Why did God bless some polygamous men like Abraham and Jacob?
The Devotional Answer
The devotional answer is that this situation demonstrates the difference between God’s standard and God’s accommodation. God's perfect standard for marriage, established at creation, is monogamy (one man and one woman, Genesis 2:24). The polygamy practiced by Abraham and Jacob was a product of the fallen world and cultural norms, driven by a lack of trust in God's timing (as seen with Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar).
God chose to fulfill His covenant promises through these imperfect men, not because He endorsed their polygamy, but because He is faithful even when we are not. He blessed them to advance His plan for salvation, showing that His grace is powerful enough to work through flawed vessels. The biblical narrative is brutally honest about the negative consequences that flowed directly from their polygamous choices.
The Simple Answer
God blessed Abraham and Jacob despite their polygamy because their blessing was tied to His covenant promise (Question 84) to bring the Savior, Jesus Christ, into the world through their lineage.
God’s Standard: Jesus affirmed the original standard: "But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh" (Mark 10:6-8).
The Flaw of Polygamy: The Bible never presents a positive picture of polygamy. In the lives of Abraham (conflict between Sarah and Hagar) and Jacob (jealousy between Leah and Rachel), the practice only resulted in strife, jealousy, and family chaos—evidence that it goes against God's best design.
God chose to use flawed people and redeem their mistakes to achieve His perfect goal.
The Deeper Dive
The story of the patriarchs shows God fulfilling His covenant promises to bring forth a nation, while simultaneously dealing with the consequences of human sin within the family unit.
1. Covenant Fulfilled Despite Imperfection
The central theme of the Abrahamic Covenant was that God would make Abraham's descendants a great nation through whom "all peoples on earth will be blessed" (Genesis 12:3).
This promise was unconditional on God's part. God blessed Abraham and Jacob to ensure this messianic lineage continued, not to endorse their cultural practices. God's faithfulness to His ultimate plan overrides the moral shortcomings of the human agents He uses (Question 96).
2. The Context of God’s Silence
While God never explicitly condemns polygamy in the patriarchal narratives, His silence is broken by the immediate, natural consequences recorded in the text:
Abraham: The attempt to circumvent God's promise by having a son with Hagar (Ismael) created centuries of conflict between the descendants of Isaac and Ishmael (Genesis 16).
Jacob: The intense rivalry between Jacob's wives, Leah and Rachel, and their jealousy over bearing children created a profoundly dysfunctional environment, which led to the tragic sale of Joseph into slavery (Genesis 37).
The narrative itself serves as a constant, practical critique of polygamy—it simply does not work within God's relational design.
3. God’s Progressive Revelation
Biblical ethics are often revealed progressively. God tolerated many practices in the beginning that He later forbade (Question 72), not because He changed (Question 90), but because He was gradually training humanity in holiness.
By the time of the New Testament, Jesus definitively returned the standard for marriage to its original, creation design: a binding, exclusive relationship between one man and one woman.
God's Assurance
God assures you that His character is perfectly holy, and His standards for a redeemed life are clear. He is patient with our historical imperfections while always leading us toward His perfect ideal in Christ.
“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” — Genesis 1:27 (NIV)
You are assured that the God who saves is the same God who establishes the perfect, redemptive standard for your life.
Your Takeaway Thought
Do not confuse God’s blessing on a covenant line with His approval of every action within that line. The stories of Abraham and Jacob teach you that God can use imperfect people to accomplish a perfect plan.
They show God’s enduring faithfulness even when His people are struggling against His best design, always directing us back to the perfect, exclusive union demonstrated by Christ and His Church.
