Smith may have received a revelation on polygamy as early as 1831, when he was studying Old Testament prophets and wondering about their practice of having multiple wives.

This comment immediately gave rise to jokes questioning his familiarity with the Old Testament, where, as any Mormon elder can tell you, patriarchs such as Abraham, Jacob and David all practiced ...

The Old/Original Testament, known as Torah, labels it kidushin, which means sanctified. The attachment of male and female is the ultimate and only sanctified human union.

Some separatists still practice polygamy in fundamentalist offshoot of the mainstream church. But members of the mainstream church are excommunicated if they choose to practice plural marriage ...

In the early 1830s, Smith extended this view of the role of men to include polygamy as it was practiced by Old Testament prophets like Abraham.

Polygamy's origins are unclear. What is known is that in 1843, ... The second principle revealed: celestial marriage; that, consistent with teachings in the Old Testament, ...

For one thing, there’s a long tradition (just look at the heroes of the Old Testament.) It’s also intimately tied to religious practice, which means that by prohibiting polygamy, ...