The Ten Commandments
Part 4
Exodus 20:14, “You shall not commit adultery.” Deuteronomy 5:18, “Neither shall you commit adultery.” The seventh commandment protects your marriage and your neighbor’s marriage. It assures a stable environment in which to raise a family. God planned this from the start.
Genesis 2:18 speaks about a helping relationship, “a help mate,” to tend the Garden. It also speaks to the physical union, becoming one flesh. Genesis 2:23-25, “The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman, for she was taken out of man.’ That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”
Traditional Protestant wedding vows honor the first marriage and this commandment: (Groom’s name), wilt thou have this woman (Bride’s name), to be thy wedded wife to live together after God’s ordinance in the Holy Estate of matrimony? Wilt thou love her, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live? ("I will.")
(Bride’s name), wilt thou take thee (groom’s name), to be thy wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better – for worse, for richer – for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, and thereto I pledge thee my faith." ("I will.")
(Rings) In token and pledge of the vow between us made, with this ring I thee wed; in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
(Rings) Receive this ring as a token of wedded love and faith.*
Note that marriage is a “Holy Estate” sworn to “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The wedding vows are sacred. The seventh commandment is for the protection of this Holy Estate and is the basis for sexual ethics. It demands that you, husband and wife, protects this Holy Estate. It demands that you protect your neighbor’s Holy Estate. Your neighbor is to do likewise.
God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. This Holy Estate is for the building of a family and the continuity of the family line. Therefore, this Holy Estate is an explicit call for consensual sexual activity between the husband and wife. Indeed, under the Law given Moses by God, the growth of a relationship between husband and wife is so special that a newly married husband is free for one year to rejoice with his wife and not take part in any public labor such as military service.
Further, the husband and wife are to enjoy this sexual relationship. The entire Song of Solomon makes this clear. Here are some examples: 2:3-6, “As an apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among young men. With great delight, I sat in his shadow, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his intention toward me was love. Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love. O that his left hand were under my head and that his right hand embraced me!” 1:2-4, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine; your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is perfume poured out … We will exult and rejoice in you; we will extol your love more than wine.
Song of Solomon describes a beautiful relationship. However, sometimes-uncontrolled lust caused a married person to commit adultery. What does the law say about that? Legal systems invariably are set up to tell us what to do after the crimes have been committed. Lawyers and judges study the law so that they can respond properly after the fact. From the time that Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, visited the Israelite encampment in Sinai; the Israelites have had a system of judges. Soon after that, God gave us the Ten Commandments, and God gave the rest of the 613 laws to Moses. In the case of the seventh commandment, committing adultery is a sin. Leviticus 20:10 says that the man and the woman shall be called adulterers, and both put to death. That seems harsh to modern ears.
God is the Merciful One. He is loving, kind, good and gracious. God’s Law is about building a better world with punishment as a last resort. Remember Jesus when an adulterous woman, “caught in the very act,” was about to be stoned to death? He said, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” The Jews wanted to help their neighbor even when he or she broke the law. Numbers 35:20-27, the court must try to save, to redeem, the lawbreaker. The punishment described in the Commandments and the laws defined the worst punishment possible for breaking the law. Our system of laws is similar in that regard. Someone breaks one of our nation’s laws and we hear, “He could get up electric chair for that.” only to find out that the judge sentenced him to two years followed by five year's probation. It was the same with Jewish law.
First, with all capital crimes, God commissions a human court only to carry punishment when there is total certainty. How was total certainty defined? The rules: At least two unrelated people must have witnessed the act. That would have disqualified even Moses and Aaron. Further, the witnesses must be of excellent character. Additionally, the guilty person must have received proper warning immediately before the crime was committed. That is, the witnesses who saw a person about to commit the crime must have yelled out to the perpetrator both the biblical text prohibiting of the deed and the punishment for that particular infraction. Finally, the person who committed the crime must say that he or she has heard the warning. Few adulterers were put to death.
Now, we look at the different ways adultery could be committed as covered in Deuteronomy 22:13-29. In the incidence of an un-betrothed woman having intercourse with a man, whether or not consensually, the law required the man to marry the woman and the man could never divorce that woman. The judges would rule if that incident were rape or consensual. Rape required payment to the woman and a flogging for the man.
Leviticus 18:6-23 and 20:10-21 covers familiarizes such as kissing, embracing, winking at or being unclothed with anyone other than a spouse were forbidden for they could possibly lead to incestuous desires. The law considers incest one of three great sins (along with idolatry and murder) that people should avoid even upon pain of death. Horror of horror, during WWII Nazis guards, informed of this Jewish law, considered it sport to strip a father and his daughter and demand that they have sex or be shot; the Jews always chose death.
Interesting, the laws concerning homosexuality did not condemn sexual orientation. Rather, they condemned acting on that impulse. Leviticus 18:23 and 20:13 condemn male penetration homosexual intercourse and a man or woman having sex with an animal. These are dangerous, unsanitary and forbidden. Sexual immorality is the ultimate desecration of the divine image in which God created humans.
Today’s American culture does not agree with these ancient Jewish laws. Many seem to think that anything that consenting adults do in private is all right. Paul made no mention of consent, love, fidelity, monogamy, or commitment as he explicitly described the behaviors condemned as unbounded lust. Read 1:21-27, 1 Timothy 1:9-10, and 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, “Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, men who engage in illicit sex, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, swindlers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. And this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”
There is now a problem past generations never had; as much as 30 percent of Internet content is pornography, and tens of millions of men (and some women) waste much of their lives in endless, mind numbing, relationship killing binge watching that leaves their partners and families in despair. In Mark 7:15-16, Jesus explained that it is not what we eat but what we think that corrupts us. Jesus was quoting Proverbs 23:7 , "For as [a man] thinks in his heart, so is he." In Romans 12:3, Paul says that we should think soberly, seriously and realistically. After all, we are ambassadors for Christ and priests in training for God's Kingdom. Therefore, we must not engage in anything that provokes a sinful way of thinking.
In sum, the Bible condemns anything that may disrupt our family or our neighbor’s family; the Bible condemns adultery, but Christ forgiveness is available to all.
Next, the eighth commandment: Exodus 20:15, “You shall not steal.” and Deuteronomy 5:19, “Neither shall you steal.” The eighth commandment protects ownership of property, yours and your neighbors. Property represents the fruit of industry and intelligence; it represents a person’s sweat. Any assault on the property, therefore, is an assault of character of the rightful owner. This commandment has a wider application than theft and robbery. It forbids every illegal acquisition of property by cheating, by embezzlement and by forgery. It also forbids transitions that, while they may be legal, are immoral and thus disgraceful. That includes transactions in which a person takes advantages of the ignorance or embarrassment of you or a neighbor for increasing his or her own property.
Striking one’s father or mother, profaning the Sabbath and murder are examples of laws that were punishable by death. Once the parent is disrespect and hurt, once murder has been committed, the damage is complete. Punishment of the guilty is hopefully a deterrent for those with evil thoughts. Stealing is different; a stolen item can be restored or replaced or at least be compensated for. The eighth commandment demands restitution. The perpetrator must not only replace or compensate the victim’s lost; he or she must pay fines to the victim. An example: Exodus 22:1, “When someone steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, the thief shall pay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.” In today’s world, what if a thief stole an automobile and then had to pay the victim fivefold. Would that be a more effective deterrent than jail time?
We have an obligation not only not to steal; we are to protect our property and neighbor’s property. Deuteronomy 22:1 & 3, “You shall not watch your neighbor’s ox or sheep straying away and ignore them; you shall take them back to their owner. … You shall do the same with a neighbor’s donkey; you shall do the same with a neighbor’s garment; and you shall do the same with anything else that your neighbor loses, and you find. You may not withhold your help.” In today’s world, far too many people turn their heads to thief not wanting to get involved or even inconvenienced.
Leviticus 19:11, “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one another.” Jesus echoes this in Luke 3:14, “Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation and be satisfied with your wages.’” Roman soldiers at the time of Christ had some dozen rights. Among them was the right of liberty from the power of masters, and from the dominion of tyrants, the severity of magistrates, the cruelty of creditors, and the insolence of more powerful citizens. That meant that local authorities could not punish or even charge Roman soldiers for lesser crimes. Some of these soldiers used that to threaten people extracting labor, money and favors. They had the free rain over good people if they chose to extort or threaten to get someone in trouble. They had swords and fight training to frighten those they picked on. Jesus told them to stop such behavior.
Theft of a person is slavery. Remember Judah when his brothers wanted to sell Joseph, Genesis 37:26, “What profit is it to kill our brother and conceal his blood?” They sold Joseph. Joseph later told Pharaoh, Genesis 40:15, “For in fact I was stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should have put me into the dungeon.” This scripture is a first blow against slavery.
One of Jesus’ parables tells us that want of riches can capture one’s soul. Luke 16:19-31, records the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man regards all he has as his very own; he uses it selfishly. The sin of this rich man was his providing for himself only. In Matthew 6:24, Jesus tells us that we cannot serve God and manna (wealth). Proverbs 22:22-23, “Do not rob the poor because they are poor or crush the afflicted at the gate, for the LORD pleads their cause and despoils of life those who despoil them.” The opposite of stealing is helping the poor and disadvantaged, of giving of our plenty and of ourselves. The opposite of stealing is doing unto others what we would want done for ourselves.
*A traditional Jewish wedding process has two distinct stages: The first, kiddushin (Hebrew for "betrothal") is when bride and the groom agree to a contract. That contract details the obligations of the groom to the bride: food, clothing, shelter and so forth. This ceremony also begins a period in which the man prepares financially to have a family. Further, the bride and groom need time to learn the emotional components of togetherness. Therefore, the couple starts their life together in the groom’s parent’s home. It is during then that the couple begins their life-long friendship. The ketubah is the second stage. It is then that the couple consummates the marriage. These two events could take place as much as a year apart.
