Cultural Approval

Reflections on 2 Sam. 3:2-5 [1 Chron. 3:1-4]

Cultural approval does not equal divine approval. The former makes the will of mankind the measure of acceptance and the latter makes the will of God the measure of correctness. God may accept some things that are culturally approved, but he may reject others. David was a man with a godly heart, but when it came to marriage, he did what was culturally acceptable even though it violated God’s law.

MANY WIVES. The Scripture names six sons who were born to David in Hebron, each by a different wife. A man of power and wealth could marry several wives with cultural approval. The marriages confirmed the man’s power and gave him leverage in asserting that power. After Saul gave Michal to another man, David married two women from Judah, one from Jezreel and the other from Carmel, confirming his growing power in Judah. The hometowns of the last three wives are not known.

FOREIGN WIVES. One of the six sons born in Hebron was the son of Maacah. She was the daughter of the king of Geshur, a country east of the Sea of Galilee. Again, marriage to the daughter of a neighboring king was culturally approved. The marriage guaranteed an alliance between David and the king of Geshur, and put pressure on Ish-bosheth, who then had allied enemies to the north and the south.

VIOLATED LAW. Even though they were culturally approved, David’s marriages violated Mosaic Law. First, they violated the law concerning kings, which said the king must “not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away” (Deut. 17:17). Second, the marriage to the daughter of the king of Geshur violated God’s explicit command to Israel not to intermarry with the idolatrous nations of the land (Deut. 7:3). Geshur was a territory that the Israelites failed to conquer during the days of Moses and Joshua (Josh. 13:13) so that its people lived among the Israelites for many years.