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When men in the Old Testament had many wives and concubines, was that not committing adultery?

  Hello, I wanted to know whether King Solomon and King David will be in heaven because both of them had more wife's and concubines? Is this not adultery?

  The word ADULTERY is defined as "immorality between a married man and someone other than his wife, or between a married woman and someone other than her husband." (Merriam Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary). That definition of adultery would not apply to a person just because he has more than one wife (or concubine).

Where David did commit adultery was with Bathsheba. II Samuel 11:2-4 says, "And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house." He was immoral with Bathsheba who was not his wife.

Because of that, God did judge David. II Samuel 12:7-14 says, "And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die."

Adultery is a terrible sin with consequences to it, but it is not an unforgivable sin. When David was confronted with his sin, he did NOT pray that God would restore him his SALVATION, but his JOY. Psalm 51:12 says, "Restore unto me the JOY of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit."

Salvation cannot be lost, because salvation does NOT depend upon OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, but upon GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS. There are many religious people in this world who have a false concept of salvation.   They think that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross starts their salvation, and then they have to be good to hold onto that salvation. That is a salvation of good works, which is a FALSE salvation.

I John 2:1,2 says, "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have AN ADVOCATE with the Father, JESUS CHRIST THE RIGHTEOUS: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."

The command is very clear, "Do not sin." So what happens when we do break God’s Law and sin? That is when we need an advocate. An ADVOCATE is "one who pleads the cause of another (especially before a tribunal of judicial)." (Merriam Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary). Those verses tell us who our advocate is, when we are saved — it is Jesus Christ THE RIGHTEOUS. Pleading on our behalf does not make Him less righteous, because He is the PROPITIATION for our sins. The word PROPITIATION means, "satisfaction." Jesus fully satisfied the payment for our sins. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Jesus fully paid that penalty by dying for us on the cross. I Corinthians 15:3,4 says, "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures."

So salvation cannot be lost, because it is based entirely upon the righteousness of Jesus Christ. David did not lose his salvation because he sinned with Bathsheba. What he lost was the joy of his salvation, until he repented and confessed his sin.

What we are dealing with in the matter of many Old Testament characters having more than one wife, is NOT ADULTERY but POLYGAMY. The word is defined as "having a plurality of mates at the same time." (Merriam Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary). Does God approve of polygamy? No. Then why did He allow it?

When God created Adam and Eve, He only gave them one law. Genesis 2:16,17 says, "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

God did not start out giving the Ten Commandments to Adam and Eve. He did not even give them to Abraham. God gave the Ten Commandments even further down the line to Moses. Why did God wait so long? Galatians 3:19 says, "Wherefore then serveth the law? IT WAS ADDED BECAUSE OF TRANSGRESSIONS, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator." God made laws and gave them to mankind as man headed more and more in the wrong direction. God did not lay all of that upon Adam and Eve. God gave more laws as it was needed.

God could have had Cain put to death for killing his brother Abel, but God did not. Genesis 4:8-15 says, "And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me. And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And THE LORD SET A MARK UPON CAIN, LEST ANY FINDING HIM SHOULD KILL HIM."

There was no law set down about a murderer, so the Lord let Cain live. But later on, God would make a law that murderers were to be put to death. Genesis 9:6 says, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man."

In the Old Testament, there was no specific law about not having more than one wife, although Jesus clearly states that man should have easily understood that from creation itself. Mark 10:2-12 says, "And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But FROM THE BEGINNING OF CREATION GOD MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then THEY ARE NO MORE TWAIN, BUT ONE FLESH. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. And he saith unto them, Whosoever SHALL PUT AWAY HIS WIFE, AND MARRY ANOTHER, committeth ADULTERY against her. And if a woman SHALL PUT AWAY HER HUSBAND, AND BE MARRIED TO ANOTHER, she committeth ADULTERY."

The idea of adultery is LEAVING your present husband/wife to marry another; or LUSTING after someone who is not your husband/wife (Matthew 5:28, "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."); or committing IMMORALITY with someone who is not your husband/wife.

David committed adultery with Bathsheba, because he was not married to her; because he lusted after her; because he committed immorality with her; and because she was married to someone else, Uriah. II Samuel 12:9 says, "Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon."

In the other cases with David, like with Michal, she was unmarried (when he married her at the first. She was later wrongly married to another man, and so was returned to David). Nabal was dead before David married Abigail. I Samuel 25:39-42 says, "And when David heard that NABAL WAS DEAD, he said, Blessed be the LORD, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for the LORD hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife. And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, David sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife. And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord. And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that went after her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife."

The Lord Jesus Christ, in Mark 10:2-12, was giving the Law clearly as man should have seen it from the beginning — God’s will has always been NO DIVORCE, and ONE MAN FOR ONE WOMAN FOR LIFE. "And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But FROM THE BEGINNING OF CREATION GOD MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then THEY ARE NO MORE TWAIN, BUT ONE FLESH. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. And he saith unto them, Whosoever SHALL PUT AWAY HIS WIFE, AND MARRY ANOTHER, committeth ADULTERY against her. And if a woman SHALL PUT AWAY HER HUSBAND, AND BE MARRIED TO ANOTHER, she committeth ADULTERY."

For New Testament leaders, God makes it very clear that having more than one wife is NOT acceptable to Him. I Timothy 3:1,2 says, "This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, THE HUSBAND OF ONE WIFE..." I Timothy 3:12 says, "Let the deacons be THE HUSBANDS OF ONE WIFE..."

It was always God’s perfect will for ONE MAN to have ONE WIFE for life. That was the example of creation. God did not make two Eve’s or ten Eve’s or one hundred Eve’s for Adam. God made one woman for the one man. When man continually went against that perfect will and plan and example of God, then God finally made a law against it, which we have today.

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