[Commenting on Jacob 2:23-35]
It should be observed here that the
Lord restricts marriage to monogamy unless He commands otherwise and which He
does under certain conditions to RAISE UP A RIGHTEOUS SEED unto Him. But
notice [God] says that the reason He brought Lehi and His family out of
Jerusalem and into the promised land was to RAISE UP A RIGHTEOUS BRANCH
[through Plural Marriage?] unto Him.
A careful reading of these early pages
of the Book of Mormon, especially when none has much of the SPIRIT OF THE
LORD, reveals that Lehi lived plural marriage. Notice the emphasized words
in the following passage concerning the tragedy which occurred on the ship when
Nephi was bound with cords:
“Now my father, Lehi, had said many
things unto them, and also unto the sons of Ishmael, but, behold, they did
breathe out much threatenings against anyone that should speak for me; and MY
PARENTS BRING STRICKEN IN YEARS, and having suffered much grief because of
their children, they were brought down, yea, even upon their sickbeds.
Because of their grief and much sorrow, and the iniquity of my brethren, they
were brought near even to be carried out of this time to meet their God; yea, THEIR
GREY HAIRS were about to be brought down to lie low in the dust; yea, even
they were near to be cast with sorrow into a watery grave.
And Jacon and Joseph also, being young, having need of much nourishment, were
grieved because of the afflictions of THEIR MOTHER; and also my wife
with her tears and prayers, and also my children did not soften the hearts of
my brethren that they would loose me.” [1 Nephi 18:17-10. My emphases.]
Nephi says here that Laman and Lemuel
were very unkind to HIS OWN aged other, and that they were also
very rude to Jacob and Joseph who [being very young] needed much nourishment
from THEIR [young?] mother. Jacob and Joseph’s mother was young
enough to bear unto the elderly Leh, two young boys in the wilderness, whereas Nephi’s
mother was gray-haired and aged. Neph, her youngest son was probably in his
mid-twenties, since he was a young man when they left Jerusalem and now they
had been in the wilderness eight years. Perhaps when Nephi and his brethren
went back to Jerusalem to get Ishmael’s family, included among them was a woman
who became Lehi’s wife. Or, it is possible that a plural wife of Lehi came with
him when he first left Jerusalem. Oth in the Bible and in the Book of Mormon,
women are seldom mentioned. Nephi, for instance, had sisters and yet they are
only mentioned after Lehi’s family had arrived in America and at the time Nephi
is told by the Lord to flee from Laman and Lemuel. [2 Nephi 5:6] (Lynn L.
Bishop, The 1886 Visitations of Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith to John
Taylor: The Centerville Meetings [Salt Lake City: Latter Day Publications,
1998], 47-48)
