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Many have asked what the scriptures say about the reasons the Lord gave for plural marriage. All such reasons are outlined in this article.
"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."
Here, the Lord gives one reason for plural marriage, "to raise up seed unto me."
As Latter-day Saint scholar Brian Hales has written:
Again from Brian Hales:
In the only recorded revelation on plural marriage received by Joseph Smith, the Lord further stated (D&C 132:63):
"they [the plural wives] are given unto him to multiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment, and to fulfil the promise which was given by my Father before the foundation of the world, and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they may bear the souls of men; for herein is the work of my Father continued, that he may be glorified."
This passage suggests that plural marriage served the purpose of multiplying and replenishing the earth.
D&C 132:34-36 reads:
This scripture suggests that one of the purposes of polygamy was to provide an Abrahamic-like test for the early Saints. Many people recalled how difficult it was to practice polygamy.
Hellen Mar Kimball recalled:
I did not try to conceal the fact of its having been a trial, but confessed that it had been one of the severest of my life; but that it had also proven one of the greatest of blessings. I could truly say it had done the most towards making me a Saint and a free woman, in every sense of the word; and I knew many others who could say the same, and to whom it had proven one of the greatest boons—a ‘blessing in disguise.'[1]
It is often not the Lord's pattern to give a multitude of reasons for His commandments, and we are often left to draw our own conclusions—which may be completely wrong (Moses 5꞉6-8). We often obey when we do not understand why a command has been given—we only know that it has been given. We should remember the caution of Elder Dallin H. Oaks:
...It's not the pattern of the Lord to give reasons. We can put reasons to commandments. When we do we're on our own. Some people [have] put reasons to [commandments] and they turned out to be spectacularly wrong.[2]
Trying to fully understand the purposes behind such a commandment in today's mindset can also make this subject difficult. It is important to note that we do not have all the historical information surrounding the inception and implementation of the practice. Rather than trying to understand the Lord's purposes in retrospect on a limited scope, one should remember the above scriptures in Jacob and D&C 132. Other benefits, although potentially advantageous, are not given as reasons by the Lord.
Notes
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