Your point is that you’re trying to justify Mormon polygamy to yourself because you’ve already made up your mind.
No, Biblical polygamy is different from Mormon polygamy because in David’s case, it was a form of welfare; there were worse fates in the ancient world than having to be a concubine, specifically slavery and death.
It goes against the Biblical standard of monogamy, yes, but it was tolerated because of the hardness of people’s hearts. (Matt 19:8) It is clearly denounced in Deut 17:17.
By the time of Joseph Smith’s ‘revelation’ (D&C 132) about polygamy on July 12, 1843, he already had 28 plural wives. In its proper historical context, the revelation was given because Smith needed to convince Emma that what he was doing was of divine origin but he was too much of a coward to do it himself so he committed it to paper and gave it to his brother Hyrum, who, in turn, gave it to Emma. Needless to say, she was less than thrilled.
He produced at least a few children from these unholy unions that were given to other members of the church to raise. Emma is even said to have shoved one of his other pregnant wives down the stairs, causing her to miscarry.
I think the victim in all of this polygamy mess was Emma; she was forced to watch her husband, the man she loved, pretend to be a prophet of God, sneaking around with other women, and calling it His divine will with little recourse. It was probably somewhat of a relief when he was murdered. At least the madness stopped.
She would later deny that Joseph practiced it at all, instead blaming it on Brigham Young and Orson Pratt. So convinced was her son, Joseph Smith III, that he went on a mission to Utah on the basis that his father was not a polygamist and that Mormons should return and join the RLDS.
