Transcription
Jacob 2:30 is not a loophole for polygamy. I've said it before and I'll say it again.
Before I officially left the church, I wrote an article on the entire context of Jacob 2. You can go read it. It's in my link tree. This verse makes absolutely no sense without the surrounding context. So, let's read the context and everything that it has to say about polygamy and insert this verse with the modern LDS interpretation of it.
Verse 23 says that he starts talking about their grosser crimes, what's even worse than their sin of pride. It said, "For they seek to excuse themselves in committing whoredoms because of the things which were written concerning David and Solomon. Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines. Which thing was abominable before me, sayeth the Lord, unless I want to have many babies, and then I'll command you to do it."
Verse 26 and 27 are the cut and clear word of the Lord commandment in this chapter. "Wherefore I, the Lord, will not suffer that this people shall do like them of old, those men who had many wives and concubines. Yeah, don't do it like them. Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord. For there shall no man among you have, save it be one wife, and concubines he shall have none, unless I want to raise up seed, and then I'll tell you to do it."
So that is the commandment. And in verse 29, it says, "Wherefore this people shall keep my commandments, sayeth the Lord, or cursed will be the land."
Verse 30 is very similar. He says, "For if I will raise up seed unto me, I will command my people." Like he just did. He just commanded them to live monogamy. And he has to keep reminding people of this because it is human nature. It is lust of the flesh to want more and more women. So he has to keep reminding them. And if he doesn't keep reminding them, otherwise they will hearken unto these things. And every time this chapter says these things, it is referring to the abomination and whoredom of having many wives and concubines.
Verse 31 and 32 tell us why he gives this commandment. "For I, the Lord, have seen the sorrow and heard the mourning of the daughters of my people. They are distraught. They are depressed. They are not doing okay because this system of polygamy is harmful to them. because of the wickedness and abominations of their husbands. And the Lord will not suffer the cries of his daughters. He does not want this." So he's telling them to stop, unless of course he wants to raise up seed and have lots of babies, then he'll tell them to do it.
Verse 33 again he repeats, "For they shall not commit the whoredoms like them of old. Remember David and Solomon and those men who had many wives, they were whoredoms and you shall not do this unless of course I command it to have lots of babies."
Verse 34 is where it gets very clear that this interpretation is incorrect because it says that these commandments were given to the father Lehi. Remember in First Nephi 7, there was the perfect number of Lehi's sons and Ishmael's daughters to pair them up one by one to have monogamy. And he did this to raise up seed. So this commandment of monogamy was given to Lehi and is referring back to this in Jacob 2. And it's saying oops you have done the things which you were not supposed to do by taking more than one wife. And by doing this they have broken the hearts of their wives lost the confidence of their children been bad examples. Their hearts have been sobbing and their cries have gone up to God against them. And many hearts were pierced with deep wounds because of this deep sorrow and wickedness that was caused by their taking many wives and concubines.
But of course, God will still command it if he wants to raise up seed. Right? This is the reason that this interpretation of Jacob 2:30 is not and cannot be true. Jacob 2:30 is at the very center of this chiasmus which 100% without deviation condemns polygamy. You can see in yellow every time it says the things it calls them an abomination. And God would never command an abomination just to have more babies. That would just be bearing more children into abomination. Those would be children of whoredoms.
You cannot read verse 30 without the context of verses 23-35. Verse 27 is the commandment where he says, "Never do this. Never have more than one wife." And down at the end, he reminds them that this commandment was given to Lehi and they have disobeyed it. God would never command an abominable whoredom to raise up a righteous seed.
You can go read this article for yourself and read it line by line, verse by verse. It's in my link tree. This is the image.