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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“If a man takes a wife and, after lying with her, dislikes her 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,’ then the girl's father
and mother shall bring proof that she was a virgin to the town elders at the
gate. The girl's father will say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter in marriage
to this man, but he dislikes her. 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, and the elders shall take the man and punish him. 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.”
“If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl's virginity can be found, 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.”
“If a man is found sleeping with another man's wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.”
“If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, 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.”
“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. 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, 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, 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 man is not to marry his father's wife; he must not dishonor his father's bed.”
Deuteronomy 22:13-30
This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As we look at the closing verses of Deuteronomy, chapter 22, we find the Word of God dealing with proper relationships for the Israelite people, before and after marriage with a special focus on sexual relations. Within this passage, we find four specific matters being covered:
1. Virginity.
If you didn’t know before this reading this passage, you definitely know afterwards that maintaining virginity until marriage was a required standard in the Israelite culture. A woman’s first sexual relations were to be with her husband, period, and breaking this requirement led would result in fatal consequences for the offender (stoning). In regard to whether or not virginity had been lost, we see where proof was required in order to counter anyone who might bring it into question.
Sadly, people in today’s culture would scoff at all this because we’re nowhere near this high standard of sexual purity. Not even close and frankly that saddening because while God did design us to enjoy sexual relations between a man and woman, it was to be preserved and reserved for marriage. He commanded and still expects sex to be treated with a level of sanctity and dignity, the ultimate consummation of a love shared by a husband and wife after they became one flesh.
Indeed, virginity has largely became an afterthought today, if thought of at all, because we have taken something God intended to be unique and distinguished and degraded it. It has been cheapened it to the point where it has little to no value anymore.
Today, people “hook up”, have sex, and go their separate ways and in doing this, sex becomes devalued along with the relationships involved. Think about it. How many couples nowadays marry with an assurance that their spouse has not had prior sexual relations. The percentages have to be astronomically low.
Unfortunately, when people do opt to preserve their virginity, they are mocked and treated as if they abnormal by a sin-filled world that soundly rejects any godly obedience. The polar opposite stands in a God-filled world for those who remain steadfast in their faithfulness to the Lord and His Word are righteous through their sacrificial submission to God’s will for their life, willing to set their own desires aside so to fulfill His.
Friends, in my opinion it’s time to get back to basics. I’m not saying we should start stoning virgins who can’t prove it but we need to start placing a premium on restoring the sanctity of sex, bringing it back to the special, sacred status that God intended.
2. Infidelity.
"You shall not commit adultery.” Exodus 20:14
While issuing His famous Ten Commandments, God made it very clear that no one was to commit adultery, especially in regard to sleeping with the spouse of another. We see the penalties were harsh during Old Testament times in our scripture passage for today:
“If a man is found sleeping with another man's wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die.”
“If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, 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.”
In both these instances, sex was engaged in outside of marriage and we need to note here that a pledge to marry (think formal engagement) was as binding as marriage itself so a virgin who engaged in consensual (meaning of she did not scream) sex with a man other than the man she was pledged to would result in death to both. A well known example of this in the Bible is found in the aftermath of Mary’s divine conception and how her ensuing pregnancy sent cultural ripples through Nazareth as she was pledged to be married to Joseph and had not had sexual relations with him. Thankfully, God dispatched the angel Gabriel to help Joseph process what to do in the matter (Matthew 1:18-24).
In regard to marriages today, infidelity is one of the most damaging acts that can happen as it is a blatant violation of trust, honor, and commitment. I know because I went through it.
Like sex overall today, cheating on a spouse has been allowed to be way too typical. In fact, a day doesn’t go by where we don’t hear about someone who has committed adultery, often putting an end to the marriage that God intended to last until the death of one mate or the other. I can’t help but think that the Lord angrily seethes over the way we have sinfully destroyed the holy foundations of marriage through our inability to remain faithful.
Perhaps He should ask us all, “What part of ‘You shall not commit adultery’ do you not understand?”
3. Rape.
Here’s what we find God saying in regard to the most horrific, damaging, and denigrating sexual offense that exists, an offense that carried appropriate serious consequences for offenders:
“…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. Do nothing to the girl; she has committed no sin deserving death.”
“If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, 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.”
Here we have two passages with two different scenarios, each centered on the matter of Israelite virgin women who either pledged or not pledged to be married to a man.
If a virgin who was pledged to marry another was raped, then the offender was to be killed. The virgin was to be spared but unfortunately the damage would have been done to her already. No one could remove the fact that she was no longer a virgin and no man would want to marry her, leading to a life that would be filled with hardship. The seriousness of this outcome for the woman was why the death penalty was warranted for the rapist.
If the virgin was not pledged to be married, than the man who raped her was required to pay fifty shekels to the woman’s father and then marry her, never permitted to divorce her for as long as he or she lives. And while this seems to be disadvantageous for the victim, it actually was favorable in those times culturally because the offended woman wouldn’t be left alone to fend for herself in a society who looked down on a woman who was not a virgin. The best could be made of what was a bad situation.
4. Incest.
“A man is not to marry his father's wife; he must not dishonor his father's bed.”
We should note that this wasn’t only adulterous sexual behavior but incestual as well. Ultimately and obviously, neither was acceptable to God.
And yet, we find an example of this in the first book of the Old Testament (Genesis) when Abraham’s nephew Lot ended up having sex with his two daughters (chapter 19), an incestuous sin that led to the future Moabite and Ammonite nations, nations that would later become fierce enemies of the nation of Israel.
In today’s passage, we saw where acts of sexual sin were alive and well within the ancient Israelite culture and in present times, approximately 3,400 years, things haven’t gotten better. In fact, we’ve far worse in most instances and it’s time to change course before things get any worse, remembering how God sent destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah over the pervasive sexual transgressions in both cities (Genesis 19) and He can easily do this again today.
The time to return to God’s standards for sexual relations is now before it’s too late.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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