I was all set to write on this topic and found the good fellows at: http://www.righteouswarriors.com/controversial/article8.html has already done a fine job of it. So I am referring to their article here.
Clash of Cultures
The polygynous pattern is found throughout Scripture, whether talking about the husband (head of the household) and the wives, or Messiah (the head of the assembly) and the body of Messiah (also referred to in Scripture as the bride of Messiah). Symbolically, when Messiah comes for His bride, does it mirror a monogynous (one to one) or a polygynous (one to many) relationship?
Messiah is also referred to in Scripture as the Lion of Judah. He is also known as the Passover Lamb. But whatever term is used, you’ll find a parallel to polygynous creatures. A pride of lions is formed by one male lion, several female lions and their cubs. The males will fight one another for possession of the pride, but only one of them gets the females. Lions are highly polygynous and sociable, with the females harmoniously grooming one another as part of their social activities and suckling one another’s cubs. A male lamb, when mature, becomes a ram. Rams also compete for the flock. The winner gets the ewes.
In Matthew chapter 10, Yahushua said, “See, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves”. Wolves are always referred to in Scripture as depicting evil, and wolves are fiercely monogynous and highly exclusive. The dominant male and female will not allow the other wolves to mate.
The reason that we in the West have such a hard time accepting what the Scriptures clearly say on this matter has to do with the nature of Roman and Greek thinking in relation to marriage. The culture of Western Civilization teaches us to live in a state of “serial monogamy”, where a person, male or female, can marry, divorce and then remarry as many times as desired. The offshoot of this type of thinking is, of course, anti-marriage. Having more than one wife is simply not acceptable in Western Civilization, but fornication, divorce, adultery, promiscuity, sodomy, pre-marital sex, orgies, mistresses, cohabitation or living together – these things are acceptable, expected, and in many ways, encouraged in our culture.
A major cause of our marital and social decadence is inherent in the pagan Roman and Greek philosophy that there must be only one wife at a time and that she must be exclusive. It’s that simple. There can be no other, for she has exclusive possession of her husband, and this exclusive possession of him inherently and subtly gives her the right into almost every aspect of his life.
In the Scriptures, you are either married or unmarried. … The reason polygyny is so vehemently opposed by so many believers is not, I suspect, because they reject it as Biblical, but because it represents a “clash of cultures”. Whatever the West is, it is NOT Hebraic, it is Greek. By gaining a better understanding of Elohim’s Word, we find ourselves returning back to our Messianic or Hebraic roots. Once we accept what the Tanak and the Messianic Scriptures say on this subject, instead of what people may think about the subject, we are invariably forced to accept polygyny as a valid form of marriage.