1 And now I would that ye might know, that after my father, Lehi, had made an end of prophesying concerning his seed, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto him again, saying that it was not meet for him, Lehi, that he should take his family into the wilderness alone; but that his sons should take daughters to wife, that they might raise up seed unto the Lord in the land of promise.
Obviously there are practical reasons to have women and men together on a journey such as Lehi and his family are making, but the commandment was to “take daughters to wife,” not just “take daughters.” Marriage is critical for many reasons. Among those reasons is that marriage provides a sense of order to society. The family organization is the basic unit of any society. The stronger the individual family units, the stronger the society is. It’s like a chain made up of individual links. Any weak link affects the integrity of the whole chain.
On an eternal level, celestial marriage is critical for our exaltation. Doctrine and Covenants 131:1–4 says that without celestial marriage we cannot attain the highest degree of glory in the Celestial Kingdom. We can come close, but marriage is what makes that last reward possible. Men and women depend on each other to be exalted. It’s been said that salvation is individual; exaltation is a family reward.
- D&C 131:1–4
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