, and they have to be regulated or controlled.


Scripture is brutally honest about polygamy. Every biblical polygamous marriage produced pain.


• Abraham & Hagar — jealousy and expulsion

• Jacob, Leah, Rachel — rivalry and heartbreak. Not only between the women but between the children as well, and for Jacob.

• Elkanah, Hannah, Peninnah — cruelty and anguish

• David — family chaos

• Solomon — idolatry and national collapse


The pattern is consistent: Polygamy brings strife within the family, not shalom. God is not the author of chaos and confusion. This is not how a family unit is supposed to function.


Chabad.org emphasizes this point clearly: “Torah presents the original paradigm of marriage—that of Adam and Eve—as monogamous.”


This Edenic model is the divine blueprint. The ideal never changed; humanity did.


Once again Chabad.org writes: “Virtually every instance of polygamy recounted in the Torah is related directly by the narrative to some sort of calamity.” They point to Hannah and Peninnah, Jacob’s wives, and David’s household as examples of the strife that inevitably follows.


They continue by stating:  Even the verse that “permits” polygamy frames it negatively: “If a man will have two wives, one beloved and the other hated…” The Torah itself signals that polygamy is inherently fraught.


The Jewish Encyclopedia likewise notes that while polygamy existed in ancient Israel, “the tendency in Jewish social life was always toward monogamy.”


MyJewishLearning.com adds that although polygamy was tolerated and regulated, Jewish tradition was “deeply uncomfortable with the practice,” eventually banning it in Ashkenazi communities over a thousand years ago.


Jewish commentary also observes that the patriarchs only took additional wives under exceptional circumstances. Midreshet B’erot Bat Ayin notes that Abraham married Hagar only at Sarah’s urging for the sake of the covenantal promise, and that Isaac never took more than one wife, modeling the ideal. Rabbinic tradition consistently moves away from polygamy, culminating in Rabbenu Gershom’s ban around 1000 CE.


Yeshua does not expand polygamy. He closes the door on it. He returns Israel to the beginning:


“It was not this way at the beginning.”

—Matthew 19:8


Although speaking of divorce it corresponds with polygamy. Polygamy was also “not” in the beginning.


Paul echoes this restoration:


• Elders must be “the husband of one wife” (1 Timothy 3:2)

• Marriage reflects Messiah and His Bride—one Groom, one Bride (Ephesians 5:31–32)


The trajectory is unmistakable: From human hardness → to Torah regulation → to Messianic restoration.


What Scripture actually teaches us through many examples is that God’s Ideal is: Monogamy, which was established in Eden.


To sum this up: Humans brought about polygamy due to sin, hardness of heart, and cultural brokenness. Torah’s response was to regulate polygamy to protect women and limit harm. Scripture is a prophetic witness that polygamy always produced pain in the family. Polygamy was never God’s perfect plan. It was a concession to human hardness, just like divorce. The Law of First Mention reveals its origins in rebellion, not righteousness. Yeshua restores us to the beauty of Eden: one man, one woman, one covenant, one flesh.


Blessings,

Leisa



References


Why Does Torah Law Allow Polygamy?

• David Wilber

Understanding the Torah’s Polygamy Regulations (Exodus 21:7–11)

• My Jewish Learning

Polygamy in Judaism

POLYGAMY

• Midreshet B’erot Bat Ayin

Why Did the Torah Permit Polygamy?




Comments

bottom of page