YAHWSHA HA MASHIACH
TAUGHT AGAINST
POLYGAMY!
Dear brethren and called-out sheep of Yisrael, shalom to all and may Yahweh's mercy and favor be always upon you. Let's find out the plain truth about Matthew 19, because some claim that Yahwsha did not teach against polygamy.
As many of you may have already noticed, there are some people who have sneaked their way into the assemblies and shamefully practice and teach in favor of having multiple wives.
Thus, lately there have been many attempts to re-interpret the passages of Matthew 19 and 1 Tin. 2:3 so as to excuse the practice of polygamy. However in order to do this, one must interpret these verses in a void. That is, these teachers aim to build "a truth" to the exclusion of "other truths." But these passages were not written in a void. In Scripture, sound-doctrine is built by taking all aspects of truth into account, and not by isolating them.
My beloved, in order to properly understand these passages we must make sure we understand them in continuity with Second Temple Era practice, besides in relation to each other and to the rest of the Scriptures. The relationship these passages have to the Damascus Document is beyond coincidence.
The Damascus Document, for those who are not familiar with it, is an Essene document found among the Dead Sea Scrolls which dates to around 100 BCE. The relevant portion of the document is a portion that criticizes the "wall builders" (Pharisees) over what it calls the "Three Traps of Beilial." The first "trap" is said to be "fornication." Let's take a look at how the scroll explains this:
"They are caught in…fornication, by taking two wives in their lifetime although the Principle of Creation (the "Yesod HaBriah") is “male and female He Created them” (Gen. 1:27), and those who entered the ark “went into the ark two by two” (Gen. 7:9). Concerning the Leaders, it is written “he shall not multiply wives to himself” (Dt. 17:17) (Damascus Document 4,20-5,2)
That was written about 100 years before the birth of Yahwsha. Now, about 130 years later, with Yahwsha in full ministry, He is criticizing the Pharisaic position on divorce as noted in Mattityah 19:
"3 And the P’rushim approached Him, and tempted Him, saying, “Is it right for a man to put away his wife for every cause?”
"4 And He answered and said to them: "Have you not read that He who made man in the beginning, 'made them male and female' (quoting Gen. 1:27)
"5 And said, 'Wherefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh' (Gen. 2:24, and by the way, the word there for "one" is the hebrew "ekhad"). And now then, they are no more two but one flesh only. What therefore Elohim has joined together man cannot separate."
"7 But they said, "And why then did Moshe then command to give a bill of divorcement, and to put her away if she was not pleasing in his sight?” (quoting Deut. 24:1, 3) 8 And he answered them and said, "Because Moshe on account of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to put away your wives,
but from the beginning it was not so.
"9 And I tell you, every man that has put away, or shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and takes another, commits adultery. And whoever takes the divorced also commits adultery."
Now the connection between these two passages is uncanny:
The Dead Sea Scrolls
They are caught in…Fornication, by taking two wives in their lifetime although the Principle of Creation (Yesod HaBriah) is “male and female He Created them” (Gen. 1:27) and those who entered the ark “went into the ark two by two” (Gen. 7:9). Concerning the Leaders it is written “he shall not multiply wives to himself” (Deut. 17:17) (from the Damascus Document 4,20-5,2) |
The Ketuvim Netzarim
3 And the P’rushim approached him, and tempted him, saying, “Is it right for a man to put away his wife for every cause?” 4 And he answered and said to them:"Have you not read that He who made man in the beginning, 'made them male and female' (Gen. 1:27) 5 And said, 'Wherefore shall a man shall leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh' (Gen. 2:24) 6 And now then, they are no more two but one flesh only. What therefore Elohim has joined together man cannot separate." 7 But they said, "And why then did Moshe then command to give a bill of divorcement, and to put her away if she was not pleasing in his sight?” (Deut. 24:1, 3) 8 And he answered them and said,"Because Moshe on account of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to put away your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I tell you, every man that has put away, or shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and takes another, commits adultery. And whoever takes the divorced also commits adultery. |
Now both documents criticize the Pharisaic position on divorce by citing Gen. 1:27 and building a rule from this passage that the "Principle of Creation" (Yesod HaBriah) is that marriage is union between one man and one woman. Yahwsha expresses this by saying "but from the beginning it was not so." But note that the older document bases this criticism of divorce on the fact that divorce (without just cause) is polygamy "because they take two wives in their lifetime" and Yahwsha is making the same argument against divorce with the same proof text, So if we are to understand Matthew 19:3-9 in continuity with Second Temple Era Judaism, we can see clearly that Yahwsha is not just criticizing divorce in these verses, but polygamy as well. If we understand the statements of Yeshua and Paul in these verses in continuity with Second Temple Era Judaism, it is clear that both Yahwsha and Paul were teaching in agreement with the Essene halacha against divorce and polygamy as found in the Damascus Document!
The Torah prescribes Yahweh’s perfect will concerning marriage. “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh" (Genesis 2:24). Man, male and female, are created in the image and likeness of Elohim who in turn gave them to each other creating the covenant relationship of marriage. Elohim then says, "Be fruitful and multiply. Let the two become one!" The act of marriage shows how the oneness is more than just a fleeting passion; it is a union of “echad”ness. It moves from just a physical sensation into a metaphysical reality when the two become one, nine months later you've got to give that "one" a name, for the child embodies the oneness of the two in union.
Rabbi Sha’ul taught, “…each man should have his own wife (singular word), and each woman her own husband (singular word). The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband."(1 Corinthians 7:2). For Adam was the one husband of Eve, and Eve his one wife, one woman, one rib!