Smith was also a freelance correspondent for BET news. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. Teenagers, culture is lying to you. The differences between holy and unholy, clean and unclean are crucial. 2:19-22). I would further suggest that these four areas (there are probably others, too) provide the glue which holds a marriage together. She is the author of the self-published novel GLORYTHE HAIR. In order to do this, Christians must be holy, sanctified, just as God is holy (1 Peter 1:14-16). Dr. Sandra Hamer Smith is a Christian and wife to Sylvester Smith. Great were the consequences. The husband and wife become one. In both cases, the forbidden fruit is forbidden. 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? 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. Community answers are sorted based on votes. Will God forgive me for losing hope and the will to live? 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. When one comes to faith in Christ, when he is born again, that person becomes one with Christ. 19-23). 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. This is what we shall seek to learn from the writings of the apostles in the New Testament. (6) Though David was of the chosen seed, Uriah was but a Hittite. and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram. Would You not be angry with us to the point of destruction, until there is no remnant nor any who escape? In chapter 35, Ruben lay with one of his fathers concubines (35:22). 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,. There were many things that Israel had to learn during this process. If you owned a Mercedes Benz, would you loan it to a neighbor to go hunting in, or to haul firewood? For He says, the two will become one flesh. But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 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. Here, the church is the bride of Christ, with the responsibility of exemplifying the relationship of Christ to His church (Eph. If these Jewish leaders condemned sins which were overtly wrong actions, Jesus chose to focus on those hidden sins which were attitudes. 4:11-12). (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. This union involved the husband's leaving of his parents 42 and cleaving to his wife. Sexual sin is also related to religious apostasy (cf. Women, why do keep your silver in a special place, bringing it out only for special occasions? Let us work at growth in each of these areas. Time will not permit further exploration, but take note of how often unity (e.g. So David sent and inquired about the woman. Our culture is adamantly opposed to the sanctity of sex. Nevertheless, the rest of the Pentateuch (the Pentateuch is the five books of the Old Testament, written by Moses) provides us with a great deal of detail concerning sexual sins, and the various forms of punishment required by each. 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. It means a lot of people quit and left. Exodus is not used casually. Exodus 21:11 If, however, he does not provide her with these three things, she is free to . If you havent read it yet, I highly recommend it. And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. 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. Moreover, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I shall drive out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I have abhorred them. 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. 's season finale. Sin entered the human race and human history, and the consequences are evident all about us. In short, there has been both a leaving and a cleaving, a separation and a union. First, we move from a Jewish to a Gentile culture. It is also significant that He taught divorce causes adultery, except in the case where the divorce was based upon previous adultery. Physical intimacy is the most obvious, but there is also a spiritual and emotional intimacy. He did not permit man to use it. 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. Sexual sin defiles the people (vss. This may be a matter of personal conviction, over which there is some disagreement, but marriage does not make every sexual practice holy. 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. "You shall have no other gods before me. The assumption here is that the divorce is obtained in order to marry another, or that it will ultimately result in marriage to another. When Moses was born (Exodus 2), he escaped this fate and became an instrument God used to deliver the children of Israel. Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Any books with similarly powerful stories that you can suggest. Thus Jesus majored on those sins which were more subtle, and which were more characteristic of the religious leadership of Israel. 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. 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. In both cases, partaking of the forbidden fruit brings disastrous results. shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who commit these abominations? The difference between John and me in this instance is that John believes everything should be used for the purpose it was made. 2. 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. What does Exodus mean today? Now, he tells Abram that the blessings He will give him and all the nations will come through his seed. It did not look bad, it did not taste bad. Those of you that have read it, are you reeling also in the aftermath? Let us briefly consider the important truths our Lord taught on sex and marriage. 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. (2) Jesus was speaking to a Jewish audience, while most of the apostles addressed Gentiles. 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. It's been a long road, but on . Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? Judgment awaits this nation, which is likened to a harlot. Her restoration is described as a marriage between God and His bride. 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. 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). And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another commits adultery (Matt. One of the most important lessons was deliverance would only come from God. 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.". You must understand how Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers (Genesis 37). Shaun ( Freddie Highmore) and Lea ( Paige Spara) started out as neighbors. This is a point which the prophets of the Old Testament will take up and greatly expand upon in later times. First, I believe that a Christian has the right to divorce a spouse for adultery, but that this is never ones duty, and seldom ones highest calling. 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. He had promised Abraham that his descendants would become a great nation (Genesis 17). (3) While David enjoyed sexual intimacy with Bathsheba, even though forbidden, Uriah refused such pleasure, even when legitimate and encouraged by the king. This incident reveals several important truths: (1) Joseph knew he could not lie with this woman because she was the wife of another man. The exodus of Israel was not easy, and it took time, but it was a God kind of job. 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. God is faithful. 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. The Hebrew midwives feared God and would not do what the king of Egypt asked. Their numbers threatened the new Pharaoh. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. The reason seems to be solely because God has sanctified the marriage and the sexual sin has profaned it. (5) Divorce causes adultery. Sexual sins and their penalties are spelled out in detail (vss. He warned us . 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. Marriage with the Midianites was allowed . Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? 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. I find it interesting that the fruit of this tree of knowledge of good and evil was good, like everything else God created (cf. . 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. 13-21). It was Gods will to use Joseph as a forerunner to prepare the children of Israel for what was next (Genesis 45:7-9). Second, if we want the world to understand God's faithful love, we need to . 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. (3) Joseph understood that, more than anything else, adultery was a sin against God. 5:15-20). It Is So Painful to Care: How Do I Conquer Apathy? He is a purist in that regardI am not. Pharaoh also instructed the midwives to kill the male children during birth but spare the female children (Exodus 1:15-16). We will discover in our lesson that marriage and sex were also sanctified by God. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. v. 24). Deuteronomy 7:4. Why Did Pharaoh Tell Joseph to Enjoy the 'Fat of the Land'? Yes, Marriage Matters to God. 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. 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. 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. Leviticus 18Israel is to distinguish herself from practices of Egypt and Canaan by maintaining sexual purity (vss. He has also set this unity apart, distinguishing it from the previous parental-child entity. The union of husband and wife is one of the unique elements of marriage. You may wonder what wood chisels have to do with the Seventh Commandment. The New Testament portrays a very similar picture. . If you look at Exodus 1:5, you will see that seventy souls had come out of Jacob and arrived in Egypt with Joseph. The third chapter of the Book of Genesis is significant to our study as well. There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. (2) While David enjoys all the luxuries of the palace, Uriah refused to enjoy them, even when urged on him. The sanctity of sex in marriage clearly calls for the sanctity of sex before marriage. For a while, Shaun was dating Dr. Carly Lever (Jasika Nicole), a pathologist. Eph. Let those who have already divorced and remarried remember that divorce and immorality (as all other sins save unbelief) is not an unpardonable sin. (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. Answer. 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. There is usually a large number of people making an exodus. but the scene where Cecilia says goodbye to Sean in Exodus literally broke me. 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. 1 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. 4:1-5). Why should I pardon you? 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. "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 . 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.. John 3:16-17). Exodus 21:9 And if he chooses her for his son, he must deal with her as with a daughter. 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). Just as God had clearly forbidden the partaking of the forbidden fruit in the garden, so He has clearly forbidden the fruit of sexual impurity. The incidents in chapters 34 and 38 indicate that the Law of Moses only codified what was already understood to be wrong. This is already the size of many metropolitan cities and doesnt count the mens female relatives or the men under 20 years. If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the bride price for virgins." . As fans of the show will remember, they lost their unborn . I did something which would make you cringe. 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. 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. Sanctification involves purity, the absence of what is unclean. While illicit sexual union is a sin, those unions which violate a marriage are taken more seriously. The sexual immorality of Israel has defiled the people and the land, and necessitates their expulsion from the land. 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.