POLYGAMY CONDEMNED. PART 3.

In Israel, there were three common classes of harlots:

First: Zonah, which exactly describes a person who is hired by any member of the public for sex- prostitute. They were known for extortion, hence in most cases, they were compared to tax collectors- Matthew 21:32.

Second: Kedeshah, the Hebrew word for holy or consecrated person, from the root kadash, to make holy or consecrate for religious purposes. The word specifically connoted a person consecrated by prostitution to the worship of foreign gods. The person was temple prostitute. In the horrible religious rites of the pagan gods Ashtoreth, priestesses or female devotees were harlots who sat at highways and solicited the passersby (Jeremiah 3:2; Ezekiel 16:25).

Third: Pilgash, which explained a shadow or secondary wife. This was well rendered concubine. 

These prostitutes were those available to wreak havoc in many marriages.    

First. Expanding these things into details, we find that Zonah, a prostitute, for hire, was sometimes (not frequently) described as a strange woman, in the book of Proverbs, written by Solomon, for instance Chapters 5-7. The characteristics of Zonah are as follows:

 (a) Appearance: She is beautiful, whether natural or modified, generating the result of lust. She paints her eyelids, applying makeups to gain attraction, or to advertise herself to her potential clients (Proverbs 6:25). This custom was adopted by Canaanites from Babylon. Arabs, and then the Greeks throughout Roman administration later practiced it. This practice possibly originated from Egypt. Confer 2 Kings 9:30. The eyelids, was considered or described by the Hebrews as the nets of the eyes. The Hebrews rendered eyelids as aph’appayim, the dual of aph’aph, because of their rapid, volatile emotions. The eyelids are the instrument by which the amorous woman beguiles or catches her victims. She allures the man by her glances. Ancients used to say that: “The eyes of a harlot are the snares to her lovers.” Jesus Ben Sirach wrote: “The whoredom of a woman may be known in her haughty looks and eyelids” (Ecclesiasticus 26:9- Apocrypha). In the present world, the daughters of men involved in devil worship are rolling, painting around their eyes to captivate, and lure men across the world into adultery commitment. “Her lips drop as honey comb, and her mouth is smoother than oil”- Proverbs 5:3. The lips, rendered in Hebrews siphthey, the construction of saphah reflect the organ of speech, which must be the upper or lower end of the mouth. The strange woman called properly Zonah, and at times Zarah had speech sweet, flowing like honey from the cells, before broken. The truth of the matter connected to this, is exactly the applying of lipstick, to lure the man into kissing her, not necessarily the speech. As honey is sweet, and attractive to taste, so Zonah, or Zarah applied lipstick, to attract, and appear herself sweet or best alternative to men. Honey comb, rendered Hebrew nopheth tithoph’nah, from the word nophteth, for dropping, is exactly pure honey, distilled, coming directly from the source, something understood as fine pure virgin honey. The Zonah presents herself as an innocent looking girl or lady, someone purely refined into the journey of adulthood, one who is virgin, who does not have relationship with another man, but looking forward for a serious relationship, and for that reason or motive lured men into her traps. The lipstick made her mouth to be smoother than oil.

 (b) Behaviours: The feet of Zonah go down to death; her steps take hold on hell- Proverbs 5:5. A prostitute walks in a strange pattern. Look at those presenting themselves in beauty contest. They are there to display their bodies/ flesh in order to promote lust. They appear attractive, but in reality like a serpent infuse her poison. Zonah’s steps take hold on hell, in the sense that her body is dead already, only awaiting the damnation of the soul. Paul, the apostle, wrote to Timothy, that: “But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth”- 1 Timothy 5:6. The world as a whole lies on the control of the wicked one, those who rejected, and continue rejecting Jesus Christ. The prostitute, called Zonah, hastened to death and grove, with all people who had become her victims. She brings them to the world into rejection of Christ and the Gospel generally, setting them straight to the graves. Zonah had flattery tongue- Proverbs 6:24, that is, the smoothness of a strange tongue, rendered in Hebrews mekhel’ kath lashon, her enticements. The prostitute had a smooth language of the business of immoral transgression. She reached into tactical dirtily agreement with her clients. In that case, the Zonah, is termed as an evil woman, Hebrew eshethra (a woman of evil), one of vileness, wicked disposition, one addicted to evil in an extraordinary degree- Proverbs 6:24.

 (c) Consequences: “…Her end is bitter as wormwood, as sharp as two-edged sword”- Proverbs 5:4. The end of the woman is not simply herself alone, but every person who had involved himself with her. In other words, the end of the woman biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. The Hebrew word for wormwood is laanah, from the unused root laan, for curse. Laanah was applied as emblem of bitterness, with super added idea of its poisonous; hence, the plant combined double qualities. See Deuteronomy 29:18. Wormwood is the name of the star in Revelations 8:11, see also Jeremiah 9:15; Amos 5:7; 6:12. In Hebrews 12:15, the plant of wormwood was in mind, when the writer spoke of “root of bitterness”. The logic is simple. Physically, prostitute brings bitter end of the life of the person involved. The prostitute poisons the person, with wickedness, neglecting the truth, as majority in the world do. Spiritually, the woman brought a curse. The man, and the prostitute, is curses, before God. This is true to a man and his second & so on wives. The end of the prostitute is sharp as two-edged sword. That is, her end kills, destroys the victims. The sword used originally for initiation/ circumcision ceremony, initiate the victims into the world of darkness. The prostitute kills the hearts of men involved with immorality (one sharp end), brings death, and eventually they are destroyed in the eternal hell (second sharp end). How many people had contrasted diseases, murdered physically because of women? The wealth of the people involved into prostitution will land into the hands of strangers; their labours will be seen in developing strangers- Proverbs 5:10. The prostitute, also called whorish woman, brings a man to a piece of bread- Proverbs 6:26. That is to say, that the man, is reduced to the level of surviving from hand to mouth. He struggles to earn his living/ daily bread.

Zonah, a prostitute, can be seen in three persons:

(i)                           Unmarried woman, single proper, can turn into prostitution for financial gains.

(ii)                        One who was originally married, but divorced, to be married to another man, or probably opted to lead a life of singlehood or single parenthood. Christ put it perfectly clear, that: “Whosoever putteth away his wife {divorced} and marrieth another, committeth adultery {engaged into prostitution}: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband {divorced} committeth adultery {prostitution}” 
        A married woman, who cheats upon her husband. This woman dressed as a prostitute/ harlot. In other words, her dress, publicly displays her body (Proverbs 7:10). The dress is transparent, tight, has large/ long sleet. This is exactly the dress, for lust of the flesh, the dress of advertising harlot business. Jude wrote: “And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh”- Jude 23. The message is very simple here as presented by Jude. Christians must be moved by the fear of God, and this fear, will categorically made them to fear the torment in hell fire waiting for the unbelievers. Therefore, as a prostitute leads her victims to hellfire, she must be avoided at all cost, the recipient being Christian applying the fear of God. The Christian woman should not put the garment spotted by the flesh. The dress saves her from sexual predators. The dress saves her from seduction by man. The dress gives her respect. This is the dress, which is not spotted by the flesh. The slogan, widely popular, so expressed as “my dress, my choice”, is devilish, worldly and is bad attire embraced by seductive women to encourage immorality, and eventually breaking up of marriage. The dress catches the eyes at once and identified the woman with immorality. It is further learnt that a married woman who had turned into Zonah (prostitute) is “loud, stubborn, and her feet abide not in her house” (Proverbs 7:11).  That is to say, the woman is quarrelsome, troublesome, is very rude, bringing feminism agenda {gender sensitivity} in the marriage circle. The woman does not peacefully stays in her house. She visits the house of a neighbor to the other with the purpose of gossip and incitement.

The married woman, who is secretly involved into prostitution, does her business in the evening, in the black or dark night, and in most cases, execute them when the husband is not around (Proverbs 7:9). She shepherds her husband in spying way. Married women prostitute at their marital homes, they decked their beds with covering of tapestry, perfuming them- Proverbs 7:16-17. They lured their victims, telling them that the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey- Proverbs 7:19. It is quite plain, in the word of God, that if the goodman is not at home, then the evil man is there upon invitation. The goodman is the husband. He is good, because he is the man of marriage, instituted not by himself, but by God who is forever only good, according to Matthew 19:17. Married women who had turned into Zonah, in their deep hearts are convicted or know/ admit they are going with evil men.

The married woman turned into Zonah is rebellious, in obviously refusal of marriage sanctity, as placed by God, and rejected the obligations of morality in order to be immoral. The married woman, secretly involved into adultery, is called in Proverbs 6:24, as an evil woman, in distinction to open prostitute known for hiring services, called strange woman, Hebrew ishshah Zarah. The woman had chosen the path of impurity, fornication/ adultery. She is a woman of vileness, wicked disposition and addicted to marriage infidelity. This married woman, who had turned into adulteress is called in Hebrews esheth rea, not esheth ra. The word rea, is in comparison to ra, for evil. In Latin the woman is called muliere mala. The married woman, who secretly prostitute is called whorish woman in Proverbs 6:26, to distinguish her from common adulteress. The Hebrew word for whorish woman is ishshah Zonah while the adulteress proper is esheth ish. Zonah connect the married woman to the world of fornication.

In the scriptures, the open example of a prostitute/ harlot, known for her services for hire, was Rahab, recorded in Joshua 2:1-21; 6:22-25; Matthew 1:5; Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25. Jewish tradition revealed that she later became the wife of Joshua upon reaching the Promised Land, but the record in Matthew 1:5, challenges the tradition, which stated that Salmon, not Joshua was the husband of Rahab (Greek Rachab). Jephthah the Gileadite was the son of a harlot- prostitute (Judges 11:1). Samson slept with a harlot at Gaza (Judges 16:1). Solomon adjudicated, provided justice, for the two harlots, who were quarrelling over a baby in 1 Kings 3:16-28. In the New Testament, the prodigal son wasted his wealth in riotous living, spending them in sleeping, defiling himself with harlots( Luke 15:13,30).

In the scriptures, the open example of a married woman who gave in to adultery, turned into a prostitute was Bathsheba, recorded in 2 Samuel 11:3-12,24; 1 Kings 1:15-21; and Matthew 1:6. When David, second king of Israel saw her having bath naked, he lusted after her. She was brought into the king’s court under king David’s order. Bathsheba did not resist neither made attempt to escape. David slept, laid with her, ending impregnating her. The evil led to the death of Uriah, Bathsheba’s original husband, and later the first son (as a result of this pregnancy) of Bathsheba with David. Uriah was a Hittite.

In Amos 7:17, Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, was taken to exile- Babylonian captivity, for giving false prophecy, resisting God’s word, something which made his wife to turn into harlot, that is prostitute proper.

Joseph, the son of Jacob, resisted successfully advances of Potiphar’s wife. This wife’s motive revealed the character of a prostitute, as recorded in Genesis 39:7-20.

The open example of a woman, who divorced her husband, in order to engage into several marriages, was the Samaritan woman, recorded in John 4:7-29. Jesus Christ told her, that: “…. Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly”- John 4:17-18. As the matter stands, the Samaritan woman lived in illegal relationship, the life of immorality. Her speech, revealed her guilt, penitence and shame {… “I have no husband”}. She was once, originally married to one man {first husband who is not among the five} but because of lust, pleasure in adultery and worldliness generally, she divorced him. After divorce, she had, lived into prostitution/ adultery with five men. These men are called five husbands, in the sense that they are shadow husbands or fake husbands, the dark side, or evil version of the true husband she divorced. These men were given to this Samaritan woman by Satan himself. Even at the time the Samaritan woman spoke to Christ, the man she was living with could not be spoken, identified/ described as her husband. The message is straight and perfectly clear. Marriage is one way, once, and a person cannot marry severally/ frequently, the way she or he likes, or wishes. The woman was legally married to one husband. She defiled herself with five men after disrespecting marriage institution. The man she was living with was also not her husband. This man was the sixth man in the adultery/ prostitution line. Hence, Jesus Christ rejected the advantage of having multiple husbands, elsewhere rendered polyandry as fronted by feminists. Christ told her all things she ever did- John 4:29, a clear sense that the Samaritan woman could have also deserted her husband on other reasons, or behaviors. Presently spouses disintegrate/ part ways, because of financial instability. They do not want to be poor. They disintegrate because of infertility, failure to give birth, and so on.

The other example is the case presented to Jesus Christ, in John 8:3-4. From the mouths of her accusers, the woman was caught in the very act, dragged forcefully to expose the hideous shame of her discovery, but from the evidence provided in verse 6, it was a framework from Christ’s foes to test or tempt him. According to the Law of Moses, which required stoning (John 8:5), and the warning recorded in Leviticus 18:20; Deuteronomy 22:22, it is exactly to conclude that the woman was married, but secretly involved into prostitution/ adultery. The expression “committing adultery, in the very act”, was perfectly understood by the Hebrews as the theft of marriage, in the very act, the particular sexual sin. The burning shame and bestial bluntness of the charge makes no excuse or palliation possible- Latin “in ipso furto”.  There was partiality from the accusers in the case of the woman caught in adultery, in that the man she involved herself with, was not presented before Christ. The Law, recorded in Numbers 5:12-29, declared a married woman involved into adultery openly or secretly as a curse before God, and unto her husband. The innocence of the woman was tested by the priest. God knows everything, and all secret things are revealed before his eyes. See also Ezekiel 16:38, 40.

Second. This concerned Kedeshah, who is the temple prostitute. Temple prostitution was sacred prostitution, practiced by Canaanites, and other Gentile nations. Fertility cult was the central part of Canaanite religion. Temple prostitution was considered as sympathetic magic. When people performed sexual acts with temple harlots, they cryptically believed it stimulated sexual activities among the deities, ensuring the fertility of the soil hence bumpy harvest.

Kedeshah is also pronounced qedesha, and the equivalent, the partner qadesh, or kadesh, being the male counterpart. This concept is presented in Deuteronomy 23:17-19. Both men and women, involved into prostitution regarded themselves set apart, consecrated, and hallowed to their gods, for purpose of immorality, religious sex.

In the scriptures, Tamar became Kedeshah, and tricked Judah, her father-in-law into performing the immoral act- laying with her (Genesis 38:21). Law of Moses forbade the practice in Israel. Israel was led into apostasy, by the cultic fertility rites of Baal in Moab, before entering the Promised Land, as recorded in Numbers 25:1-5. The children of Israel, slept, committed sexual immorality with the temple prostitutes (daughters) of Moab. The sons of Eli became the sons of Belial- Satan proper, by rejecting the God of Israel- 1 Samuel 2:12. These sons, performed temple prostitution, by “laying with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation”, copying the cultic fertility rite of the Canaanites (1 Samuel 2:22). This practice later defiled the Israel’s temple. The cultic fertility rite was established in the kingdom of Judah (1 Kings 14:24), where those involved were later called sodomites, an evidence of the inclusion of homosexuals and lesbians, and was purged out, removed by Asa immediately he took throne- 1 Kings 15:9-12. Josiah removed the female/ male prostitutes, from the temple- 2 Kings 23:7-14.

In the current world {of today}, temple prostitution, is seen in various cases. In the Roman Catholic, the sacred immorality happened between Catholic nuns, and Catholic fathers. This is done secretly, while to the public domain, they pretend they had kept the vow of celibacy. Condoms had found their ways into convents. Immorality had fully infiltrated Roman Catholic. 

In Hindu caste system, women are permitted to secretly prostitute, in their shrines, to appease their gods.

Some had turned into cultic prostitution, like the women preachers in the Protestant domains. At one particular time, Benny Hinn, of “Today is your day”, admitted having inappropriate relationship with Paula White, something that led to temporary setback to his marriage with his wife Suzanne. Protestant bossy women preachers had, in most cases divorced their husbands, creating freedom of entering into condemned re-marriages.

There are other barbaric cultures, where both men, and women, involved in marriage practiced a phenomenon, which exactly equates to temple prostitution. For instance, in Kenya, a country in east Africa, a black tribe, called Luo, engaged into sex, during planting/ sowing of seeds, with the hope of getting bumpy harvest. It is the tribe with the highest number of AIDS (HIV) victims in Kenya. This is exactly what God of Israel condemned and must be stopped at all cost.

We found further, that Inanna, or Ishtar, now known as Easter, was the Mesopotamian god of sexuality and love. The worshipers of this deity, Ishtar, identified themselves as Kathar. In confusing the world deep into darkness in order to maintain the worship of the deity, Ishtar, also known as Easter was changed to Virgin Mary, and Kathar changed to Catholic. This is the hidden secret behind the formation and goals of Roman Catholic Church, not universalism even if Catholic meant that in Latin. Herodotus, the Greek historian, revealed the wholly shameful custom by which every Greek woman once in her lifetime was compelled to have the sexual intercourse near, or inside, the temple of Aphrodite, version of Ishtar, with the first stranger who threw a silver coin into her lap. Prescribed punishment was also given to women who declined to shave their heads, and had sexual intercourse for the respect of Adonis. Temple prostitution, was considered as sacred marriage to the gods, something the present women {nuns}, and men {fathers}, respectively, undergone, with the cryptic imaginations that they are married to Christ. The word Easter occurs in Acts 12:4- King James Version, a clear sense that this god was worshiped by Herodian family and majority of the descendants of Japheth right inside the Holy Land. It was after this occasion that Herod Agrippa planned to execute Peter, the Apostle. The corrupt modern bible versions had changed Easter to Passover in order to hide the worship of Easter by the Roman Catholic Church. This had been fronted by Protestants who being the daughters of Catholic, likewise, are in worship/ spiritual harlotry. To be in one with foreign gods, was exactly to be in one, joined together to a temple prostitute.

When Paul, the Apostle visited Corinth, the significant pagan cult was Aphrodite (in old Corinth, which continued to flourish, before its destruction in 146B.C.). Temple of Aphrodite was erected on the top of the Acropolis. It had more than one thousand sex slaves, courtesans, whom both men and women had dedicated to the goddess. Majority of the worshippers came to Corinth, because of its strategic market position. The Greek rendered market as agora. The name Corinth came from Greek Korinthian, which stood for the practice of sexual immorality. For that reason, Paul, the Apostle, warned against sexual immorality, to distinguish Christians from the worshippers of Aphrodite (1 Corinthians 6:15-20). The Apostle spoke, that he who is joined to a harlot is one body, exactly as the temple prostitutes of Aphrodite did. As the temple prostitute engaged into sex, appease their gods, Christians who avoid immorality in one Spirit, are joined to the Lord Jesus Christ. Christian body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, of God, not of Aphrodite, neither of the pagan gods, and for that matter must flee fornication. To be straight or exact to the point, pagan gods were pantheons, specifically forms, in which Satan appeared himself to be worshipped by humankind. This exactly agrees to Jewish traditions and current devil worshippers, which stated clear, that demons possessed a person, immediately he or she engages into prostitution/ adultery. Engagement into sexual immorality, which indeed is rejected by God, makes the entire transaction Satanic.

Third. Concerned pilgash, the shadow or secondary wife, the secret woman, described with the expression “come we stay”. Pilgash, is from the Hebrew pile’gesh, connected to Greek pallag, sometimes basically in plural, Chaldee, lechenah, denotes not in the Bible a paramour, Greek pallakh, but exactly female conjugally united to a man {exactly a married man} in a relation specifically inferior to that of the regular wife. A woman who was openly known as pilgash, was referred as second, third, fourth wife, and so on. The one kept secret known as “come we stay, hook me up or plan B” was called concubine. This distinction was seen in 2 Samuel 15:16; 20:3 and in Daniel 5:2-3, 23, in old Babylon, now called Iraq, where the language of the Chaldee was spoken.

Concubines, later came to combine all the women related to a married man, apart from his own legal wife, the wife of the covenant, and were degraded, considered inferior, since polygamy was less honorable, despised, being sanctioned, or rejected by God in his original plan for Adam and Eve.

The sources for the concubines were:

(i)        A girl sold by her father, specifically into slavery, or at least to a private person, for a private reason. This, in the current world, exposes those, who take their maids, as second wife, third, fourth, and so on. It also exposes the trend of marrying off underage children.

(ii)       A Gentile captive taken in war. Gentiles were famously known for their corrupt/ pagan worship.

(iii)    A foreigner bought from the market slavery, and 
(iv) A Canaanite woman, whether bond or free.

(iv The rights, privileges of (i) and (ii) were protected by the Law (Exodus 21:7; Deuteronomy 21:10), but (iii) was unrecognized, and (iv) prohibited. Free women, or widows, could also become concubines. The Levite mentioned in Judges 20:4ff. had a wife and a concubine. The impoverishment of families might induce them to enter into concubinage. A Hebrew girl sold to be concubine, was not allowed to be treated as mere slave, but to be released at Sabbatical year (Deuteronomy 21:2), or dismissed upon the redemption from her father. If a man takes a woman for his son, then the son marries another woman, the concubine’s (one brought by his father) position and rights were secured. But the woman can, was allowed to reject the position/ place of the second wife, shadow woman, known as concubine, and must be set free without redemption. Concubines were dealt with “after the manner of daughters.” They were treated reproachfully, contemptuously, together with their children (confer Judges 9:18). When the concubines were released, their children were released as well. They were not inheritors whatsoever. In this essence, concubinage, in the scriptural domain described the state of cohabiting illegally (corruptfully, evilfully) with a woman, in the second rank onwards (2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th wife), who enjoyed no practical, serious conjugal right (even if one is claimed), but sexual excitement/ pleasure, and whom the man involved with, could repudiate, and send away with small presents.

(   Nahor had a concubine (Genesis 22:24).  He was the brother of Abraham. In the life of Abraham, both Hagar, and Keturah, were well known as concubines (Genesis 25:6; see also 16:3; 21:12-21). Jacob (Genesis 35:22), Eliphaz (Genesis 36:12), Gideon (Judges 8:3), Saul, first king of Israel (2 Samuel 3:7), David (2 Samuel 5:13; 16:21), Solomon (1 Kings 11:3), Caleb (1 Chronicles 2:46), Manasseh (2 Kings 21:1-16; 2 Chronicles 33:11), Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:21), Abijah (2 Chronicles 13:21), and Belshazzar, king of Babylon (Daniel 5:2) were all having concubines, elsewhere rendered mistresses or sexual tools.
(vi   One cause of having concubine was barrenness. The children of the concubines were excluded from heritage (Genesis 25:6). They were considered illegitimate, never preferred in the distribution of inheritance, resources and in most, frequent cases, rejected to have any share in the traditional government authorities. To guard adult male offspring from debauchery, before marriage, it was the responsibility of his parents to search for him a wife, not to give him a concubine, something practiced by the Hebrews. Permission of concubinage was having the interest and preservation or keeping of immorality secret in the primitive heathen (Gentile) societies. To be a concubine, is exactly committing fornication/ adultery {see Matthew 19:5; 1 Corinthians 7:2}, and barrenness should not be the excuse, since Isaac prayed to God who reversed the condition to Rebekah (Genesis 25:21). Having discussed three forms of harlots: Zonah- public prostitute; Kedeshah- temple prostitute and Pilgash- secondary/ shadow wife, called concubine or secret immorality within marriage, we can perfectly reasoned that any woman a man had sexual relationship with other than his wife, is committing adultery, something condemned in the Gospel. It does not matter how many times a person is married. The first marriage is given, accepted, recognized and blessed by God. The second marriage when both spouses are alive, and so on is a curse- adultery. There are three open truths to be learnt here for our own betterment:

1.    Parents were seriously prohibited to force their daughters into prostitution. The record in Leviticus 19:29, states: “Do not prostitute thy daughter, cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness.” In other words, in this present world, one, especially Christians, should not let their daughters to be married to polygamist, neither should they give advice encouraging polygamy whatsoever, for this is prostitution. Woe to any man or woman who compels or encourages his or her son to divorce the wife of his youth, engages him into multiple marriages and in the end becoming polygamist. Cursed is such man or woman!  The record continues- Leviticus 21:7, 14, that: “They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: he is holy unto his God…. A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife.” In other words: (a) one should not marry/ get involved with a woman who has multiple sexual partners. Polyandry should be rebuked at all costs. (b) One should not compel/ encourage his son to practice polygamy. (c) One should not marry neither get married to a divorced person whatsoever, for no marriage can be nullified before God, as proven by the record in Romans 7:1-3, provided those involved are alive.

2.    Priests were warned not to marry harlots. Christians {who will be made kings and priests- see 1 Peter 2:5, 9; Revelation 1:6; 5:10}should not be polygamists, neither get themselves involved into polygamy whatsoever.

3.    The wages/ returns of prostitution were not to be brought into the temple to pay a vow. The record in Deuteronomy 23:18 states: “Thou not shall bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.” This could be understood in this sense: (a) Polygamy is abomination, and such vow should not be made in God’s name. It is not the will of God for a man to be polygamist (for God did not begin this with Adam and Eve), neither is it God’s will for a woman to be married to a polygamist. Both man and the woman (women) are driven by their own volitions and lusts. Let none say that God brought her to the husband of so and so. Let no man say that it was his search for the missing rib, of the woman to be accepted by God, that made him to pursue the course of polygamy or to be straight to the point made him polygamist. (b) Polygamist is a rejected person before God. Such person should not serve in any position in the Gospel service (1 Timothy 3:2, 12; Titus 1:6). (c) Polygamist is exactly the same as the homosexuals, lesbians, bestials and any other immoral person who debased himself when he or she fulfilled his or her lust with prostitute, watching pornographic movies, reading pornographic materials (Bikini or Burkini), use of sex robots, masturbation  and drugs. Hence, this person is a dog because: (i) He mates with any woman regardless of marriage, without self-control, without fear of God, and without consequences involved; (ii) He is a greedy man who thinks that he should marry all beautiful women; (iii) He is half-wild and half-friendly. He loved his new women, while he remained hostile to his older women. (iv) He barks as a dog. His home is full of troubles. (v) He leaks his own vomit. He condemned adultery while himself he is fully into it. (vi) Like a dog, he roamed without master’s control. He is without God. He had no respect for monogamy. He is used by Satan. (vii) Like a dog, he is a public scavenger, specifically dustbin. Every immoral woman who wants to quench her sexual lust finds this cheap man to be ever available. “Tell me your friends and I will show you who you are.”

Now, let us, look deep into the matter of polygamy gradually.

In Genesis 29:15-35, we are told how Jacob got himself into polygamy. To begin with, Jacob loved Rachel, the younger daughter of Laban, his uncle, and agreed to serve seven years for her. Rachel (called in Hebrew ra`he`l, Greek rhachel, meaning ewe) was beautiful and well favoured, but Leah, her elder sister, was tender eyed, that is, her eyes were not virtually weak, but rather small eyes of considerable radiance, as compared to big eyes of wider/ larger radiance. When seven years was accomplished, Laban tricked Jacob, into marrying Leah, instead of Rachel. Leah was given Zilpah, to be her maid. Jacob entered into another deal with his uncle Laban, to serve seven more years for Rachel. After completing the duration of the service, Rachel was given to him. Bilhah was given to Rachel, to be her maid.

In the polygamous life, Jacob loved Rachel more than he loved Leah. This could further make us learn two things:

(i)                           There is no divided allegiance in marriage- even in polygamy of course. A man either loved one woman, or despises the other. Confer Matthew 6:24.  

(ii)                        The wave of adultery can sweep away a man, leaving/ rendering him irrelevant,  as far as the sanctity of marriage is concerned.

Who was the choice of Jacob? The answer is Rachel. Who was the choice of Laban, and all men (elders) for Jacob (his sister’s/ Rebekah’s son)?  The answer is Leah. Why did Jacob chose Rachel? Because she was beautiful and well favoured.   Why did Laban and all men (elders) chose Leah for Jacob? Because, it must not be so done in our country, for the younger daughter (Rachel) to be married before the first-born (Leah). Traditions governed the choice, decision of Laban (Jacob’s uncle) with his men. But who among Rachel or Leah, did God chose for Jacob? The answer is very simple. First, God sided with tradition, and rejected the attempt to marry the younger daughter (Rachel), before the elder (Leah). He supported the view of Laban (Jacob’s uncle). Second, God accepted the first marriage Jacob executed after seven years of service, and rejected the second marriage performed later, after the first. The choice of God was not Rachel. His choice was the one hated, rather than the one loved. That is Leah. So the scriptures, put it perfectly, that, “And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren”- Genesis 29:31. Bickering and shameless bargaining became the routine character of this polygamous family. In verse 20, Jacob loved Rachel. In verse 30, he loved Rachel more than Leah. This sounded as a problem even though Laban and his elders played the favourite, and should not be considered as the fault, which placed Jacob into the dreadful position of polygamy. Proverbs 16:1-3, puts it clear, that: “The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD. All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits. Commit thy work unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established”. Jacob went astray by indulging himself into polygamy, which was originally practiced by descendants of Cain after rejecting God. His marriage to two sisters was not acceptable before God. God gave Moses Law condemning this habit in Leviticus 18:18. Competition in giving birth to children, led the two daughters of Laban into convincing Jacob to take the two maids (Zilpah and Bilhah) to be his concubines. Jacob ended having four women in his life- Genesis 29, 30. He called all of them wives (his/ my) in Genesis 30:26, before parting ways with his uncle Laban. But unfortunately, only one woman recognized, accepted the fact that Jacob was her husband, and that woman, was the choice of God. To Jacob, he had four wives. Before God, he had only one wife, called Leah. The rest were harlots/ prostitutes, even if called concubines- Zilpah and Bilhah or Zonah- Rachel, since public prostitutes were beautiful, according to Proverbs 6:25, and this is applicable to polygamy entirely.

Leah told Rachel, straight to her face, that:  “Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband?...” Genesis 30:15. The statement of Leah, was clear demonstration, that there is no peace in the life of polygamy. Polygamy, is a life of wrangles, witchcraft, open hatred, dishonesty, and full of deceit- continuous troubles. “Is it a small matter”, is to say “do you think this is a simple thing?” something to bypass, considered as a joke, and soon to be forgotten. Polygamy brings complexity in life. It is not a bed of roses. “Is it a small matter” was an indication that Leah got herself prepared to wage war, struggle, with anybody, even if the person is her sister, in order to save her marriage. The bond of contention was the husband, and the solution, was the three women- Rachel, Zilpah and Bilhah, to be kept out, away from Jacob. Polygamy can only be turned into monogamy, if the secondary, shadow wives, had been chased away.

The other phrase, in Leah’s speech to Rachel, her sister, was “thou hast taken my husband.” This was not “taken” in the positive sense but rather negative. In other words, “You Rachel, you have stolen my husband.” This was concrete evidence that Leah charged Rachel, with the theft of her (Leah’s) husband, a crime which Zilpah and Bilhah were equally guilty of.

The question “Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband?” can be paraphrased: “Do you think it is funny, a joking matter, that you have stolen my husband?” Leah called Jacob her husband. Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah never did that. No matter what we call women who had hijacked people’s peaceful marriages, be second wife, plan B, concubine, second lady, and so on, the fact remains, that they are thieves/ robbers of other women’s husbands. They engrossed the whole of husband’s affections, and they feel special in the company. “Small matter …” was a picture of bitter and intense rivalry, in polygamy, which Leah encountered with her younger sister Rachel, something better understood as mutual jealousies. Monogamy is a peaceful marriage. Evil lies in the system of polygamy, because it is a violation of marriage as instituted by God, hence cannot bring happiness. “Small matter …” pointed the adverse dangers, disadvantages, the risks involved in plural marriage. The disadvantages had exploded up as quarrels, disputes and jealousies, which arise in harems, where several wives of one man are nearly related to each other. Polygamy is a burden one brought to himself.

All the wives of Jacob died. The last to die was Leah. Death of Rachel is mentioned in Genesis 35:16-20;48:7. Rachel died, when giving birth to Benjamin, on the way to Bethlehem, whose old name was Ephrath, from Bethel. Jacob, the patriarch put on, set a pillar on her sepulcher. On the other hand Leah, was buried, in the cave of Machpelah, the family burial field, where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Rebekah were buried- Genesis 49:29-31. Jacob, later, was buried on the same place- Genesis 50:13.

The two different places for the burial of Rachel, and Leah, respectively, revealed finally who was considered special, given decent burial, and the one who was degraded. Rachel, never received decent burial. She was not taken to the family burial field. This could have the notion, because she was not considered the legal wife of Jacob. To be buried outside, was clear indication of Rachel’s rejection. According to Hebrews, somebody was buried outside, or animal driven outside, when it holds a curse. In sacrifice a goat was driven outside, because it hold the sins of the children of Israel, hence cursed. This was done, after the high priest had performed some sacred ordinance on the animal. Roman government, crucified hardcore criminals outside the gates of their cities.

In some primitive pagan communities, a daughter, or unmarried woman, or one divorced, but rejected to be taken back by her husband upon death, was buried outside the home. Paul, the apostle wrote in Galatians 3:13, that: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written {that is Deuteronomy 21:23}, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” Again, he wrote in Hebrews 13:12, that: “Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctity the people with his own blood suffered without the gate.” For one to understand the passage perfectly clear, verse 11, is necessary, which stated: “For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.” The body of the animal, whose blood had been poured out by the high priest, for the sins of Israel, was burnt outside the temple, or synagogue. This also happened because it carried curses, and at the same time for purification, sanctification. In fact, from sanctification, is where we get the word sanctuary (Hebrew miqda`sh, Greek hagion meaning holy). Jesus Christ, on the other hand took the sins of the believing intercourse upon himself, even though he was sinless, on the cross. The people who believe in him, beginning with the Jews, and secondarily the Gentiles, had their sins forgiven, because the Son of God shed his own blood on the cross. Again in Hebrews 9:22, indicated, that: “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” Jesus Christ became a curse, because of bearing the sins of many on the cross. He became a curse by shedding his own blood. He became a curse, due to him being made sin, who knew no sin, never practiced sin (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The place, where Jesus Christ was crucified and subsequently buried, upon his death, was called Golgotha, a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew Gulgoleth, Aramaic Gulgalta, meaning a place of skull, as recorded in Matthew 27:33; Mark 15:22; and John 19:17. The Hebrew word Gulgoleth described a bald, round, skull- like mound or hillock. Hence, two possible explanations could be derived from here: (i) It was a place of execution and therefore associated with skulls or abounded in skulls; (ii) the geographical place had the appearance of a skull when viewed from a short distance. This place was also called Calvary, from the Latin word calvaria or calvarius for bald skull, in Luke 23:33. Calvary or Golgotha was outside the city of Jerusalem, close to the city (John 19:20), but far from the residence of the governor, Pilate.

The phrase “suffered without the gate”, could be perfectly understood, that:

(a)            Jesus Christ suffered without Jerusalem, or anyone else. “…Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not…” (Luke 23:28). He suffered, for the purpose of sanctification.

(b)            Jesus Christ suffered for the sins of many, but without sin (he was condemned), and

(c)            Jesus Christ suffered outside Jerusalem, called also the gate, the place he died, and lastly being the one for his burial.

In like manner, Rachel, suffered, when delivering Benjamin. She shed blood, not for her own redemption, but for showing the curse she received, or brought into polygamous marriage practiced by Jacob. She suffered outside, in other words, without, the love of Jacob. In fact, Jacob’s love for her dwindled away. Jacob finally realized Leah as his legitimate wife. The shedding of blood by Rachel, in delivering Benjamin, was also for the purpose of the purification of her children. Properly, when Rachel was dying, the record in Genesis 35:18, revealed that she tried to call her son Benoni, which in Hebrews meant “the son of my sorrow”, but Jacob rejected the name, calling the son Benjamin, meaning in Hebrews “son of my strength” instead. Jacob did not gather the elders for the burial arrangements of Rachel. He did not respect the wish of Rachel upon her death to name the son Benoni. Rachel was cursed, because she stole Leah’s husband. She stole the love of the husband turning it into adultery. Her death sanctified the family. This is to some extent, can be said, that the death of the second wife, or wives, sanctified marriage, in the sense that polygamy is gone, abolished, while monogamy, as planned by God, is restored.

The phrase “suffered without the gate” is applied to Rachel, in this wise:

(i)                           Rachel suffered without Benjamin, and Joseph. Benjamin was the cause of her death, while Joseph was too young to take care of his mother.

(ii)                        Rachel suffered without her people. Laban, her father, who is Jacob’s uncle, never attended her burial.

(iii)                      Rachel suffered without a husband. Jacob was the legitimate husband of her sister, called Leah, and not hers (Rachel’s).

(iv)                     Rachel suffered outside her home (on the way). Indeed, it appeared she did not have a home. The place she called home was actually belonging to Leah, her elder sister.

(v)                        Rachel was buried without the gate, specifically outside the home, outside the family burial place, the cave of Machpelah that Abraham purchased. She was buried outside because she was not Jacob’s wife.

Therefore, “Cursed is she who entered herself into polygamy, taking, stealing one’s husband, and trying tirelessly to make him her own. Cursed is the woman, who brings suffering to the legitimate wife in marriage.”  Such woman must face the wrath of God. Like Rachel, the woman is sin to marriage, curse to the family, and a beast, adulteress. When Herod, the Great, killed children, in Bethlehem, with the aim of eliminating Jesus (whom he never got), we are made to understand, that the whole action, fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremy (Greek form of Jeremiah) the prophet, saying: “In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not” (Matthew 2:18). This prophecy is recorded in Jeremiah 31:15. Rama, was the home of prophet Samuel, Elkanah, Hannah, and so on- 1 Samuel 1:19; 2:11, and was originally on the way to Ephrath, the exact place where Rachel was buried (Genesis 35:19). Before the place was called Rama, it was known as Ramathaimzophim (1 Samuel 1:1).  Joseph of Arimathaea who took the body of Jesus Christ to his new tomb, before Messiah’s resurrection, was exactly from Ramathaimzophim, old name for Rama (Matthew 27:57-60; Luke 23:50-53; John 19:38). How did Jeremiah prophesied this? How was it fulfilled in the time of the New Testament by Herod’s massacre? The truth of the matter is this: it was Rachel’s blood, which cried for her children. Remember God told Cain, that his brother’s (Abel) is crying from the ground seeking for justice. Confer Hebrews 12:24. The blood of Rachel was crying for Benjamites, for Bethlehem, was occupied by them (Judges 4:5; 19-20; 1 Kings 15:16-17; Isaiah 10:28-32).  Unlike that of Abel, Rachel’s blood was crying for regret, shame/ disgrace she brought upon herself. The blood was crying without comfort, consolation, because Rachel, made wrong choice in marriage, and lived in adulterous relationship throughout her life with Jacob. Women in polygamy had made wrong choices. Wherever they are buried, they are weeping for their children, because these children are products of adultery. The men the children called fathers are not exactly fathers but those who wasted the lives of their mothers in immorality branded smoothly as polygamy.