Weekend Kindness
Reaching Others Through Kindness

Monogamy lasts in the Bible all of four chapters.? From the creation of Adam and Eve until this statement about Lamech in Genesis 4:19:

And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one [was] Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

We are lead to believe that there were only marriages between one man and one woman.

What was the compelling reason to have two wives?? Insurance against sin:

And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.? If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold. ? Genesis 4:23-24

Lamech was proud.? He thought he was big stuff.? He believed that he was the best thing going.? And the weird thing here is that Adam and Eve were still having children at this point!? Just one verse later they have Seth.

Women as a Commodity

I attribute a lot of what happened to a woman?s place in the home to Lamech?s action here in Genesis 4.? He was the first to take two wives (which remember, at the time, would probably have been his cousins) and he also showed his contempt for God?s ways by killing another person (also probably his cousin) and he didn?t think it was that big of a deal.

This sets up what we see in the rest of the Old Testament?the pattern of women being looked at something to have, to bear children, as status, rather than as a companion, a help meet, or someone to build a life with.

Sarah and Rebekah

The notable exception is Sarah.? Sarah is the first wife that we really read anything about her as a person.? It is said of her that she made bad choices1, that she laughed at the idea of Isaac, and that she?s someone that women should model2.

Rebekah is also an interesting lady, where Isaac sends for someone that forsakes her family to join Isaac.? But both Isaac and his father both, when in the presence of the Egyptians, fail to trust God and claim that they?re related to their wives in order to protect them?still showing a bit of the ?ownership of women? that we saw in Lamech.

Women as Something to Work For

Jacob, though he had many wives, showed us that women are something that we should work for3 while emphasizing the point that women are commodities.

And yet he worked for them out of his love for Rachel.

But this is Getting Slightly Off Topic

Yes, it is.? But what I?m trying to show is how it changed from the perfect relationship to the imperfect ones.? Next time we?ll start looking at some relationships in the Bible and see what we can learn about the way a man can be a servant leader.

1. The choice of Hagar to complete the promise, rather than waiting on God.
2. I Peter 3:6
3. Spending 14 years to marry his two wives

Tags