Woe to you, O Jerusalem! In later chapters Reuel is called Jethro. Not only was this event crucial for the . Moses consented, and in course of time took to wife Zipporah, one of Reuel's daughters. The important thing to note here is that God also promised salvation through the seed of the woman in the midst of the curse pronounced on Satan: And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you will bruise him on the heel (Gen. 3:15). While I have cited only a portion of this important paragraph (vss. He warned us . Specifically, I am referring to what Paul has written in the Book of Ephesians, which especially relates to sexual impurity: Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. 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. 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. And if your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out, 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 be thrown into hell. 43 In Genesis chapter 34, Dinah is apparently forcibly raped by Shechem, a deed to which Jacobs sons violently reacted as an abomination (cf. God was faithful to his promise that Abrahams descendants would number the stars in the sky (Genesis 26:4). The Tennessee native is a member of Temple of Deliverance COGIC, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc, Omicron Delta Kappa, The Golden Key International Honour Society, and Kappa Delta Pi. In the midst of that conversation I said to John, John you would not have been very happy with me. The Israelites themselves were set apart from the Egyptians and from all other nations. 7:3-5). Finally, we shall attempt to distill the biblical teaching into a few guiding and governing principles. The Christian life therefore involves making many distinctions and then living them out. 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. Would You not be angry with us to the point of destruction, until there is no remnant nor any who escape? 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. and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram. (Prov. 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. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water. The Gentiles were more like the Canaanites of Old Testament timesthey were distinctly pagan in their sexual conduct and values. Ed, Issue 46, Winter 2023. 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. Robert L. (Bob)Deffinbaugh graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary with his Th.M. 10-21). He then immediately turns to our sanctification as it relates to our sexual conduct. Spiritual adultery has also become rampant, and is condemned. Smith was also a freelance correspondent for BET news. v. 24). Those distinctions are spelled out in the Law, one of which is that of the maintenance of sexual and marital sanctity. It also assured the integrity of the home and a righteous seed, through whom the Redeemer would come. 13-21). 51:4) and New, adultery is, first and foremost, a sin against God. Your sons have forsaken Me And sworn by those who are not gods. It is God who brought Adam and Eve together as husband and wife. 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. When some have read Deuteronomy 7:2-5, they conclude that God is opposed to intermarriage among the races. 20 And David said to all the congregation, Now bless the LORD your God. 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. This union involved the husband's leaving of his parents 42 and cleaving to his wife. 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. 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. He can never divorce her as long as he lives. He did not permit man to use it. 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 havent read a story that powerful and emotional and heart-wrenching in years! According to Matthew 19:9, if one divorces and marries another (except for the divorce based on the immorality of the other partner) that person commits adultery. Smith lives and resides in Memphis, Tennessee. 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 Good Doctor. 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 . 5:22-33). The foundation for the sanctity of marriage and sex is laid early in the Book of Genesis, where we read of the first marriage. The New Testament portrays a very similar picture. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Jesus did not have nearly as much to say about adultery and sexual immorality as did the apostles. Some have attempted to show that the sin committed in the Garden of Eden was a sexual sin. Her duty of marriage.--Rather, her right of cohabitation. Just a few verses away from the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12:1-3, Abram places the seed in jeopardy, at least from a human perspective: Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. For this reason it says, Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you (Eph. The University of Memphis alumnae has been in education for about 20 years after receiving the call to teach. Dr. Smith has freelanced for the Tri-State Defendernewspaper and Contempora magazine. 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. 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. As I see it, the issue in Exodus 21 is two-fold, involving not only marriage, but slavery. 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. In both cases, the forbidden fruit is forbidden. The reproduction of life is that function which is carried out within the marriage union, according to Gods design and decree. When Moses was born (Exodus 2), he escaped this fate and became an instrument God used to deliver the children of Israel. One of these particulars is that of marriage. Women, why do keep your silver in a special place, bringing it out only for special occasions? Most importantly, we must get in the Word of God and ask for Gods help. Moses is born, and placed in a basket in the reeds of Nile. This may be a matter of personal conviction, over which there is some disagreement, but marriage does not make every sexual practice holy. (3) Terms referring to adultery and sexual immorality are employed non-literally, referring to Israels infidelity to God. (5) Though David had many wives, he was willing to take the one wife that Uriah possessed. Marriage's original intent was so that man would not be alone . What does Exodus mean today? He equates sexual union with marital union. 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. Now when they told David, saying, Uriah did not go down to his house, David said to Uriah, Have you not come from a journey? God told Satan, Adam and Eve that the Savior of mankind would be the seed of the woman. 6:12). Time will not permit further exploration, but take note of how often unity (e.g. How Is Harry Potter a Literary Christ Figure? Finally, sexual purity is vitally important to the Christian life because it is directly related to ones sanctification: For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. Second, if we want the world to understand God's faithful love, we need to . We will discover in our lesson that marriage and sex were also sanctified by God. And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. 22-27). For He says, the two will become one flesh. But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, The Lord knows those who are His, and, Let everyone who names the name of the Lord abstain from wickedness. Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. 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. How many times have we heard that adultery breaks the marriage union, that is, that adultery (legitimately) causes divorce? I believe that there are several ways in which marriage is sanctified: Unity. 19:12-13, 23-24). 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 order to do this, Christians must be holy, sanctified, just as God is holy (1 Peter 1:14-16). 30 Verses to Reflect on in the Book of Hebrews. And all the congregation blessed the LORD God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshipped the LORD, and the king. In conclusion, let me suggest three additional ways in which the sanctity of sex is to be applied in a practical way. God has here joined a man and a woman so that they have become a unity. I also believe that humans will not stop the plan of God. The Bible is full of Israelite men marrying foreign women. Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? I have heard it cruelly stated or implied that had a mate satisfied his or her partner in marriage, adultery would have been prevented. 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. 6-8). As for a man or a woman, if there is a medium or a spiritist among them, they shall surely be put to death; they shall be stoned with stones, their bloodguiltiness is upon them (Lev. We must distinguish between truth and error, between good and evil, between holiness and unrighteousness. 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 marriage union which God established, God also sanctified. 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. He instructed his people to cast every male child born into the river (Exodus 1:22). Exodus 21:11 If, however, he does not provide her with these three things, she is free to . 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). 4:1-5). When God had created a mate for all of His other creatures, He looked upon Adam in his solitude and said, It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him (Gen. 2:18). Sexual sins and their penalties are spelled out in detail (vss. And, of course, the ultimate example of fear and perfect love working together is Jesus Christ. To understand Johns response, you have to understand John. As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people (Lev. When one enters into a sexual union, Paul reasons, one enters into marital union. 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. Our culture is adamantly opposed to the sanctity of sex. The answer to the question is in Exodus 22:17 - the woman does NOT have to marry a . It was Gods will to use Joseph as a forerunner to prepare the children of Israel for what was next (Genesis 45:7-9). All rights reserved. The difference between John and me in this instance is that John believes everything should be used for the purpose it was made. 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. 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. We must remember that those who teach and lead are held to higher accountability (James 3:1). She has one stepson, Greg. Sexual intercourse with a harlot, contrary to popular thought, is no casual matter, it is a union as well. His brothers gave him an unplanned exodus simply because his father adored him (Genesis 37:3-4). New Century Version Chapter Parallel 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? We sanctify sex because we value it highly, as a good gift from the hand of a gracious God. 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. There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. 19-23). Here, the church is the bride of Christ, with the responsibility of exemplifying the relationship of Christ to His church (Eph. Israel remained in the wilderness for forty years. Throughout the Scriptures, both Old Testament (cf. Let the husband fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. Satan made great promises about the benefits of partaking of the fruit of that tree, but he failed to tell all. This is not one of the high points in Abrams life. Shaun and Lea got engaged in the Season 4 finale. The opposite is true. Uriah was a Canaanite, but a godly one, while David, the Israelite, acted like a heathen. Satan, to save his skin, would begin to understand that he must begin to wage war on the seed of the woman. It marks out yet another way in which the marriage is sanctified. 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. For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh. This union is violated and defiled by adultery. At this time, the children of Israel were fruitful, increased abundantly, became exceedingly mighty, and there were people everywhere. Does the Bible Mention What to Give Up for Lent? If we misrepresent God's design for marriage, then we distort His means of revealing His love for the 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. The Scriptures frankly tell us that sexual sin can be the source of other sins. The sanctity of sex in marriage clearly calls for the sanctity of sex before marriage. God increased the midwives and gave them houses (Exodus 1:16-21). 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. The Real Housewives of Atlanta The Bachelor Sister Wives 90 Day Fiance Wife Swap The Amazing Race Australia Married at First Sight The Real Housewives of Dallas My 600-lb Life Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. This intimacy can be both constructive and destructive. (1) Jesus teaches here that it is not enough to keep the Law in its letter, but must also keep it in spirit. He joined the first man and the first woman together in marriage. Exodos means leave, and the book of Exodus tells how the nation of Israel left Egypt. The exodus of Israel was not easy, and it took time, but it was a God kind of job. In other words, what is it that makes a marriage distinct, unique, sanctified? 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, . . Their numbers threatened the new Pharaoh. who does sean marry in exodusmichigan high school wrestling team rankings 2022. mosquito in french canadian; who does sean marry in exodus . I think there is little evidence for this conclusion. 4:11-12). Her restoration is described as a marriage between God and His bride. And it was said, WHOEVER DIVORCES HIS WIFE, LET HIM GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DISMISSAL; but I say to you that every one who divorces his wife, except for the cause of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery (Matt. The dictionary highlights this when it points out the Biblical origin of the word (Merriam-Websters.com, 2022). him--perhaps to share his tent. Any books with similarly powerful stories that you can suggest. It is God who brought Adam and Eve together as husband and wife. But David stayed at Jerusalem. 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. Sexual sin defiles the people (vss. Our Lord says that this union of husband and wife must not be severed (Matt. Understand they had been among people with idol gods. 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. And the man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. In both cases, the forbidden fruit is available. He does not necessarily teach that attitudinal sins are as bad as action sins. Exodus. 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. 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. 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. Physical intimacy is the most obvious, but there is also a spiritual and emotional intimacy. While depriving a partner tempts them, fulfilling a partner does not necessarily keep them from sexual sin. The children of Israel had become a threat, for the Egyptians might not control them. From the standpoint of the harm done to men, action sins are more serious. (2) We can see by Josephs words that adultery was not only wrong, but that he understood it to be sin. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. After Joseph died, the children of Israel were numerous, a great nation. More than this, it was very desirable: And out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:9).