destroying all that existed, but endeavoured to restrain the
evil, to show that it was contrary to God's original institution,
and to point out the consequences. He did not immediately
pronounce it unlawful, for that would have been attended with
serious inconveniences, but by the direction of God gave laws
to protect the wives and children. In the beginning of Genesis—he
showed that God's will was, that a man should have only
one wife, for that he did not create several women, but only
one. He gives the words of God, saying, "It is not good that
the man should be alone: I will make him an help meet for
him (Hebrew characters) where "help" is in the singular number, to
show that man was not to have more than one help meet for
him. And again, those words, "Therefore shall a man leave his
father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife," not unto
his wives, but to his wife; where it is also to be observed, that
God is laying down a law, not for Adam only, but for coming
generations. By exhibiting the original institution of marriage
in Paradise, whilst man was yet innocent, and stating the
original law and purpose of God, Moses plainly showed, that
God's will was, that a man should have only one wife. He
then goes on to show, that the first who departed from this
original institution was Lamech, one of the wicked descendants
of wicked Cain. "And Lamech took unto him two wives,"
(Gen. iv. 19,) whom he held up as a warning, recording of him
only that he had two wives, and that he was a murderer. With
this he contrasts the conduct of Noah and his sons, who had
only one wife each. In the history of the patriarchs he shows
the evil consequences of polygamy. He shows that it was not
the will of Abraham to take a second wife, but that Sarah in
her eagerness to have children misled him, and that discord
and domestic trouble soon followed. And by all the troubles
which the sons of Ishmael have since inflicted upon the children
of Isaac, God has, in his providence, confirmed the moral to be
drawn from the Mosaic narrative. Moses then points out the
happiness of Isaac, who had only one wife; and the troubles
of Jacob, who, not by his own choice, but by the wickedness of
Laban and the folly of Laban's daughters, had more than one;
and last of all, Moses gave in himself an example of the conduct
which he wished Israel to pursue by having only one wife
himself. A careful examination, therefore, of the law of Moses
will show that he only tolerated polygamy as an existing evil,
but that he intended to discourage it, by exhibiting the original
institution of marriage, and the many evils that result from a
departure from God's purpose. When, therefore, we show that
the oral law permits men to have more wives than one, and
that consequently it is accountable for all the evil thence
resulting, we cannot be charged with reproaching the law of
Moses. The oral law says expressly, that a man may marry
Page:The old paths, or The Talmud tested by Scripture.djvu/385
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