. . . 2 Sam 12:8 says that God blessed David
with many wives. Copan will try to maneuver around this, but for now suffice it
to say that this too clearly constitutes God’s express approval on polygamy.
. . .
Moving on, and nearing the end of Copan's
discussion of polygamy, Copan notes that 2 Sam 12:8 indicates that God gave David
multiple wives:
I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued
you from the hand of Saul; I gave you your master's house, and your master's
wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if
that had been too little, I would have added as much more.
So here is a pretty clear statement, from
Yahweh to David, that Yahweh gave David wives, and the implication is that
Yahweh gave them to David as a sign of his blessing and approval of David. How
does Copan maneuver around this text? Two lame arguments. We'll look at the
second first.
He claims that the transference of Saul's wives
was merely the only explicitly noted portion of the "house" of Saul
that God gave David, such that David became the master of Saul's
"estate" without actually being married to all of Saul's wives.
Noting that Saul's wife Ahinoam (1 Sam 14:50) was mother of David’s wife Michal
and that levitical law prohibits the marriage of a mother-in-law (Lev 18:17),
he argues that the wives of Saul that David received as part of his new
position should not be assumed to have become additional wives for David. So,
Copan concludes, this text, despite appearances, really doesn’t endorse
polygamy (115).
But the text says Yahweh gave Saul’s wives
(plural) to David. Not all of them were Michal’s mother. Only one, in fact.
This isn’t hard to reconcile. So either Ahinoam was dead, or God gave all of
Saul’s wives, excepting Ahinoam, to David. Enough said. But his first
argument is the one that really displays Copan’s capacity to grasp at straws.
Cautioning his readers not to take the
terminology of “giving wives” too literally, he calls attention to the same
word in 2 Samuel 12:11, in which God tells David that he would “give” his wives
to his son Absalom. This, argues Copan, is clearly not evidence that God
approves of polygamy, since the giving of David’s wives over to a traitor is
(apparently) hard to imagine (115).
On the contrary, it only reinforces
the fact that these texts assume Yahweh gives multiple wives as a blessing.
What verse 8 clearly says is that God gave David many wives as a blessing, and
what verse 11 clearly says is that God will take away that blessing in order to
punish David. Yahweh isn’t giving Absalom David’s wives because he approves of
Absalom; he’s giving them away because he (currently) disapproves of
David. To wit: Yahweh gives and takes away the blessing of many wives. The many
wives are assumed here to be a sign of David’s greatness. “If that had been too
little,” Yahweh says, “I would have added much more!” (Thom Stark, “Is God a Moral Compromiser?
A Critical Review of Paul Copa’s ‘Is God a Moral Monster?’,” [2d ed.;
2011], 118, 125-26)
