POLYGAMY CONDEMNED. PART 4.

The next example of polygamy is the case of Abraham. Abraham is known as the father of faith. Paul, the apostle, reasoned that the faith of Abraham, was exactly believing in God, in which it was counted unto him (the patriarch) for righteousness- Romans 4:1-3; Galatians 3:6. Good works cannot make a person righteous before God. The faith must be practically demonstrated. In other words, without faith, there was no righteousness in Abraham. One must have faith in God, in order to do God’s will. Without faith, one remained in sin. Without faith, one cannot do the right thing before God. "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him"- Hebrews 11:6. James, the Lord’s brother, used the case of Abraham to demonstrate that the faith without works is dead, just as the body without the spirit- James 2:23-26. If the polygamists want to be Christians then they must embrace Abraham’s case. Abraham did not die polygamist. The patriarch regained his monogamous status before his death. Having explained faith as the substance of the things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, the author of Hebrews (who is Paul, the apostle), demonstrated how Abraham shown his faith by agreeing to sacrifice his only son of promise called Isaac- Hebrews 11:1,17.

Abraham married Sarah, whose old name was Sarai. Sarah was barren, she had no child, could not conceive/ give birth- Genesis 11:29-30. In Genesis 12:2, God promised Abraham to make him great nation, a clear sense of removing the barrenness of his wife Sarah. God even rejected Eliezer of Damascus to be Abraham’s heir, citing that the heir would come forth out of Abraham’s bowel- Genesis 15:1-4. In other words, God rejected Abraham’s intention to adopt Eliezer, and make him his, as a person from his loin. The child must be given him through Sarah. Eliezer was a Gentile proper, a person expected to remain slave to the Hebrews.

Because of little faith, what people said or expressed as “I can’t wait”, Sarah, took Hagar, her maid (domestic servant), and gave Abraham, to be his wife. Before Sarah, Hagar could as well be Abraham’s wife, but before God, Hagar was never to be Abraham’s wife. Sarah was irreplaceable. Sarah’s reason for doing so was that the LORD hath restrained her from bearing. Sarah doubted the same God who promised Abraham her husband the heir- a son proper (Genesis 16:1-3). Abraham on his part accepted the proposal. He succumbed to Sarah’s tricks. He fell into trap. Sarah gave Hagar. Abraham received, accepted Hagar. He went in unto Hagar, and she conceived. When Hagar became or realized she was pregnant, she despised, reproached Sarah, in her eyes, and Abraham did the same, forgetting all he and his wife had gone through- Genesis 16:4. For this disrespect, Sarah, told Abraham, crystal clear, that: “My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee” (Genesis 16:5). That could be spoken in two senses: “My wrong be upon thee,” was: (a) “Let my injury or insults belong or be upon you.” Sarah tried to accuse Abraham for the cause of reproach, despise Hagar, the Egyptian maid had shown her; (b) “May the injury or insult done to me return to or be upon you.” The language of Sarah, of passionate irritation, indicating repentance of her previous action, of asking Abraham to take Hagar to be his wife, and desire to both impute its guilt to, and lay its bitter consequences on, her husband, who in the entire transaction was more innocent than her if viewed shallowly, but in complex sense was more guilty than her. “I have given my maid into thy bosom,” even though sound imprudent, it exactly implies the attitude of building (Hebrew banah, from where we got ben). It also revealed opportunity to have sexual pleasure- immorality. Sarah’s mission was for Hagar to give Abraham a son, or children, on her behalf. The last speech of Sarah- “the LORD judge between me and  thee,” could be compared to the record in 1 Samuel 24:15, which stated: “The LORD therefore be judge, and judge between me and thee, and see, and plead my cause , and  deliver me out of thine hand.”   The speech has a similar application to that of Adam and Eve. A husband is the man of the house. He is the head, not the tail. He is first in command, and not a second priority. Abraham was no exception. Even though Eve became the first person to eat the forbidden fruit, followed by her husband Adam, God judged both beginning with Adam. Adam was judged because he neglected his responsibility of being the first in command, becoming second priority to Eve his wife and Satan. God told Adam: “…Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life” (Genesis 3:17). Sarah told Abraham that: “the LORD judge between me and thee.” That is, to say that God would judge Abraham as husband- family head, first in command and Sarah as the wife. Like Adam, Abraham listened, hearkened, obeyed Sarah his wife more than the promise from God of having his own son.

 To some extent, the accusation of Sarah was justified. Sarah proposed Hagar, yet it was the responsibility of her husband to accept or reject. To, as a man of God, or Christians today, rejection was the best choice, for marriage instituted by God, does not need addition of wife, neither annulling whatsoever. One must be contented with his or her marriage. Abraham’s acquiescence in Sarah’s scheme was far from being faultless. It evinced a want of faith, and, indeed, a want of true spiritual discernment in supposing that what God had promised as a gift of grace could be surreptitiously snatched from Divine Hand in the way proposed, or even by any purely stratagem; and a want of patience in not calmly waiting for the accomplishment of God’s word in God’s own time and way. Polygamy cannot, and will never snatch away monogamy permanently whatsoever. Any person who died in polygamy is a guilty party, and must be judged by God. Polygamy will grow worse and worse, while monogamy, will continue to be peaceful and strong. Here Sarah became the author of polygamy. She, as the mother of faith brought the worst condition to herself. She voluntarily became short of faith. Her faith fell short of glory. The scheme of Sarah for Abraham to have Hagar, was not a mere talk. It was her well calculated scheme. It was not just preposition, but exactly test to Abraham’s faith. Presently men entered into schemes of Satan, either by themselves, or through their wives. At the end of the world, majority will be thrown into the unquenchable fire in hell, because they failed to discharge their leadership responsibilities, handing what they are supposed to do, powers invested on them by God, to their wives. Men are morally shortsighted, and cannot see afar off when confronted by some sweet temptation. Had Abraham only dimly discerned the outcome of Sarah’s counsel, or proposal, he would have seen perfectly that the thing, suggestion, was not of God. It was another Eve’s deception.

Hagar shown humiliation to Sarah. Elated by the prospect of maternity, the young Egyptian slave girl despised her mistress; by haughtiness of carriage {may be being originally worshipping Egyptian god of fertility}, or perhaps silently discovering contempt of Sarah’s sterility {from the husband, since men shifted the goal post of love, immediately they took new wives}, and possibly assuming heirs of superiority, as if, in the consequence of approaching motherhood, anticipating her displacement from the throne of Abraham’s love. See Proverbs 30:23. Hagar had the hidden agenda of stealing Abraham from Sarah, in order make him her bonafide husband.

The womanly nature of Sarah, stung to jealousy by the success of her own plan of bringing Hagar to be her rival, and incapable of longer enduring the scornful triumph of a maiden whom her own hands had transformed into a favoured rival, with something like vindictive heat turned upon her meek, submissive, and in this matter wholly innocent lord {Abraham her husband- confer 1 Peter 3:6}, reproaching her, if not the cause of the barrenness, at least the patient and half satisfied witnesses of her humiliation; she almost called down upon Abraham the judgment of heaven, from God. Sarah had a plan to  correct the mistake she brought, but she feared that Abraham as the family head would side, or defend Hagar.

Abraham told Sarah plainly, that: “Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee…” (Genesis 16:6). The /patriarch realized his mistake of supporting Hagar and thrown back the ball into the court of Sarah. He still loved his wife, even if Hagar stole his love. Even though Hagar was elevated/ promoted to the secondary wife, shadow wife, not original, she still remained a maid. She must be responsible, answerable to Sarah who could do to her as it pleaseth. Polygamy is a crooked way of marriage. It is sinful compliance/ alliance. It is deliberate wickedness, inconsiderate, and way to hell. Abraham reminded Sarah, that Hagar was still her maid, and wisely extended sanction to whatever remedy the heated character, conclusion Sarah might devise, employ. What happened to men in polygamy today? If their first, original wives, chased away the women they bring in, they became stubborn, bringing in other new women. Some, majority politicians, engage into secret relationship, which are discovered upon the time of their deaths. Abraham’s statement to his wife Sarah was that Hagar, the favoured maiden could be thrust back to her original condition of servitude, deprived of whatever token of honour and affection she had received as Abraham’s secondary wife, and be subjected to injurious treatment at the hands of her incensed mistress and rival, from which she ultimately sought refuge in flight.

“…And when Sarai {Sarah} dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face” (Genesis 16:16). The phrase dealt hardly, was rendered in Hebrews as teanneha, specifically describing affliction, implying stripes and hard usage, to bring down the body and humble the mind. Sarah humbled, afflicted or mishandled Hagar. Hagar was brought down, to humble herself, have respect, and not to value herself beyond neither above Sarah, her mistress. Because, of this, she fled {true to the meaning of her name}, where angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur- Genesis 16:7. The wilderness, was exactly uninhabited district suitable for pasturing flocks; hence a sterile sandy country like, and for that reason referred as Arabian Desert, bordering on Egypt (confer Genesis 14:6; Exodus 3:1).

“By the fountain” meant a particular known well (spring). “Shur” was the way, or road from Hebron to Egypt- “before Egypt, as thou goest towards Assyria”- Genesis 25:18. Hagar decided to escape to Egypt, her homeland.

Hagar perfectly understood, as follows, before her flight:

(a)            That the position of the first wife is irreplaceable before God. No woman, can terminate, destroy one’s marriage, and get away with it. Polygamy by nature is not marriage;

(b)            That a second wife still and forever remains maid, slave, house girl before the first, original wife;

(c)            That it is not easy at all, to control or steal one’s husband. God forbids this;

(d)            That it is the responsibility of the first wife to chase the women brought in, in order to save their marriage, and save the husband from the consequences associated with polygamy. Never should a married woman entertain this trash, even if it needs, demands her last breath.

When Hagar fled, angel of the LORD, told her to return to her mistress, and submit herself under her hands- Genesis 16:9. The angel wanted Hagar, not to depart in unfriendly fashion, and more importantly not to depart, under that condition, seeing she was pregnant, with a child. She was to return- go back to Sarah, in a humble condition, and submit herself under her hands, specifically put her life in the mercy, care of Sarah, remain a slave. Hagar went back, stayed and eventually gave birth to Ishmael, when Abraham was 86 years old according to the record in Genesis 16:10-16. The name Ishmael is pronounced in Hebrews as yishmael, which meant God hears. God heard, specifically observed the mess Hagar had brought into the marriage of Abraham and Sarah. The name had nothing to do with the life of Ishmael. Ishmael would be a wild man (not God fearing); his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. Being a wild man could be compared to wild ass of Arabian deserts known to be noble creatures (Job 39:5-8), and for that reason depicted, or specifically became the fine symbol of the free-roving life of the Arabs. He shall dwell in the presence of his brethren is basically the idiomatic application of the Hebrew al pene, literally upon or against the face of, more particularly meant in defiance of, disregard of, as evident in Deuteronomy 21:16 and Genesis 25:18. This designated or foretold the hostility that would be displayed by Ishmael and his descendants towards the Hebrews. Hence, the truth of the matter is that children of the second wife (any woman added into polygamy) are stubborn/ difficult to deal with. Even if the woman departs with these children and got married to another man, the characters of these children remained unbearable. Polygamy jealousy had cankered, conquered them. Abraham circumcised himself and his son with Hagar called Ishmael. At this time, the patriarch was 99 years old while Ishmael was 13 years old as revealed in Genesis 17:24-25.

It is important to learn, that any person who had found himself, or herself into polygamy, should part ways into a friendly fashion. The woman (added as second wife and so on) must be made to understand that the life she lived with the man was not marriage at all, but exactly adultery. The man must also know that he made mistake by bringing in another woman into his marriage life. It is completely useless to dispute, argue the number of years the woman had stayed with the man, neither expensive wedding/ dowry paid. A person’s life is more important than all these. Christ said: “…but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3, 5).

God told Abraham, that: “And the uncircumcised man child (not female) whose flesh of his fore skin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant”- Genesis 17:14. Circumcision was an ordinance given by God to the Jews, not the Gentiles. The Gentiles practiced it as imitation, hypocrisy and by ignorance. The current deception that circumcision prevents the spread of AIDS, other venereal diseases and cancer is uncalled for, stupid, speculation, to say the least and sad, indeed far away from reality. This is foolishness, complete ignorance. Man must repent, be born again, changed his characters, by abstaining from wickedness in order to escape such diseases. In the New Covenant, it is the circumcision of the heart that matters- Colossians 2:11; Philippians 3:3. Circumcision of the heart (born again) is compulsory for one to enter into heaven. Jesus Christ put it perfectly clear in John 3:5-8, that: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” Uncircumcised, in the spiritual perspective, are those who had rejected God’s word, had betrayed the redeeming quality found only in Jesus Christ. Confer Hebrews 6:4-6. These, will be cut off, removed not only from the children of Abraham, but also from the Church, from God’s children and from the Book of Life. They will not enter into eternal life. One way of rejecting God’s word is evident in practicing polygamy. One, who practices polygamy until his death, will be cut off, from the believing congregation. He is not part of God’s people.

Hagar was a Gentile, ungodly person proper, a person who originally never knew the true worship of the God of Israel. Gentiles had: (a) no God (Greek atheos whence atheist). They were atheists (do not believe in God and in hostility to him) within polytheism (serving many gods). They worship deities, specifically the forms in which Satan presented himself) ; (b) no covenant. They were not the people of the covenant. God never made any covenant with them; (c) no hope. They never knew eternal life- Confer Ephesians 2:11-12. Gentiles were friendless, estranged and separated from Israel and theocracy of God’s chosen peoples. In respect to heaven, they were homeless, having nothing, without any share in the Messianic promises. Gentiles had no God, hence without Christ, which means they were: (i) without salvation (Acts 4:12); (ii) without peace (Colossians 1:20); (iii) without rest (Matthew 11:28); (iv) without light (John 8:12; 1 John 1:5) and (v) without life (John 14:6; Matthew 11:27; 28:18). They had no knowledge of God and having no personal saving relationship to him. To be without Christ, is  Christless, anti- Christian, none Christian, a pagan proper, that is to have no love, no faith and no hope. Christless souls do not see the value of the Gospel, leave alone marriage. Currently people worship money in a move called prosperity gospel. They are deeply in the basket of bribery- scandal after scandal, and ritual killings. They worship politicians. They worship women in secular music. They worship women in weddings or marriage proposals. Men knelt down, on their knees, persuasively begging women to marry them. One is left to wonder this kind of women worship that has taken the world as a storm. People had aspirations for the present, this materialistic world (see the warnings given in 1 John 2:15-17, and 2 Timothy 3:1-5), but cherished no hope for the future, which is eternal life. They are of destitution and desolation, desperation, are heartless, unregenerate (devilish), lost and done.

Abraham was the father of faith (Romans 4:16), while Sarah, his wife, was the mother of faith (1 Peter 3:6). Both Abraham and Sarah were Hebrews. God forbade Hebrews, to marry the Gentiles. God rejected the marriage, because of the following reasons:

(i)                           Fighting over religious superiority. The Gentiles would defile Hebrews, with their filthy, corrupt, and deceitful worship, engaging them into pagan sacrifices which in most cases appreciated, enjoyed by dancing, with the aim of removing them from their God;

(ii)                        Rendering covenant obsolete. The Gentiles would make Hebrews to doubt God’s word, covenant, and eventually lose faith in him. This is exactly what is happening with the Jewish Publication Society. Rupert Murdoch, who publishes NIV bible and Satanic bible by Anton La Vey, is believed to be a Jew. False teacher Benny Hinn of USA, false prophet Dr. David Edward Owuor of Kenya, and many others were educated in Israel. Hebrews, are engaged by the Gentiles, in the committees responsible for corrupt bible translations, versions, funded by Vatican;

(iii)                      Having no eternal goal. Materialism, had taken the world, like a storm, making people to see no value in the eternity. One time a renowned secular musician and devil worshiper, called Rihanna, admitted that heaven she originally used to believe in before her music profession, was a hoax. Atheists’ society of Kenya who demanded for their registration called the whole phenomenon as “brain mess up.” They openly admitted that they believed in the Darwin Theory of Evolution. The Hebrews, are seduced into materialism (con-games, casino, charitable organizations), in order not to concentrate on heaven- a better country, heavenly, where God is not ashamed to be called their God (Hebrews 11:16), and eternal (heavenly) Jerusalem, a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God- Hebrews 11:10.