Polygamy: Is It of God or the Devil?
By A. M. M.
IN Gen. 4: 16-24 we find that the first record is of the descendants of Cain, a murderer. In Gen. 6: 1, 2 we learn that when the sons of man began to multiply, the sons of God took the daughters of men to wife. Was God pleased with it? No; for corruption unparalleled followed. Polygamy was one of the sins that brought the Flood on the earth. If polygamy is of God, where is the command? We read in Gen. 2: 21-24 that the Lord took but one rib from Adam and made him one wife. If God meant Adam to have two wives, why did He not take two ribs and create two wives? Adam was to multiply and replenish the earth, and surely if he ever needed more than one wife it was then. In Gen. 7: 13 it is recorded that when Noah and his sons entered the ark, there went with them “Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them.” Again, surely if it was necessary for a man to have more than one wife it was at this time; but God took only one each for them. What is the record of those who chose to take more than one wife? — We find that it was trouble and vexation of spirit continually. What trouble came into good old Abraham’s family when he took his second wife? — He had to send her and her son away to live after giving them some bread and a bottle of water. Men should have learned by his mistake. Jacob also had trouble because of his two wives, tho it was not wholly his fault. Gen. 29: 18-30. He loved but one, and no one can truly love more than one. We read in Matt. 19: 4 Jesus’ words: “He which made them at the beginning made them male and female,” not male and females. “They twain shall be one flesh.” Mark 10: 8. Not they three or four should be one flesh. The followers of Mormonism say there is a ban on their church because people are not good enough to practise polygamy. Pray where is the example of those who were good enough? I fail to find it in the Scriptures. Polygamy originated in licentious heathenism, not in God’s plan.