Smith lives and resides in Memphis, Tennessee. We also see how the Lord made Pharaoh release His people. In chapter 38, Judah engaged in sexual union with his daughter-in-law, whom he thought to be a Canaanite cult prostitute (38:14-23). She has one stepson, Greg. him--perhaps to share his tent. Not only did his master not give him authority over his wife, he could not have done so. (2) We can see by Josephs words that adultery was not only wrong, but that he understood it to be sin. Based on the Hebrew Bible, intermarriage was quite frequent in early Israelite society. All rights reserved. (2) Sexual impurity defiles both the persons involved and the land. As a loving hind and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; Be exhilarated always with her love. God created Eve and brought her to Adam for fellowship, to be his helper and his companion. (3) Terms referring to adultery and sexual immorality are employed non-literally, referring to Israels infidelity to God. Neither man nor beast was allowed to draw too near to it (Exod. 19:9). In the Bible, this word is used for the departure of the people of Israel out of Egypt. In a divine vision, God said to Peter, What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy (Acts 10:15). From the Old Testament perspective, adultery was a violation of the sanctity of marriage, which God established, and which the Law sought to maintain. The Egyptians worshipped gods created by their ancestors, but the Israelites kept their faith. When we consider what does Exodus mean? we reach the books core message. Sanctification involves purity, the absence of what is unclean. The Law pertaining to adultery also confirms the sanctity of marriage. In Ephesians chapter 5 Paul focuses on the relationship between the Christian husband and wife, and the way it portrays an important spiritual truth to the world: So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. You may wonder what wood chisels have to do with the Seventh Commandment. It means a lot of people quit and left. Exodus is not used casually. The children of Israel did all work in the field as well. The exodus of Israel was not easy, and it took time, but it was a God kind of job. He then immediately turns to our sanctification as it relates to our sexual conduct. They were oppressive to the Israelites and made them create bricks. Let us briefly summarize this revelation. Judah marries Shu'a the Canaanite. 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. I will also put an end to all her gaiety, Her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, And all her festal assemblies. (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. Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate (Matt. (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. When we thus honor marriage, we will see to it that the marriage bed, the blessing of sexual union, remains undefiled by sexual union outside of that marriage, which profanes. Prov. It is God who brought Adam and Eve together as husband and wife. Viewed from a contemporary secular perspective, sexual pleasure restricted only to marriage is a tragic waste, a failure to make full use of ones sexual potential, and thus to deprive oneself of a great deal of sexual pleasure. Amongst the most surprising revelations would be the following: 1. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? NLT - 27 Moses told them, "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Each of you, take your swords and go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other. 5:28-32). Hence I have said to you, You are to possess their land, and I Myself will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples. 19-23). In other words, what is it that makes a marriage distinct, unique, sanctified? To me, my Stanley wood chisel is a very fine instrument for scraping old gasket material off an automobile engine. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 Paul says that the will of God is for us to be sanctified. 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. After Joseph and his generation died, a new king arose over Egypt who was not familiar with Joseph (Exodus 1:6-8). Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice in the wife of your youth. Hands and eyes are involved as precipitating causes of immorality, however. Exodus 21:10 (MSG) If he marries another woman, she retains all her full rights to meals, clothing, and marital relations. (5) Divorce causes adultery. 2:16-22). He does not necessarily teach that attitudinal sins are as bad as action sins. Jesus did not have nearly as much to say about adultery and sexual immorality as did the apostles. But it is also referred to regularly in later Bible books. This union is violated and defiled by adultery. Fellowship. We sanctify sex because we value it highly, as a good gift from the hand of a gracious God. 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). and married, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth. And, of course, the ultimate example of fear and perfect love working together is Jesus Christ. Christianity.com is a member of the Salem Web Network of sites including: Copyright 2023, Christianity.com. Pharaoh also instructed the midwives to kill the male children during birth but spare the female children (Exodus 1:15-16). But David stayed at Jerusalem. For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress, And embrace the bosom of a foreigner? (4) Adultery is a violation of the union of marriage. Sometimes, people feel ready to make the big exodus from study to leadership, but they have not been released into ministry yet. This union is set apart, it is to be distinct from the previous relationship of parent and child. The higher the vote, the further up an answer is. We must remember that those who teach and lead are held to higher accountability (James 3:1). Closely related to the union of a husband and his wife is the intimacy which they experience in marriage. (2) Jesus was speaking to a Jewish audience, while most of the apostles addressed Gentiles. Satan can be expected to attack the sanctity of marriage in order to wage war on the seed.. This union involved the husbands leaving of his parents42 and cleaving to his wife. 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. Exodus 20:1-26 ESV / 16 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful. 19:6). God is God, and He can manage timelines as well. The word Exodus came from the Latin exodos and was adopted as the books title when the Bible was translated into Latin. The book of Exodus not only tells some of the Bibles most famous events, but the word means something that sums up the books entire message. Israel remained in the wilderness for forty years. When Uriah came to him, David asked concerning the welfare of Joab and the people and the state of the war. May it never be! There is usually a large number of people making an exodus. 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,. The word exodus literally means "the road out". 4:4), and holding the marriage bed in honor, keeping the marriage bed undefiled (Heb. When we sanctify sex, it is because we value it highly, not because we disdain it as something of little worth. It is crucial to study the book of Genesis to understand Exodus. Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. We all restrict the use of (we sanctify) those things which we most highly prize. The reproduction of life is that function which is carried out within the marriage union, according to Gods design and decree. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. Joseph suffered many things because of his brothers. Satan, to save his skin, would begin to understand that he must begin to wage war on the seed of the woman. Kill everyone - even your brothers, friends, and neighbors.". He warned us . I do, however, believe that the first sin is similar to that of adultery, and thus very instructive. 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. 30 Verses to Reflect on in the Book of Hebrews. Moses consented, and in course of time took to wife Zipporah, one of Reuel's daughters. Sexual intercourse with a harlot, contrary to popular thought, is no casual matter, it is a union as well. The Hebrew midwives feared God and would not do what the king of Egypt asked. The Bible seems to teach that this union is not severed by anything but death, anything including divorce. The old dependent and submissive relationship of child to parent had to be set aside so that this unity of husband and wife could be established (v. 24). 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. As for your adulteries and your lustful neighings, The lewdness of your prostitution On the hills in the field, I have seen your abominations. 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. The reason seems to be solely because God has sanctified the marriage and the sexual sin has profaned it. My people consult their wooden idol, and the diviners wand informs them; For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, And they have played the harlot, departing from their God (Hos. Spiritual adultery has also become rampant, and is condemned. and that we will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. 6:15-20). At His second coming He will bring judgment to the wicked. We also can learn that sometimes we will wander in the wilderness until we get our acts together. While the seduction of a virgin entails either marriage to the virgin or the payment of her dowry price to the father, sexual union with a married woman is punishable by death. That's the immediate need that marriage was created to address in Genesis 2. The New Testament portrays a very similar picture. 20 And David said to all the congregation, Now bless the LORD your God. It's been a long road, but on . While I have cited only a portion of this important paragraph (vss. 15:19). And the man said. They made their lives miserable with hard labor (Exodus 1). This incident reveals several important truths: (1) Joseph knew he could not lie with this woman because she was the wife of another man. Should your springs be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets? Visual and sensory (touch) stimulation are often the prelude to immorality. We can cry out to God, and He will hear us. God not only created man and woman, He also created the institution of marriage. Bob was born and raised in a Christian home i More. The forbidden fruit was forbidden, not because of any evil characteristic of the fruit itself, but because God sanctified or set it apart. 44 In saying that sexual pleasure in marriage is one of Gods safeguards against immorality, I am not saying that the husband or wife who gives freely of themselves in a sexual way thereby guarantees the sexual purity of their partner. Thus Jesus majored on those sins which were more subtle, and which were more characteristic of the religious leadership of Israel. For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the. 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. 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. Finally, we will attempt to discover how these principles apply to our daily Christian walk. 19:12-13, 23-24). Men, what about that special car, or gun, or golf club? 2:11-12). Our Lord says that this union of husband and wife must not be severed (Matt. I honestly believe that. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. Sexual purity begins with highly esteeming that which God has givenmarriage, and the one whom God has givenour mate. So David sent and inquired about the woman. Flee immorality. 10-21). One can build up the other in those intimate areas of ones heart and life, but one can also do great damage in the intimate areas as well. 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. He had promised Abraham that his descendants would become a great nation (Genesis 17). 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? 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, . May God grant you the conviction to stand against the flood of cultural and peer pressure. 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? To remove either is a drastic action (as, for example, one would do in the case of cancer). Shall I not punish these people, declares the LORD, And on a nation such as this Shall I not avenge Myself? (Jer. It chronicles the story of their deliverance from four hundred years of bondage and how God sent Moses as an instrument of deliverance. 22-27). (1) The principle of sanctification. Let us briefly consider the important truths our Lord taught on sex and marriage. Understand they had been among people with idol gods. Our culture is adamantly opposed to the sanctity of sex. 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. The word Exodus came from the Latin exodos and was adopted as the book's title when the Bible was translated into Latin. Great were the consequences. 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. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water. 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. Leviticus 18Israel is to distinguish herself from practices of Egypt and Canaan by maintaining sexual purity (vss. We can learn from the book Exodus that the Israelites continued to cry out to God until He delivered them. Sometime later, Moses was married to Zipporah, the daughter of Reuel, the priest of Midian ( Exodus 2:16-22 ). 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. Marriage is sanctified in the degree to which a man and his wife have fellowship with one another. 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. Shaun and Lea exchanged their first kiss in a Season 3 episode of The Good Doctor. If we misrepresent God's design for marriage, then we distort His means of revealing His love for the church. 3, 24-30). At this time, the children of Israel were fruitful, increased abundantly, became exceedingly mighty, and there were people everywhere. 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. Uriah was a Canaanite, but a godly one, while David, the Israelite, acted like a heathen. 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. 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. The Scriptures frankly tell us that sexual sin can be the source of other sins. her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage shall he not diminish, Lo!, whether?, if, although, Oh that!, when, not, Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular, To scrape off, to shave, remove, lessen, withhold, Noun - masculine singular construct | third person feminine singular, Flesh, as living, for, food, food of any kind, kindred by blood, Noun - feminine singular construct | third person feminine singular, Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular construct | third person feminine singular, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, OT Law: Exodus 21:10 If he takes another wife to himself (Exo. Remember that God made it, and that all He made was good. Some of this may be cultural, but I think the primary reason is that in those days especially (and in other cultures still today) the woman is under the authority of her parents, and her parents authority over her is simply transferred to her husband. Exodus 22:16-17A man who seduces a virgin must marry her or pay the price of a virgins dowry. (3) The sanctity of sex. In short, there has been both a leaving and a cleaving, a separation and a union. 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. Dr. Sandra Hamer Smith is a Christian and wife to Sylvester Smith. The differences between holy and unholy, clean and unclean are crucial. 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). 12:13; Ps. As fans of the show will remember, they lost their unborn . We would thus expect him to wage war on the marital union, for it is through marital union that the seed will be preserved and the promised seed will come. While illicit sexual union is a sin, those unions which violate a marriage are taken more seriously. God was faithful to his promise that Abrahams descendants would number the stars in the sky (Genesis 26:4). Our culture does not value sex, it thinks of it as very common, so common that virtual strangers will share lifes most intimate treasure. 7:3-5). 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. 13:4) implies that not every sexual practice of the pagan world is permissible or beneficial for the Christian. The union of husband and wife is one of the unique elements of marriage. [ESV] The ESV here provides a textual note on before, saying "or besides ." And indeed, many translations use that phrasing. How many times have we heard that adultery breaks the marriage union, that is, that adultery (legitimately) causes divorce? "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. As a matter of fact, my differences with John over the proper use of a wood chisel have a great deal to do with the commandment, You shall not commit adultery. The principle underlying this commandment is that of the sanctity of marriage. The nation Israel is kept apart from other nations by her time in Egypt, and in the plagues, the Israelites are distinguished from the Egyptians. Uncovering the nakedness of a relative is prohibited (vss. To me, a wood chisel can be used for any number of things, including, if necessary, automobile engines. Why should I pardon you? 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). Thus, whatever one does, he does in union with Christ. Judaism condemned adultery and sexual immorality, as can be seen from John chapter 8. The difference between John and me in this instance is that John believes everything should be used for the purpose it was made. Our Lord is teaching us that we must, unlike our culture, take sexual sin most seriously. Having said this, let us note that eyes and hands are very precious body members. It is significant that our Lord began by talking about adultery, but that He almost immediately came to the subject of divorce. 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. If someone were to say there was a mass exodus across state lines, it is safe to assume that many people crossed the state lines. 5:1-14). God is faithful. Consider, for a moment, how that forbidden fruit (whatever it might have been) is similar to the forbidden fruit of illicit sex. Now, he tells Abram that the blessings He will give him and all the nations will come through his seed. 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. What does Exodus mean today? For the land has become defiled, therefore I have visited its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants. The sexually immoral, such as the woman caught in the act of adultery, honestly acknowledged their sin, but the scribes and Pharisees were hypocritical, refusing to acknowledge their own self-righteousness. Dr. Smith has freelanced for the Tri-State Defendernewspaper and Contempora magazine. The relationship between a husband and his wife is a union. He did not permit man to use it. 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.
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