Difference between revisions of "Adultery"

<p> A married woman cohabiting with a man not her husband. The prevalent polygamy in patriarchal times rendered it impossible to stigmatize as adultery the cohabitation of a married man with another besides his wife. But as Jesus saith, "from the beginning it was not so," for "He which made male and female said, They twain shall be one flesh." So the [[Samaritan]] [[Pentateuch]] reads &nbsp;Genesis 2:24, as it is quoted in &nbsp;Matthew 19:5. A fallen world undergoing a gradual course of remedial measures needs anomalies to be pretermitted for a time (&nbsp;Romans 3:25 margin; &nbsp;Acts 17:30), until it becomes fit for a higher stage, in its progress toward its finally perfect state. God sanctions nothing but perfection; but optimism is out of place in governing a fallen world not yet ripe for it. The junction of the two into one flesh when sexual intercourse takes place with a third is dissolved in its original idea. </p> <p> So also the union of the believer with Christ is utterly incompatible with fornication (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 6:13-18; &nbsp;1 Corinthians 7:1-13; &nbsp;1 Timothy 3:12). The sanctity of marriage in patriarchal times appears from Abraam's fear, not that his wife will be seduced from him, but that he may be killed for her sake. The conduct of [[Pharaoh]] and [[Abimelech]] (Genesis 12; 20), implies the same reverence for the sacredness of marriage. Death by fire was the penalty of unchastity (&nbsp;Genesis 38:24). Under the [[Mosaic]] law both the guilty parties (including those only betrothed unless the woman were a slave) were stoned (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 22:22-24; &nbsp;Leviticus 19:20-22). The law of inheritance, which would have been set aside by doubtful offspring, tended to keep up this law as to adultery. But when the territorial system of Moses fell into desuetude, and [[Gentile]] example corrupted the Jews, while the law nominally remained it practically became a dead letter. </p> <p> The Pharisees' object in bringing the adulterous woman (John 8) before Christ was to put Him in a dilemma between declaring for reviving an obsolete penalty, or else sanctioning an infraction of the law. In &nbsp;Matthew 5:82 He condemns their usage of divorce except in the case of fornication. In &nbsp;Matthew 1:19, Joseph" not willing to make ''The Virgin'' a public example ( '''''Paradeigmatisai''''' ) was minded to put her away privily"; i.e., he did not intend to bring her before the local Sanhedrim, but privately to repudiate her. The trial by the waters of jealousy described in &nbsp;Numbers 5:11-29 was meant to restrain oriental impulses of jealousy within reasonable bounds. The trial by "red water" in Africa is very different, amidst seeming resemblance's. The [[Israelite]] ingredients were harmless; the African, poisonous. The visitation, if the woman was guilty, was from God direct; the innocent escaped: whereas many an innocent African perishes by the poison. No instance is recorded in Scripture; so that the terror of it seems to have operated either to restrain from guilt, or to lead the guilty to confess it without recourse to the ordeal. </p> <p> The union of God and His one church, in His everlasting purpose, is the archetype and foundation on which rests the union of man and wife (&nbsp;Ephesians 5:22-33). (See [[Adam]] .) As he '''''Ish''''' ) gave [[Eve]] ( '''''Isha''''' ) his name, signifying her formation from him, so Christ gives a new name to the church (&nbsp;Revelation 2:17; &nbsp;Revelation 3:12). As He is the true [[Solomon]] (Prince of peace), so she the [[Shulamite]] (&nbsp;Song of Solomon 6:13). Hence idolatry, covetousness, and apostasy are adultery spiritually (&nbsp;Jeremiah 3:6; &nbsp;Jeremiah 3:8-9; &nbsp;Ezekiel 16:82; Hosea 1; 2; 3; &nbsp;Revelation 2:22). An apostate church, the daughter of [[Jerusalem]] becoming the daughter of Babylon, is an adulteress (&nbsp;Isaiah 1:21; &nbsp;Ezekiel 23:4; &nbsp;Ezekiel 23:7; &nbsp;Ezekiel 23:37). So Jesus calls the [[Jews]] "an adulterous generation" (&nbsp;Matthew 12:39). </p> <p> The woman in Revelation 12, represented as clothed with the Sun (of righteousness), and crowned with the 12 stars (i.e. the 12 patriarchs of the Old Testament and the 12 apostles of New Testament), and persecuted by the dragon, in Revelation 17, excites the wonder of John, because of her transformation into a scarlet arrayed "mother of harlots," with a cup full of abominations, riding upon a "scarlet colored beast"; but the ten horned beast finally turns upon her, "makes her naked, eats her flesh, and burns her with fire." The once faithful church has ceased to be persecuted by conforming to the godless world and resting upon it. But the divine principle is, when the church apostatizes from God to intrigue with the world, the world, the instrument of her sin, shall at last be the instrument of her punishment. Compare as to [[Israel]] ( '''''Αholah''''' ), and Judah ( '''''Αholibah''''' ), Ezekiel </p> <p> '''23.''' The principle is being illustrated in the church of Rome before our eyes. Let all professing churches beware of spiritual adultery, as they would escape its penalty. </p>

<p> ''''' a ''''' - ''''' dul´tẽr ''''' - ''''' ı̄ ''''' : In Scripture designates sexual intercourse of a man, whether married or unmarried, with a married woman. </p> 1. Its Punishment <p> It is categorically prohibited in the Decalogue (seventh commandment, &nbsp;Exodus 20:14; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 5:18 ): "Thou shalt not commit adultery." In more specific language we read: "And thou shalt not he carnally with thy neighbor's wife, to defile thyself with her" (&nbsp;Leviticus 18:20 ). The penalty is death for both guilty parties: "And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death" (&nbsp;Leviticus 20:10 ). The manner of death is not particularized; according to the rabbis (Siphra' at the place; <i> ''''' Ṣanhedhrı̄n ''''' </i> 52b) it is strangulation. It would seem that in the days of Jesus the manner of death was interpreted to mean stoning ("Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such," &nbsp;John 8:5 , said of the woman taken in adultery). Nevertheless, it may be said that in the case in question the woman may have been a virgin betrothed unto a husband, the law (in &nbsp;Deuteronomy 22:23 ) providing that such a person together with her paramour be stoned to death (contrast &nbsp;Deuteronomy 22:22 , where a woman married to a husband is spoken of and the manner of death is again left general). &nbsp;Ezekiel 16:40 (compare &nbsp; Ezekiel 23:47 ) equally mentions stoning as the penalty of the adulteress; but it couples to her sin also that of shedding blood; hence, the rabbinic interpretation is not necessarily disputed by the prophet. Of course it may also be assumed that a difference of custom may have obtained at different times and that the progress was in the line of leniency, strangulation being regarded as a more humane form of execution than stoning. </p> 2. Trial by Ordeal <p> The guilty persons become amenable to the death penalty only when taken "in the very act" (&nbsp;John 8:4 ). The difficulty of obtaining direct legal evidence is adverted to by the rabbis (see <i> ''''' Makkōth ''''' </i> 7a). In the case of a mere suspicion on the part of the husband, not substantiated by legal evidence, the woman is compelled by the law (Nu 5:11-30) to submit to an ordeal, or God's judgment, which consists in her drinking the water of bitterness, that is, water from the holy basin mingled with dust from the floor of the sanctuary and with the washed-off ink of a writing containing the oath which the woman has been made to repeat. The water is named bitter with reference to its effects in the case of the woman's guilt; on the other hand, when no ill effects follow, the woman is proved innocent and the husband's jealousy unsubstantiated. According to the [[Mishna]] ( <i> ''''' Ṣōṭāh ''''' </i> 9) this ordeal of the woman suspected of adultery was abolished by [[Johanan]] ben [[Zaccai]] (after 70 ad), on the ground that the men of his generation were not above the suspicion of impurity. See article [[Bitter]]; [[Bitterness]] . </p> 3. [[A H]]  einous [[Crime]] <p> Adultery was regarded as a heinous crime (&nbsp;Job 31:11 ). The prophets and teachers in Israel repeatedly upbraid the men and women of their generations for their looseness in morals which did not shrink from adulterous connections. [[Naturally]] where luxurious habits of life were indulged in, particularly in the large cities, a tone of levity set in: in the dark of the evening, men, with their features masked, waited at their neighbors' doors (&nbsp;Job 24:15; &nbsp;Job 31:9; compare Prov 7), and women forgetful of their God's covenant broke faith with the husbands of their youth (&nbsp;Proverbs 2:17 ). The prophet [[Nathan]] confronted David after his sin with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, with his stern rebuke ("Thou art the man," &nbsp;2 Samuel 12:7 ); the penitential psalm (Ps 51) - "Miserere" - was sung by the royal bard as a prayer for divine pardon. Promiscuous intercourse with their neighbors' wives is laid by Jeremiah at the door of the false prophets of his day (&nbsp;Jeremiah 23:10 , &nbsp;Jeremiah 23:14; &nbsp;Jeremiah 29:23 ). </p> 4. Penal and Moral Distinctions <p> While penal law takes only cognizance of adulterous relations, it is needless to say that the moral law discountenances all manner of illicit intercourse and all manner of unchastity in man and woman. While the phrases "harlotry," "commit harlotry," in Scripture denote the breach of wedlock (on the part of a woman), in the rabbinical writings a clear distinction is made on the legal side between adultery and fornication. The latter is condemned morally in no uncertain terms; the seventh commandment is made to include all manner of fornication. The eye and the heart are the two intermediaries of sin (Palestinian Talmud, <i> ''''' Berākhōth ''''' </i> 6 <i> b </i> ). A sinful thought is as wicked as a sinful act ( <i> ''''' Niddāh ''''' </i> 13 <i> b </i> and elsewhere). Job makes a covenant with his eyes lest he look upon a virgin (&nbsp; Job 31:1 ). And so Jesus who came "not to destroy, but to fulfill" (&nbsp;Matthew 5:17 ), in full agreement with the ethical and religious teaching of Judaism, makes the intent of the seventh commandment explicit when he declares that "every one that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already In his heart" (&nbsp;Matthew 5:28 ). And in the spirit of Hosea (&nbsp;Hosea 4:15 ) and Johanan ben Zaccai (see above) Jesus has but scorn for those that are ready judicially to condemn though they be themselves not free from sin! "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her" (&nbsp;John 8:7 ). [[Whereas]] society is in need of the death penalty to secure the inviolability of the home life, Jesus bids the erring woman go her way and sin no more. How readily His word might be taken by the unspiritual to imply the condoning of woman's peccability is evidenced by the fact that the whole section (Jn 7:53 through 8:11) is omitted by "most ancient authorities" (see Augustine's remark). </p> 5. [[A G]]  round of Divorce <p> Adultery as a ground of divorce. - T he meaning of the expression "some unseemly thing" (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 24:1 ) being unclear, there was great variety of opinion among the rabbis as to the grounds upon which a husband may divorce his wife. While the school of [[Hillel]] legally at least allowed any trivial reason as a ground for divorce, the stricter interpretation which limited it to adultery alone obtained in the school of Shammai. Jesus coincided with the stricter view (see &nbsp;Matthew 5:32; &nbsp;Matthew 19:9 , and commentaries). From a moral point of view, divorce was discountenanced by the rabbis likewise, save of course for that one ground which indeed makes the continued relations between husband and wife a moral impossibility. See also Crimes; [[Divorce]] . </p>