Ed, Issue 46, Winter 2023. May God grant that we hold sex and marriage to be sacred, and may God enable each of us, by His grace and through His Spirit, to move ahead in the process of sanctification, to the praise of the glory of His grace. "If a man who has married a slave wife takes another wife for himself, he must not neglect the rights of the first wife to food, clothing, and sexual intimacy. If the Seventh Commandment teaches the sanctity of marriage, it also teaches the sanctity of sex, for it is only in marriage that the pleasure and product (children) are to be experienced. Would You not be angry with us to the point of destruction, until there is no remnant nor any who escape? Published by at February 16, 2022. For starters, we need to get the nature of marriage right. He joined the first man and the first woman together in marriage. Sanctification, therefore, was the first test which God gave mankind, and it was this test which man failed. Yes, Marriage Matters to God. The Scriptures frankly tell us that sexual sin can be the source of other sins. (5) Divorce causes adultery. "You shall have no other gods before me. 34:7). him--perhaps to share his tent. Second, if we want the world to understand God's faithful love, we need to . Fornication is a term used in the Bible for any sexual misconduct or impure sexual activity that occurs outside of the bounds of a marriage covenant. So the LORD GOD caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh at the place. Just as no man can have two masters, neither can one have two unionsone with Christ, and another with a harlot. We sanctify sex because we value it highly, as a good gift from the hand of a gracious God. Here, the church is the bride of Christ, with the responsibility of exemplifying the relationship of Christ to His church (Eph. This incident reveals several important truths: (1) Joseph knew he could not lie with this woman because she was the wife of another man. (3) While David enjoyed sexual intimacy with Bathsheba, even though forbidden, Uriah refused such pleasure, even when legitimate and encouraged by the king. After Joseph died, the children of Israel were numerous, a great nation. Third, we must beware of that teaching (either by direct statement or by inference, or by silence) which holds that any and every sexual pleasure can be enjoyed by a married couple behind closed doors. Our sanctification cannot be expressed or realized apart from a radical change in our sexual conductthat is, a radical change in the way we conduct ourselves sexually, as contrasted with our former conduct and that of the pagan world around us. Gen. 39:9; 2 Sam. We sanctify those things to which we attach great value. Judaism condemned adultery and sexual immorality, as can be seen from John chapter 8. In the midst of that conversation I said to John, John you would not have been very happy with me. You may wonder what wood chisels have to do with the Seventh Commandment. Uncovering the nakedness of a relative is prohibited (vss. Exodus 21:11 If, however, he does not provide her with these three things, she is free to . So David sent and inquired about the woman. They were well-fed lusty horses, Each one neighing after his neighbors wife. Every daughter who comes into possession of an inheritance of any tribe of the sons of Israel shall be wife to one of the family of the tribe of her father, so that the sons of Israel each may possess the inheritance of his fathers. Israels sexual conduct set them apart from the Egyptians and the Canaanites. Let those who think this is an occasion or an excuse for sin read Romans chapter 6 very carefully. From the Old Testament perspective, adultery was a violation of the sanctity of marriage, which God established, and which the Law sought to maintain. (3) Joseph understood that, more than anything else, adultery was a sin against God. The union of husband and wife is one of the unique elements of marriage. Answer. From the standpoint of our sin against God, attitudinal sins and action sins are both rebellion against God. . Lev. But Uriah slept at the door of the kings house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. The Israelites performed the same physical act of worship (obeisance) towards Yahveh and King David, as it is written, 1 Chr. We must start by praying for them, seeking what God will do. The man, on the other hand, is under his parents authority as a child, but when he leaves them he terminates that chain of command and establishes a new chain of command, being the head of his wife and the family which may follow. Our culture is adamantly opposed to the sanctity of sex. Here, Davids immorality led to the additional sin of murder. 4:1ff.,), intimacy and fellowship, and reproduction (evangelism, fruit bearing) are discussed in the context of ones personal walk with the Lord or with the corporate union of believers in the body of Christ. Genesis 31:38-40 This twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten, Philippians 4:11,12 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content, Exodus 4:20-25 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand, Exodus 18:2-6 Then Jethro, Moses' father in law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back, . And, of course, the ultimate example of fear and perfect love working together is Jesus Christ. The couple finally ties the knot and it's sure to be a wedding to remember. To John, a wood chisel is to be sanctifiedset apart for use only on wood. But the messianic line until Mary was preserved through the union of a man and a woman in marriage. (Prov. The dubious distinction for the most well-known case of adultery would have to go to David, who sinned by committing adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah: Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. For if you ever go back and cling to the rest of these nations, these which remain among you, and intermarry with them, so that you associate with them and they with you. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but love from the Lord is its completion. Finally, sexual purity is vitally important to the Christian life because it is directly related to ones sanctification: For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. 1 Cor. Flee immorality. Grietje Commelin. The husband and wife become one. His brothers gave him an unplanned exodus simply because his father adored him (Genesis 37:3-4). However, the plan of the Lord prevails. (6) Though David was of the chosen seed, Uriah was but a Hittite. Sometime later, Moses was married to Zipporah, the daughter of Reuel, the priest of Midian ( Exodus 2:16-22 ). Numbers 5A test is given to determine whether or not a wife has been unfaithful to her husband. Our Lord is teaching us that we must, unlike our culture, take sexual sin most seriously. (1) Jesus had come to bear the penalty for sinners, and thus He did not come to condemn anyone, but to offer salvation to all (cf. The difference between John and myself over the use of a wood chisel is also a matter of sanctification. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church (Eph. In both cases, the forbidden fruit is available. It is also significant that He taught divorce causes adultery, except in the case where the divorce was based upon previous adultery. Marriage, in Josephs understanding, was an exclusive relationship. Sanctification involves purity, the absence of what is unclean. How tragic it is to see young people seduced (philosophically and physically), so that they will share that most treasured gift with those who cannot even be named or numbered. Thus you are to keep My charge, that you do not practice any of the abominable customs which have been practiced before you, so as not to defile yourselves with them; I am the LORD your GOD (Lev. But David stayed at Jerusalem. It can dull the mind, like wine, making one insensitive to reality (Hos. Having said this, let us note that eyes and hands are very precious body members. Sanctification is then stressed, so that Israel must not practice the immorality of the Canaanites before them, lest they too be thrust from the land (vss. Away from his family, perhaps never again to return to his own people, how easy it would have been for him to succumb to the advances of his masters wife: And it came about after these events that his masters wife looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, Lie with me. But he refused and said to his masters wife, Behold, with me around, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all that he owns in my charge. And the LORD GOD fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. That's the immediate need that marriage was created to address in Genesis 2. They made their lives miserable with hard labor (Exodus 1). 22-33), the important point to recognize here is that the relationship of a Christian husband and wife is to be a reflection of the relationship of Jesus Christ to His church. 6-18), as well as illicit intercourse (vss. 19-23). I do, however, believe that the first sin is similar to that of adultery, and thus very instructive. Sanctification was, for example, the first great test which man failed in the Garden of Eden. Thus, whatever one does, he does in union with Christ. The text says: Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.". And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another commits adultery (Matt. Satan, to save his skin, would begin to understand that he must begin to wage war on the seed of the woman. (NIV) Exodus 22:16-17, which seems to be a restating of the same law, sheds some light on this passage: If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall give the bride-price for her and make her his wife. Second, we move from an Old Testament dispensation (centered around the nation Israel) to a New Testament dispensation (centered around a predominantly Gentile church). The Net Pastors Journal, Eng. 19:6). Consider, for a moment, how that forbidden fruit (whatever it might have been) is similar to the forbidden fruit of illicit sex. I started reading the series three days ago and devoured it! 0. who does sean marry in exodus. Sometimes, people feel ready to make the big exodus from study to leadership, but they have not been released into ministry yet. But do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. Your sons have forsaken Me And sworn by those who are not gods. For a Christian to engage in sexual intercourse with a harlot puts two unions in conflict: his union with Christ and his union with a harlot. Our Lord teaches us here that divorce causes adultery. The assumption here is that the divorce is obtained in order to marry another, or that it will ultimately result in marriage to another. Joseph ended up in Egypt away from his family and did not understand until decades later when his brothers came to Egypt why all these events occurred (Genesis 50:20). Let those who would consider divorce an option carefully ponder the implications of their actions in accordance with our Lords words here. For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress, And embrace the bosom of a foreigner? In order to do this, Christians must be holy, sanctified, just as God is holy (1 Peter 1:14-16). Many are crying out to God, and He hears them. Furthermore, the one who divorces their spouse also causes them to commit adultery, since a remarriage is assumed. We must even distinguish between what is personally permissible and what is personally beneficial (1 Cor. 4:11-12). This is not one of the high points in Abrams life. Note these points of contrast: (1) Uriahs military devotion in the front lines of battle is contrasted with Davids complacency, who never even makes it to the battle. When one comes to faith in Christ, when he is born again, that person becomes one with Christ. In both cases, the forbidden fruit is very desirable. To remove either is a drastic action (as, for example, one would do in the case of cancer). Deuteronomy 22When a man accuses his wife of not being a virgin at the time they were married, the parents can show her (blood-stained) garment as proof of her purity. We will discover in our lesson that marriage and sex were also sanctified by God. So Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father Isaac;read more.and Esau went to Ishmael, and married, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abrahams son, the sister of Nebaioth. In 2 Timothy chapter 2 Pauls instruction is more general, but still very much to the point of sexual morality. Fellowship. 15:19). When Uriah came to him, David asked concerning the welfare of Joab and the people and the state of the war. The consequences of either guilt or innocence are spelled out (vss. Exodos means leave, and the book of Exodus tells how the nation of Israel left Egypt. Shall I not punish these people, declares the LORD, And on a nation such as this Shall I not avenge Myself? (Jer. God has here joined a man and a woman so that they have become a unity. 13:4). 5:7-9). God not only created man and woman, He also created the institution of marriage. While illicit sexual union is a sin, those unions which violate a marriage are taken more seriously. Shaun and Lea exchanged their first kiss in a Season 3 episode of The Good Doctor. Moses is born, and placed in a basket in the reeds of Nile. New American Standard Bible Chapter Parallel Exodus 21:10 (NAS) "If he takes to himself another woman, he may not reduce her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights. In the Book of 1 Corinthians he focuses on illicit sexual union and its relationship to the believers union with Christ: Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? You are therefore to make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; and you shall not make yourselves detestable by animal or by bird or by anything that creeps on the ground, which I have separated for you as unclean. The epidemic of sexual immorality is, I believe, the result of a failure to understand or appreciate the sanctity of sex and of marriage. We also see how the Lord made Pharaoh release His people. Any books with similarly powerful stories that you can suggest. Thus, in the gospels we see how our Lord pressed beyond the actual act of adultery to the attitudinal sins of adultery: You have heard that it was said, YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY; but I say to you, that every one who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. Leviticus 18Israel is to distinguish herself from practices of Egypt and Canaan by maintaining sexual purity (vss. Pagan religion often intermingled sexual immorality with its worship. We therefore would expect to find some very specific revelation on the subject of adultery and sexual sin in the epistles. Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her? The children of Israel had become a threat, for the Egyptians might not control them. When we are willing to do whatever it takes to avoid a sin, we will likely take the steps necessary to avoid it. We all restrict the use of (we sanctify) those things which we most highly prize. For whoever does any of these abominations, those persons who do so shall be cut off from among their people. The covenant which God made with Israel on Mt. If He spoke it, He will make it good (Numbers 23:19). 4:11-12). It is God who brought Adam and Eve together as husband and wife. As for a man or a woman, if there is a medium or a spiritist among them, they shall surely be put to death; they shall be stoned with stones, their bloodguiltiness is upon them (Lev. Most importantly, we must get in the Word of God and ask for Gods help. There are many Christians in Ukraine. For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh. shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who commit these abominations? Shaun and Lea got engaged in the Season 4 finale. Because of its significance and the power behind it, we use it gingerly. Will God forgive me for losing hope and the will to live? As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people (Lev. Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, OT Law: Exodus 2:21 Moses was content to dwell (Exo. Closely related to the union of a husband and his wife is the intimacy which they experience in marriage. There is usually a large number of people making an exodus. If you havent read it yet, I highly recommend it. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org, Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take to himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he charged him, saying, You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,. (1) Jesus teaches here that it is not enough to keep the Law in its letter, but must also keep it in spirit. That is a topic for another article. And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. And the man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. This may be a matter of personal conviction, over which there is some disagreement, but marriage does not make every sexual practice holy. 4:4), and holding the marriage bed in honor, keeping the marriage bed undefiled (Heb. 25, 27, 28), thus resulting in expulsion from the land. And one said, Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David sent messengers and took her, and when she came to him, he lay with her; and when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house. I understand that possessing ones vessel in sanctification and honor (1 Thes. Prepare yourself. What Is the Significance of Not the Letter but of the Spirit? But this does not take the Law far enough, as our Lord must continually point out to His listeners, and to His literalistic opponents, the scribes and Pharisees. 2:11-12). After Joseph and his generation died, a new king arose over Egypt who was not familiar with Joseph (Exodus 1:6-8). The Bible seems to teach that this union is not severed by anything but death, anything including divorce. Finally, we shall attempt to distill the biblical teaching into a few guiding and governing principles. He has also set this unity apart, distinguishing it from the previous parental-child entity. Exodus 32:27. 13:27). The Tennessee native is a member of Temple of Deliverance COGIC, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc, Omicron Delta Kappa, The Golden Key International Honour Society, and Kappa Delta Pi. (4) The immediate results of Josephs actions were painful, but the ultimate outcome was the blessing of God. Deuteronomy 7:4. When we come to our last text, we come full circle: Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge (Heb. Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, The Lord knows those who are His, and, Let everyone who names the name of the Lord abstain from wickedness. Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. And if your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out, and throw it from you; for it is better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. Hands and eyes are involved as precipitating causes of immorality, however. Eph. Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take to himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he charged him, saying, You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan, and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram. Gen. 1:11-12, 31). 6:12). Reproduction. If you look at Exodus 1:5, you will see that seventy souls had come out of Jacob and arrived in Egypt with Joseph. 18:24-30). Marriage with the Midianites was allowed . Bob is a pastor/teacher and elder at Community Bible Chapel in Richardson, Texas, and has contributed many of his Bible study series for use by the Foundation. Our approach to this study will be to consider the progressively revealed truths of God about sex and marriage, beginning in the Old Testament, and then going to the New Testament. 7:3-5). Her restoration is described as a marriage between God and His bride. Let us briefly summarize this revelation. How many times have we heard that adultery breaks the marriage union, that is, that adultery (legitimately) causes divorce? Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine. 20:6). Smith was also a freelance correspondent for BET news. The exodus of Israel was not easy, and it took time, but it was a God kind of job. And I will destroy her vines and fig trees, Of which she said, These are my wages Which my lovers have given me. And I will make them a forest, And the beasts of the field will devour them (Hos. The Bible speaks otherwise. There is a saying that success is when preparation meets opportunity. I believe that there are several ways in which marriage is sanctified: Unity. The Bible is full of Israelite men marrying foreign women. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. The New Testament portrays a very similar picture. Sanctification is one of the great principles of the Bible, whether in the Old or the New Testament. v. 24). 2. This union involved the husband's leaving of his parents 42 and cleaving to his wife. Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. Exodus 20:1-26 ESV / 16 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful. and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods. I do not think that it is correct to conclude that adultery terminates a marriage, any more than it is correct to conclude that sin terminates our salvation. We know, of course, that the Lord Jesus was not born of the union of Mary and Joseph, but by a supernatural conception brought about by the Holy Spirit. It means a lot of people quit and left. Exodus is not used casually. 42 One may wonder why only the husband is to leave his father and mother, and not the wife. One of these particulars is that of marriage. If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the bride price for virgins." If the passages don't mean that a woman has to marry her rapist, then what do they mean? I think there is little evidence for this conclusion. Thus, when a divorce is granted due to adultery, a later marriage on the part of the innocent (that is, not guilty of adultery) party is not viewed to be adulterous. Now David called him, and he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with his lords servants, but he did not go down to his house (2 Samuel 11:1-13). He instructed his people to cast every male child born into the river (Exodus 1:22). I believe that the sexual union of Adam and Eve consummated their marital union, and thus there is implied here a sanctity of both the marriage and the sexual relationship of Adam and Eve. At times we are tempted to think that what God has called clean is really unclean (as was the case with Peter; cf. (3) Terms referring to adultery and sexual immorality are employed non-literally, referring to Israels infidelity to God. The sanctity of marriage is indicated by the statement in Genesis 2:24, that a man must leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife. Israel remained in the wilderness for forty years. 24, 30) and the land (vss. It is significant that our Lord began by talking about adultery, but that He almost immediately came to the subject of divorce. From the standpoint of the harm done to men, action sins are more serious. 18:24-30; 20:22-26). Neither man nor beast was allowed to draw too near to it (Exod. Let the husband fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. So Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father Isaac; and Esau went to Ishmael, and married, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abrahams son, the sister of Nebaioth. Mohar is the cash gift the groom gives the bride, as Eliezer, Abraham 's servant, gave "precious things" to Laban, Rebecca 's father, and as Jacob gave seven years of service for the hand of Rachel.The great sage and the ketubah's most important . Sexual sin defiles the people (vss. Furthermore, there must be a distinction drawn between what is personally permissible and what is detrimental to others (cf. If we misrepresent God's design for marriage, then we distort His means of revealing His love for the church. In effect, Abram was not only endangering the promises of God and the purity of his wife, but he was paving the way for men to unknowingly commit adultery with his wife. For this reason it says, Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you (Eph. This is already the size of many metropolitan cities and doesnt count the mens female relatives or the men under 20 years. In a divine vision, God said to Peter, What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy (Acts 10:15). but the scene where Cecilia says goodbye to Sean in Exodus literally broke me. Men, what about that special car, or gun, or golf club? He had promised Abraham that his descendants would become a great nation (Genesis 17). Thus, one should be careful not to think or say that since adultery is a sin against a marriage, it has also, de facto, terminated the marriage. May God grant you the conviction to stand against the flood of cultural and peer pressure. It is crucial to study the book of Genesis to understand Exodus. But it is also referred to regularly in later Bible books. The answer to the question is in Exodus 22:17 - the woman does NOT have to marry a . But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. This was now accomplished. (4) While Uriah was willing to lay down his life for the king and the nation, David was willing to take Uriahs life to save his own reputation and to satisfy his own sexual desires. Abrams request was for Sarai to lie, representing herself as an eligible bride, and thus potentially putting her in another mans bed in order to save his life. And all the congregation blessed the LORD God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshipped the LORD, and the king. The important thing to note here is that God also promised salvation through the seed of the woman in the midst of the curse pronounced on Satan: And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you will bruise him on the heel (Gen. 3:15). More than this, it was very desirable: And out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:9). Shaun ( Freddie Highmore) and Lea ( Paige Spara) started out as neighbors. I also believe that humans will not stop the plan of God. He warned us . Exodus 34:16 - and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods. Such could be the conclusion one would reach from a reading of John chapter 4, where Jesus spoke to the immoral woman at the well, or of John chapter 8, where Jesus refused to cast stones at the woman caught in the very act of adultery.
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