Elkanah was a polygamist, yet his son, Samuel, was a great prophet, and judge in Israel. He was born, and lived under the special favor of God.
David, king of Israel, was the chosen of the Lord; 1 Sam. 16. 12, 13. He took Abigail and Ahinoam, "And they were also both of them his wives;" 1 Sam. 25. 42, 43. He "Took him more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem;" 2 Sam. 5. 13.
We are further informed, that "David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite;" 1 Kings 15. 5. In this passage we have an assurance that David did right in taking all his wives and concubines, except in one instance, for which he was severely chastised. When Nathan, the prophet, reproved him for this sin, he said to him, in the name of the Lord, "I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom;" 2 Sam. 12. 8.
After having repented and suffered for his sin, Bath-sheba was given him for a wife, and she bare Solomon; verse 24. The Lord appeared to this son of a plural wife in a dream, and bestowed upon him great blessings; 1 Kings 3. God gave him "Wisdom and understanding exceeding much;" 1 Kings 4. 29. He was not reproved for plural marriage but for marrying strange wives, who led him into idolatry and wickedness; 1 Kings 11. Many chief men in Israel, to whom the Lord manifested his favor, were polygamists.
The following is sometimes quoted as an argument against plural marriage: "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh;" Mark 10. 7, 8. But "Know ye not that he which is joined to a harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh;" 1 Cor. 6. 16, shows that it has no connection with the subject.
"A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife;" 1 Tim. 3. 2, and let deacons be the husbands of one wife; verse 12, are supposed by some to limit officers in the church, and by inference all men, to one wife. But when the passages are taken in connection with the context, which is an enumeration of several qualifications necessary for bishops and deacons, there is but one reasonable construction—that these officers of the church should be married men.
The Latter-day Saints believe that all men should marry; Doc. & Cov. 49. 15-17. The Lord is "of purer eyes than to behold evil, and can not look upon iniquity;" Hab. 1. 13; and says, that "A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to his tenth generation;" Deut. 23. 2. Yet the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel were the sons of four wives of Jacob; Gen. 35. 22-26.
Joseph, the first son of Rachel, the second wife of Jacob, received especial blessings; Gen. 49. 22-26. The Lord called to Samuel, the son of a polygamous father; 1 Sam. 3. 4-14. Solomon was the son of a polygamist, yet he was a child of promise; 1 Chron. 22. 9, 10. Jesus Christ was descended from David through Solomon the son of her who had been the wife of Uriah; Matt. 1. 1-17.
The Lord said to Isaiah, "Lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins;" 58. 1. This commission was to be faithfully executed; Ezek. 3. 18. Polygamy was common in the Jewish nation, yet none of the prophets reproved them for it; but they were sharply reproved for adultery, whoredom, fornication, and other sins; Jer. 5. 7, 8, 23. Ezek. 22. Chap. 23. 36-44.
History evidences that plurality of wives was generally customary among the nations of Asia, yet it is not condemned in any of the epistles of the apostles, nor does John the Revelator mention it in the letters he was commanded to write to the seven churches of Asia.