This week, in the Come, Follow Me curriculum, we are
studying study Jacob 1–4. This includes Jacob’s temple discourse in Jacob 2–3,
wherein he condemned the Nephite practice of polygamy (Jacob 2:24–30). This condemnation
can be confusing since later Joseph Smith instituted the practice of plural marriage
as a revealed principle, and the Latter-day Saints continued in this practice
until around the turn of the century.[1]
We are all, of course, familiar with the justification given
in Jacob 2:30, and the fact that the Lord did command the practice in the early
part of the Restoration. The history of Latter-day Saint polygamy is not my
strong suit, so I’m not really going to get into all that. If that is what you
are interested in then I cannot recommend strongly enough the works of Brian
Hales.[2]
He has done the most thorough and comprehensive work, at least on the Nauvoo
era, and made a lot of resources available
online for free.
Instead, what I would like to talk about is the historical
context of Jacob’s condemnation of polygamy. I think we can understand better
why Jacob is condemning polygamy if we look a little closer at what is going on
in Jacob’s time and place and what polygamy is being used for.
Jacob’s Teachings and the Law of Moses
First, Jacob’s teachings cannot be divorced from the broader
context of Jacob’s discourse as a whole. Before going into the issue of
polygamy, Jacob condemns
the people for going after wealth and, when some “obtained more abundantly,”
they became lifted up in pride (Jacob 2:12–18). There are only two other places
in scripture, of which I am aware, in which acquiring wealth and wives is
specifically condemned together. The first is in Deuteronomy 17:17, as part of
the “law of the king” (vv. 14–20): “Neither shall he multiply wives to
himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply
to himself silver and gold.” The other is in the story of king Noah (Mosiah
11:2–4), which Taylor Halverson effectively
argues is deliberately structured to illustrate how Noah violated every
single one of the commands about the king in Deuteronomy 17:14–20.[3]
It is not an accident that Jacob has paired these same two crimes
together. He is clearly accusing the Nephite elites—which no doubt includes the
king at this point in time—of violating this law.[4]
Thus, understanding the intent and meaning of Deuteronomy 17:17 is important for
understanding Jacob’s teachings. Deuteronomy 17:17 is not a condemnation of
polygamy in and of itself—it is seen as a condemnation
of excessive polygamy, and especially of foreign wives that can turn
the king’s heart away from the Lord (cf. 1 Kings 11).[5]
As Brian J. Baird explains:
Moses’s warning was not meant to
condemn all plural marriage and all wealth; he warned against excess. It was a warning
to the people that their kings should not have an excessive number of wives,
particularly marriages made to foreign women as a way to strengthen alliances
with other kingdoms.[6]
To “multiply wives” is not merely to have more than one
wife, but to
exponentially increase the number of wives one has. Note, also, the
condemnation is against “multiplying wives to himself” as opposed to
wives being given by the Lord (cf. 2 Samuel 12:7–8). Jacob’s concerns,
therefore, were less about the people practicing polygamy
in and of itself, and more about how they were practicing it, in
violation of God’s laws.
Indeed, Baird argues
that Jacob’s stated exception, that God will command polygamy to “raise up
seed” (Jacob 2:30), should be understood as a reference to the Mosaic law of
Levirate Marriage, wherein a near of kinsmen was expected to marry the wife of
his deceased relative for the purpose of raising up seed (Deuteronomy 25:5–6).[7]
Since the nearest kinsmen of the deceased may already be married, this could
often result in polygamous unions. If Baird is correct, then Jacob’s exception
was not merely the abstract idea that God might at one point command polygamy
broadly speaking, but rather a reference to a specific provision in Mosaic law
that at times mandated the practice. Hence, there may have been lawful,
acceptable practice of polygamy amongst the Nephites in addition to the “whoredoms”
Jacob condemns.
A Mesoamerican Cultural Setting
In addition to these aspects of Mosaic law that seem to be
at play, there are social developments going on in Mesoamerica at this time
(ca. 540–500 BC) that provide a broader cultural context for what is happening
among the Nephites and thus what Jacob is condemning. As Brant A. Gardner has explained,
Jacob’s condemnation of the accumulation of greater wealth than others, and the
pride that comes from it, makes most sense in light of outside trade bringing in
luxury items, especially “costly apparel” (Jacob 2:13). Gardner has further
pointed out that this is exactly what is happening in Mesoamerica at
this time: increased trade through various regions of Mesoamerica was
increasing social stratification, and elites were distinguishing themselves specifically
by the clothing they wore.[8]
So what does this have to do with polygamy? In the ancient
world, including ancient Mesoamerica, having multiple
wives was tied to wealth
and social status in multiple ways. For one thing, simply being able to care
and provide for several women and their offspring was clearly a sign of
affluence.[9]
Going beyond that, however, in ancient Mesoamerica polygamy was a means
for acquiring greater wealth through the exploitation of one’s wives and
children.[10] Mesoamerican
experts John E. Clark and Michael Blake explain when a person wanted to improve
their social status, that person “first accumulates deployable resources by the
sweat of his brow, and through the efforts of his wife (wives) and children. The
more wives and children the better.”[11]
Thus, when situated in the historical and cultural context
of ancient Mesoamerica, the Nephites were not merely practicing polygamy. Nephite
men were exploiting their women and children for gain. Gardner reasonably
suggests that as the Nephites began trading with outside communities, they were
exposed to these practices and, seeing the economic advantage, adopted them.
Gardner even goes so far as to propose that they were arranging marriages with
potential trade and alliance partners—thus, Nephite men were marrying women
from outside groups, but also they were marrying off their daughters to men
from outside the community.[12]
Such a practice, especially if the marriages are unwanted by
the women, could explain the reference to “lead[ing] away captive the daughters
of my people” (Jacob 2:32). In any case, this is exactly what was going
on with Solomon (1 Kings 11), and perhaps even starting with his father David before
him—the two exemplars the Nephites appealed to, and whom Jacob condemned (Jacob
2:23–24)—and as discussed, it is such marriages to foreign wives Deuteronomy
17:17 is specifically meant to condemn.
What this Means
It is not hard to see why this kind of polygamy would
be condemned as “whoredoms” and “abominable” by Jacob (Jacob 2:23–24). The
illumination of this historical and cultural context brings clarity to what,
exactly, was so morally reprehensible to Jacob—and the Lord—about the
polygamous practices of his fellow Nephites. It should be clear that this is
was not the intent of the principle of plural marriage as revealed by
the Lord (see D&C 132),[13]
even though there were no doubt some unfortunate abuses and exploitations in
practice.
None of this is to say polygamy in and of itself does not
pose many difficulties or challenges, or that it can or should be practiced so
long as it is not exploitive. The only circumstances in which scripture
justifies polygamy is when it is commanded by the Lord, full-stop. But it can
be hard to understand why the Lord would command such a practice if polygamy
itself is inherently immoral, as some have assumed from Jacob’s speech. In
context, however, Jacob was speaking out against polygamy as practiced in his
time and place, an exploitive practice that was certainly an abomination, and
rightly condemned.
[2]
See Brian C. Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy: History and Theology, 3
vols. (Salt Lake City, UT: Greg Kofford Books, 2013). For the shorter, reader’s
digest version, see Brian C. Hales and Laura H. Hales, Joseph Smith’s
Polygamy: Toward a Better Understanding (Salt Lake City, UT: Greg Kofford
Books, 2015). Another useful resource is Newell G. Bringhurst and Craig L.
Foster, eds., The Persistence of Polygamy, 3 vols. (Independence, MO: John
Whitmer Books, 2010–2015). For the perspectives of women in Utah polygamy, see
Laural Thatcher Ulrich, A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women’s
Rights in Early Mormonism, 1835–1870 (Vintage, 2018).
[3]
See Taylor Halverson, “Deuteronomy
17:14–20 as Criteria for Nephite Kingship,” Interpreter 24 (2017): 7.
[4]
See Brant A. Gardner, Second Witness: Analytical and Contextual Commentary
on the Book of Mormon, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City, UT: Greg Kofford Books,
2007), 2:494–495.
[5]
See Gardner, Second Witness, 2:492–493.
[6]
Brian J. Baird, “Understanding
Jacob’s Teachings about Plural Marriage from a Law of Moses Context,” Interpreter
25 (2017): 230.
[8]
See Gardner, Second Witness, 2:487–490; Brant A. Gardner, Traditions
of the Fathers: The Book of Mormon as History (Salt Lake City, UT: Greg Kofford
Books, 2015), 197–201.
[9] Gardner,
Second Witness, 2:492.
[10]
See Gardner, Second Witness, 2:497–499; Gardner, Traditions of the
Fathers, 201–204.
[11] John
E. Clark and Michael Blake, “The Power of Prestige: Competitive Generosity and
the Emergence of Rank Societies in Lowland Mesoamerica,” in The Ancient
Civilizations of Mesoamerica, ed. Michael E. Smith and Marilyn A. Masson (Blackwell,
2000), 252, as cited by Gardner, Second Witness, 2:498, emphasis mine.
[12] Gardner,
Second Witness, 2:498–499.
[13] See
“Plural
Marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” Gospel Topics
Essays.
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