I decided to do a study on Polygamy. The Bible continually comes forth with a loud "NO!" that Polygamy is not okay. I ask that you please read through this, because you may learn something (you may already know all this though).
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, (Matthew 22:2 KJV)
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. (Revelation 19:7-9 KJV)
For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:2, 3 KJV)
We are called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. However, we are also referred to as the Bride of Christ. We are espoused to one husband, as we are one bride. We are many people, but we are one bride. There are many different tribes of Israel, many different nationalities, but we are all one bride, one body. The Church is Christ's bride. Marriage is supposed to be an example of Christ and His Church, it is a divine establishment.
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. (Ephesians 5:22-33 KJV)
The husband is to love his wife, as himself. The husband represents Christ, and the wife represents the Church. Christ would not join himself to another church, except His bride. The church should never join herself to another husband. Any other husband, would be joining herself to Satan himself. She would be committing adultery, lying in bed with Satan. As made plain, she is to be joined only to one.
Now, some passages referring to many leaders only having one wife.
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; (1 Timothy 3:2 KJV)
Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. (1 Timothy 3:8-12 KJV)
If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; (Titus 1:6, 7 KJV)
They are to be the husbands of one wife. In the beginning, it was shown that only Adam and Eve married. Adam was not to have multiple wives, nor was any one else of the human family.
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (Genesis 2:23, 24 KJV)
What does Christ mention about marriage in the beginning?
The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery. (Matthew 19:3-9 KJV)
And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery. (Mark 10:2-12 KJV)
There are some very critical statements that Christ makes. First, he makes it known that they were not supposed to write bill of divorcements, save fornication. In the beginning, it was male and female, and they twain (or two) became one flesh. It was only those two, who were to become one flesh. No one else was to try to become "one flesh" with the two of them. If anyone else wanted to marry, they would have to marry someone else.
Christ also says, if you put your wife away for ANYTHING other than adultery/fornication, and you married another, you were in fact committing adultery.
Now here is the critical point:
To God, putting your wife away for invalid reasons, is the same thing as still being married to her. Putting your wife away because she's ugly, is the same thing as staying with her regardless of the fact that she's ugly. You're still married to her either way. This means, that if you marry another woman, regardless of whether you put her away for invalid reasons, or you stay married to her, you are committing adultery, plain and simple. For example:
If I were to marry someone, and later was displeased because she slept 14 hours a day, I could not put her away. If I attempted to put her away, it would not be valid in God's eyes. So even though I think I have put her away, I am in fact still married to her. And if I go and marry another woman, I commit adultery.
But what if I just want another wife? I am still married to my first wife, and have not put her away. But if I go for another wife, I am committing adultery. Why? Because i'm still married to my first wife.
In both cases, i'm still married to her, and God refers to that as adultery.
And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10 KJV)
Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery. (Luke 16:18 KJV)
If you put your wife away, and marry another, you are committing adultery. If you stay with your wife, and marry another, you are committing adultery.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, (Galatians 5:19 KJV)
Polygamy is a work of the flesh. It is unclean. It breaks the sacred boundaries of marriage, meant to protect the family unit, and destroys the image of Christ and His Church.
Now for something that I had no idea the Bible said:
When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. (Deuteronomy 17:14-17 KJV)
Not even the KINGS were supposed to multiply wives to themselves. They were not supposed to do it at all. God was very plain about marriage. Every man was to be the husband of one wife.
What is the reasoning Israel did so much? Why were they permitted to do so much? We know in the New Testament God winks at our time of ignorance. Israel went through spiritual darkness the same way we did, and the way a lot of people are still in.
Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord , and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the Lord , saying, Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the Lord , which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people: And let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the Lord : and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the Lord , to repair the breaches of the house, Unto carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house. Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully. And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord . And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the Lord . And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king's, saying, Go ye, enquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us. (2 Kings 22:1-13 KJV)
Israel had no idea some of the things which were written in the book of the law. If you continue, you'll see that the fathers had forsaken the law. Once the King found out what was in the law, he humbled himself before the Lord.
In their ignorance of what was truly being said, they were blameless. Yet, when they found out the truth, they had no more cloak for their sin.
Hope this helps!