• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer

Stephen M. Miller

Award-Winning, Bestselling Christian Author

  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Blog Features
  • Bible
  • Contact
Painting/photo of Jerusalem Temple-Casual English Bible

Why did Bible-time men have so many wives?

Stephen M. Miller
Adam and Eve painting
JUST ONE? Did Adam get shortchanged? Moses got two wives. Abraham three. Jacob four. Solomon 1,000. Which might illustrate why nobody ever wants to go first. Painting by Domenichino.

WATCHING A COMEDY—The Big Bang Theory—I think I may have come up with the answer to this Bible Question of the Week.

I got the question from LaVerne Tilson, a lady who has been on the planet long enough to deserve an honest answer to whatever questions she feels compelled to ask. She also gets a free book of mine, if she’d like one.

Here’s her question:

“Why did many of the men told about in the Old Testament have more than one wife and often concubines? Please help me understand.”

Surely, LaVerne.

I’m thinking the answer might be pretty much the same as it was in the episode I watched of the Big Bang Theory. Penny, who clearly still had feelings for the geeky scientist Leonard, asked him why he had a one-night stand with a woman Penny nicknamed Dr. Slutbunny.

“She let me.”

I suspect that for many guys, if not most throughout human history, it has often taken just one thing for a guy to have sex with a gal:

Opportunity.

There’s a saying in even the heavily clothed Middle Eastern culture:

“If a man and woman are alone together for more than 20 minutes they will have sex.”

I’m not sure what’s up with the 20 minutes. Maybe that’s how long it takes the woman to get out of all those clothes.

I’ve read the theological and cultural explanations of why some godly men had so many women in their lives. Men like Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, and the wedding planner’s dream: Solomon.

The Bible doesn’t take a position on the matter.

It doesn’t say boo-hoo or how do you do.

It merely reports there was a lot of yahooing going on.

It’s as though God leaves it up to us to figure out sex and marriage and baby making.

Some writers speculate that God was probably okay with men having two or more wives along with concubines, who were second-class wives…maybe like having two wives with rings and two other wives who clean the rings off the bathtub every Saturday night.

Popular arguments supporting men with multiple wives in Bible times:

  • We needed to populate the planet. Check please.
  • Families living out in the boonies needed to be large to survive. The more kids, the more field workers and the bigger the militia when they grew up.
  • Extra wife-like women came in especially handy when the Little Lady couldn’t produce children.

Most Bible experts I’ve read, though, say God made his plan obvious enough in his matchmaking: Adam and Eve.

Even when the planet needed populated more than ever, there was still just one guy and one gal.

Besides, many of the harem-style marriages reported in the Bible didn’t make for a happy family.

Jacob’s wives were forever competing for the affections of their husband. It made family life tense.

At least Jacob had several opportunities for relieving his tension.

David’s family splintered after David’s oldest son raped his own half-sister. The gal’s full brother, Absalom, killed that half-brother and then led a coup against his dad, essentially for not punishing the rapist son.

Perhaps the most honest answer to LaVerne’s question is that it was a man’s world back then. A patriarchal world. Men pretty much got to do what they wanted to do.

And everyone knows what they want to do.

Here’s what a wise man said they should do:

“Be happy with the wife you married when you were young” (Proverbs 5:18).

And in the words of Air Force Chaplain Lt. Col. David Pendleton, a family friend who conducted the wedding ceremony of my daughter and my son-in-law a few months ago, “If you have problems in your marriage—and you will—figure it out!”

For the record, I use exclamation points only when someone is speaking with a raised voice.

Have a wonderful week.

Bible Gateway logo

Visit Stephen M. Miller’s profile on Pinterest.

Share this:

  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...
View All Posts - Ordered by Most Recent First
« Previous
Next »

About Stephen M. Miller

STEPHEN M. MILLER is an award winning bestselling Christian author of easy-reading books about the Bible and Christianity and author of the Casual English Bible® paraphrase. His books have sold over two million copies and include The Complete Guide to the Bible and Who’s and Where’s Where in the Bible.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Tom Fowler

    June 2, 2014 at 7:15 am

    I’m far from a Biblical scholar but it appears to me that, in Old Testament times, the rues of society were much looser even as the Lord’s requirements for pleasing Him were much stricter. Why was this? I have often thought the human race was much younger then and the Lord saw a need to treat us differently in those times. Having said that, I really do not know.

    Reply
    • Stephen M. Miller

      June 2, 2014 at 7:39 am

      Well, that’s a good question. I’ll add it to my list of contenders for the Bible Question of the Week. Thanks Tom.

      Reply
  2. LaVerne

    June 2, 2014 at 10:42 am

    Thank you for your answer….It covered my question very well…………..It goes right back to man and his overwhelming desires.

    Reply
    • Stephen M. Miller

      June 2, 2014 at 10:51 am

      Thanks LaVerne. I was hoping that the humor wouldn’t tip you over too much. But that’s the way my brain works, for better or worse.

      Reply
  3. Debbie Miller

    June 3, 2014 at 7:59 am

    And the women like to have a high status protector, if they can get one.

    Reply
  4. LaVerne

    June 3, 2014 at 3:32 pm

    If we ever leave the humor and humanity’s urge to sin out of our answers; we might as well not answer. God dealt with sin. We deal with sin. I sin, you sin, we all sin! So it is and so it shall be until the Lord Himself makes it different……Man cannot do it – though many good men (and woman) on Earth today try….Only God can handle Sin…And we can only pray and pray for power against sin…

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sidebar

Casual English Bible Website

Featured Book

Complete Guide to the Bible

Complete Guide to the Bible
Buy from Amazon
Buy from Books-A-Million
Buy from Christian Book Distributor
Buy from Google Play

Latest Posts

  • I do one thing better than God May 27, 2025
  • When our faith glitches May 5, 2025
  • Job is the right book for me now April 16, 2025

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog Features
  • Books
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn

Copyright © 2025 · Stephen M. Miller · All Rights Reserved

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use. To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
Reject AllAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
%d