One Man & One Woman
So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. - 2 Samuel 2:2
Looking at this verse, I think it is important to address David having two wives. Is it lawful to have two wives? No, it is not lawful, even in the Old Testament; David had two, and he actually had more than two wives at this time. Remember, he married Saul’s daughter Michal in 1 Samuel 18.
If you go back to Genesis 2, clearly God defined marriage as one male and one female; one wife for one husband. That was the beginning of marriage. It was God’s intention from the start. It was not until much later, we see men with more than one wife, but it was never God’s plan. It was man’s plan.
Look at David’s life. He had many wives, who gave him many children, and there were problems—big problems. There was fighting among them, Amnon raped his half-sister Tamar. Absalom killed his half-brother Amnon. At the end of David’s life, his son Adonijah, the son of Haggith, tried to take the throne and ended up killed by Solomon. David’s desire for many women caused great pain and division in his family.
The reason we need to look at this is because many people look at this and think it was of the Lord, but it was not. If you look at God’s Word, you see how man would take what God intended for good and twist it around, to serve their fleshly desires. If we choose to serve our desires instead of God’s plan for our lives, we will experience great pain and heartache, just like David.
A successful marriage requires falling in love many times—always with the same person.
~Mignon McLaughlin~
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