2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
Because Christianity has its roots in Judaism, it is wholly appropriate for us to look at some of the OT Scriptures about marriage in this series of devotions on love. While not every mode of action against infractions of God’s rules used then is right to use today, the rules themselves really haven’t changed much (at least in my “old-fashioned” opinion). However, I don’t mean this to be a list of rules. I have always said that God reveals Himself in the Scriptures, and I will hold to that. Earlier, I mentioned that Adam’s sin presented God with a problem, a big problem-sin. The establishment of Israel was supposed to provide a solution, but anyone who has studied Israel’s rather checkered history knows that the mounting disobedience of my ancestors led to considerable trouble, both for God and for Israel. As a responsible Parent, it was necessary for God to punish His children by scattering them from their homeland twice, first at the time of the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities (722 and 586 BC respectively) and again from the time the Romans under Vespasian destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem (70 AD). What led up to this first scattering or dyaspora was the deplorable rejection of God as Israel’s political head and the division of the country into Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Because God loves Israel and always has, this must have come as a great disappointment to Him. Whenever the object of one’s love disappoints, one is bound to feel considerable pain.
One place where this pain can really be seen is in the book of Hosea. This prophet preached in the northern kingdom of Israel, after the prophet Amos, during the troubled times before the fall of Samaria in 722 BC. Israel had a series of nineteen evil kings; not a one of them deserved God’s esteem. Idolatry and faithlessness was rampant at the time, a condition that was of great concern to Hosea. This was boldly pictured in his own disastrous marriage to an unfaithful wife, Gomer. Israel’s desertion of God brought with it pain, but a loving Abba was to eventually forgive His children and allow their nationhood to be restored. This love is expressed in the moving words from HO 11: 8, “How can I give you up, Israel? How can I abandon you?…My heart will not let me do it! My love for you to too strong.” Earlier in HO 2: 19-20, God expressed his love for His people by saying, “Israel. I will make you my wife; I will be true and faithful; I will show you constant love and mercy and make you mine forever. I will keep my promise and make you mine, and you will acknowledge Me as Lord.” The complexity of God’s feelings here is seen in His command to Hosea of HO 3:1 to marry Gomer in this allegorical metaphor. “The Lord said to me, ‘Go again and show your love for a women who is committing adultery with a lover. You must love her just as I still love the people of Israel, even thought they turn to other gods and like to take offerings of raisins to idols.”
To really understand the OT ethics on marriage, we must go back even earlier than Hosea all the way to the Torah itself (Pentateuch or first five books of Moses). As I have said before, Leviticus is to a large extent a book of rules for Jewish living. Forbidden sexual practices were outlined in LV 18. It is interesting to note that Israel was surrounded by pagan countries that practiced Baal worship at the time, a religion that contained some horrendous public displays of sexuality and burning of babies on stakes as offerings to their gods. It is little wonder that God wanted His own people to behave differently. LV 18: 6, “The Lord gave the following regulations. Do not have sexual intercourse with any of your relatives.” We already know that incestuous relations often give rise to malformed individuals. It is commonly thought that the artist, Henri Toulouse-La Trec, the offspring of two first-cousins, was a dwarf because of this, for example. LV 18: 20, “Do not have intercourse another man’s wife; that would make you ritually unclean.” How clear can God be? Adultery is unacceptable to Him. LV 18: 22, “No man is to have sexual relations with another man; God hates that.” LV 18: 23, “No man or woman is to have sexual relations with an animal; that perversion make you ritually unclean.” There are many of these rules forbidding prostitution, fornication, and other horrific sexual practices too numerous to cite them all here. The bottom line is that God made clear what is holy sexual relations and what is not. The former could only take place between a husband and his wife. When one reads RO 1: 18-32, the offenses against God and how they can become pervasive are revealed. Please read this important passage.
In the Jewish wedding ceremony, there is a section called the kiddushin, from the Hebrew word, kadosh, meaning holy. It is a betrothal, a setting aside of this relationship for a special Godly purpose. This rite is sealed by the bride and groom offering the kiddush, a prayer over the wine, and sipping from the same cup. This would certainly be the opposite of the Jewish concept of prostitution, which would be defined as all non-marital sexual intercourse from which ensures no binding or enduring relationship and thought of as an indiscriminate act. When the time came for me to teach my son the values I hold dear regarding relationships between a man and a woman, I talked to him about the fact that it is easy in today’s sexually promiscuous world for a man and his date to end up in bed. The tough part is how one doing this would feel about himself and the girl he was with the morning after. Until I searched the OT intently enough to prepare this message, I never gave a thought that by saying this to him, I was following the traditions of my people. When we follow what God tells us to do, we need never feel ashamed to speak of it. That is why I love Paul’s bold assertion of RO 1: 16 and cite it so often. “I have complete confidence in the Gospel; it is God’s power to save all who believe, first the Jews and also the Gentiles.” The Jews were told by God what real love is, and so were believing Gentiles. He models it for us every day.
PRAYER: O Lord, from the time You established the Jewish nation, You wanted us to know and experience Your love through obeying Your commands. They were made clear to us, but were often disobeyed. Help us to learn from the lessons of history, so that we can stop making the same mistakes over and over again. Give us the discernment we need to see that sexual relations outside of marriage lead to the breakdown of family units, to pain, and enormous suffering. When we stay grounded in You and the teachings given us by the OT prophets, by Your Son, and by other faithful writers of the NT, we can avoid the social chaos that results from giving in to our fleshliness. Because You have so much love for us, You equipped us when we were saved to be victorious over the adversary. When we obey You, we show You the love we have for You. In return, You give us peace and joy. We approach You in humble adoration to say, “You are to be praised, thanked, glorified, magnified, and honored!” In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will look at the love between parents and children. God asks us to look at the relationships we have with other people, including spouses. We need to ask ourselves how close to God’s ideals do these relationships conform? If we are not satisfied with the answers we discover, then we need to ask our loving Abba for His direction in making the changes He requires. Through His amazing love for us, He patiently gives us direction. We need never feel we must go without His loving arms around us. He is to be praised for that! Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn