If polygamy is sinful, would Almighty God have allowed Jesus to come from the family of King David who has 19 wives?

Sina Adedeipe

It is doubtful if the Christians, clerics and laity alike, who preach that Almighty God in making Abraham send away Hagar was showing that He was against polygamy and that a man should marry one wife, have ever read the Bible beyond Genesis Chapter 21, where the story of the first divorce in the world is told in the Holy Book. The same applies to those who believe this gibberish stuff of theirs.

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If such people had read the Bible beyond that chapter they would have known that Esau and Jacob, the sons of Isaac and the grandchildren of Abraham, had three and four wives respectively. And that the Heavenly Father never told them to send away the spouses they married after the first one.

The story of Esau’s first two wives Judith and Basemath is in Genesis 26:24 – 25) and that of the third one, Mahalath in Chapter 28: 6 – 9. That of the first two spouses of Jacob, Rachel and Leah is in Genesis 29: 15 – 35) and that of Bilhah and Zilpah in Genesis 30:1 – 24.

In Genesis 32: 22 – 32 God changed Jacob’s appellation to Israel. In other words, the nation now known as Israel and its people, the Israelis (Israelites in the Bible), the Lord’s most favoured human beings in the world since creation got their name from Jacob. If the Ancient of Days is against polygamy, would He have named Israel after Jacob, a man who had four wives?

Jesus Christ who established Christianity and after whom the religion is named, was a descendant of Jacob and King David (Matthew 1: 1 – 17). The monarch had about 19 wives. Six of them are named in 2 Samuel 3: 1 – 5. Second Samuel 5:13 – 16 has it that he had eleven other sons. If as was the case with the first six, each of them was born by different mothers that meant King David at that stage had a total of 17 spouses.

He had two more wives. The story of his marriage to the 18th one, Bathsheba is in 2 Samuel 11:1 – 27 and that of his last wife, Abishag is reported in I Kings 1: 1 – 4. If polygamy is sinful, would Almighty God have allowed Jesus to come from the family of King David who has 19 wives? And would He have caused him to write 81 of the 150 Psalms in the Holy Bible, His Sacred Book for Christians?

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King David’s son, King Solomon whom the Heavenly Father so much loved that He sent Prophet Nathan to give him the name Jedidiah, which means “because the Lord loves him” (2 Samuel 12:24 – 25), had one thousand spouses made up of 700 wives and 300 concubines (I Kings 11:1 – 13). If the King of kings is against multiple-marriage, would He have made a man who had 1,000 spouses the wealthiest and wisest person in the Bible? Would He also have given him the grace to write 34 of the Psalms in the Christian Holy Book?

King Solomon was also the author of the first 29 chapters of the 31 – chapter Book of Proverbs, all the 12 chapters in the Book of Ecclesiastes and all the eight chapters in the Song of Songs (Solomon). Are the 66 Books in the Holy Bible not said to have been written with inspiration from God?

Next week: The sin some anti–polygamy pastors commit preaching restitution in which they tell divorcees married to new partners to return to their original spouses, which is against God’s order in the Holy Book.

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Ebenezer Babatope, the great (14)

EBINO’S publication of the full text of the rejoinder Alhaji Musiliu Smith, a former Inspector–General of Police, sent to him is what I am recommending to the Editors of newspapers and other columnists to emulate. As most journalists do, if not threatened with litigation, he too could just have reacted in two or three sentences, expressing regret that he published incorrect information that Musiliu’s ancestors were Ijesas. Ending up with an apology for the embarrassment he caused him and his family.

But that would not have been as appropriate, effective and desirable as publishing the rejoinder in toto or completely. By reproducing Alhaji Smith’s letter unedited, Ebino gave him the opportunity to show beyond doubt that he is a bona fide Lagos islander.

First, Ebino allowed readers of his column to know that Musiliu’s grandfather, Chief Abudu Smith (1886 – 1969), was the Osi of Lagos, a traditional chieftaincy title in which only an indigene can serve. Secondly, readers were allowed to know that Musiliu’s ancestors lived in the Olowogbowo area of Lagos Island and that they had four family houses there.

Those who know Lagos very well, as I stated last week, are aware that most of the people in that part of Lagos are indigenes of the Island. And only such people have family or ancestral homes or compounds on Lagos Island. Like Salvador’s compound (two of them, one on the left and the other on the right) at Bamgbose Street (popularly known as Agbole Sabado or Salvado) or Randle’s compound at Tokunbo Street (Agbole Randle).

Apart from IGP Smith, Ebino also apologized to me for claiming that I gave him the information. With this behaviour, he showed that he is not a “bole ka ja” (obnoxious) columnist. But a gentleman and worthy son of a clergyman and the Knight of the Methodist Church.

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Phenomenal matriarch of the Adedipes, Falaes, Adeojos & others (13)

I did not submit my curriculum vitae (CV) to General Tajudeen Olanrewaju in April 1994 for consideration by General Sani Abacha, military Head of State, in the appointment of the nation’s ambassadors to other countries or membership of a Board of Directors in a Federal Government agency.

The reason was that I had just left Concord Press of Nigeria owned by Chief Moshood Abiola, who since June 23, 1993 had mounted efforts for the actualization of his mandate for winning the June 13 presidential election. He had early that month retired me and the other three Executive Directors of his company.

I therefore considered that it would not speak well of me to accept General Olanrewaju’s invitation, having worked for Chief Abiola for 14 years (February 25, 1980 – April 8, 1994). If I was given appointment people might even have said that he retired us because he had heard the news that I was fraternizing with the Abacha regime.

Next week: The ill – fated December 1994 invitation for my CV for consideration for ministerial appointment in March 1995.