Does the Bible support Monogamy or Polygamy?

While the LORD allowed Hebrew men to marry multiple wives for a couple reasons, polygamy is not God’s best for marriage, as clearly detailed in the beginning (Matthew 19:4-6). Polygamous marriages chronicled in Scripture suffered contention with the inevitable rivalry of the wives (e.g. 1 Samuel 1:1-8).

Meanwhile Solomon’s myriad wives were his undoing (1 Kings 11:1-4). While Solomon was certainly wise in his early reign (1 Kings 4:29) and he advocated monogamy as the ideal (Ecclesiastes 9:9 & Song of Songs), he foolishly ignored God’s scriptural instructions by taking multiple foreign wives (Deuteronomy 17:17 & Exodus 34:15-16).

In the New Covenant, the Scriptures instruct that leaders in the Church should have but one spouse (1 Timothy 3:2, 3:12 & Titus 1:6), which was to be an example to the believers under them (1 Timothy 4:12 & 1 Peter 5:3). So, while the New Testament doesn’t outright forbid polygamy, it definitely encourages God’s ideal as originally stated in Genesis – one husband, one wife, till death do them part.

But why did the LORD allow polygamy in the Old Testament? A couple reasons come to mind: The world at the time generally consisted of patriarchal societies where females relied on their fathers, brothers and husbands for provision & protection. Thus marriage, even if it was polygamous, protected women from a life of poverty, prostitution or slavery.

Polygamy also facilitated God’s Genesis directive to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28, 9:1 & 9:7) seeing as how husbands could impregnate other wives while one was pregnant/giving birth. This allowed men to have several children per year, as opposed to just one, and this was conducive to the increase & spread of humanity on Earth.

Related Topics:

What IS Marriage? (and Related Topics)

Beauty, Objectification and Lust

Why You Shouldn’t Put Men or Women in a Box (Marriages too)

Q&A on Solomon’s Song of Songs

Women of the Bible / Women in Ministry