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Pariah said:
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Methos said:
It doesn't say it was disallowed either. God and Abraham were on quite close terms on account of Abraham's righteousness, and I don't think Abraham would do something that was improper in the eyes of God.



This view is too realist. You really don't know what God would say or do.



Nor did I claim to. Just as I didn not claim to know what God would say or do. First of all, I used the word "think." Second, I just stated "this is what I think Abraham would do." I don't understand the nature of God or claim to know how his mind works, but when it comes to the actions of people, I'm more willing to go out on a limb and say with some degree of certainty what I THINK they will do.

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God was very close with the first generation, but he didn't pre-empt Cain's attack on Abel now did he? Nor did Cain consider God's wishes.



Pre-emption doesn't seem to be God's style in the Bible. He sees what people do, and if they do wrong, as Cain did, he lets them know (either directly or through a messenger) and punishes them. He gave Cain the opportunity to make a choice, Cain chose to do evil, and God condemned him for it.

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As for whether Hagar really did marry Abraham, I suppose that's just a matter of interpretation.



No, it's a matter of perception. It was noted that Abram had sex with Hagar, but that doesn't mean he married--And not once did it ever say he did either. Throughout the entire Old Testament where she is mentioned, she is never once said to be his wife. Sarah was his only spouse.



Well, let's look at the quote again in context.

"16:2 And Sarai said unto Abram: 'Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing; go in, I pray thee, unto my handmaid; it may be that I shall be builded up through her.' And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. 16:3 And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife."

When Sarah herself is speaking, she says nothing about Abraham marrying Hagar. She just says "Have kids with her so you can build a lineage." When the Bible uses third-person narrative relating events as they happened, that's when we get the word "wife" being used. So based on that, it seems like Abraham really did marry Hagar. After all, the Bible says "to be his wife," instead of using something along the lines of "to be the mother of his kids." If Abraham hadn't really married her, the Bible wouldn't have used the term "to be his wife."

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Methos said:
Well, look at it this way. If multiple wives was considered improper in the eyes of God, he would have said so. The men with the multipe wives that I cited were incredibly righteous people. In the Bible, whenever a righteous person does something improper or even commits a sin, God lets them know that they've screwed up, either directly or through a prophet.



Saul, before God spoke to him, wasn't a "righteous person". That junks the standard.



If I recall correctly, God never spoke to Saul. He spoke to the propher Samuel, who would pass the message onto Saul. That was the role of prophets in those days.

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Since there's no record of God ever doing this to anyone just for multiple marriages, I can only assume that it wasn't anything he had an issue with.



Specious reasoning. I site Cain slaying Abel again--Which would be in conjunction to God sending an angel to stop Abram from killing his son. Plus, those three sins are more heinous than multiple marriage, they're not very good mediators.



I'll get back to you on this one.

"Just because I don't like to fight doesn't mean that I can't."