I am told that one of my uncles was the first American Governor of the Mexican territory of Texas. Henry Smith was the little brother of my five great grandmother Susannah Smith. Their dad was a preacher named James Smith in Kentucky. There is a statue of Henry in Brazoria County. If that were not interesting enough, Henry married three sisters. When his first wife died, he married her little sister. When his second wife died he married another little sister. He moved to California with some of his sons during the gold rush and died there. I am most intrigued by his marriage to three sisters.
Had we forgotten that Abraham had other children besides Isaac and Ishmael? Abraham had taken another wife named Keturah. Wait, what? Not only did Abraham remarry in his later years, but he had a number of sons by this wife. Isaac was the son of promise, so Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines (plural) and sent them away from Isaac to the land of the East. Abraham’s name, “Father of nations,” came true. The Ashurites, Letushites and Leumites descended from him as well as the Arabic people. Remember, the Bible is sometimes descriptive but not prescriptive.
Polygamy was likely common in the ancient world. Israel sometimes followed the practice of the nations around them. God never prescribes nor pronounces blessing on this arrangement. Being married to sisters is as complicated as one might think. Abraham’s grandson, Jacob learned this, too. The covenant of marriage assumes an exclusivity of devotion. “Forsaking all others . . .” we say in the ceremony. But what if a spouse dies? Many men and women who have lost a spouse find happiness in remarriage. Paul explicitly allows this in his letter to the Romans (Romans 7:2-3). Not polygamy, though. Solomon married a thousand wives and concubines and built altars to their gods. This did not end well.
