“Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors.   But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.”  (Gen 37:3-4)

You might wonder why in the world I am quoting this verse in connection to jealousy and polygamy.  And indeed, why in the world would I, since obviously, the jealousy of Joseph’s brothers that we are told about in Gen 37 has nothing to do with polygamy.  We are told specifically why Joseph’s brothers were jealous of their youngest sibling:  Their father favored him because he was the son of his old age.

There is, of course, a reason why I quote this in connection with polygamy.  It has been said by good Christian critics of polygamy that quite obviously, polygamy causes strife, not only between wives, but also between brothers, as we can see in the example of Joseph who gets sold to the Ishmaelites because his brothers are so jealous of him.  In order to blame this jealousy on the polygamous lifestyle the family led, one has to  assume that Israel loved Joseph more than his other children because he was the only (at that point) son of Rachel, the wife Israel favored. This assumption has its roots in the romantic ideas modern day Christians, just like the “rest” of society, have about love.

But Scripture clearly tells us that Israel loves Joseph “because he was the son of his old age”.  So we have another case here of people leaning unto their own understanding / assumptions rather than relying on the plain facts of Scripture.  It’s really a little ridiculous that something like this has to be pointed out, but experience has taught me that no argument is too silly for those good Christians who oppose polygamy that they would not use it.

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