Good God! What sane man would have more than one wife??!! Oh the humanity! Oh the horror!
You’d think logical people would figure that out...then there are the Muzzies....
RE: What sane man would have more than one wife??!!
Kings David and Solomon ( especially the latter ) were bonkers then.
and extra mothers in law. :(
Regardless of what century, nation or culture -— and assuming that sex selection abortion is not being practiced-— the natural ratio of male to female births is 1.05, meaning slightly more males than females are born. Thereafter the ratio typically flips because of males having *slightly* higher infant and childhood mortality rates. However there are still roughly equal numbers of males and females through young adulthood.
That means that, while it is possible for a few men to have multiple wives, it is NOT possible for *most* men to have multiple wives. If the top 10% of men (in terms of money, power or prestige) have four wives apiece, it necessarily means that the bottom 40% of men will have *NO* chance of ever marrying and establishing a family.
This creates extreme social instability, in that having large numbers of young men with zero marital prospects and zero investment in the future, means that you have mobs of unattached males becoming detached from any sense of social responsibility. You get criminal gangs or passive dropouts: predators or parasites.
Obviously that is not God’s glorious plan for Israel, let alone the whole human race.
If all have a right to seek a suitable marital partner, and most men form stable marriages and families as a societal norm, that means one husband, one wife, that’s it. That is what God wants for our well-being; there is no other way.