The Seventh Commandment

 Exodus 20: 14

Thou shall not commit adultery

Adultery is a big issue according to the Word of God. There are numerous mentions of it throughout both the Old and New Testaments. We will look at both spousal and spiritual adultery in this section. We all have a good idea that adultery is sexual relations either while being married to another person not your spouse or with a person who is married. Of course we can all see how that would cause pain and suffering in the relationship with the spouse. Here are a few adulterous issues from the Bible.

Hebrews 13:4

Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

YHWH will judge those who are not only adulterers, but those who simply engage in premarital sex for the simple pleasures of the act. Why would YHWH do this? The answer is simple, but let’s read a bit more first.

Proverbs 6:32-35

Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; He who does so destroys his own soul. Wounds and dishonor he will get, And his reproach will not be wiped away. For jealousy is a husband’s fury; Therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will accept no recompense, Nor will he be appeased though you give many gifts.

Next we see that pain I was referring to earlier. A man will face the husband’s wrath and will not be placated with apologies, money, or gifts. There is nothing a man can do once he is found out about sleeping with another man’s wife. The pain the husband feels knowing of the adulterous acts that had been committed. This is precisely why YHWH makes this a commandment. This sin causes pain for everyone involved.

Luke 16:18

Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery. “

Here even a man who marries a divorced woman is committing adultery. YHWH does not want us to divorce and remarry. We are meant to be one flesh with the one we marry and not to split up.

Matthew 5:27-32

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

“Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.

Not only is committing the act adultery but Yeshua took it to the next level and said even the one who fantasizes about sexual acts with someone not their spouse is being adulterous. Also, when you divorce, you are causing your spouse to become an adulterer, as well as yourself.

Matthew 19:7-9

They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?”

He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”

The only reason we have divorce even being tolerable is because men would allow a stubbornness of forgiveness toward his wife. YHWH did not want us to feel this way about our spouses. Divorce was not meant to be, but since it was ultimately allowed, especially in cases of adultery, we see it needing to be addressed again. Here is the original law YHWH gives found in the Old Testament.

This is the perfect place to Segway into spiritual adultery. The concept of adultery applies to both spiritual and physical marriage. That being said, as we move through this next part, identify how both have an impact.

Isaiah 54: 5

For your Maker is your husband, The Lord of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth.

We see here, YHWH calls Himself the husband of Israel. His people are Israel and those who believe in Him are Israel today, but there is a lot more to the story than just that.

Deuteronomy 7: 6-8

“For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

YHWH loves His people. He chose them. This is exactly like a marriage, which is the covenant. There is a marriage law concerning divorce given by YHWH that we will get into next.

Deuteronomy 24: 1-4

“When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man’s wife, if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

This is simply saying, if a woman is divorced then remarries, when/if that second marriage ends, the first husband may not take the woman back because she has been with someone else intimately. This plays directly into the spiritual adultery. Here is why, YHWH divorced Israel, well the Northern 10 of the 12 tribes. In the next verses, YHWH is speaking to Israel.

Jeremiah 3: 1-10

“They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife, And she goes from him And becomes another man’s, May he return to her again?’ Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; Yet return to Me,” says the Lord.

“Lift up your eyes to the desolate heights and see: Where have you not lain with men? By the road you have sat for them Like an Arabian in the wilderness; And you have polluted the land With your harlotries and your wickedness. Therefore the showers have been withheld, And there has been no latter rain. You have had a harlot’s forehead; You refuse to be ashamed. Will you not from this time cry to Me, ‘My Father, You are the guide of my youth? Will He remain angry forever? Will He keep it to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken and done evil things, As you were able.”

The Lord said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: “Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot. And I said, after she had done all these things, ‘Return to Me.’ But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense,” says the Lord.

Israel was divorced by YHWH. And followed His law in doing so by giving her the certificate of divorce. Because they went away from YHWH and chose to love and worship other gods, they were sent out of His house and into all the other nations of the world.

Deuteronomy 28: 58, 64

If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD…

Then the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known—wood and stone.

Now according to that law, that wife cannot be taken back once divorced and “defiled” by another. How then, does YHWH plan to bring them back to him without breaking His own law?

Jeremiah 38: 37-40

Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. They shall be My people, and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me.

Up to this point, we have read YHWH calling himself the husband, meaning the original covenant was like a marriage contract. Then we see YHWH divorced a portion of them, the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Now we see He will bring them back after having scattered them throughout the entire world. But how can he did this without breaking his own law stating the husband cannot take back His divorced wife?

Romans 7:1-6

Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

1 Corinthians 7: 39

A wife is bound by law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.

This was the plan because of the love YHWH has for us. This is why He died for us. This is the law that no longer applies to us. The New Covenant has all the same rules as the Old Testament, with the death of Christ releasing Israel from the marriage law. This also really helps us understand why Yeshua said these words.

Matthew 15: 24

But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Yeshua, must be YHWH in the flesh. It is the only way for His death to bring the releasing of Israel from the law that bound them to Him. This is why there is so much that covers adultery and sexual immorality. It is a topic that is very dear to YHWH’s own heart. He loves us so much…

John 3: 16

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Romans 5: 8

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

1 Corinthians 15: 3-4

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures

He died and has risen again in order to release Israel from the marriage law and be able to remarry Israel again as the perfect husband. There is no doubt that His love for all of Israel supersedes anything we could understand for a false god. So what can we do to try to show our love back to Him?

1 John 3: 4

Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.

John 14: 15

If you love Me, keep My commandments.

Not keeping His law or commands means you are breaking them, and therefore, sinning. He does not want that for us because if we love Him we will keep his law. As to which law, I say all of it to be as perfect as we can be. But here is a good place to start.

Matthew 19: 16-19

Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”

So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

He said to Him, “Which ones?”

Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

These come directly from the Ten Commandments. We should definitely start there and then study to understand and keep the rest that would apply to us.