Lowell L. Bennion (1908-1996) wrote the following in a chapter entitled “Reading in Context” under the heading “In the Context of the Passage” wherein he writes of the importance and necessity of Latter-day Saints to engage in careful interpretation, not “proof-texting” of Scripture:
It is perfectly proper to quote a single verse or two of scripture, but in doing so one should have read what precedes it and what follows it. Otherwise he may misrepresent the author’s idea . . . In their missionary zeal, Latter-day Saints are sometimes guilty of quoting verses out of context. Isaiah 4:1 speaks of the day when seven women shall take hold of one man and ask to be called by his name. IN the past, it was common for missionaries to defend the practice of plural marriage with this verse, which to them was a prophecy of the practice of plural marriage. We might well gather this notion by reading this verse alone. If, however, we begin reading in chapter 3, from verse 16 to the end, we readily see that 4:1 belongs to the same train of thought as Isaiah 3:16-26. Isaiah sees that war is coming to Judah, and that the proud women of Judea, who are more concerned with decorating their faces and bodies than they are with the affliction of the poor in Israel, have made their contribution to the downfall of the nation. Not only have they lived in vain and idle luxury, but they have encouraged their masters to cheat and lie to get gain, living lives offensive to God and destructive of national unity and strength. What happens to women in time of war? Their men fall in battle and they become widows. Marriage meant much to the women of Israel; hence, in the day of calamity (which was near at hand) there might be seven women to one man. Isaiah was depicting the consequences of war brought on by unrighteousness. His prediction applies widely in human experience and is not a prediction of plural marriage. (Lowell L. Bennion, Understanding the Scriptures [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1981], 27, 28)
Further Reading
