Monday, December 2, 2019

Were Lehi et al Polygamists? Does the Book of Mormon Endorse Polygamy as the Norm for God's People?


Some Fundamentalist Mormon groups and apologists argue that the Book of Mormon actually teaches polygamy is not the exception but the “norm” for God’s chosen people (e.g., this video featuring two such individuals – the entire exchange, including the pseudo-scholarship and eisegesis shows the truly cultic nature of many of these groups). In response, Brian Hales wrote the following:

Some Mormon fundamentalist authors have argued that Lehi and his families were in fact polygamists, but after arriving in America, whoredoms arose causing the Lord to withdraw the privilege . . . However, this is incorrect. The abominations of the Nephites occurred after Lehi’s death (2 Ne. 4:12) and after Nephi’s death as well (Jacob 1:12). When Lehi’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren transgressed by taking plural wives, Jacob called the perpetrators to repentance saying: “the commandment of the Lord, which was given unto our father” was “that they should have save it were one wife and concubines they should have none” (Jacob 3:5). The chronology shows that Lehi was given the commandment to have one wife decades before his grandchildren and great-grandchildren experimented with polygamy. In their defense they sought to excuse themselves, not because the Lord had permitted their grandparent Lehi to practice polygamy, but “because of the things which were written [upon the brass plates] concerning David and Solomon his son” (Jacob 2:23). In response, Jacob quoted the Lord: “For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife and concubines he shall have none” (Jacob 2:27). If plural marriage is required for exaltation, God’s commandment to Lehi of monogamy, which continued throughout the entire Book of Mormon, is puzzling. (Brian C. Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, Volume 3: Theology [Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2013], 193 n. 9)