Richard Packham, an atheist who left the LDS Church in 1958, and whose arguments have been discussed a few times on this blog, wrote the following as part of a paper entitled, “Major Contradictions in Mormonism”:
What is God's attitude toward David and Solomon having more than one wife?
Notice that it is not a question of whether different people at different times might be commanded or permitted or forbidden to practice polygamy; it has only to do with God's view of specific acts of polygamy. And remember that God is unchanging! (BoM, 3 Nephi 24:6)
§ BoM, Jacob 2:24 says that God considered David's and Solomon's polygamy as "abominable before me." (See also Jacob 1:15, 3:5.)
BUT:
§ At D&C 132:38-39 God says that David and Solomon did not sin in having more than one wife, and David's wives were "given unto him of me."
§ At 2 Samuel 12:7-8 God says, through the prophet Nathan, that David's wives were given to him by God.
One has to give some credit where it is due to Packham—he does not claim that Jacob 2 is a complete denunciation of plural marriage per se and focuses on the polygamy (or, to be more correct, polygyny) of David and Solomon. Indeed, Jacob 2:30 has long been cited as a text allowing for the practice of plural marriage if and when the Lord commands:
For if I will, saith the Lord of Hoses, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things [monogamy]
What is often overlooked in this discussion is that Jacob 2: 24 is based on Deut 17:17, a text dealing with the ideal king from the perspective of the Deuteronomists:
Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord. (Jacob 2:24)
Neither shall he [the king] multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. (Deut 17:17)
The Deuteronomy text warns against a Davidic king “multiplying” the amount of possessions he has, including gold, silver, and horses (see v.16). Contextually, it should be obvious that what is being condemned is not a linear increase of such things, including wives, but an exponential and/or forbidden increase thereof. In the case of King Solomon, he had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines (1 Kgs 11:3 [which also resulted in his embracing their idolatrous practices]), while David had an adulterous affair with Bathsheba, whom he would later marry as a polygynous wife, after murdering her husband to cover his tracks. Combined together, they truly had “many wives and concubines,” something condemned by Deut 17:17 and Jacob are unbecoming of a true Davidic king. That is what is abominable vis-à-vis the polygyny of David (and Solomon), not their polygyny per se, let alone the practice of polygyny in general.
Further Reading
David T. Lamb, Righteous Jehu and His Evil Heirs: The Deuteronomist's Negative Perspective on Dynastic Succession (Oxford, 2008)
Jamie A. Grant, The King as Exemplar: The Function of Deuteronomy's Kingship Law in the Shaping of the Book of Psalms (SBL: 2004)
Brian Hales, Joseph Smith's Polygamy, vol. 3: Theology (Greg Kofford Books, 2013)
The FAIRMormon page on the popular claim that D&C 132 and Jacob 2 are in conflict with one another can be found here.
