Past and Present of Polygamous relationships in History.
What is polygamy? Webster's dictionary defines polygamy as: The having of a.
plurality of wives or husbands at the same time; usually. the marriage of a man to more.
than one woman, or the practice of having several wives.
Polygamy is believed to have been practiced by early hebrews including several.
biblical figures such as Abraham, David and arguable the most revered polygamist.
Solomon (who had 700 wives and 300 concubines). The bible does not condemn the.
practice of polygamy and no Jewish theologan opposed it publicly, Says Joseph Ginat an.
anthropologist and professor at the University of Haifa in Israel. In the 10th century a.
rabbi named Gershom outlawed polygamy for a thousand years, saying that the jewish.
people have been prosecuted by so many nations that allowing polygamy to go on would.
only make matters worse. However, says Ginat, at the same time Gershom most likely.
assumed that a thousand years would be an eternity, but, that thousand year ban ended.
sometime around 1987. Apparantly Gershom was only speaking to Eastern European.
Jews (Ashkanazi). The Meditteranean (Sephardic) Jewish community continued to.
practice polygamy. Historically, polygamy has been practiced by woshippers of Islam. In.
the Koran (Islamic Bible) it states that a man may have a maximum but not withold.
himself to 4 wives.
Polygamy may be abhorrant to most Americans but in the global community it is.
common , normal and accepted. Although the percentage of men in the work with more.
than one wife is relatively small, as many as one-third of the worlds population belongs to.
a community that allows it. There are many plural marriages in Africa, The Middle East .
and in Asia. Many American Indian tribes allow polygamy; several experimantal Christian.
groups practice it, including The Chruch of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints. Polygamy.
is most prevalent in Muslim countries where there are no laws against it, and in.
