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Isaiah 4:1

"And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, we will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach."

Problem:

This passage is cited by Mormons in an effort to find Biblical support for the doctrine of polygamy taught in Mormon "scripture".

Solution:

1. This passage is cited for scriptural support for the Mormon doctrine of polygamy. But does the passage state that the seven women would marry the one man? The request is "let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach." Is this synonymous with a request for marriage? If so, why the statement, "We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel?" When were such requests made by Mormon women of Mormon men for the reason "to take away our reproach"?
   
2. In the passage in Isaiah it is the women who request of the man, "let us be called by thy name, but Mormon "inspired scripture" has the initiative resting with the men. The basis for Mormon teaching on polygamy is that God commanded Joseph Smith to take plural wives because of a new ² and everlasting covenant.¹   Rather than the woman making the request of the man, Joseph Smith's wife was told if she did not submit to a polygamous relationship, she would be cursed.²  Is submission the same as request?
   
3. The geographical location of the prophecy is not Independence, Missouri, nor the area covered by the Mormon trek to Salt Lake City, in the 1800's, but Palestine. Consider the following evidence: Judah and Jerusalem (Isa. 2:1); "cedars of Lebanon" (2:13); "oaks of Bashan" (2:13); Jerusalem and Judah (3:1); "Judah is ruined and Jerusalem is fallen" (3:8); "daughters of Zion" (3:16); "he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem" (4:3); mount Zion (4:5).
   
4. There are two reasons implied in the context for seven women requesting to be called by the name of one man:
   1. So many young men had been slaughtered there was no longer enough males for the females. "Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war". (Isa. 3:25).
   2. The females had been stricken with plagues (Is. 3:16-24; "filth of the daughters of Zion", Isa. 4:4) which were so repugnant that no young man desired these women for wives. Hence the request to be called by a man's name to take away the reproach, yet "we will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel . . ."

   Either, or both of these reasons are incompatible with the Mormon claim that polygamy was a "new and divine covenant" communicated by God through the "prophet" Joseph Smith.

5. Mormon communities have been noted for their patriarchal rule. ³ Mormon doctrine teaches that a woman cannot attain the highest glory for a woman, apart from a man. ⁴  But the context to the passage in question states, "as for my people . . . women rule over them". (Isa. 3:12). Since Mormon history is silent about rulership by women, this is further evidence that Isa. 4:1 is not prophetic of Mormon polygamy.

Footnotes:

1. "For behold, I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory . . . And let mine handmaid, Emma Smith, receive all those [wives] that have been given unto my servant Joseph . . . And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto him; therefore is he justified." Doctrine and Covenants, section 132:4,52,62, pp. 239,244,245 (1952 ed.) Return
   
2. The following revelation is alleged to have been given Joseph Smith by God: "And let mine handmaid, Emma Smith, receive all those wives that have been given unto my servant Joseph . . . And I command mine handmaid, Emma Smith, to abide and cleave unto my servant Joseph, and to none else. But if she will not abide this commandment she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord; for I am the Lord thy God, and will destroy her if she abide not in my law." Doctrine and Covenants , Section 132:53,54, p. 244 (1952 ed.). Return
   
3. See LeGrand Richards, A Marvelous Work and a Wonder, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1950), p. 200. Return
   
4. Ibid., p. 195. Return