As Tony Montana said,

“In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women.”

Just as much as power and money, men lust after women.

We all (especially those of us who are single) lust after the most beautiful women and will do almost anything to get one. It is a sign of power and that you have a lot of money to have a beautiful woman.

The men and women in Westeros in Game of Thrones would agree (except for Cersi and her brother, Jamie who are too consumed with incest to think about such things). Tyrion was wedded to Sansa Stark as  he was a person of power. Littlefinger provided men and women to various genders upon request, often for political reasons. (Spoiler Alert) Poor Littlefinger, his games of political manipulation finally caught up to him!

Personally, I believe it is more beautiful when you have a beautiful woman and she loves you for you and not what you have. Also,  I believe that it is more beautiful when you have a lot of money and you love the woman you have, instead of thinking you should, “trade up” as if women were cars or trophies.

However, we as men all feel that if we are successful in something that we have a right to more.

In terms of women, it usually translates to  feeling you have a right to more partners or a more beautiful woman. The Bible is full of people who believed that should be true.  Samson comes to mind as does King David and Solomon. Poor Samson, he could not help himself. Even after the woman he was with set him up and announced “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” several times, he STILL went back to her. I mean, what kind of learning disability is THAT??? Then of course, King David who reasoned to himself. ‘Hey I am now King of Israel, I should be able to have any woman I want! So now, I am going to take another man’s wife!’ Well, at least his son,  Solomon did not take another man’s wife. But he did decide to have 700 wives and 300 concubines! I mean, that means it would have taken him almost 3 years to spend 1 day with all of them individually! Imagine holidays with his in-laws!

Now, I once dated a Mormon girl. She was very old-fashioned and she told me that she would be, “ok” with polygamy. Yes, I did get more than a few high-fives over that. I did think about it, believe me. However, I concluded that there are often times when I feel one wife is too many, much less more than one! Since the Mormon girl, I have had two other women tell me that they would be, “ok” with a polygamous relationship. This was after mentioning the Mormon girl and that she was accepting of polygamy, in casual conversation. Go figure.

Despite our natural inclination to want to make our woman a trophy or a status symbol, I believe the Bible does as well, encourage you to pursue love and deep relationships. It lasts longer and is ultimately more fulfilling than showing off. However, I will admit that there are only a couple people in the Bible who had successful relationships with women and there are fewer detailed accounts of happy monogamous couples.

Jeremiah 9:23 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches…

——————————————————————-W.