“Many Wives and Concubines”

By definition, a concubine would be either a woman kept for lewd purposes or a lawful wife of a lower social standing than her husband’s other wife or wives (see also Mosiah 11:2). Hagar, plural wife of Abraham, would be an example of the latter, inasmuch as Abraham did only that which he was commanded (D&C 132:37). The offense to which Jacob made reference was the Nephites’ consorting either with paramours or with wives improperly taken.

“David and Solomon”

Why, then, are the actions of David and Solomon spoken of as abominations? Why does the taking of plural wives by Abraham, Jacob, or Moses go uncondemned? Jacob was denouncing unauthorized marriages, on the part of David and Solomon. Such constituted adultery, sexual sin against the marriage covenant. David’s adulterous actions with Bathsheba were unauthorized and condemned (2 Samuel 11-12). Solomon’s marriage to “strange wives,” to foreign women who turned his heart away from the everlasting covenant and the worship of the Lord Jehovah, was unauthorized and condemned (1 Kings 11).

Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 2

References