Jacob 2:22-26

22 And now I make an end of speaking unto you concerning this pride.  And were it not that I must speak unto you concerning a grosser crime, my heart would rejoice exceedingly because of you.

23 But the word of God burdens me because of your grosser crimes.  For behold, thus saith the Lord: This people begin to wax in iniquity; they understand not the scriptures, for they seek to excuse themselves in committing whoredoms, because of the things which were written concerning David, and Solomon his son.

24 Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord.

25 Wherefore, thus saith the Lord, I have led this people forth out of the land of Jerusalem, by the power of mine arm, that I might raise up unto me a righteous branch from the fruit of the loins of Joseph.

26 Wherefore, I the Lord God will not suffer that this people shall do like unto them of old.

Jacob 2:22-26

Jacob ends his sermon on pride, and turns to “a grosser crime.”  What is this crime?  They commit whoredoms “because of the things which were written concerning David and Solomon…”

Why were David and Solomon held up as a poor example?  Because David and Solomon had multiple wives and concubines.  This was abominable in the sight of the Lord. 

The Lord had warned against multiple wives.  “Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold” (Deuteronomy 17:17).

Noel Reynolds observed:

The most direct references to them are by Jacob, who blames David and Solomon for their abominable practice of having many wives and concubines. In the next verse, Jacob pointedly cites the sins of the Jews in Jerusalem as the Lord's reason for leading Lehi out of that land so that he "might raise up . . . a righteous branch from the fruit of the loins of Joseph" (see Jacob 2:24–5).[1] 

The Lord led Lehi’s party to the new world “that I might raise up unto me a righteous branch from the loins of Joseph.” The prophet Amos wrote about a remnant of Joseph.  “Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph” (Amos 5:15).

The Lord made it clear, He “will not suffer that this people shall do like them of old.”

David Rolph Seely discusses the promises made to Joseph and Abraham.

The patriarchal blessing given to Joseph by his father, Jacob, declared that "Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall" (Genesis 49:22). This promise was fulfilled by Lehi and his descendants as the Lord led them to the promised land in the New World (1 Nephi 19:24; Jacob 2:25; cf. 1 Nephi 5:14, 16; 2 Nephi 3:4; Alma 10:3) and resulted in the expansion of the covenant lands to include the Americas in the Abrahamic covenant as the inheritance of Joseph. The resurrected Savior taught the Nephites: "And behold, this people will I establish in this land, unto the fulfilling of the covenant which I made with your father Jacob; and it shall be a New Jerusalem" (3 Nephi 20:22).[2]

Hugh Nibley writes about the expectations the Lord had for the Nephites.

With seeking for wealth goes a "grosser" attendant vice of licentious living (see Jacob 2:22–23). God does not bring people to the Promised Land for a repeat of the Old World follies; here he is determined to "raise up unto me a righteous branch from the fruit of the loins of Joseph. Wherefore, I the Lord God will not suffer that this people shall do like unto them of old" (Jacob 2:25–26). God's people may never enjoy the luxury of living after the manner of the world (see D&C 105:3–5).[3] 

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[1] Nephite Kingship Reconsidered, Noel B. Reynolds, Maxwell Institute, accessed March 4, 2014.

[2] Sacred History, Covenants, and the Messiah: The Religious Background of the World of Lehi, David Rolph Seely, Maxwell Institute, accessed March 5, 2014.

[3] Scriptural Perspectives on How to Survive the Calamities of the Last Days, Hugh Nibley, Maxwell Institute, accessed March 5, 2014.