Concern Aren’t you Mormons the ones who practice polygamy?

Discussion Between the late1830s and 1890, plural marriage or polygamy was

practiced on a limited basis in the Church. It has not been practiced in the Church since 1890.

My companion and I are in our early twenties, and therefore the practice of polygamy seems just as foreign to us as it does to you, yet we know that it was practiced because the Lord commanded it. The will of the Lord was unmistakable and was revealed to his modern-day prophets beginning with Joseph Smith and extending through Wilford Woodruff.

You may well ask why polygamy was practiced? Why did the Lord so direct his saints? The pattern of marriage commanded by the Lord in his earthly kingdom is generally monogamous – one husband and one wife. It is clear from the biblical record, however, that plural marriage has been practiced for short periods of time throughout the ages when the Lord has commanded it for his purposes, as in the cases of Abraham, Jacob, David, and others. In 2 Samuel 12:8 Nathan the prophet, speaking in the name of the Lord, said “Thus saith the Lord God . . . [speaking to David], I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives.” The God of Israel was the one who gave David his wives. The Lord regarded polygamy in the Old Testament as an abomination only when it was unauthorized and practiced without righteousness (2 Samuel 12:9; 1 Kings 9:11; 15:5).

While we may not know all of the reasons, why the Lord commands it, an important clue is found in modern-day scripture, the Book of Mormon. The prophet Jacob taught his people that monogamy was the general rule commanded of the Lord, but then he pointed out that there are circumstances when the Lord may direct his people otherwise. Jacob also stressed that unauthorized plural marriage constituted the sin of adultery. Jacob taught: “Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none. . . . Wherefore, this people shall keep my commandments, saith the Lord of Hosts, or cursed be the land for their sakes. For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things” (Jacob 2:27-30). Jacob teaches here that at certain times the Lord may wish to “raise up seed” unto himself. In such cases, he may command his people to begin the practice of plural marriage. The prophet Joseph Smith taught: “I have constantly said no man shall have but one wife at a time, unless the Lord directs otherwise” (TPJS, 324). In the first half-century after the restoration of the Church, the Lord, in his wisdom, commanded that plural marriage be practiced – apparently to “raise up seed” to his earthly kingdom.

Joseph Smith knew full well that the introduction of plural marriage would inevitably invite severe criticism – from without the Church, from within the Church, and even from within his own family. Still, he felt obligated to move ahead. “The object with me is to obey and teach others to obey God in just what he tells us to do,” he taught several months before his death. “It mattereth not whether the principle is popular or unpopular. I will always maintain a true principle even if I stand alone in it” (TPJS, 332). President Lorenzo Snow taught that Joseph Smith proceeded to introduce the practice in Nauvoo only after an angel declared that he must, or his calling would be given to another (Bachman, Daniel W. “A Study of the Mormon Practice of Plural Marriage before the Death of Joseph Smith.” M. A. thesis, Purdue University, 1975, 74-75). Joseph Smith told Brigham Young that he was determined to press ahead though it would cost him his life, for “it is the work of God, and He has revealed this principle, and it is not my business to control or dictate it” (Brigham Young Discourse, October 8, 1866, Church Archives).

In 1890, President Wilford Woodruff issued an inspired declaration to the Church in which he made clear that the Lord had revealed to him that the practice of polygamy should cease in the Church. Undoubtedly, the political pressures brought upon the Church at that time played a role in the Lord’s rescinding his commandment to practice plural marriage. Since the early 1900s, no member-in-good standing in the Church has engaged in plural marriage.

Those who would criticize the practice of polygamy and refuse to acknowledge it as a God-inspired principle would do well to listen to the wisdom imparted by Paul to Titus: “Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled” (Titus 1:15). There has been much written of the practice of polygamy within the Church that has been written with an anti-Mormon spirit. Intelligent and fair-minded people would go to the honest sources rather than to those who would be inclined to distort and lie.

Concern Jehovah’s Witnesses and others like to point out what they think is a discrepancy or contradiction they believe they’ve found in our scriptures regarding the doctrine of polygamy: Jacob 2:24-27 says, “Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord. Wherefore, thus saith the Lord, I have led this people forth out of the land of Jerusalem, by the power of mine arm, that I might raise up unto me a righteous branch from the fruit of the loins of Joseph. Wherefore, I the Lord God will not suffer that this people shall do like unto them of old. Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none.” This verse of scripture seems to condemn the practice of polygamy under any circumstances.

D&C 132:39 on the other hand, seems to indicate that under some circumstances, polygamy is allowed by the Lord: “David’s wives and concubines were given unto him of me, by the hand of Nathan, my servant, and others of the prophets who had the keys of this power; and in none of these things did he sin against me save in the case of Uriah and his wife; and, therefore he hath fallen from his exaltation, and received his portion; and he shall not inherit them out of the world, for I gave them unto another, saith the Lord.” Why the contradiction?

Discussion There is no contradiction here. The answer is found by reading a bit further in the book of Jacob where we learn that while the Lord usually forbids the practice of polygamy, there are some circumstances in which he allows it. Jacob 2:30 reads “For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things.” Thus in those circumstances in which the Lord desires to “raise up seed unto me,” he will allow the practice.

Is it not strange that the Lord did not condemn Abraham and Jacob (Israel) upon whom he founded the house of Israel; nor did he condemn the parents of Samuel, the great prophet, nor others who had plural wives; nor did he condemn others who had plural families. He did not condemn Solomon and David for having wives which the Lord gave them.

Now turn to 2 Samuel 12:7-8, and you will find that the Lord gave David wives. David was not condemned by the Lord for the wives given by the Lord, but rather because of Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah (2 Samuel 12:9-14). In your reading of the Old Testament you will also find that Solomon was blessed, and the Lord appeared to him and gave him visions and great blessings when he had plural wives, but later in his life, he took wives that the Lord did not give him. For evidence of this, turn to 1 Kings 11, and read it.

Endnotes

1. The exact number of Latter-day Saints who participated in the practice is not known, but studies suggest a maximum, late in the nineteenth century, of from 20 to 25% of LDS adults were members of polygamous households.