The Peril of Adultery
Proverbs 5
Drink water from your own cistern
And fresh water from your own well.
Should your springs be dispersed abroad,
Streams of water in the streets?
Let them be yours alone
And not for strangers with you.
Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.
For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with
an adulteress
And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?
Cistern and
well refer to the wife from whom the husband is to draw all his satisfying refreshment, sexually and affectionately.
Exodus 20:14
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Penalties for breaking The Law and reviewing The Commandments.
Adultery in the Heart and Loving Your Neighbor.
A transgressor of The Law, guilty of all.
(Lev. 20:10; Deut. 5:18; Mt. 5:27; 19:18; Rom. 13:9; James 2:11)
Malachi 2:15
"Take heed then to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth."
The History of Foolish and Unwise Husbands & Wives:
John MacArthur says, "God offers to bless male procreation when it is confined to one's wife."
In spite of the sinful polygamy of David (
1 Chronicles 3:1-9), and Solomon (
1 Kings 11:1-4), and many more...
Abijah grew mighty. And he took fourteen wives and had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
Ashhur, the father of Tekoa, had two wives, Helah and Naarah.
Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives.
Jacob (Israel), had two wives and their maidservants, along with thirteen children total, between the four women.
Jehoiada got for him two wives, and he had sons and daughters.
Lamech took two wives.
Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and concubines (he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters).
The instruction here identifies God's ideal as one wife:
- Proverbs 18:22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.
- 1 Corinthians 7:1-5 ...because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.
- 1 Timothy 3:2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach...
- 1 Timothy 3:12 Let deacons each be the husband of one wife
- Titus 1:5-8 ...the husband of one wife...
Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel:
- If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved...
The
Lord saw that Leah (Jacob's first wife), was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel (he loved her much more than Leah Gen. 29), remained childless.
Leah was convinced Jacob would love her because she bore him children.
“It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.”
“Because the Lord heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too.”
“Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.”
Solomon's Great Wealth/Heart Turns from the Lord:
- He shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold (Deut. 17:17).
Solomon's
wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his
wives turned away his heart after other gods, and
his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God,
as was the heart of David his father.
Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and
did not wholly follow the Lord, as
David his father had done.
The Lord was angry with Solomon,
because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel,
who had appeared to him twice (3:5; 9:2),
and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods.
But he did not keep what the Lord commanded (1 Kings 11:4, 6, 9-10).
11:9-10
Appeared to him twice. On both occasions, God had warned Solomon, so he had no excuses.
The Commands
"You shall therefore love the LORD your God, and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments."
“You shall have no other gods before Me."
“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
“You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the L
ORD your God, am a jealous God...
Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.
Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son (1 Kings 11:11-12).
1 Kings 11:11 not kept My covenant. Solomon failed to obey the commandments to honor God (Ex. 20:3-6).
The Legacy of Solomon:
"He will die for
lack of instruction,
And in
the greatness of his folly he will go astray."
Proverbs 5:23
Read the acts of Solomon, all that he did, they are written in the book 1 Kings 11:1-43
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Kings+11%3A1-43&version=ESV
Foolish and Unwise Wives:
Proverbs 14:1; 21:9; Mark 3:25
Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands... And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.
Genesis 16:3-4
Abram's wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife.
He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she (Sarai), saw that she (Hagar), had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight.
Job 5:2
Surely vexation kills the fool, and jealousy slays the simple.
Genesis 30
When
Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became
jealous of her sister.
“Here is Bilhah, my servant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I too can build a family through her.”
So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her, and she became pregnant and bore him a son.
When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
Summery:
I can visualize what it was like to be Abraham or Jacob, and the many others, who dealt with "brawling woman" (
pertaining to more than one), and determine why it might be better to dwell in a corner of the housetop.
In the evening, David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof, and I wonder if this became somewhere he dwelled often, to escape contentions and if he did, how many more women did he gaze upon, as they washed themselves and did he acquire more wives because he inquired of them?
1 Corinthians 7:1-5 ...because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.
Polygamy:Polygamy was taught by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (they are not Christians), for more than half of the 19th century, and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890 by between 20 and 30 percent of Latter-day Saint families. The Latter-day Saints' practice of polygamy has been controversial, both within Western society and the LDS Church itself. America was both fascinated and horrified by the practice of polygamy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormonism_and_polygamy
"Sister Wives" is an American reality television series broadcast on TLC that premiered on September 26, 2010. The show documents the life of a polygamist family, which includes patriarch Kody Brown, his four wives, and their 18 children.
Brown and his wives have said they participated with the show to make the public more aware of polygamist families and to combat societal prejudices.
http://www.tlc.com/tv-shows/sister-wives/
Summery:
1 Corinthians 10:11 "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come."
Who knows whether he will be a
wise man or a fool... God knows.
The History of Husbands and Wives:
“It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him
a helper fit for him.”
The Temptation and Fall of Man:
The serpent was crafty... He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was
a delight to the eyes, and that
the tree was to be desired to make one wise,
she took of its fruit and
ate, and
she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and
he ate.
The Aftermath: The eyes of both were opened. Man has become like one of us, in knowing good and evil.
The Shame: The man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the
Lord God.
The Blame Game:
Adam: “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
Galatians 6:7-8
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked:
for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For
he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."
Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you,‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you (Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned);
in pain you shall eat of it (To eat the bread of painful labors), all the days of your life (all his days his task is painful and grievous; even at night his mind does not rest);
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread (To eat the bread of painful labors),
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
The Vanity of Toil
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+2%3A18-26&version=ESV
Land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless, and its curse is imminent.
For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope...
"This one (Noah), will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed."
"I (God), will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done."
Eve: “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
"Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
but he shall rule over you.”
The Judaea/Christian Home:
Wives, are to submit to their own husbands, as to the Lord.
Wives, are to submit to their husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
Wives, are to be subject to their own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by their wives conduct.
Eve: The Mother of All Living
"Man, who is born of woman, Is short-lived and full of turmoil."
Moral of The True Story:
Just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.
For sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, deceives us and through the commandment put us to death.
And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman who was deceived and fell into transgression.
He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.
Have we covered our transgressions like Adam, By hiding our iniquity?
Summery:
When I think of a serpent (snake), in regards to Satan, prior to the fall (1:31), I do not believe he needed to disguises himself as an angel of light. It is only after the fall, because God tells him, he will crawl on his belly (creeping), cursing him, above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; and dust he shall eat all the days of his life.
We all know to stay away from snakes, especially poisonous ones, but Eve would not have known whether or not to discern between non poisonous snakes (good), verses poisonous snakes (evil), because man had dominion over all animals.
He obviously took on a form, and manifested himself in order to deceive Eve, as "a creeping thing."
He successfully deceived Eve because he was cunning (he was shrewd), not because he used his supernatural beauty (Isaiah 14:13-14). His appearance, no matter what form (until he is exposed), is enlightening to the eyes. He feeds off our flesh, our sinful desires and is able to entice us, because our flesh is weak.
Satan should not outwit us (as he did with Eve), we are not unaware of his schemes. We are to be sober (watching and praying), and vigilant; because our adversary the devil walks about (To and Fro), like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Submit yourselves to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
The Good Husband & Bad Wife:
Satan beheld Job in his hand and The Lord preserved his life, by allowing Satan to spare it.
Job's wife, spoke as one of the foolish women would speak.
Sinning with her lips.
She should of kept silent (not permitted to speak), but should of been in submission, as the Law also says.
He held fast to his integrity (in all this Job
did not sin or charge God with wrong), while she encouraged him to
curse God and die, he was not bitter toward her, because in all this, Job did not sin and by doing good he put to silence the ignorance of his foolish wife.
His example/conduct was a valuable illustration of teaching, reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
Job was upright and blameless. He was content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when he was weak, he was strong.
“Let your heart
hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth." Proverbs 4
The Bad Duo, Ananias and Sapphira:
"For the Love of Money"
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs." 1 Timothy 6:10
But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?
While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own?
And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?
Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart?
You have not lied to man but to God.”
That wicked man will die for his sin... Lying to the Holy Spirit.
When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.
That wicked woman will die for her sin... Lying to The Holy Spirit.
After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.
And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.”
And she said, “Yes, for so much.”
But Peter said to her, "How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.
Moral of the True Story:
If riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.
Greed, which is idolatry.
Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.
He who profits illicitly troubles his own house.
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.
The seed sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worries of this world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
“Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you, with his neighbor, for we are members of one another."
Ephesians 4:25
To be continued...
