We stated in the last blog that people are increasingly troubled about the Bible. In our highly sensitive age, sceptics allege that in its pages are an outdated and repressive morality. Charges of social sins like chauvinism or economic slavery are levelled. One way this dislike is expressed is people will say: “The Bible is not a book that should always be taken literally.” When I hear this, my response is often to say, “I agree.” The Psalmist declares:
“Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
Psalm 62:2
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.“
This verse gives an accurate and true statement about God, but we don’t take it literally that God is a rock. If so, what kind is he? Igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic? You get the point. God is my fortress but not the kind made of stone or wood, obviously. “Rock” and “fortress” are not meant to be taken literally, but as figures of speech to stir our hearts and imagination as to how solid and reliable God is.
However, when someone says you cannot take all of the Bible literally, what they usually mean is that though there might be some good things in the Bible (e.g., Golden Rule); it also contains content which is morally regressive or outright wrong. As we stated in How NOT to Misread and Misunderstand the Bible (Part 1), this antagonism has developed because there is a basic misreading and misunderstanding.
The Bible has two overarching goals: to tell the story of God’s plan to bring restoration to a broken world and invite us into this restoring process. One cannot just pick up the Bible and read a section or a verse, as though it were a general “how to” manual. Every verse and every section is written as part of a story and has to be understood in light of that story. Let’s review basic truths on how to understand the Bible.
The Bible has two overarching goals: to tell the story of God’s plan to bring restoration to a broken world and invite us into this restoring process.
Truth # 1: The Bible is more like a library than a single book. It has many books with several styles and kinds of writing:
- History
- Law (to the Jewish Nation)
- Poetry
- Prophecy
- Gospels
- Letters
- Apocalpyse (Revelation)
Truth # 2: It was written over a period of nearly 1500 years (14450 BC to AD 100) with more than 40 authors, under many different empires, cultures and circumstances. The book of Exodus (1440 BC) will read much differently than the Gospel of John (AD 70), 1400 years later.
Truth # 3: This time period is distinguished between the Old and New Testaments. How you understand the Bible is significantly determined by which Testament you are reading.
Let’s go a little deeper. The story of God restoring a broken world in the Old and New Testaments can be seen as a story line which takes place in six acts. This is important because how you understand the content of the Bible is determined by how it fits in its story line.
Act 1: World’s Beginning
Act 2: Humanity’s Rebellion
Act 3: Israel’s Quest
Act 4: The King’s Arrival
Act 5: The Kingdom Coming
Act 6: God’s Homecoming
We will look at the first two acts (World’s Beginning and Humanity’s Rebellion) in this blog and the following acts in the forthcoming ones. As we do, we will look at the issue of polygamy in the Bible, for an example of how to understand the social sins which are described in it.
Act 1: World’s Beginning
The Bible’s story opens with God creating the heavens and the earth, taking the chaos of an unformed and unfilled mass and forming the world into a well-arranged structure. At each step of creation, God declares that his world is “good.” Then at the end, with his most important work of creation, he makes a pair of creatures in his own image: Adam & Eve. He then announces that all of creation is “very good.” (Genesis 1:31)
Human beings were made to represent God’s good, life-giving rule to the rest of the world. God built partnership and collaboration with us into the story from the very beginning.
27“So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Genesis 1:27-28
God, the Creator, is the most powerful actor in the Bible’s story, but he decided to do things together with humans as the real life drama unfolds. Humanity is made to reign over the world but under God. What happens to the creation significantly depends on the role humanity plays in this drama. Basic to this plan is that God made marriage: a life-long and totally united relationship between one man and and one woman. This relationship is foundational to all human community.
22 “Then the Lord God made a woman…and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said,
‘This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.’24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.“
Genesis 2:22-24
Then on the final day of creation God rested. Genesis records:
“God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.”
Genesis 2:2
God resting is very meaningful because in the writings of the ancient world, when deities rested, it meant that they took up residence in their temple. This key moment at the world’s genesis tells us that God considered the creation to be his home, the place where he would live and his story would be carried out. We are usually able to rest most fully at the place we consider home. When Genesis says that God “rested” it is because he was at home in the world. The entire biblical story will happen in the place God is now working with his image-bearers. The Bible’s vision is based on the foundation of God’s good creation, which includes full, flourishing life in God’s world, with everyone in harmony with God and each other.
Act 2: Humanity’s Rebellion
The image of a well-watered and flourishing paradise is quickly broken and shattered. The original parents are misled and deceived by God’s enemy—the serpent (Satan)—turning away from God to become a law unto themselves. (Genesis 3) So Adam and Eve are thrust from God’s paradise into a life with new difficulties and hardships which had been completely unknown. This is the first of many exiles in the Bible’s big story—people forced from their homes and away from God’s presence.
From this point on, humanity’s wrongdoing is presented as a radical departure from God’s founding vision. The story goes quickly downhill with all the well-known failures of human history on full display. God’s heart is broken. Where abundant life in and with God was intended, sin and death now invade and infect everything. Humanity has fallen into disrepair; they still rule the world, but very badly. Creation is wounded. In the next chapter after Humanity’s Rebellion in Genesis 3, chapter 4 records the distorting development of God’s foundational expression of love in marriage: polygamy. (Genesis 4:19)
How Did Polygamy Begin in Genesis?
The first polygamist in Scripture is Lamech. He is portrayed in Genesis as the archetypal bad guy, a man of bloodlust and violence. Here he is described bragging to his wives about his acts of vengeance and murder in the form of song:
19 “Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah… 23 Lamech said to his wives,
‘Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
Genesis 4:19, 23-24
wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for injuring me.
24 If Cain is avenged seven times,
then Lamech seventy-seven times.’”
Lamech’s two wives establishes a stark contrast between God’s good design in the garden and life away from the presence of God. We then go on to read of the practice of polygamy in many places through the Old Testament (e.g., Abraham & Jacob). Modern cynics sometimes point to such examples as instances of the Bible endorsing polygamy or at the very least having an uncritical complicity in the practice. So, why did God allow polygamy in the Old Testament and not just put a complete stop to it?
As people moved away from God’s original plan, societies became more violent and male-dominated. It was nearly impossible for an unmarried woman to provide for or protect herself. Polygamy became commonly practiced as societies had to adapt to the brokenness in the world. It became socially necessary for at least three reasons:
- There were probably more females than males. The rate of death among men could be very high.
- It was important for every female to be attached to a household for protection.
- A large number of children were needed to work the fields or with the herds. Polygamy allowed for many more children to be born to make family farming sustainable.
One writer explains the cultural conditions at that time:
Women relied on their fathers, brothers, and husbands for provision and protection. Unmarried women were often subjected to prostitution and slavery. So, it seems that God may have allowed polygamy to protect and provide for the women who could not find a husband otherwise. A man would take multiple wives and serve as the provider and protector of all of them. While definitely not ideal, living in a polygamist household was far better than the alternatives: prostitution, slavery, or starvation.
Polygamy was not God’s idea, yet because of the brokenness in the world, polygamy became a social necessity. In every case where polygamous relationships are described, you’ll quickly find relational disaster that creates heartbreak and family discord. It is in no way promoted in the Bible. In fact, as Moses gives the Law (1400 BC), God forbids kings to practice it:
“He [the king] must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray.”
Deuteronomy 17:17
In regard to this moral departure from God’s intention for marriage, the story of the Bible is God bringing restoration out of this brokenness. He will progressively reset the clock back to the original plan of Genesis 1 and 2. By the time of the writing of Malachi (the last book of the Old Testament), God’s desire was clear: one man and one woman for life was to be the norm. When Jesus arrives, he fully affirms this:
4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
Matthew 19:4-6
God is always pointing his broken creation back to the primacy and perfection of the original design.
As you read about the questionable practices in the Bible, understand that God is always pointing his broken creation back to the primacy and perfection of the original design. Restoration from brokenness is what God is striving for, and always with humanity as his intended partner. This is why all of the Bible points to Jesus Christ, the height and center of all restoration through his work on the cross. He is the absolute height of the biblical plot–the center of God’s restoration effort. To view the Bible from this lens helps you to NOT misunderstand and misread some of the problematic issues and passages more clearly.
19“For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, 20and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.“
Colossians 1:19-20
Story of Grace 
Like this simple and understandable explanation. Thank you.
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