📜 Section 132 — What Really Happened?--- Day 2
📜 Section 132 — What Really Happened?
Friends, let’s lay this out plain. Section 132 has been a thorny issue for generations, and most folks don’t realize how much shifting and rewriting has gone on. But if we follow the paper trail—and listen to the Spirit—the picture gets clearer.
✍️ Joseph’s Day: One Wife Only
In 1835, when Joseph Smith was alive, the Doctrine & Covenants carried Section 101. And it said it straight:
“We declare that we believe that one man should have one wife, and one woman but one husband, except in case of death...”
That was the law. That was canon. Joseph stood behind it. The Saints had no reason to think God was commanding plural wives.
📜 July 12, 1843 — The Revelation
Joseph inquired of the Lord about eternal marriage and Abraham’s promises. William Clayton wrote it down.
The heart of the revelation was sealing power:
Marriage sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise lasts forever.
All other contracts and covenants fall away at death.
God’s house is a house of order.
Abraham’s seed would continue through Joseph’s line.
The narrow way leads to eternal lives.
Notice what’s missing:
No justifying David’s wives.
No patting Solomon on the back for his concubines.
No threats to Emma.
Just sealing, order, and covenant.
🔧 Brigham & the Editors
After Joseph’s death, Brigham Young and his circle controlled the papers. William Clayton, who had written it down, was right in the mix. Joseph Kingsbury made a copy too. By the time the Saints in Utah canonized the revelation in 1876, two big things had changed:
Section 101 (monogamy) was deleted from the scriptures.
Section 132 was published with verses praising Abraham, David, and Solomon’s polygamy—and with sharp warnings against Emma.
That’s how we ended up with the Section 132 that sits in the LDS canon today.
❓ What If…
Now here’s the question. What if the clean copy Joseph gave to William Clayton still exists? What if that original journal were ever made public?
What if we discovered that the revelation really was about sealing, order, covenant, and eternal lives—and nothing about polygamy at all?
Think about it:
The excuses for Abraham’s concubines? Gone.
The defenses of David and Solomon? Gone.
The threats against Emma? Gone.
What’s left would be a message that harmonizes perfectly with Joseph’s scriptures:
Sealing power is real.
Marriage must be by God’s word and Spirit to endure.
The covenant made with Abraham continues.
Eternal lives are promised to the faithful.
⏳ The Story in Four Steps
1835 – The Law is Clear
Section 101 in the D&C says one man, one wife.1843 – The Revelation is Given
Joseph receives the revelation on sealing. Clayton writes it down.1876 – Brigham’s Version Wins
Section 101 is deleted, and a new Section 132—loaded with polygamy proof-texts—is canonized.Today – The “What If”
We don’t yet have Clayton’s original journal. But what if one day we did?
🌾 My Witness
Some folks will say, “But we don’t have Joseph’s clean copy.” True enough—the surviving manuscripts already carry the polygamy material.
But here’s where I stand:
The Spirit testifies that Joseph’s gospel was consistent. It matched the Book of Mormon, it matched the 1835 Doctrine & Covenants, and it matched his testimony of Christ. A revelation about sealing and eternal lives fits that pattern.
The Utah version, twisted toward polygamy, does not.
🚨 Why This Matters
If Brigham’s Section 132 was altered, then the whole “God commanded polygamy” story collapses. The Saints were handed a tradition that doesn’t match the Book of Mormon or Joseph’s own canon.
And that matters. Because eternal marriage is real. Sealing by the Spirit is real. Zion is real.
But polygamy? That was Brigham’s invention, not Joseph’s.
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