David & Solomon’s Wives
and Concubines
The Book of Mormon is clear
regarding the practice of plural marriage and of having concubines. Jacob
chastises his people who are committing such whoredoms (i.e., any form of
sexual immorality), saying, "There shall not any man among you have save it
be one wife; and concubines he shall have none" (Jacob 2:27). What follows
is strong language in Jacob 2 against these practices coming from the mouth of
the Lord in defense of his daughters:
I, the Lord, have seen the
sorrow, and heard the mourning of the daughters of my people in the land of
Jerusalem, yea, and in all the lands of my people, because of the wickedness
and abominations of their husbands. And I will not suffer ... that the cries of
the fair daughters of this people ... shall come up unto me against the men of
my people, saith the Lord of Hosts. For they shall not lead away captive the
daughters of my people because of their tenderness, save I shall visit them
with a sore curse, even unto destruction; for they shall not commit whoredoms,
like unto them of old, saith the Lord of Hosts. (Jacob 2:31-33)
Just a few verses earlier the
Lord alluded to "them of old" who perpetrated these crimes:
"Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which
thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord" (Jacob 2:24). Further, Jacob
himself states that during the second Nephite king's administration "the
people of Nephi ... began to grow hard in their hearts, and indulge themselves
somewhat in wicked practices, like unto David of old desiring many wives and
concubines, and also Solomon, his son" (Jacob 1:15). One might wonder
about the legitimacy of Abraham's and Jacob's wives and concubines in the Old
Testament and why their practices were not abominable to God. The Book of
Mormon professes that there is an exception to this law against multiple
unions: "If I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will
command my people [to practice polygamy]; otherwise they shall hearken unto
these things" (Jacob 2:30). Section 132 of the Doctrine and Covenants
makes it clear that Abraham and Jacob were commanded by God to perform such unions
for this purpose.
Because the Nephites had the
brass plates which contained portions of the Old Testament -- they were
familiar with these two Israelite kings who misused their authority at times to
acquire women for their pleasure. We know from the Bible that some of David's
wives included Michal, Abigail, Ahinoam, Eglah, Bathsheba, Maachah, Haggith,
Abital, and Abishag (1 Samuel 18:27, 25:42; 2 Samuel 3:5, 11:27; 1 Chronicles
3:2-9). In addition to his lawful wives, David sought and obtained concubines
as evidenced in 2 Samuel: "David took him more concubines and wives out of
Jerusalem" (5:13). David's son Solomon "loved many strange [i.e.,
foreign] women, ... women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and
Hittites .... And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred
concubines," one of whom was the daughter of the king/pharaoh of Egypt (1
Kings 11:1, 3; 3 Kings 3:1).
The plight of David and Solomon's
wives and concubines is acknowledged and empathized with in the Book of Mormon
in three ways. First, as cited above the Lord himself states that he has
"seen the sorrow, and heard the mourning of the daughters of [his] people
in the land of Jerusalem ... and in all the lands of [his] people, because of
the wickedness and abominations of their husbands" (Jacob 2:31). In other
words, he knows the predicaments of women who have been and who are victims of
whoredoms everywhere-in Jacob's land and in Jerusalem where David and Solomon's
wives and concubines lived. Second, and mentioned above, the Lord firmly voices
that these things are "abominable before [him]" (Jacob 2:24). This
recognizes the women's suffering and condemns those who cause it, for here God
denounces the deplorable actions that held certain Nephite and Israelite women
bound. A third recognition of these women's hardships follow the Lord's warning
to the Nephite men that He will "visit them with a sore curse, even unto
destruction" unless they stop committing whoredoms: God's prophets
explicitly condemn these immoral practices. After the Lord's injunction, Jacob
specifically chastises the men for understanding and then breaking the law concerning
marriage and chastity given to the prophet Lehi. He even goes so far as to
compare them to the Lamanites:
Ye have broken the hearts of your
tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad
examples before them; and the sobbings of their hearts ascend up to God against
you .... Behold, the Lamanites your brethren, whom ye hate because of their
filthiness ... are more righteous than you; for they have not forgotten the
commandment of the Lord, which was given unto our father [Lehi]-that they
should have save it were one wife, and concubines they should have none, and
there should not be whoredoms committed among them. (Jacob 2:34-35; 3:5)
This passage details the tragic
consequences of infidelity. The circumstances of these Nephite women parallel
that of the wives and concubines of David and Solomon; both were victims of
whoredoms. Thus, Jacob's condemnation of these abuses also serves as a
denouncement of what occurred to the women in these two Israelite kings' lives.
Although the Book of Mormon doesn't name or elaborate on the hundreds of
individual women linked to David and Solomon, God, through a prophet, Jacob,
includes them in the text by alluding twice to the kings' wives and concubines.
Additionally, Book of Mormon readers can learn some of the women's stories from
the Bible, which Latter-day Saints use as a companion to their modern-day
scripture. (Wendy Hamilton Christian, “’And Well She Can Persuade’: The
Power and Presence of Women in the Book of Mormon” [MA Thesis; Brigham Young
University, August 2002], 38-40)
