Libby Doe

The Bible’s teaching regarding polygyny, which means one man having more than one wife, is pretty clear. Yes, I know. It’s a controversial truth, but it is still true: God not only permits a man to have more than one wife, but in many cases he condones it. I have already written an entire book on this topic and there is no need to rehearse what I’ve already written. But if you’ve read the Bible you know it to be true, even though the feminist in us all wants to reject it.

Truth be told, the greatest men in the Bible, like Moses, Abraham, Jacob, David, Gideon, and many others all had multiple wives. I can’t imagine you would claim that these men were “not saved” so we must accept that it is not a sin for men to have multiple wives.

However, if you read the Bible carefully you will know that it was only “great men” or “strong men” who had multiple wives. The average man did not. What I can say confidently now is this, I’ve lived long enough to believe that some men should get more wives, especially if their existing wives are rotten and ruining their opportunities to heal the world.

Think about it; imagine a man who God has called to a great purpose and mission. This man is a Strong Man by any and every definition of the term. Yet, he married a woman who is rotten, cruel, contentious, loud, bossy, jealous, controlling, manipulative, and who brings a heavy weight and burden to her husband. She is not sensual, lovely, or flirtatious, and she causes her husband more grief and suffering than peace and joy.

In short, she is a hindrance to his purpose and his call and not a helpmeet in any way. How can this man achieve his calling if he only has this one horrible wife?

Consider King David. Imagine the only wife he had in the world was Michal, the daughter of Saul. Was this woman a helpmeet? Did she encourage King David? Did she lift him up? Did she honor and respect him? Was she meek and quiet? Or did she cause him grief and suffering and emotional weight and baggage? Did she relieve him of stress and anxiety or only consume his emotional bandwidth on meaningless issues?

Fortunately for Israel, King David was not stuck with only this burdensome wife to weigh him down as he had plenty of other wives to encourage him, satisfy him in the bedroom, and take care of his various needs. In fact, God himself said that had David wanted more wives, God himself would have given them to him (2 Samuel 12:8).

The point is a simple one and that is the fact that in ancient times, Strong Men had a simple solution to the rotten wife problem. They could simply get another one. Nowadays that is not accepted in modern society so men are just stuck. And unfortunately what ends up happening is that modern Strong Men simply divorce their wives and get a new wife instead of a second wife. This is a tragedy because divorce is not truly an acceptable solution and God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16). Even a rotten wife is to be protected and provided for by her husband. It is a true shame that women today can’t just get their act together, and stop being so contentious and rotten, so they could be loved and cherished by their husbands.

Because when it comes to Strong Men, the reality is this: if you won’t be a wonderful, godly, sensual, beautiful, wife and helpmeet to your husband, somebody else will. And you will be left behind in your own bitter sorrow, just like Michal was with David (she was left childless after mocking and rebuking her husband, 2 Samuel 6:23).