Today there are some men that believe they have the right to have more than one wife. They also think that modern law is completely wrong, and that they have a liberty through Torah to pursue polygamy or bigamy, which is the practice of having more than one wife at a time.

    It is true that Torah does explain how multiple marriages should be managed, such as in Exodus 21:7-11, where it instructs us on divorce and marriage issues that are involved with having many combines and wives. It is also true that Avrahom (Abraham) and Yacov (Jacob) had multiple wives, but Yitzqak (Isaac) did not. He only had one ... but later, Gideon, Uzi, David, Solomon and Rehoboam along with his sons, also had "many wives."

    Nevertheless, it is also true that Torah warned that having many wives would lead to moral failure, (Deu 17:17) "He (the King) shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away". And it is also pointed out in the histories of the Kings that Solomon suffered because of many wives, (1Kgs 11: 4) "For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods".

    Consequently, Rav Shaul (Apostle Paul) advised the early church that a leader on any level should be regarded as a King by saying, 1Tim 3: 2 "An overseer (Head of the Congregation), then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife", and also saying, 1Tim 3:12 "Deacons (Attendants to the Congregation) must be husbands of only one wife".

    In Judaism, the Rabbinical courts also decided that any man should be regarded as a King in his own household, and that no man should have more than one wife. Their reason for this is that God did not initiate our world by forming Adom (Adam), Khawoh (Eve) ... and Sally, Jill and Linda. He formed Adom, and he reformed Khawoh from Adom’s side ... and they were God’s model to us for a perfect household.

    Secondly, the first instance of anyone having more than one wife was with Lemech, Gen 4:19, "Lemech took two wives; the name of the one was Awdoh, and the name of the other Tzillah."

    Lemech, a son of Kayin’s (Cain) lineage, and whose name means "fighter or warrior," was the first to take multiple wives. His name indicates that he is brutish, and as his name reveals his nature, his wives names also tell us something. Awdoh means "ornament or decoration," and Tzillah means "shaded or hidden."

    Lemech wanted something. He was looking for familiar services and pleasures. Awdoh, the ornament, gratified his self-esteem and offered him sexual pleasures. Tzillah, the hidden, was in the background working. She was more a maid than wife. And for Lemech, wives were an indulgence in luxury, and an exploitation of dignity. In fact, it is hard to imagine that he loved both of these women, but he likely didn’t love either of them. They were an exhibition of his power, and merely items for personal gratification.

    In Genesis 4:23-24, Lemech said to his wives: "Awdoh and Tzillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lemech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Kayin is avenged sevenfold, truly Lemech seventy-sevenfold."

    You have to listen for the abusive nature that is in Lemech’s voice. He says,"Awdoh and Tzillah, hear my voice -- you wives of Lemech." He is assailing them. There isn’t anything tender in his words -- "You are only wives!" And he wants to threaten them as he confronts everyone in his world ... "I killed a man that wounded me. I killed a boy for striking me."

    Then he refers to Kayin, "If Kayin is avenged sevenfold, Lemech seventy-sevenfold." This is the curse that began with Adom. The curse that consumed Kayin. It is a curse that overwhelms Lemech, and would soon dominate every man. But afterward, we are told that another seed has begun, Genesis 4:25 ^"Adom knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, for she said, "God has appointed for me another child instead of Hevel (Abel), because Kayin killed him."

    This is the trail of offenses that began the corruption of the world. Seth was the beginning of a remedy to those profanities that defiled everyone. Kayin had modeled corruption and crime. Lemech had modeled polygamy and arrogance. After Lemech there came the Warlords, that all "took many wives from the sons of men." Their perversion dominated their exisiting world, and God destroyed them all with a flood.

    Seth was born by Adom (Adam) knowing Khawoh (Eve), and only Khawoh, for another time -- and Seth, like his father Adom, also had only one wife. The life of Seth is the correction to a moral failure, and Seth will start the lineage that brought Noakh (Noah) into a raging world. And Noakh was redeemed from that generation of Warlords that God chose to destroy, along with all of their works.

    Therefore, where Torah instructs us concerning multiple wives, it does not encourage us to pursue that style of life. Rather, it warns us in many times, and with many ways, that polygamy can only turn us from serving God. And in practical terms, to have more than one wife can only serve one purpose ... to satiate a man’s lust. There isn’t another reason. But such lust cannot be satiated, and more wives can only feed his raging flame.

    Likewise, where you look at Avrahom and Yacov, who fathered the Jewish nation and our Messiah, their many wives brought them many troubles. Additionally, those troubles became the troubles of all Yisroel for the remaining generations ... just as the troubles of Adom, Kayin, Lemech and the Warlords have troubled all of mankind since their day.

    In conclusion I can only say that a liberty in Torah is not a mitzvah of Torah, and where Rav Shaul was appointing men with monogamous marriages to positions of authority among the churches, he was advancing their lifestyle as models for all believers. And this is a subject where both the Church and Judaism have found agreement.

    And I must add that, as a Messianic believer, I contend that all believers must avoid the way of Lemech. And we must, instead, follow the way of Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah ... and Rav Shaul established the Messiah's way among the Gentiles, and it is the way of the Kingdom and Torah.

    Baruch Hashem.