2 Nephi 14

Seven to One

One of the hot topics about the LDS church is polygamy. It was practiced in ancient times as well as in modern times. We learn from Jacob that one of the reasons for polygamy is to "raise up seed" (Jacob 2:30). Here in 2 Nephi 14, we are presented with a scenario where in order to raise up seed, seven women will marry one man. So many men will have been killed in battle, that there will not be enough men for all the women who remain.

A quote from Wilford Woodruff demonstrates what that day will be like.

“I had been reading the revelations…[when] a strange stupor came over me and I recognized that I was in the Tabernacle at Ogden. I arose to speak and said…I will answer you right here what is coming to pass shortly….I then looked in all directions…and I found the same mourning in every place throughout the Land. It seemed as though I was above the earth, looking down to it as I passed along on my way east and I saw the roads full of people principally women with just what they could carry in bundles on their backs…It was remarkable to me that there were so few men among them…Wherever I went I saw…scenes of horror and desolation apine and death…death and destruction everywhere. I cannot paint in words the horror that seemed to encompass me around. It was beyond description or thought of man to conceive. I supposed that this was the End but I was here given to understand, that the same horrors were being enacted all over the country…Then a voice said ‘Now shall come to pass that which was spoken by Isaiah the Prophet That seven women shall take hold of one man…’” (Journal of Wilford Woodruff, June 15, 1878 as taken from Isaiah: Prophet, Seer, and Poet, by Victor L. Ludlow, p. 109)

They … shall be called holy

After many wars and bloodshed, the Millennium will commence. All those who survived the great battles and destructions will worthy enough to live on the Earth. It is at this time that the Earth will receive it paradisiacal glory (10th Article of Faith).

A Place of Refuge

The day will come where the only place one may find peace is in Zion … the New Jerusalem. D&C 45:66-70 says, "And it shall be called the New Jerusalem, a land of peace, a city of refuge, a place of safety for the saints of the Most High God;
And the glory of the Lord shall be there, and the terror of the Lord also shall be there, insomuch that the wicked will not come unto it, and it shall be called Zion.
And it shall come to pass among the wicked, that every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor must needs flee unto Zion for safety.
And there shall be gathered unto it out of every nation under heaven; and it shall be the only people that shall not be at war one with another.
And it shall be said among the wicked: Let us not go up to battle against Zion, for the inhabitants of Zion are terrible; wherefore we cannot stand."

I often wonder how close the day is when the Saints will again gather to Zion. For so long, Zion has meant where the Saints are … in their wards and stakes. But soon, the New Jerusalem will need to be built and for that to happen, I would imagine the Saints would have to gather there. I don't know how it all will occur, but I am still curious about it. My patriarchal blessing says that I will be involved in the gathering of Israel and in the preparation for the building of the New Jerusalem. Does that mean that I will be directly involved or does that mean that I will prepare my children who in turn will build Zion? I don't know.