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[Citizen Kane]

Why do most Christians say polygamy is a sin if God gave David Saul’s wives in 2 Samuel 12:8? God can’t sin nor cause anyone to sin, so God giving David multiple wives wouldn’t be a sin, right?

[jimwalton]

Paul Copan writes,

"Allegedly, God’s own commentary here suggests an endorsement of polygamy. Isn’t God graciously providing multiple wives for David?

"We should be careful about reading too much into the word gave. After all, the same word is used in 2 Sam. 12.11; certainly God didn’t demonstrate approval of polygamy by 'giving' David’s wives over to his treacherous son, Absalom.

"Furthermore, the 'master' in this verse is Saul. The sentence indicating that God 'gave' Saul’s 'house' and 'wives' to David is probably a general reference to the transfer of Saul’s estate to the new monarch, David. If David took Saul’s wife, Ahinoam (1 Sam. 14.50), to be his own, this would be in violation of levitical law: Ahinoam was the mother of Michal, whom Saul gave to David as a wife, and Lev. 18.17 forbids marrying one’s mother-in-law. Therefore the passage here hardly lends support to God’s endorsement of polygamy."

from Paul Copan, Is God a Moral Monster? pp. 115-116