Marriage God's Way

# 358 - Today's Du-votional comes from: 1Sa 25:39b-44, “And David sent and proposed to Abigail, to take her as his wife. 40 When the servants of David had come to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her saying, "David sent us to you, to ask you to become his wife." 41 Then she arose, bowed her face to the earth, and said, "Here is your maidservant, a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord." 42 So Abigail rose in haste and rode on a donkey, attended by five of her maidens; and she followed the messengers of David, and became his wife. 43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and so both of them were his wives. 44 But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from Gallim. (1 Sam 25:39b-44) If you recall, David started out with Michal, Saul's daughter as his first wife, but then Saul took her away from him and gave her to Palti. So David, now without a wife, is presented with an opportunity to remedy that and perhaps stricken by the inner beauty and grace of Abigail, asks for her hand in marriage. Abigail is no fool, she knows that the lot of the widow in these early biblical times is not good. SO she hastened on her way to become his wife. But David doesn't stop there. He also marries Ahinoam, who incidentally bears his first child, Amnon. But David doesn't stop there. We read in 1 Chron 3:1-9, of at least five more wives, and numerous unnamed concubines. Multiple wives and concubines was an accepted practice in the world he lived in, but it was never sanctioned by God, who set the standard in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, and then reiterated it through Jesus. We read about it in Mt 19:3-6, “The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?" 4 And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' 5 "and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? 6 "So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." David's marital practices were greatly influenced by the world, sadly, it seems we are under the same ungodly influence today. “ Father, forgive us for our failures in dealing with this “institution that you love,” and help us to regain a right understanding of Your idea of marriage. “