Joseph's Wives

Q. Joseph had 33 wives and lied to his wife about it several times. 11 of these women were married to other men.

A. When approaching the question of Joseph Smith and plural marriage the modern historian encounters various challenges. One has to do with the sources of information. Joseph Smith himself left little information on the details of these relationships himself, so we have to rely in large part on the testimony of the men and women themselves, where this is available and others who may have reported these events. Other sources of information come from those who were critical of the Church or enemies of Joseph Smith. While these later sources sometimes may provide true information, one can seldom accept them at face value. They require caution and careful interpretation to sort out errors and inaccuracies often based on hearsay. There are also large gaps in information we might like to have. Many historians have written on the topic and reached different interpretations of the evidence. Here I would recommend Greg Smith’s discussion which you can access here.

 

http://en.fairmormon.org/Joseph_Smith_and_polyandry/Book_chapter

 

 

There are other good sources relating to the topic in the links that the Bishop forwarded to you. Current historical research on the question suggests that in Nauvoo, there were actually several kinds of marriages or sealings and these sometimes have caused confusion among later interpreters. Some marriages were for both time and eternity. In other cases, you had marriages in which a couple for various reasons was married for time only to one spouse, but sealed to another spouse for eternity. This seems to have been a matter of choice on the part of the wife and the husband concerned. Some of Joseph Smith’s marriages to women in Nauvoo appear to have been a sealing for eternity only, as in the case of Helen Mar Kimball. In such cases, the woman was free to marry another for time only. In such eternity only marriages there would have been no sexual component. In other cases, the Prophet was sealed for both time and eternity to various women. Most of these were marriages to single women. In about ten or eleven cases there was a sealing to women who were at the time already married. Some critics of the Church have attempted to portray this in a bad light, but the evidence available thus far suggests that there were no sexual relations between Joseph Smith and these women, while they were married to these men and in cases where this can be known, the husbands of these women approved of the sealing ordinance to Joseph Smith while he was alive and in some cases stood as proxies for him in the Nauvoo temple after he was dead.

 

As for the question of lying about plural marriage see the discussion here under “polygamy and lying” here

 

http://www.fairlds.org/Misc/Polygamy_Prophets_and_Prevarication.pdf

 

 

In the case of Emma Smith, I think the Prophet did the very best he could under the circumstances. Joseph was not perfect. Joseph taught her the principle and at times she accepted it and at other times she rejected it. She even gave him several of his plural wives and then later changed her mind and then after his death denied that he ever practiced it. I think that it was obviously a tremendous trial to all involved and I feel inclined to be charitable.

 

As I see it this boils down to the question of whether Joseph Smith was a Prophet or not. If he was not what he said he was then plural marriage was wrong. If he was a Prophet and if he was authorized and commanded by God to do those things, then it was right. Everything I have read suggests that plural marriage was a tremendous trial for those early saints, but nothing that I have learned convinces me that Joseph Smith did anything other than what the Lord commanded him. It is significant, I think, that many of those who accepted the principle only did so after first being opposed to it and then receiving divine confirmation that it was right. They were convinced that he was a Prophet of God. Plural marriage, of course, is not the sacrifice that the Lord requires of us today. Today, he only requires that we live in accordance with the commandments and teachings which we have been given.

 

I still have many questions for which I do not yet have answers, but I have found answers to the questions that matter most to me and these anchor me in how I approach the challenges in my life. Knowing that God lives and hears and answers my prayers gives direction to how I live. I have found it to be the case that the same Spirit that testifies that God lives, also witnesses that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith lived and died a true Prophet of God and that the Church he restored continues today.