21:15-17
The firstborn son had special rights, receiving a double share of the inheritance. “If a man has two wives ...” The original teaching in Genesis 2 was for a man to have one wife, and Jesus endorsed this teaching (e.g. Mark 10:1-12). The assumption throughout the New Testament is for one man, one wife. Yet in the Old Testament we find multiple wives seemingly being accepted as normal. Part of the reason for this was probably that in those times women did need the protection of a husband, and men were far more likely to die in battle, so it was a practical measure. However, it should be noted that having multiple wives never worked out well. Solomon is perhaps the extreme example of this! However, the instructions here deal with the practicalities of having two wives. The man must not override the firstborn principle because he prefers one wife over the other. In our society what “one feels” is becoming the dominant factor, rather than truth or law. The Bible takes a very different approach.
No comments:
Post a Comment