An Abrahamic Test

Last week’s Come, Follow Me lesson included section 132 of the Doctrine and Covenants in which the Lord discusses principles related to plural marriage. The manual says this about the practice: “Sometimes God may ask us to do things that are so uncomfortable that they do seem unreachable. For many early Saints, plural marriage was one such commandment. The commandment to marry additional wives was a severe trial of faith for Joseph Smith, his wife Emma, and almost everyone who received it. To make it through this trial, they needed more than just favorable feelings about the restored gospel; they needed faith in God that went far deeper than any personal desires or biases. The commandment no longer stands today, but the faithful example of those who lived it still does. And that example inspires us when we are asked to make our own ’sacrifices in obedience’ (Doctrine and Covenants 132:50).” For me the this is indeed the lesson we should learn from the Saints’ practice of plural marriage—they were exercising extraordinary faith to follow the commandments of the Lord. We need not be ashamed of our history but should reverence those who were willing to do what the Lord commanded even when it was unthinkably difficult.

               In this revelation the Lord mentioned the command for Abraham to sacrifice his son. We read, “Abraham was commanded to offer his son Isaac; nevertheless, it was written: Thou shalt not kill. Abraham, however, did not refuse, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness” (Doctrine and Covenants 132:36). The message is clear: whatever the Lord commanded was right. Of course, in Abraham’s story he did not have to go through with the sacrifice of his son. It was a test for him, and the inclusion of this verse in this revelation speaking about plural marriage highlights the fact that this was indeed an Abrahamic test for those early Saints. Eliza R. Snow recalled this: “The Prophet Joseph … described the trying mental ordeal he experienced in overcoming the repugnance of his feelings … relative to the introduction of plural marriage. He knew the voice of God—he knew the commandment of the Almighty to him was to go forward. … He knew that he had not only his own prejudices and prepossessions [beliefs] to combat and to overcome, but those of the whole Christian world stared him in the face; but God, who is above all, had given the commandment, and He must be obeyed.” One essay on the topic tells this about Joseph’s instructions to practice this: “When God commands a difficult task, He sometimes sends additional messengers to encourage His people to obey. Consistent with this pattern, Joseph told associates that an angel appeared to him three times between 1834 and 1842 and commanded him to proceed with plural marriage when he hesitated to move forward. During the third and final appearance, the angel came with a drawn sword, threatening Joseph with destruction unless he went forward and obeyed the commandment fully.” Indeed it was a terrible trial for him and for many others, including Brigham Young who said when he first learned of it that “it was the first time in my life that I had desired the grave.” He further explained, “I had to pray unceasingly and I had to exercise faith and the Lord revealed to me the truth of it and that satisfied me.” He, like many others, found the courage to follow it as they went to the Lord for personal confirmation that it was indeed His will.

I believe that we should look back on this practice not with shame or regret as members of the Church—rather, we should honor those who sacrificed so much to follow God’s commandments. Their example should inspire us to be true to the Lord in our own lives even when it is hard. This article further explains, “Some Saints also saw plural marriage as a redemptive process of sacrifice and spiritual refinement. According to Helen Mar Kimball, Joseph Smith stated that ‘the practice of this principle would be the hardest trial the Saints would ever have to test their faith.’ Though it was one of the ‘severest’ trials of her life, she testified that it had also been ‘one of the greatest blessings.’ Her father, Heber C. Kimball, agreed. ‘I never felt more sorrowful,’ he said of the moment he learned of plural marriage in 1841. ‘I wept days.’… Heber C. Kimball found comfort only after his wife Vilate had a visionary experience attesting to the rightness of plural marriage. ‘She told me,’ Vilate’s daughter later recalled, ‘she never saw so happy a man as father was when she described the vision and told him she was satisfied and knew it was from God.’” Joseph Smith gave this as a guiding principle for him and as it should be for us: “This is the principle on which the government of heaven is conducted—by revelation adapted to the circumstances in which the children of the kingdom are placed. Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire.” Those early Saints were true to the commandments of God even when it was unthinkably hard, and their faith can inspire us to likewise do whatever God requires.