Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Does the Bible Endorse Polygamy? | Historical Books | 2 Samuel 15:13-37

Episode Date: June 30, 2025

Does the Bible endorse polygamy? What does true loyalty look like? Why does God punish us for our sins? In today's episode, Keith shares how 2 Samuel 15:13-37 encourages us to be loyal to God, who has taken the consequences of our sin on himself. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 2 Samuel 15:13-37

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. When people start reading the Old Testament, one of the questions they inevitably have is about the polygamy that runs throughout the Old Testament stories. I want to spend a few minutes thinking about that question before diving into 2nd Samuel 15, because the story with Absalom is a consequence, or you might even say commentary on polygamy. So let's start by acknowledging that polygamy in the Old Testament is unavoidable.

The first person to practice polygamy is Lamek, and that's found in Genesis 4. We're told that he has two wives, which, I guess, is technically bigamy, not polygamy. Lamek is in the line of Cain, and he is known as one who practices violence. So he's not exactly associated with godliness in Genesis' account of his life. In addition to Lamek, Abraham, Jacob, David, and Solomon had multiple wives. There were a few others, but not as many as you might suspect. Even if polygamy was appealing, most men didn't have the financial resources to have large families. Also, we never find polygamy commended in the Old Testament. See, to read the Bible wisely,

we've got to understand the difference between description and prescription. The Old Testament describes polygamous relationships, but it never prescribes them. It says this is what was happening, but it never says this is what should have been happening. Polygamy wasn't uncommon in the ancient Near East, so in many ways Israel was just copying the behavior of its neighbors. The divine design for marriage is found in the Garden of Eden, where we're told, for this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one. God's design for marriage is that is between one man and one woman.

Jesus affirms this in Matthew 19. When asked about marriage and divorce, he goes back and quotes God's design in Genesis 2. And then the final point is that in the first point is that in the Bible, the Old Testament, polygamy only causes trouble. Where polygamy is practiced, we see jealousy, division, rivalry, and strife among the wives and children. That takes us to the second half of 2 Samuel 15. David's life, his family, and his kingship is all unraveling, and it's due in large part to his polygamous relationships and the consequences of his abuse of power and sexual sin with Beshiba. Let's pray. God, we ask you that you would

open your word to us, that we might understand it, and that you would open our heart, that your word might transform us. Amen. David eventually has eight wives, and his son Absalom is with his third wife, a woman named Maca. Absalom terms against David and tries to overthrow him and become king himself. That's where we pick up the story. Here's verse 13. A messenger came and told David, the hearts of the people of Israel are with Absalom. It's not so much that the people loved Absalom, or that they were persuaded by his arguments. It's just that he had deceived them into following him instead of his father David. Verse 14. Then David said to all his officials who are with him in Jerusalem, Come, we must flee, or none of us will escape from Absalom. We must leave immediately, or he will move

quickly to overtake us and bring ruin on us and put the city to the sword. The king's officials answered him, your servants are ready to do whatever our Lord the king chooses. The king set out with his entire household following him, but he left ten concubines to take care of the palace. So the king set out with all the people following him and they halted at the edge of the city. David wisely decides that he's going to need time to organize his forces and prepare for a defense against Absalom. Otherwise, all will be lost and lost quickly. So he leaves Jerusalem and the royal palace and goes toward the desert, which implies that he is going across the Mount of Olives where Jesus spent all night in prayer before the crucifixion. Even though David is fleeing for his life, he's still popular among

those living outside the city. We read later in verse 23 that the whole countryside wept aloud as all the people passed by. Verse 18. All his men marched past him, along with the Carithites and the Pelothites, and all 600 Gittites who had accompanied him from Gath marched before the king. So, this phrase, the Carathites and the Pelothites, well, that refers to the royal bodyguard that David had assembled while living in exile. These were professional troops distinct from Israel's army, and they were often instrumental in initial offenses against an enemy, while Israel's regular army was usually held in reserve for the final assault. These cracked troops were attached directly to the king and were loyal only to him. The king then has a one-on-one conversation

with one foreign-born member of his elite force. The king said to Itai, the Gittite, Why should you come along with us? Go back and stay with King Absalom. You are a foreigner and exile from your homeland. You came only yesterday, and today I shall make you wander about with us when I do not know where I'm going. Go back and take care of your people with you. May the Lord show you kindness and faithfulness.

David and his men truly love one another. This man named Itai, he had just joined the royal bodyguard, So it seems unfair for Itai to risk his life and family by getting involved in this dispute. David grants him a full pardon and releases him from his commitments. Verse 21. But Itai replied to the king, as surely as the Lord lives and my Lord the king lives, wherever my Lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be. David said to Itai, go ahead, march on.

So Itai the Gittite marched on with all his men and the families that were with them. him. So the irony here is clear, right? David's own son, Absalom, who he had loaded with undeserved kindnesses, was conspiring against him, while this stranger, who owed him nothing in comparison, was risking everything for his cause. But let's go back to what Ittai said to King David, as surely as the Lord lives, and as my Lord the King lives, wherever my Lord the King may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be. It reminds me of what Ruth, said to Naomi. She said, don't urge me to leave you or turn back from you. Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God, my God. Where you die,

I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me. I want to have that kind of loyalty to my wife and to my kids and my friends, but most of all to Jesus. I want to have. want to say to Jesus, wherever you go, I will go. Whatever you call me to do, I will do. I want nothing to separate us. But back to our story in 2 Samuel 15, which picks up with the priest named Zadok. Verse 24, Zadok was there too, and all the Levites who were with him were carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set down the ark of God, and Abithar offered sacrifices until all the people had finished leaving the city. Then the king said to Zadok, take the ark of God back into the city.

If I find favor in the Lord's eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it in his dwelling place again. But if he says I am not pleased with you, then I am ready. Let him do to me whatever seems good to him. So the priests, Zadok and Abithar, they support David and they are ready to join him as he flees Jerusalem. The Levites brought the ark of the covenant with him. Absalom may have the city, but he will not have the priests nor the sign of Yahweh's presence. David, however, will have none of this. He says, take the ark of God back to the city. If I find favor in the Lord's eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it in his dwelling. But if he says, I am not pleased with you, that I am ready, let him do to me whatever seems good to him. If you were with us back in 1st, Samuel, you know that the Israelites had a tendency

to treat the ark like lucky rabbit's foot. They thought if they had the ark of God, God would fight for them, that God was obligated to fight for them. And David said, look, I'm not going to repeat that mistake. He won't depend on having the Lord's furniture. Instead, he wants the Lord's favor. No gimmicks, no superstition, no rabbit's foot religion, no conning God by taking the Ark to someplace it shouldn't be. But we shouldn't move too quickly past this decision that David made to send the Ark of

the Covenant back to Jerusalem. His willingness to return it demonstrates that he has learned to see beyond personal ambition, beyond personal accomplishment, he would rather be in right relationship with Yahweh than be the winner of this conflict with Epsilon. David refuses to turn possession of the ark to a political advantage. He refuses to use God for his own advantage, but instead he humbly trusts God to do whatever is best in his life. David says, look, if my punishment of exile proves to be temporary, then Yahweh will graciously restore me and I will once again worship God in the presence of the Ark of the covenant in Jerusalem. That's why he's able to send the Ark back into the city. If his punishment

should prove fatal, if David dies outside the city, then he's prepared to accept whatever seems right to God. At this sad moment in his life, when Absalom, his own son has turned against him, when he's fleeing out of the city of Jerusalem and going into exile, David is not grasping for power. He's not trying to manipulate the situation, instead he appears to be utterly submissive to God's will. See, the way Second Samuel is structured, we're supposed to see that Absalom's rebellion and David's exile are part of the consequences of his sinful behavior with Bishiva. David's private and personal sins are linked with subsequent sins within his own family, which eventually explode into public rebellion and national tragedy. The sad reality is that other people suffer as a result of David's sin.

The Old Testament honestly faces the sad fact that others suffer when we sin. When Yahweh reveals his name in the Old Testament, he is known as a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. Those are truths that we love to celebrate. But it goes on. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished. He punishes the children and their children for the sin of their fathers to the third and fourth generation. We must also learn to celebrate this portion of who God is, because it teaches us that God does not allow sin to continue unpunished indefinitely. Even more, the love and compassion of God are proven by the fact that he allows the consequences of sin to filter through all the way to the fourth generation, while maintaining his love to thousands of God. of generations. God limits the lifespan of sin while his love lasts forever. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you that you are compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, that you forgive sinners like us. I pray, Father, that we would respond to your grace by seeking to submit our life to you, by following you, by loving you, by surrendering to you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.