This is a common theme among anti-polygamy articles, that having two or more wives turn godly men into disobedient sons. Its the same question as which was made first, the chicken or the egg. Do this men already have character flaws that caused them to disobey a command to have only one wife or the taking of more than one wife caused them to disobey God's commandments?
See, various examples are given of polygamous patriarchs where the addition of a wife or two to the first one are said to have caused strife between the wives or among siblings. The foremost often cited is that of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar. Actually, it's a complicated case among the three because Abraham didn't consider Hagar his wife or concubine even after he got her pregnant. He said to Sarah to do to the Egyptian whatever she wants because the poor girl remained as her servant. Sarah giving Hagar to Abraham to produce an heir has something to do with traditions back then.
To keep it short, Hagar bore Ishmael and then Sarah bore Isaac. From Ishmael came the followers of Islam and from Isaac descended the followers of Christianity. Two opposing camps. I believe that there are no coincidence and everything is part of or becomes part of God's overall plan for restoration.
Did Abraham's descendants through his two sons became enemies because he "took" Hagar? Was it due to disobeying an instruction for men to have only one wife? OR was it because Sarah did not have that much trust or confidence in God when he said that Abraham and Sarah will have a son even if she's already a hundred or so?
Taking a cue from his father, and playing by logic, Isaac should have a blissful family life since he was a monogamist. Yet Isau and Jacob had serious sibling rivalry, but that's another story. The point is both monogamist and polygamist are portrayed in the bible having family problems.
If we trace it back up to the beginning of humanity, there was only one man and one woman, the most ideal condition for monogamy. Yet, our original parents stilled disobeyed God.
Why focus only on the problems of polygamists and why make it appear that polygamy was the cause of the problems?
There is no evidence that suggests that Ishmael is the father of Islam. This was Mohammed's claim, but it has never been fully scrutinized. There were many nationalities that existed in that region, and of all the nations that Israel had conflict with, Ishmael is never mentioned. Ishmael had conflict with all of her neighbors as well, but never had any incident with the people of Israel. When Abraham died, it was none other than Ishmael who came alongside Isaac to bury him in the tomb next to Sarah, Isaac's mother. Hagar remained with Abraham for roughly 14-17 years, after she returned to her master.
ReplyDeleteAbraham did not handle the dispute between Sarah and Hagar very well. He left it up to Sarah to handle that matter, when he himself should have dealt with Hagar.