I was surprised when I received the text message from the user of GSM Number 080 – 3620 – 8657 that from the Book of Matthews 19:3 – 6 it was clear that God was against polygamy. This was the statement Jesus made when responding to the question of the Pharisees on divorce, and said: “Haven’t you read the scripture that says that in the beginning the Creator made people male and female?” (Good News Bible). And the text message from Dr. Andrew Omachi that Christians and Muslims do not worship the same God.
It was unnecessary for the person who sent the Matthew 19: 3 – 6 message to have come up with such an issue, because it was in my column of last week that he or she was responding to that God had no law in the Bible prohibiting polygamy. While in Exodus 21:10 – 11 and Deuteronomy 21: 15 – 17 the Lord gave the rule that a man who had two wives must not favour one and her children above the other.
On his part, Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:27 – 32 only spoke against adultery and divorce. So, how could anyone say that he was telling a man to have only one spouse with his statement in Matthew 19:3 – 6? Something he would not have said if the Pharisees had not asked him a question on divorce. If God was against polygamy, Christ certainly would have included it when He preached against adultery and divorce.
The statement in Matthew 19: 3 – 6 was a repeat or recall of what God said in Genesis 2:24 when He was instituting marriage, and not monogamy. This was His proclamation: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall become one flesh.” (King James Version).
If the person who sent the text to me does not know I am someone with the grace of speaking one – to – one with the Heavenly Father since 1969, fifty – one years ago. And I had raised the issue of plural – marriage with Him in 2003 and from what He told me I had written a piece I titled: “The Church, not God is against polygamy.
The 3 – part piece, a full page each, was published in the Daily Sun of September 23 – 25, 2003. That was four years before I started writing this column on December 19, 2007. And before this one, I wrote on the issue in 2009, 2012 – 13 and 2017.
What God was instituting in Genesis 2:24 was the marriage system in ancient Israel in which a man went to live and serve for seven years the father of the woman he wanted to marry. The system was revealed in the Bible with the story of the marriage of Jacob to his first two spouses, Leah and Rachel, whose dad, Laban, he worked for 14 years (Genesis 29: 15 – 35).
It was because of this seven – year – service – condition that only a few men in ancient Israel had more than two wives with the exception of the monarchs who could have as many spouses as they wanted. King David had 19 (See 2 Samuel 3:2 – 25 for the first six: 5:13 – 16 for another eleven; 11: 1 – 22 for Bathseba and I Kings 1:1 – 4 for the last one). His son, King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. The latter were the slaves of his spouses who had children for him (I Kings 11: 1 – 13).
The non – royal who had more than two wives were Jacob who had four, Esau, three and Gideon who had 70 sons from unnamed spouses. The number of daughters he had is also not stated in the Bible.
The other two spouses of Jacob were the slaves (maids or servants) his wives, Leah and Rachel, gave him when they could not have more children for him. These were Bilhah and Zilphah (Genesis 30: 1 – 24). Esau had three spouses because he married foreigners whose fathers he did not have to serve for seven years to have each of them (Genesis 26: 34 – 35 and 28: 6 – 9).
To have had more than 70 children Gideon must have had 15 to more than 20 wives and he was able to do this because he was a war – lord who must have married them by force (Judges 8:29-35).
Next week: My reply to Dr. Andrew Omachi that Christians and Muslims do not worship the same God.
Charlotte Dadah, A 2 – Day Friend, Everlastingly In My Heart
I was the unnamed “famous Nigerian journalist” Chief Ebenezer Babatope (a.ka. Ebino Topsy), in his now rested Political Panorama column in the Nigerian Tribune of Friday, March 10, 2017 referred to as the boyfriend of Charlotte Dadah, whom he described as “the female musical sensation from Ghana.” She was a back – up singer and the only female member of the popular Uhuru Dance Band of Ghana in the 1960s led by Ghanaian – born Stan Plange, a guitarist and music arranger.
Charlotte, who along with the globally popular South African – born Miriam Makeba, were the best known two female musicians in Africa, was generally referred to as the “Fabulous Girl with the Golden Voice and the best Ghanaian female musician ever that walked the earth. This is true till today.
Charlotte and I met in April 1968 when the Uhuru Dance Band came to play at the annual Havana dance carnival (festival) of the Sigma Club of the University of Ibadan. A club I joined in 1965 in my first year at the premier tertiary institution in Nigeria (established in 1948) and from which I graduated in June 1968. Sigma, formed around 1950, was the pioneer club in Nigerian universities, and after which the Pirates (Pyrates) and others came. It was known as the millionaires club or the club of the children of wealthy fathers because of its membership fee and annual subscription.
Given the circumstances in which we met, neither Charlotte nor I could ever have imagined that we would become friends in the last 36 hours of their three – day stay at the University of Ibadan. Such was our bond that we both had to shed tears when their band which arrived on a Saturday afternoon was leaving in the afternoon of the following Monday. It was the foolish behaviour of her colleague, Ed Ntreh, the lead vocalist of their band to me that created the situation in which we instantly became pals emotionally tied to each other. That is having strong mental and instinctive feeling of love.
Ed was unsettled by the warm way people, including Fela Ransome – Kuti (Anikulapo – Kuti as from late 1969), greeted me as I walked next to Charlotte leading members of their band from Trenchard Hall (venue of Havana night) to the Independence Hall where they were lodged. The bands of Fela and King Sunny Ade also played at the Havana that year.
The story of Charlotte continues next week with her photograph singing on stage.