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Personally, I have understood the word "before" here as referring to rank - that is, you may not consider any other god to be more valuable/worthy . 4:11-12). The relationship between a husband and his wife is a union. Ex). For starters, we need to get the nature of marriage right. 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. 4:3-8). Then the LORD GOD said, It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him. And out of the ground the LORD GOD formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. Exodus 21:11 If, however, he does not provide her with these three things, she is free to . Furthermore, the one who divorces their spouse also causes them to commit adultery, since a remarriage is assumed. 25, 27, 28), thus resulting in expulsion from the land. Sexual sin has very serious theological implications. 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. Israels sexual conduct set them apart from the Egyptians and the Canaanites. Let us work at growth in each of these areas. 6:12). Pauls words in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 go much farther, showing the implications of a Christians sexual union with a harlot. The word Exodus came from the Latin exodos and was adopted as the book's title when the Bible was translated into Latin. 2:19-22). And, Paul says, it involves for Timothy the fleeing of youthful lusts, which surely include illicit sexual passions and conduct. Uriah was a Canaanite, but a godly one, while David, the Israelite, acted like a heathen. (2) Jesus thus teaches here that attitudinal sins precede sins of action (cf. One of these particulars is that of marriage. From the standpoint of the harm done to men, action sins are more serious. Physical intimacy is the most obvious, but there is also a spiritual and emotional intimacy. The apostle Paul has the most to say of the apostles on the subject of sexual purity. 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. 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. For the land has become defiled, therefore I have visited its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants. (Prov. Moses is born, and placed in a basket in the reeds of Nile. If you havent read it yet, I highly recommend it. but the scene where Cecilia says goodbye to Sean in Exodus literally broke me. While depriving a partner tempts them, fulfilling a partner does not necessarily keep them from sexual sin. 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. In other words, what is it that makes a marriage distinct, unique, sanctified? The difference between John and myself over the use of a wood chisel is also a matter of sanctification. Moses knew he had a big job because Israel was no longer just one family. 8-10). Sometime later, Moses was married to Zipporah, the daughter of Reuel, the priest of Midian ( Exodus 2:16-22 ). him--perhaps to share his tent. 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. That's the immediate need that marriage was created to address in Genesis 2. Many are crying out to God, and He hears them. 2:16-22). (2) We can see by Josephs words that adultery was not only wrong, but that he understood it to be sin. We must begin by taking the Bible literally, and thus we acknowledge that any act of adultery must be avoided. While illicit sexual union is a sin, those unions which violate a marriage are taken more seriously. God increased the midwives and gave them houses (Exodus 1:16-21). We know that God is not a man that He should lie nor a son of man that He should change His mind (Numbers 23:19). For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress, And embrace the bosom of a foreigner? We can see, then, that throughout the Bible, the enjoyment of sex is restricted to marriage, and to that which is consistent with our position and calling in Christ. He is found, and brought up by Pharaoh's daughter; He flees into Midian, and marries Zipporah. Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the kings house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. Not only did his master not give him authority over his wife, he could not have done so. Abraham, and his seed, is set apart from the rest of mankind, and through Him Messiah will come and will bring blessing and salvation to all nations. Num. (3) Terms referring to adultery and sexual immorality are employed non-literally, referring to Israels infidelity to God. Thus Jesus majored on those sins which were more subtle, and which were more characteristic of the religious leadership of Israel. Let us conclude by seeking to isolate the principles which underlie and govern sexual purity, and then some of the practical outworkings of these principles. 20:14; Deut. The difference between John and me in this instance is that John believes everything should be used for the purpose it was made. It is against the backdrop of Israels history as described in Genesis that the Seventh Commandment is given to the Israelites: You shall not commit adultery (Exod. 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.". Harlotry, wine, and new wine take away the understanding. Here we come to one of the very crucial implications of the sanctity of sex. They become one in spirit, and sexually they become one in physical union. 4:4), and holding the marriage bed in honor, keeping the marriage bed undefiled (Heb. Judah marries Shu'a the Canaanite. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders (Matt. You are therefore to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to live will not spew you out. For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you. When the first sin was committed by partaking of the forbidden fruit God pronounced punishments which were appropriate to each party involved, as well as the consequences for all mankind. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water. From the very beginning of creation, to commit adultery was to violate the sanctity of sex in marriage. 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. In chapter 35, Ruben lay with one of his fathers concubines (35:22). How many times have we heard that adultery breaks the marriage union, that is, that adultery (legitimately) causes divorce? (4) The immediate results of Josephs actions were painful, but the ultimate outcome was the blessing of God. Exodus 22:16-17 "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. Sexual intercourse with a harlot, contrary to popular thought, is no casual matter, it is a union as well. It is little wonder, then, that God has so much to teach man about sanctification in the Bible. Moses consented, and in course of time took to wife Zipporah, one of Reuel's daughters. There are several reasons for the difference in the emphasis of our Lord from that of the Old Testament, which condemned adultery and demanded the death penalty. Virginity is thus looked upon as a stigma, from which one should rid oneself as quickly as possible. The word fornication comes from the Greek term porneia (from which we . 42 One may wonder why only the husband is to leave his father and mother, and not the wife. 20:6). In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 Paul says that the will of God is for us to be sanctified. When we consider what does Exodus mean? we reach the books core message. Amongst the most surprising revelations would be the following: 1. Exodus 2:10 And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. You may wonder what wood chisels have to do with the Seventh Commandment. Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her? If we misrepresent God's design for marriage, then we distort His means of revealing His love for the church. 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. 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? I did something which would make you cringe. What is it that makes sexual purity so important to the New Testament saint, who is not an Israelite, but a member of the church, the body of Christ? Bob was born and raised in a Christian home i More. 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. Her name. Judgment awaits this nation, which is likened to a harlot. Intimacy. Sexual sins and their penalties are spelled out in detail (vss. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another commits adultery (Matt. However, the plan of the Lord prevails. Abraham marries Keturah, who couldn't have been a daughter of Israel as Israel, Abraham's grandson was yet to have been born. Let them be yours alone, And not for strangers with you. Joseph suffered many things because of his brothers. Then David said to Uriah, Go down to your house, and wash your feet. And Uriah went out of the kings house, and a present from the king was sent out after him. Marriage is defined in Scripture as a covenant before God, joining a man and a woman together for their lives ( Genesis 2:24 ). Just as no man can have two masters, neither can one have two unionsone with Christ, and another with a harlot. The Net Pastors Journal, Eng. Not to mention, the Israelites were a faithful people who believed in God. Dr. Sandra Hamer Smith is a Christian and wife to Sylvester Smith. Finally, we will attempt to discover how these principles apply to our daily Christian walk. It was Gods will to use Joseph as a forerunner to prepare the children of Israel for what was next (Genesis 45:7-9). In fact, it wasnt bad, in and of itself. Our culture protests that Christians disdain and demean sex, that we have little appreciation for it. Sanctification is therefore one of the great, governing and guiding principles of the Word of God. After Joseph and his generation died, a new king arose over Egypt who was not familiar with Joseph (Exodus 1:6-8). This union involved the husbands leaving of his parents42 and cleaving to his wife. If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the bride price for virgins." . And if you right hand makes you stumble, cut it off, 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 go into hell. . He had promised Abraham that his descendants would become a great nation (Genesis 17). As for your adulteries and your lustful neighings, The lewdness of your prostitution On the hills in the field, I have seen your abominations. 1 Corinthians 7:1-6 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Some people seem to disdain sex in marriage as much as the Bible disdains it outside of marriage. James 1:13-15). Flee immorality. He feared that Israel would unite with Egypts enemies (Exodus 1:9). The main focus of Exodus is to describe Gods deliverance of Israel and how He made them a great nation (The KJV Study Bible, Barbour Publishing, 2011). His indignation at discovering his daughter-in-law was pregnant out of wedlock (not knowing yet it was by him), reveals that sexual immorality was clearly condemned (cf. That is a topic for another article. Your sons have forsaken Me And sworn by those who are not gods. And the woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, I am pregnant. Then David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. So Joab sent Uriah to David. And it came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; and it will come about when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, This is his wife; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. 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. The Scriptures frankly tell us that sexual sin can be the source of other sins. Women, why do keep your silver in a special place, bringing it out only for special occasions? The higher the vote, the further up an answer is. I havent read a story that powerful and emotional and heart-wrenching in years! Sinai was a further means of sanctifying His people, to be a priestly nation: You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles wings, and brought you to Myself. Prov. The Hebrew midwives feared God and would not do what the king of Egypt asked. (3) The way to fully keep the Seventh Commandment is to view sexual sin as so serious (damning) that we are willing to take any measure required to prevent it. 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. When we sanctify sex, it is because we value it highly, not because we disdain it as something of little worth. The union of husband and wife is one of the unique elements of marriage. Gen. 39:9; 2 Sam. The Israelites themselves were set apart from the Egyptians and from all other nations. He joined the first man and the first woman together in marriage. Here, Davids immorality led to the additional sin of murder. and that we will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. . 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. (1) Jesus teaches here that it is not enough to keep the Law in its letter, but must also keep it in spirit. (2) Jesus was speaking to a Jewish audience, while most of the apostles addressed Gentiles. Sanctification involves purity, the absence of what is unclean. 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. Second, if we want the world to understand God's faithful love, we need to . Second, we move from an Old Testament dispensation (centered around the nation Israel) to a New Testament dispensation (centered around a predominantly Gentile church). Dr. Smith primarily teaches language arts. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification (1 Thess. 51:4) and New, adultery is, first and foremost, a sin against God. What Is the Meaning of Psalm 91 and Why Is it Popular? "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the . Most Americans seem to think that human sexuality is to be used in the same way I use my Stanley chiselthe more uses to which it can be put, the better. I also believe that humans will not stop the plan of God. The Gentiles were more like the Canaanites of Old Testament timesthey were distinctly pagan in their sexual conduct and values. Throughout the Bible, God sets certain things apart; He restricts their use; He sanctifies them. This sexual union consummates and symbolizes the union of marriage. Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Then his father and his mother said to him, Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines? But Samson said to his father, Get her for me, for she looks good to me.. Her restoration is described as a marriage between God and His bride. He warned us . How then could I do this great evil, and sin against God? And it came about as she spoke to Joseph day after day, that he did not listen to her to lie beside her, or be with her (Gen. 39:7-10). We can learn from the book Exodus that the Israelites continued to cry out to God until He delivered them. Indeed, in verse 16 Paul makes a statement of monumental importance. 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. Leviticus 20Israel is not to play the harlot by consulting mediums or spiritists, but they are to consecrate themselves to the God of Israel, who sanctifies them (vss. I would suggest that the four things which set a marriage apart from other relationships are the very four things which distinguish a Christians relationship with his Lord and with His body, the church. Our culture does not value sex, it thinks of it as very common, so common that virtual strangers will share lifes most intimate treasure. The Bible is full of Israelite men marrying foreign women. Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice in the wife of your youth. 19:4-6a). 5:28-32). 6:15-20). God did send Moses and protected him from all of the death decrees that the Pharoah had implemented to keep them down (Exodus 3-10). For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the. We will discover in our lesson that marriage and sex were also sanctified by God. Exodus 20:1-26 ESV / 16 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful. Yes, Marriage Matters to God. My master made me swear, saying, You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live; So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him, and said to him, You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed (Gen. 12:2-3). Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? The king of Egypt was still determined to kill the male children. Why did you not go down to your house? And Uriah said to David, The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Moses -- a great Israelite leader, prophet and lawgiver, Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular, To show willingness, be pleased, determine, undertake (to do anything), Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct, To sit down, to dwell, to remain, to settle, to marry, Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular, Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular, Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular. Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again lest Satan tempt you because of your lack of self-control (1 Cor. Marriage, in Josephs understanding, was an exclusive relationship. He has also set this unity apart, distinguishing it from the previous parental-child entity. 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. In Genesis chapter 12 further revelation about mans salvation is given as the benefits brought about by human (and ultimately divine) seed: And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you; And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. The dictionary highlights this when it points out the Biblical origin of the word (Merriam-Websters.com, 2022). If you look at Exodus 1:5, you will see that seventy souls had come out of Jacob and arrived in Egypt with Joseph. After Joseph died, the children of Israel were numerous, a great nation. All rights reserved. Ex). Ed, Issue 46, Winter 2023. God is not a fan of bondage or suffering. This was now accomplished. 18:24-30). What Is the Significance of Not the Letter but of the Spirit? When I had fed them to the full, They committed adultery And trooped to the harlots house. 2:11-12). Visual and sensory (touch) stimulation are often the prelude to immorality. The answer to the question is in Exodus 22:17 - the woman does NOT have to marry a . Judaism condemned adultery and sexual immorality, as can be seen from John chapter 8. Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? 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. Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you (Gen. 12:10-13). 24, 30) and the land (vss. The husband and wife become one. His brothers gave him an unplanned exodus simply because his father adored him (Genesis 37:3-4). I do, however, believe that the first sin is similar to that of adultery, and thus very instructive. This event is described in detail in the second book of the Bible, called. In these verses the sin of David is contrasted against the backdrop of the devotion and discipline of Uriah. 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. The forbidden fruit was forbidden, not because of any evil characteristic of the fruit itself, but because God sanctified or set it apart. But it is also referred to regularly in later Bible books. Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exod. We sanctify sex because we value it highly, as a good gift from the hand of a gracious God. Jesus did not have nearly as much to say about adultery and sexual immorality as did the apostles. God not only created man and woman, He also created the institution of marriage. God delivered Israel, but many things had to be worked out of them. This is what we shall seek to learn from the writings of the apostles in the New Testament. Her duty of marriage.--Rather, her right of cohabitation. 20:22-27). Shaun and Lea got engaged in the Season 4 finale. For this and other reasons, the Seventh Commandment is of vital importance, not only to a pagan world, but to a carnal and permissive church.