Polygamy

Polygamy (having multiple wives simultaneously) was practiced by many figures in the Old Testament without explicit divine condemnation in individual cases, yet the cumulative narrative often shows its destructive consequences. Lamech is the first recorded polygamist (Gen. 4:19). Abraham took Hagar as a secondary wife at Sarah's urging. Jacob married both Leah and Rachel. Solomon's 700 wives and 300 concubines — many foreign — led to his apostasy (1 Kings 11:3–4).

The Mosaic law regulated rather than abolished polygamy, providing protections for the first wife and her children (Deut. 21:15–17; Ex. 21:10). The law of the king explicitly warned against multiplying wives (Deut. 17:17). The NT assumes monogamy as the Christian norm; Jesus appeals to the creation order of "one flesh" from Genesis 2:24 (Matt. 19:5–6), and the qualifications for church elders include being "the husband of one wife" (1 Tim. 3:2; Tit. 1:6).