5:27-32). We must begin by understanding that plucking out eyes and cutting off hands will not cure sin or assure us of keeping the Seventh (or any other) Commandment. The KJV Study Bible, Barbour Publishing, 2011, California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. 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). I do, however, believe that the first sin is similar to that of adultery, and thus very instructive. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. The difference between John and me in this instance is that John believes everything should be used for the purpose it was made. 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. Indeed, in verse 16 Paul makes a statement of monumental importance. We need only look at men like David and Solomon, who had so many wives they couldnt keep up with them, but still sought after more (such as David sought Bathsheba). This union is violated and defiled by adultery. 5:15-20). Sanctification is one of the great principles of the Bible, whether in the Old or the New Testament. 19:6). Remember that God made it, and that all He made was good. There are other instances of sexual immorality in Genesis, but let us turn our attention to the bright light of Josephs character, in contrast to that of his close relatives.43 Joseph was a young man, with all of the sexual desires of any other healthy male. So, the Egyptians devised a plan to set taskmasters over the Israelites and enslave them. I believe that there are several ways in which marriage is sanctified: Unity. Just as God gave life to all of His creatures in Genesis chapter 1, now in chapter 2 He gives a woman to Adam as his wife. 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. Pauls words in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 go much farther, showing the implications of a Christians sexual union with a harlot. (4) Adultery is a violation of the union of marriage. Some people seem to disdain sex in marriage as much as the Bible disdains it outside of marriage. Later, God commanded Moses to take a census of all the Israelite men over 20 years old, which amounted to six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty. (Numbers 1:46). 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. 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? Furthermore, the one who divorces their spouse also causes them to commit adultery, since a remarriage is assumed. However, the plan of the Lord prevails. Since marriage matters to God, it should matter to believers too. God is faithful. Adultery mocks the union of a man and his wife, and the God who joined them together. The Gentiles were more like the Canaanites of Old Testament timesthey were distinctly pagan in their sexual conduct and values. Exodus 21:10 (MSG) If he marries another woman, she retains all her full rights to meals, clothing, and marital relations. He joined the first man and the first woman together in marriage. It is also significant that He taught divorce causes adultery, except in the case where the divorce was based upon previous adultery. The Bible is full of Israelite men marrying foreign women. Thus, because Israel practiced the same sins as the Canaanites, who lived in the land before them, they were thrust forth from the land, just as their predecessors, and just as God had warned: Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled. 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. Jesus did not have nearly as much to say about adultery and sexual immorality as did the apostles. In order to do this, Christians must be holy, sanctified, just as God is holy (1 Peter 1:14-16). He warned us . To play out her role as Gods priestly nation, Israel had to be separate, sanctified, different from the surrounding nations. Second, in order to avoid the evils of sex, we need to minimize our exposure to those things which only stimulate lustful thoughts and sexual temptations. 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. Some died on the spot for murmuring and complaining about Moses (Numbers 16:33). 30 Verses to Reflect on in the Book of Hebrews. This incident reveals several important truths: (1) Joseph knew he could not lie with this woman because she was the wife of another man. Intimacy. Let us work at growth in each of these areas. For a while, Shaun was dating Dr. Carly Lever (Jasika Nicole), a pathologist. For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body (1 Cor. As for your adulteries and your lustful neighings, The lewdness of your prostitution On the hills in the field, I have seen your abominations. Her restoration is described as a marriage between God and His bride. from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel, You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods. Solomon held fast to these in love. The union of husband and wife is one of the unique elements of marriage. 2:16-22). When some have read Deuteronomy 7:2-5, they conclude that God is opposed to intermarriage among the races. 4:4), and holding the marriage bed in honor, keeping the marriage bed undefiled (Heb. These three texts provide us with the essence of our Lords teaching on adultery and sexual immorality. Moses knew he had a big job because Israel was no longer just one family. Will God forgive me for losing hope and the will to live? The Law pertaining to adultery also confirms the sanctity of marriage. . Anytime you hear the word exodus, it causes you to notice. Let those who have already divorced and remarried remember that divorce and immorality (as all other sins save unbelief) is not an unpardonable sin. Based on the Hebrew Bible, intermarriage was quite frequent in early Israelite society. and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live. 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. The children of Israel did all work in the field as well. I havent read a story that powerful and emotional and heart-wrenching in years! I honestly believe that. Ed, Issue 46, Winter 2023. God told Satan, Adam and Eve that the Savior of mankind would be the seed of the woman. Thus, it was not necessary for our Lord to dwell on the sinfulness of sexual immorality, since the Jews of His day agreed with Him on this point. Would You not be angry with us to the point of destruction, until there is no remnant nor any who escape? The king of Egypt was still determined to kill the male children. 19:12-13, 23-24). Consider, for a moment, how that forbidden fruit (whatever it might have been) is similar to the forbidden fruit of illicit sex. The Old Testament prophets take up the themes already developed in the Pentateuch. The consequences of guilt or innocence are spelled out (vss. 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. 19-23). The incidents in chapters 34 and 38 indicate that the Law of Moses only codified what was already understood to be wrong. 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. And God spoke all these words, saying, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. (6) Though David was of the chosen seed, Uriah was but a Hittite. I did something which would make you cringe. 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. 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. In both the New and Old Testaments we are urged to let the pleasure and enjoyment of sex within marriage serve as a godly defense against sexual immorality:44. This union involved the husband's leaving of his parents 42 and cleaving to his wife. An exodus of people left the company means the same thing. Let the husband fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. 4:11-12). (3) Terms referring to adultery and sexual immorality are employed non-literally, referring to Israels infidelity to God. . 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. This may be a matter of personal conviction, over which there is some disagreement, but marriage does not make every sexual practice holy. At times we are tempted to think that what God has called clean is really unclean (as was the case with Peter; cf. Our culture believes that the obtaining of a certificate of divorce legitimizes adultery. Their people have been under the foot of the Egyptians for four hundred years. Leviticus 18Israel is to distinguish herself from practices of Egypt and Canaan by maintaining sexual purity (vss. Our culture does not value sex, it thinks of it as very common, so common that virtual strangers will share lifes most intimate treasure. 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. 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 apostle Paul has the most to say of the apostles on the subject of sexual purity. The University of Memphis alumnae has been in education for about 20 years after receiving the call to teach. Just as no man can have two masters, neither can one have two unionsone with Christ, and another with a harlot. (2) Jesus thus teaches here that attitudinal sins precede sins of action (cf. It chronicles the story of their deliverance from four hundred years of bondage and how God sent Moses as an instrument of deliverance. The first is that the sanctity of marriage not only demands that we not defile the union in any way, including adultery, but that we actively seek to enhance the marriage. 29:20. While illicit sexual union is a sin, those unions which violate a marriage are taken more seriously. And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. Shaun ( Freddie Highmore) and Lea ( Paige Spara) started out as neighbors. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! They made their lives miserable with hard labor (Exodus 1). We can be disgruntled about what is happening with our pastor or whoever our leader is. But if they marry one of the sons of the other tribes of the sons of Israel, their inheritance will be withdrawn from the inheritance of our fathers and will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; thus it will be withdrawn from our allotted inheritance. 4:3-8). Smith was also a freelance correspondent for BET news. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but love from the Lord is its completion. 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. In chapter 35, Ruben lay with one of his fathers concubines (35:22). This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man. For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh (Gen. 2:18-24). If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish. The Mohar.The funds, called mohar, are so important that this clause is called ikkar ketubahthe basic part of the ketubah, or simply the ketubah. Having said this, let us note that eyes and hands are very precious body members. 6:15-20). Because of its significance and the power behind it, we use it gingerly. If one were so serious as to be willing to pluck out an eye or cut off a hand then that persons attitude is what it should be with regard to adultery. Pharaoh also instructed the midwives to kill the male children during birth but spare the female children (Exodus 1:15-16). New Century Version Chapter Parallel 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. We must distinguish between truth and error, between good and evil, between holiness and unrighteousness. 24, 30) and the land (vss. Shaun and Lea exchanged their first kiss in a Season 3 episode of The Good Doctor. 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. God increased the midwives and gave them houses (Exodus 1:16-21). but the scene where Cecilia says goodbye to Sean in Exodus literally broke me. When we consider what does Exodus mean? we reach the books core theme. (It is better for society that a man only think of murder than it is for him to take a life.) To me, a wood chisel can be used for any number of things, including, if necessary, automobile engines. I would suggest that the categories of unity, intimacy, reproduction, and fellowship are four specific benchmarks of the quality of our marriages, and thus four specific areas for concentrated effort.

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