What the Bible Really Says About Multiple Wives
Part 2: “But David Had Multiple Wives” — Does Biblical History Mean Biblical Approval?
A common defense of polygamy can seem convincing at first:
“David had multiple wives, and David was a man after God’s own heart.”
Abraham is another example.
Jacob.
Elkanah.
Solomon.
If these men had multiple wives, why do Christians say polygamy goes against God’s design?
To answer this, we need to see the difference between what the Bible describes and what it prescribes.
Scripture often tells us what happened, but it doesn’t always tell us to follow those examples.
Abraham had Ishmael with Hagar. That doesn’t mean Christians should do the same.Jacob married both Leah and Rachel. But look at what happened in their family afterward.
Genesis 30:1: “And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister…”
There was competition in the family.
Jealousy also became part of their lives.
Bitterness followed as well.
Even the children got caught up in the wives’ rivalry.
Now think about Elkanah’s family.
He had Hannah and Peninnah.
1 Samuel 1:6: “And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret…”
Again, there was rivalry.
Then there is Solomon.
Solomon took polygamy to the extreme:
1 Kings 11:3: “And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.”
God had already warned Israel’s kings:
Deuteronomy 17:17: “Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away…”
Solomon’s life became a real example of that warning.
Someone might respond:
“But God gave laws regulating situations involving multiple wives.”
That’s true.
For example, Exodus 21:10 addresses responsibilities when a man takes another wife, and Deuteronomy 21:15–17 protects inheritance rights in a household with two wives.
But just because something is regulated doesn’t mean it is approved.
Jesus gives us a principle for understanding this.
When discussing divorce, Jesus acknowledged something Moses had permitted. But then He explained:
Matthew 19:8: “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.”
That statement is very important.
“From the beginning it was not so.”
Human sin leads to situations that God’s Law sometimes regulates to limit injustice, but these situations are not God’s original design.
So, rules about multiple wives do not cancel out what Genesis 2 teaches.
David’s actions cannot change the design God set from the beginning.
This is the danger:
Don’t base your beliefs on what biblical characters did without consequences. Base them on what God has actually revealed.
David was called a man after God’s heart, but he also committed adultery and murder.
Abraham was a man of faith, but Peter was an apostle who denied Jesus.
Biblical heroes needed grace just as much as we do.
Their failures are not loopholes.
They are warnings.
The Bible’s honesty about their failures is part of what makes Scripture remarkable. It does not hide the flaws of its heroes.
So, yes, David had multiple wives.
But David’s family is not the model for Christian marriage.
Eden is the model.
And Jesus points us back to that original design.
