Our pastor down at the FBC has recently preached several sermons about David's time of sorrow and repentance after his ungodly and unlawful manipulations to steal Uriah's wife Bathsheeba. This combined with a discussion we recently had in Sunday school has brought me to a question. Even after David's repentance and the restoration of his fellowship with God following Nathan's reproach, he still remained married not only to Bathsheeba but to at least seven other wives according to the Old Testament. 2 Samuel 12:8 even points out that Nathan tells David that he could have several more wives and still be in God's will and favor as long as David didn't steal another man's wife unlawfully.
At what point did God decide that a man could have only one wife or woman in his life? Was it at some point between the Old and New Testaments? Polygamy (and concubines to boot) was often permitted by God in the Old Testament, but we see a condemnation of this by Paul in the New Testament.
I ask this not because I wish to have multiple wives (I couldn't begin to afford multiple women), but rather because in sermons Baptist preachers consistently say that any sin, however small, puts us out of God's will and out of God's favor and renders us useless -- or at best ineffective -- to God. In my constant struggle to live up to strict Baptist doctrine, I can't make church teaching nowadays match up with how God's men lived in Old Testament times.
What do you men think about this?
