PASTOR’S SIDE PIECE | Polygamy, the Black Family & the Mothers of Israel
Our children are growing up without fathers in the home, and the church acts like it’s not happening. 41% of Black children live in a single-mother home. Only 37% live with both married parents. Nearly 7 in 10 Black babies are born to unmarried mothers.
So what did Israel do when the men weren’t there?
In this discussion we open Genesis and look at something most pulpits never talk about: plural marriage in the households of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the fact that it was often the women who proposed it. Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham. Rachel gave Bilhah. Leah gave Zilpah. The twelve tribes of Israel came from four mothers, and the Messiah came through Judah, the son of the wife Jacob loved less.
Then we turn to the prophet. Isaiah 4:1 says “seven women shall take hold of one man.” Is that a warning, a description, or a solution?
This is not a sermon. It’s a conversation, and Scripture is honest about the cost too. Come ready to think.
Scriptures referenced
Genesis 16, 21, 24–25, 27, 29–30, 35, 49 · Joshua 13, 19 · Ruth 4 · Isaiah 3:25–4:2 · Matthew 1 · Luke 3 · 1 Timothy 5:8 (KJV)
Statistics sources
Bowling Green State University NCFMR, Children’s Family Structure, 2025 (U.S. Census CPS-ASEC)
CDC/NCHS, Births: Final Data for 2023
U.S. Census Bureau, Living Arrangements of Children
💬 Where do you stand? Is plural marriage biblical for today, or a relic of the past? Keep it respectful in the comments.
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