Jacob 2:30 · Part 2.12
Prosper in the Land
“Keep my commandments and ye shall prosper in the land.” For Lehi’s family the commandments came by revelation, one wife among them, and prosper may mean pressing forward toward God’s presence.
Adam Awake: essays on the Book of Mormon, covenants, and the restoration
Trails
Each series is a climb. The line rises with the reading time of every part.
Jacob 2:30
How “raise up seed” in Jacob 2:30 came to be read as permission for polygamy, and what the Book of Mormon’s own context says the verse means.
Start at the beginning →Agency
A Christ-centered relationship, and the difference between God’s laws, His commandments, and the laws of men.
Start at the beginning →Greater Things
Nephi, types, and groups in the Book of Mormon, and the greater things Christ promised to show.
Start at the beginning →Earlier essays
Every essay →
Jacob 2:30 · Part 2.6The Law of the King
Why would the Lord call David and Solomon’s many wives “abominable” if no law forbade them? The law of the king did, and Jacob 1 echoes it almost word for word.
Jacob 2:30 · Part 3.5Raise Up Seed: Heirs of the Kingdom
Abinadi asks, “Who shall be his seed?” Those who hear the prophets and believe: “the heirs of the kingdom of God.” Is that the seed of Jacob 2:30?
Jacob 2:30 · Part 3.3Raise Up Seed: Levirate Marriage
In the Bible, “raise up seed” is the language of levirate marriage: a brother keeping a dead man’s name alive. Could that be the narrow exception in Jacob 2:30?
Jacob 2:30 · Part 2.10What’s in a Name?
“Lord of Hosts” appears only 52 times in the Book of Mormon, usually in warnings of destruction. Six are in Jacob 2:28–33, the verses from Lehi’s record.
Jacob 2:30 · Part 2.14Jacob’s Prophecy
Jacob’s sermon ends in prophecy: break the one-wife commandment and the land is cursed, and the Lamanites will scourge you. Omni records it coming true.
Jacob 2:30 · Part 2.11Covenant Land
Lehi’s promised land came with a covenant, with blessings and curses. The one-wife commandment is one of its conditions, which is why Jacob 2:29 says “cursed be the land.”