In the old testament, there exists no restrictions on the number of wives just as there were no restrictions about marriage between siblings and cousins. At the time of creation there was one man and one woman and the directive from God to go forth and multiply made it necessary to take as spouses sisters and brothers at one point and as generations grew cousins. Thus Solomon had 500 wives. God was angered with Solomon not because of his number of wives but because he married women that were of non-Jewish lineage from outside of the monotheastic tradition. The edict about one wife at a time shows up for the first time in new testament instruction. One of the clearest passages in the bibical Greek occurs in the section of the bible that gives criteria for being a deacon. It states in English and German translations that a deacon must have only one wife...in the greek it states clearly one wife at a time, in essence deacons and other church leadership were not to be married to more than one woman at the same time. Old testament tradition declared that when a woman was widowed the brother of her deceased husband had the responsibility to marry her and provide for her offspring...therefore many Jewish men were required by Mosaic law to marry second and sometimes third wives, which is another example of there being no restriction on the number of wives old testament husbands could have. I agree that the rules for remarriage are to be followed...however if adultery which is the only reason God gives for divorce has occurred by either partner...the other is free to remarry under new covenant tradition. Wives who have had adulterous spouses are not condemned to a solitary life under the new covenant. God's intent is that marriage should be entered into soberly...with maturity....for life. However men who leave their wives for other women under circumstances other than adultery do not continue to have spiritual authority over those that they have abandoned which is the intent of the bonds of marriage. This was not true in the Hebrew translations nor is this found in the Greek.