Note the very interesting language of verse 33. “For they shall not lead away captive…” How is a marriage captivity? Why is this an injunction specifically protecting the women? Note also “…the daughters of my people because of their tenderness.” There is something in the nature of the women that will submit them to some kind of captivity. Notice also that once again it is whoredom that is being forced upon them - not legal sexual union.
We now have sufficient pieces of the puzzle to start to work out a solution. We must remember that this is a situation that has necessarily arisen after the accumulation of wealth. As we noted above, that accumulation of wealth presumes contact with other villages and the exchange of goods. I also noted that along with the goods come ideas and concepts. A simple instance of this is fashion. If there is trade for clothing, then the clothing of that “exotic” place becomes interesting, and fashionable. Thus in simple cases, conceptions of art and esthetics can move from location to location.
In a Mesoamerican setting we have a long history of polygamy among the native populations. While the best evidence is for long after the Book of Mormon, there is no reason to suppose that polygamy would have been a late introduction. It is most probable that polygamy (specifically polygyny) was always an acceptable option, and exercised when a people (or person) had sufficient wealth to enter the practice.
If we take a step back and attempt to reconstruct the way in which polygamy entered Nephite society, we can surmise some important points. The first is that the prohibition against multiple wives came from Lehi himself (Jacob 2:34). Therefore the earliest Nephites would have received the commandment directly from their patriarch. At the time the Lehites leave Jerusalem, the norm was monogamy, as the example of Lehi was monogamy (as well as that of the children in the family, according to the best reconstructions). Therefore we have a people who are not only commanded against polygamy, but who are probably culturally predisposed to be against polygamy. Certainly discussions with modern women about historic Mormon polygamy suggests that the strength of those cultural prohibitions is strong. In such a climate, what would make someone decide to take another wife (and the wife accept it)?
Here is where the Mesoamerican context of the Book of Mormon can provide an answer to an otherwise very complicated problem. The accumulation of wealth in the Nephites necessarily required trade with other peoples, and it is very likely that there were some of those contacts who practiced polygamy. Because of the expense involved, we may easily assume that it was only the most wealthy and powerful of the trading villages/cities who had such a practice. It would be those wealthy cities that would provide the most desirable trade goods (having sufficient surplus to allow time for production of luxury items in sufficient quantity for trade). It would be the styles of these villages/cities that are being adopted in the costly apparel that the rich Nephite men are wearing (being a manufactured item, they would be in the style of the location that created them). It is a very short step form the admiration of the physical culture to the adoption of the trappings of that culture. If the traders encounter polygyny among the privileged wealthy in those villages, then they might have wanted to mimic those wealthy peoples in more than just costly apparel.
In this possible context, let’s return to the problem of “whoredom” and “chastity.” Remember that it is the chastity of the women that is the issue, not the men! The Lord does not specifically deal with the infidelity of men, only the “whoredoms” or non-sanctioned unions that occur. When the Lord is most specific, he is protecting the women’s chastity!
Since a legal marriage nicely protects chastity, the meaning here must be that the women are being given in marriages that do not have legal sanction in Nephite society. In most societies, the exchange of women between groups is a mode of strengthening relationships. Such political intermarriages have been the backbone of European politics for centuries. It is possible that what is happening with the women is that they are being given outside of the Nephite society into a society that allows polygamy. Thus they are given as polygamous wives to a society that accepts that practice. Since the practice was forbidden by Lehi, it would not be the sanctioned practice of the Nephites, and therefore falls outside of the legal definitions. From the Nephite view, it is a “whoredom” because it is not sanctioned. The wailings of the women would come from their forced entry into political unions not sanctioned by the Lord’s command to Lehi. This context also provides greater depth of meaning to the women being lead away into captivity, a situation more understandable if it actually describes the women being removed from Nephite society and into a different city/culture.