This
commandment is directed toward protecting the sanctity of the home, the
fundamental building block of society. The marital vow is a holy commitment
that should not be violated by sexual unfaithfulness under any
circumstances. Adultery refers to infidelity on the part of either men
or women.[1]
2. Deuteronomy 5:18, You shall not commit
adultery.
The
marriage relationship should reflect a believer’s relationship to God.
Therefore extramarital sex (adultery) was forbidden. Though the seventh
commandment does not refer explicitly to premarital sex, the first five
books of Jewish and Christian Scriptures[2]
prohibits it elsewhere. An Israelite who would be unfaithful to his or her
partner would also be unfaithful to the covenant of God and would be inclined
to go after other gods.[3]
3. The Wicked Bible
In 1623, Baker and Lukas published a Bible in
England since called “The Wicked Bible,” because the little word “not” was
omitted in the seventh commandment: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” The
printers were heavily fined by the High Commission and the whole edition
destroyed.[4]
4. Premarital Sex: Exodus 22:16, If a man seduces a virgin who
is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price,
and she shall be his wife. 17 If
her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the bride-price
for virgins. [5]
These
statutes elaborated the seventh commandment. Unmarried and unbetrothed
daughters in Israel were considered part of their father’s property;
consequently the loss of a daughter’s virginity diminished her value and
therefore compensation was due to the father. The seduction of a girl who was
betrothed resulted in stoning for both parties. If an unengaged virgin submitted
to seduction the male was to pay the bride-price and marry her. Normally
the parents of a girl were paid a fee at the time of betrothal which ratified
the engagement. If her father did not want his daughter to marry the
fellow, the man was still obligated to pay the bride-money.[6]
5. Virginity:
Deuteronomy 22:13-21, If a man takes a wife and, after lying with her,
dislikes her 14 and
slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman, but when
I approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity,” 15 then the girl’s father and mother
shall bring proof that she was a virgin to the town elders at the gate. 16 The girl’s father will say to the
elders, “I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes her. 17 Now he has slandered her and said, ‘I
did not find your daughter to be a virgin.’ But here is the proof of my
daughter’s virginity.” Then her parents shall display the cloth before the
elders of the town, 18 and
the elders shall take the man and punish him. 19 They shall fine him a hundred
shekels of silver and give them to
the girl’s father, because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name.
She shall continue to be his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives.
20
If, however, the charge is true and
no proof of the girl’s virginity can be found, 21 she shall be brought to the door of
her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She
has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her
father’s house. You must purge the evil from among you.
This
law was meant to enforce premarital sexual purity and to encourage parents to
instill within their children the value of sexual purity. The law might be
misused, however, by an unscrupulous husband against his wife for personal
reasons, or perhaps to recover the bride-price he originally paid to the
girl’s father. If such a husband charged that his wife was not a
virgin when they were married then her parents were obligated to
produce proof of her virginity. The evidence was to be a cloth, a
bloodstained garment or a bed sheet from the wedding night. Records from
various cultures in the ancient Near East refer to this kind of evidence being
made public.
If
the parents offered such evidence of her virginity before marriage then the
man making the false charge was to be whipped and fined 100 shekels of
silver (about two and one-half pounds). The fine was given to the girl’s
father because he too was slandered by the accusation which called into
question his desire or ability to pass on to his children God’s values
regarding sexual purity. Also his daughter was given a bad name. Support
for the wife (and perhaps also the legal right of her firstborn child)
was protected by the forfeiting of the man’s right ever to divorce his
wife.
On
the other hand if the husband’s charge could not be disproved, then the wife
was to be stoned at the door of her father’s house. This harsh
punishment was not only intended for the sin of fornication (being
promiscuous) but also for lying to her prospective husband and presumably
for implicating her father in the deception. This evil too was to be
purged from the nation.
6. Rape:
Deuteronomy 22:23-29, If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin
pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, 24 you shall take both of them to the
gate of that town and stone them to death—the girl because she was in a town
and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s
wife. You must purge the evil from among you. 25 But if out in the country a man happens to meet a girl
pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. 26 Do nothing to the girl; she has
committed no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks
and murders his neighbor, 27 for
the man found the girl out in the country, and though the betrothed girl
screamed, there was no one to rescue her. If a man happens to meet a virgin who
is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, 29 he shall pay the girl’s father
fifty shekels of silver. He must
marry the girl, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he
lives.
A
virgin pledged to be married was to
be treated like a married woman. It was assumed that the sexual union
which took place in a town was not rape but adultery (the girl gave her
consent). If it had been a case of rape her screams for help would have
been heard whether or not she could have been rescued. If the assault occurred out
in the country, then the betrothed girl was given the benefit of
doubt and only the man was put to death. Rape was considered as serious
as murder and therefore deserving of death.
A man who raped an unbetrothed virgin
was forced to marry her (after paying the bride-price of 50
shekels) and had to forfeit the right of divorce. This protected, to
a degree, the girl’s honor and assured her (and her child if she became
pregnant from the rape) permanent support. This stipulation may also have
served as a deterrent against rape since the man would have to live with that
woman for the rest of his life.
7. David:
2 Samuel 11:2-5, One evening David got up from his bed and walked around
on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was
very beautiful, 3 and David
sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the
daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 Then David sent messengers to get
her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her
uncleanness.) Then she went back
home. 5 The woman conceived
and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.” [7]
David lusted, then gave into
temptation, then fell further into sin by killing. Today people lust, give into lust, and then
in many cases murder because of their lust.
Abortion.
8. What Does Jesus Say? Matthew 5:27-28, You
have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’a 28 But I tell you
that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with
her in his heart.[8]
Once
again the Pharisees’ teaching was concerned only with the outward act. They
said the only way one could commit adultery was through an act of sexual union.
They correctly quoted the commandment, but they missed its point. Adultery begins
within one’s heart (looking lustfully) and follows in the act. The
lustful desire, in the heart, as wrong as the act, indicates that
one is not rightly related to God.[9]
9. Divorce:
Mark 10:2-12, Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it
lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3 “What did
Moses command you?” he replied. 4
They said, “Moses permitted a man
to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.” 5 “It was
because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. 6 “But at the beginning of creation
God ‘made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For
this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no
longer two, but one. 9 Therefore
what God has joined together, let man not separate.” 10
When they were in the house again,
the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11 He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman
commits adultery against her. 12 And if she
divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”
When Jesus says, “because
your hearts were hard,” he is talking about our sin is the cause for divorce. God intended marriage to be forever. Because of sin on the part of one person or
both persons divorce occurs. Jesus wants
people to realize that we must work to keep sin out of our marriage. Jesus in Matthew made concession for divorce
for when one partner commits adultery.
But the greater point is that sin can tear apart a marriage even in a
Christian marriage.
10. Photo Discovery Of Unfaithfulness
From London comes this report: Two women were
talking at a fashionable London restaurant about their husbands. They showed
each other photographs—and realized they were married to the same man.
Today the man—hotel night porter John Jones,
47—is in prison for five years. He was married before he met either of the two
women.[10]
[1] Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary.
1983-c1985. The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures.
Victor Books: Wheaton, IL
[2] Merriam-Webster, I. 1996, c1993. Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary.
Includes index. (10th ed.). Merriam-Webster: Springfield, Mass., U.S.A.
[3] Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary.
1983-c1985. The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures.
Victor Books: Wheaton, IL
[4] Tan, P. L. 1996, c1979. Encyclopedia of 7700 illustrations : [a treasury of illustrations, anecdotes,
facts and quotations for pastors, teachers and Christian workers]. Bible
Communications: Garland TX
[6] Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary.
1983-c1985. The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures.
Victor Books: Wheaton, IL
[9] Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary.
1983-c1985. The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures.
Victor Books: Wheaton, IL
[10] Tan, P. L. 1996, c1979. Encyclopedia of 7700 illustrations : [a treasury of illustrations, anecdotes,
facts and quotations for pastors, teachers and Christian workers]. Bible
Communications: Garland TX
