In Depth Study of Jacob 2:30 With Context
“For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things.”
If you were unfamiliar with this verse, and happened to read or hear this as a random statement, would you have any idea what it means? Would you know what the subject of the verse is, or what is or is not being commanded? This sentence doesn’t make any sense without the context of the surrounding verses and knowing what the subject is. Without all this context, what we can gather is if God wants to “raise up seed” he will command his people, otherwise they will listen to “these things.” So what “things” will people listen to if God is not commanding them? “Things” seems to be a very important subject of this verse but its meaning is ambiguous and unclear. Knowing what “things” the Lord is referring to will give this verse the context we need to understand it completely.
23. But the word of God burdens me because of your grosser crimes. For behold, thus saith the Lord: This people begin to wax in iniquity; they understand not the scriptures, for they seek to excuse themselves in committing whoredoms, because of THE THINGS which were written concerning David, and Solomon his son.
24. Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, WHICH THING was abominable before me, saith the Lord.
25. Wherefore, thus saith the Lord, I have led this people forth out of the land of Jerusalem, by the power of mine arm, that I might raise up unto me a righteous branch from the fruit of the loins of Joseph.
26. Wherefore, I the Lord God will not suffer that this people shall do like unto them of old.
27. Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none;
28. For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts.
It’s clear what God thinks about David and Solomon’s polygamy, but many justify that verse 30 implies God sometimes commands it for the purpose of “raising up seed” to grow a righteous people. However, “raising up” God’s righteous people is already mentioned in verse 25-26 when the Lord states he led Lehi’s people away from Jerusalem to raise up a righteous branch and warns them to not "do like them of old" (having many wives like David & Solomon). The Jews in Jerusalem were practicing polygamy and this is one of the false traditions God had to rid his people of in order to raise up righteousness. In verse 27 God commands his will: HEAR ME AND HEARKEN TO THE WORD OF THE LORD: FOR THERE SHALL NO MAN HAVE SAVE IT BE ONE WIFE. This is reiterated later in verse 34 where he says this commandment was given to Lehi and now they have come under condemnation for doing “THESE THINGS” which they were commanded not to do. When Lehi left Jerusalem, God commanded that they return to bring the family of Ishmael with them. Then Nephi, each of his brothers, and Zoram each took ONE of the daughters of Ishmael to marry "and thus fulfilled the commandments" that God had given Lehi (1 Nephi 16:7-8). Monogamy was one of the first commandments God gave Lehi as he led him away from Jerusalem. Monogamy is not just the default, it is the foundation for how God has always raised up his righteous people. So when verse 30 says “I will command my people,” God already gave the commandment in verse 27, as he continues the pattern displayed within the first few chapters of the Book of Mormon.
29. Wherefore, this people shall keep my commandments, saith the Lord of Hosts, or cursed be the land for their sakes.
30. For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto THESE THINGS.
Instead of reading verse 30 as a loophole or catalyst for polygamy, the spirit of God has revealed that Jacob 2:23-35 presents a chiasmus. I nearly forgot about this literary device, but as I was writing this document months ago, focusing on "these things," the image of an hourglass came to my mind. I instantly remembered a seminary lesson from 13 years ago, a lesson on chiasmi used in ancient writings, using Alma 36 as an example (that lesson is here). A chiasmus is also described as an inverted parallelism, with the first half introducing an important theme, the middle pinpointing the main idea, then the second half mirroring & elaborating on the important theme. In Jacob 2, verses 23-28 present the doctrinal issue of polygamy and declare that the people practicing it had "misunderstood the scriptures." Verses 29 and 30 present the central point, asserting that God commands His people in
order to raise up righteousness, because if he doesn’t they will fall into the
same wicked practice of polygamy and be cursed. Notice how verses 29 and 30 have a
similar semantic structure. First a command, then what happens if the people
don’t obey. Verse 29, “keep my commandments, OR the land will be cursed.”
Verse 30, “I will command my people, OTHERWISE they will hearken unto THESE THINGS." This is a pattern he’s showing us, that if he’s not commanding a people (or they’re not listening) they end up hearkening to
“THESE THINGS.” In other words, God will keep commanding the people to live monogamously, otherwise they will keep falling into the iniquity of polygamy.
31. For behold, 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.
32. And I will not suffer, saith the Lord of Hosts, that the cries of the fair daughters of this people, which I have led out of the land of Jerusalem, shall come up unto me against the men of my people, saith the Lord of Hosts.
33. 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.
34. And now behold, my brethren, ye know that these commandments were given to our father, Lehi; wherefore, ye have known them before; and ye have come unto great condemnation; for ye have done THESE THINGS which ye ought not to have done.
35. Behold, ye have done greater iniquities than the Lamanites, our brethren. 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. And because of the strictness of the word of God, which cometh down against you, many hearts died, pierced with deep wounds.
Do you see how heartbroken God is for his daughters? I feel His righteous indignation for how His daughters are being treated. They are mourning that their husbands are not fully devoted to them, they are not fully loved and supported in a partnership, they are impoverished single mothers as their husbands travel from house to house taking turns with all their wives, young girls are arranged to marry old men, they are sex slaves (concubines), and despite all this their husbands don’t care for their deep sorrow. These gut wrenching scenes are the fruits of polygamy. Yet it’s believed that multiple wives are "given" to righteous men as a reward, and that God gives his daughters away like emotionless property (D&C 132: 61-62). Can anyone who believes in a loving God really believe that he rewards his sons by “giving” them multiple wives, thereby requiring an eternal anguishing sacrifice of his daughters to never be fully individually loved by their own husbands? Is that the reward for righteous women, to die of broken hearts and eternally share their husbands? No, God has never commanded an institution of marriage wherein his daughters eternally sorrow and mourn. God wants his daughters to be valued and taken care of in a partnership that fosters equal support and love, and to accomplish this God commands monogamy.
If this is a new perspective for you and you now have a flood of questions about the biblical history of polygamy and church’s involvement and teaching of the practice, I highly recommend listening to Michelle Stone’s podcast 132 Problems. She is a faithful active member of the LDS church and in this podcast she humbly and graciously presents her prayerful research on all aspects of this topic. She reads into all the context surrounding the stories of Abraham, Jacob and David, the teachings and rumors of Joseph Smith, the emergence of D&C 132, historical accounts of women in the early Utah polygamist era, and much more. She highly recommends watching her episodes in order, and I agree, so here is the link to her first episode.“Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." 1 Corinthians 7:2
“Neither shall he multiply wives unto himself, lest his heart turn away.” Deuteronomy 17:17
"Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled; but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." Hebrews 13:4
"Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday and today and forever." Hebrews 13:8
“By these things we know that there is a God in heaven, who is infinite and eternal, from everlasting to everlasting the same unchangeable God, the framer of heaven and earth, and all things which are in them.” D&C 20:17
“I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” Malachi 3:6
“Inasmuch as this church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication, and polygamy: we declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband, except in case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again.” D&C 101:4 (Published in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine & Covenants, removed by Brigham Young in 1876).
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