Terry Houlahan (critic) who believes the Book of Mormon is a purely 19th-century production and that Joseph Smith was "a man affected by Narcissistic Personality Disorder" (p. 2) admits in the following that Jacob 2:30 that it is an "exception clause" that allows for polygamy when God commands such (contrary to some "polygamy deniers" like Michelle Stone):
The Book of Mormon is full
of prophetic exhortation language. Verse 24: One surprise is David and Solomon
are not revered patriarchs portrayed in the Bible. They are abominators, practicing
polygamy. Verse 25 refers to Joseph of the Magic Technicolor Dreamcoat saving
everyone from the Egyptians. It promises a renewed people who’ll be the issue
of the fruit of the loins of Joseph. Perhaps the prophet from Palmyra saw dreamcoat
Joseph as his progenitor. Verse 26, sip. Verse 27: A clear declarative
sentence. No polygamy. Verse 28: chaste women, good; male whoremasters and
abominators, bad. Verse 29: Obey the prophet.
Now we come to 2 Jacob:
30. I swear to a higher power whose existence I doubt, that if Joseph had
become a lawyer, they’d have nicknamed him Loophole Smith—seriously—based solely
on this particular example where he roundly approves what he has just
condemned:
30 For I will, saith the Lord of
Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall
hearken unto these things.
The gist: if your name is ‘the Lord
of Hosts’ and he says he wants to raise an army—little missionary boots on the
ground—then it is within his purview to command every man to marry and have as
much sex as humanly possible, to impregnate every fruitful woman to raise up
seed. The Book of Mormon’s code word for polygamy is “raise up seed.”
From a naturalistic point of
view, the first mention of Mormon polygamy did not come from the Mormon prophet
Jacob 2,565 years ago, it also didn’t come with the polygamy revelation of
1843, but rather sometime in April, May, or June of 1829, when Joseph dictated
the Book of Mormon’s Verse 30. (Terry Houlahan, 35 Wives: The Mormon
Polygamist Joseph Smith [2025], 141-42)