Richardson, Richardson and Bentley write that expressions in the Book of Mormon concerning marriage are similar to Hebrew expressions. For example, “his sons should take daughters to wife” (1 Nephi 7:1). In Hebrew, a man does not marry a woman; he takes “her to wife” or “she is given to him to wife.” (see John McFadyen, Key to Introductory Hebrew Grammar, p. 13) (For biblical examples of such a phrase, see Genesis 24:37; 27:46; 28:2; 28:6; Judges 14:3. [Allen H. Richardson, David E. Richardson and Anthony E. Bentley, 1000 Evidences for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Part Two-A Voice from the Dust: 500 Evidences in Support of the Book of Mormon, p. 189] [See Vol. 6, Appendix D]
Geographical [Theory Map] : 1 Nephi 7:1-4 Nephi Goes up for Ishmael & His Family (Year 001)
“Lehi’s Sons Should Take Daughters to Wife”
Fulfilling the Lord’s command to “take daughters to wife” (1 Nephi 7:1) is explained in the Book of Mormon in a way culturally foreign to us. First of all, what man in his right mind would presume to speak for any of his daughters, let alone all of them? And second, how could a man ever hope to convince all of his family (even the married sons) to accompany him into the wilderness? A statement by apostle Erastus Snow helps shed some light on this problem:
“Whoever has read the Book of Mormon carefully will have learned that the remnants of the house of Joseph dwelt upon the American continent; and that Lehi learned by searching the records of his fathers that were written upon the plates of brass, that he was of the lineage of Manasseh. The Prophet Joseph informed us that the record of Lehi was contained on the 116 pages that were first translated and subsequently stolen, and of which an abridgment is given us in the first Book of Nephi, which is the record of Nephi individually, he himself being of the lineage of Manasseh; but that Ishmael was of the lineage of Ephraim, and that his sons married into Lehi’s family, and Lehi‘s sons married Ishmael’s daughters, thus fulfilling the words of Jacob upon Ephraim and Manasseh in the 48th chapter of Genesis, which says, ’And let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the land.’ thus these descendants of Manasseh and Ephraim grew together upon this American continent …” (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 23, pp. 184-185).
Cleon Skousen claims that Ishmael’s two sons had already married (1 Nephi 7:6) and had families of their own prior to the time they joined this expedition. If these two sons had married daughters of Lehi as explained by Erastus Snow, then the relationship between these two families had been established as “in-laws” long before this time. Lehi and Ishmael were therefore not only entirely familiar with each other, but were probably the closest of friends. [W. Cleon Skousen, Treasures from the Book of Mormon, Vol. 1, p. 1067]
1 Nephi 7:1 [Lehi’s] sons should take [Ishmael’s] daughters to wife, that they might raise up seed unto the Lord in the land of promise ([Illustration] Untitled. The daughters of Ishmael. Artist: Ted Henninger. [Thomas R. Valletta ed., The Book of Mormon for Latter-day Saint Families, 1999, p. 44]