Why was the law of polygamy given to Old Testament prophets and to the Restored Mormon Church, but was condemned in the Book of Mormon?

Question

Dear Gramps,

I was reading through one of your answers regarding polygamy and you were explaining how David and Solomon had many wives and concubines. You were also using a Doctrine & Covenants reference to confirm what you were explaining.

In the Book of Mormon in Jacob 2:24 it reads,

Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord.

Your explanation regarding God’s plan only giving the commandment of plural marriage or receiving concubines to bare children is understandable. God has his own time and reason to do all things, and who are we to question God’s will or reason!? However, according to this scripture, it completely contradicts your reference and statement saying how they only took on wives and concubines according to God’s commandment. Remember in Jacob 2:24 it clearly states that it was abominable before the Lord. In the Doctrine & Covenants it reads this:

David’s wives and concubines were given unto him of me, by the hand of Nathan, my servant, and others of the prophets who had the keys of this power; and in none of these things did he sin against me save in the case of Uriah and his wife; and, therefore he hath fallen from his exaltation, and received his portion; and he shall not inherit them out of the world, for I gave them unto another, saith the Lord (D&C 132:39).

I understand that The book of Mormon was written by the hands of men, and that we should not condemn it because of the imperfections of man, but that is a pretty big contradiction to bear. There are contradictions in the Book of Mormon. However, I was always taught to believe that the errors in the Book of Mormon would be more grammatical or structural not doctrinal errors. Please shed some light on this for me, very specifically in respect to these two scriptures standing in contradiction of one another. I know there is a reasonable explanation to this; I just need help finding it. I look forward to hearing from you very soon, thanks!

Bryce

Answer

Dear Bryce,

It’s true that polygamy was never given as a commandment by the Lord to the Nephites, but indeed is was given as a commandment to the Old Testament prophets and to the worthy saints in the present dispensation. This may appear as a contradiction, but that is not the case. The Lord is under no obligation to exact the same requirements from all people, and we could list multiple possible reasons for such a disposition. So, from those different commandments we cannot assume that either the Book of Mormon or the Bible is in error. It is simply that the Lord gave one set of commandments to one people and another set to another people. And, by the way, that is not the only difference in the commandments given to these two groups of people. A statement by Elder Gerald N. Lund of the Seventy is instructive in this regard—

“I mention my upbringing because occasionally I have had people say to me, ‘Well, you were raised a Mormon. It’s only natural that you would accept your theology without question.’ I just smile. That may be true in some homes, but it was not in mine. The gospel was put to the same intense scrutiny and debate as any other topic. But here again, this scrutiny came from a foundation of faith, not skepticism. ‘Whatever God says is right,’ Dad would often say. ‘If something God says or does doesn’t make sense to you, it’s because of your limitations, not God’s’” (Gerald N. Lund, Selected Writings of Gerald N. Lund: Gospel Scholars Series , p.264).

Accepting that God gave the law of polygamy to one people and not to another, I find no doctrinal errors in the Book of Mormon. In fact, I find the Book of Mormon more correct than the Bible. That concept is voiced in the 8^th Article of Faith of the Mormon Church, that says—

We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.

I would be interested to have you point out to me both the grammatical errors and the doctrinal errors that you believe you have found in the Book of Mormon. If interested, you could look up a publication in which literary faults in the Book of Mormon are actually catalogued–printed in Latter-day Digest, 2,2, June 1993, it is called, “If There Be Faults”, by H. Clay Gorton.

Gramps