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)
