Death ends the Covenant

It is past time for this next post, so this will be one of two entries regarding the marriage covenant this weekend, if the Lord wills.

A portion of the last blog focused on  the marriage covenant being given to all mankind, as opposed to one people group, ethnicity, or nation. This discussion will focus on Abraham and Sarah's visit to a city called Gerar. The king of Gerar, whose name was Abimelech, is referred to both in Genesis 20 and Genesis 26. It is possible that both passages refer to the same person. It is more likely, however, that these were either a father and son pair, or grandfather and grandson. It has also been suggested that the name Abimelech could have been the general term for the King of Gerar, much like in nearby Egypt, where the king was always referred to as "Pharaoh."

What is clear is that Abraham and Isaac both believed that the kings of Gerar had no fear of God with regard to murder. They both feared that because they were husbands to very attractive wives, their lives might be in jeopardy. They feared that one might kill them in order to take their wives.

And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.

But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife.

But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?  

Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. 

And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.  

Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore [her] not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine. 
And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?
And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake. -Genesis 20:2-7; 9-10 
***Isaac and Rebekah found themselves in a similar situation, which can be seen in Genesis 26. For the sake of time, I will limit this discussion to Abraham's episode.***

Now this particular passage of scripture provides answers to some very interesting questions about the marriage covenant, as it was viewed before the establishment of the Mosaic law. Note that Abraham operated under the concept that the people of Gerar did not fear God, meaning that they were not concerned with His opinion regarding their activities. So then why would Abraham be in fear of his life? If the people did not fear God, why wouldn't Abraham's fear rest in that someone may simply take his wife by force? He was clearly in no position to offer significant resistance. 
The answer is simple: Cultures and nations that did not fear God still understood the one flesh covenant of Marriage (with the exception of Sodom and Gomorrah which ceased to be of concern in the previous chapter). If a Godless man wanted another's wife, the only possible solution was to kill the husband, and take her to be his own. This was also David's particular method of operation after he violated Uriah's covenant (see II Samuel 11). 

Another point to be made is that Abraham was willing to allow another man to lay with his wife, rather than be killed. Why is this significant? For two reasons:  

1. In Genesis 18, God promised Abraham that he would become a great and mighty nation. This promise would be very difficult to see through if Abraham was dead.
2. Also in Genesis 18, God said that the promised child of Abraham would be conceived with Sarah his wife, and not another.

Abraham then had concluded two things: 1) he must survive his stay in Gerar; 2) if his wife were taken from him, it would not negate his covenant with her, though she became another man's; God's promise was of a son through Sarah. This way they both survive, and therefore the covenant remains in effect as well. Their survival was the determinate factor. Death, and only death, would end the covenant.


Thankfully for Abraham, Sarah, and Abimelech, God had better plans. Regarding God's warning to Abimelech, I also want to note His opening argument: "For she is a man's wife." He didn't qualify the reason by stating to whom she was married. Only that she was. And that was good enough for God to take the breath from his body. He was but a dead man, not because he was going to take the Prophet's wife. Just another man's wife. Any man's wife would be reason enough for his life to be over. That she was Abraham's wife exacerbated the issue a bit, but the core problem was that God had witnessed a one flesh covenant, which Abimelech would have violated by lying with Sarah. What's more, had God not warned Abimelech, he would have been found dead based on that fact alone, even though he was ignorant of her marriage to Abraham.
God gave Abimelech the opportunity to make amends based upon his ignorance, as God is just and good. Nevertheless that which was taken had to be restored in order for God's hand of judgment to be stayed.
 
I wonder how many in the church have taken another man's wife, and thought lightly of the consequence. God is the Lord. He changes not. He is the same today as he was when he visited Abimelech in order to spare his life. I pray someone allows God to spare their life today as well.

The next topic, coming later this weekend, will highlight the permanence of the covenant. We will see how God followed through on his warning to Abimelech regarding Abraham's covenant, centuries later.

In The Beginning

As I stated last week, I would like to start at the first Biblical passage referencing marriage, and work through the Scriptures in chronological fashion.

So let us start in the beginning, Genesis 2:20-25:

"And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh.

And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

There are numerous studies that can be done regarding the nature of marriage based upon this one passage of scripture, but in keeping with the topic of God's views regarding divorce and remarriage, there is a point that I will note is established in this text, as follows. Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, referred to as the Pentateuch according to the Hebrew Scriptures, and Genesis (literally, "Beginning") is the first of these books. As this passage is the first passage specifically referencing the man and his wife, it is established as what those in the legal field would recognize as precedent: 1) a legal decision or form of proceeding serving as an authoritative rule or pattern in future similar or analogous cases. 2) any act, decision, or case that serves as a guide or justification for subsequent situations. (dictionary.com) 

Simply put, according to its original establishment by God, marriage is intended to be between a man and a woman, and the two should become one flesh, once God has joined the man with his wife. This joining of man to wife is not accomplished through intimacy, but through vows. In this case, Adam's word he and the woman would be of two, one flesh. Of the many points that can be made regarding this covenant, it is certain that this definition of marriage is the standard by which all other marriages are to be judged. 

There is something to be said for marriage in that it is existent in every human culture. There is no culture in which marriage is not practiced. This is not in reference to sexual intimacy. Specifically, marriage as a covenant is practiced in every human culture. This is because the marriage covenant was passed down to the whole earth through the first man and wife. This covenant was not given to the Jews through Moses. Moses simply recounted the historical record, so that his people would understand the origin of God's law concerning marriage, and why it should be followed.

To recognize the importance of the marriage covenant, I must note that the only thing that God saw that was not good in the making of His creation was that man was alone. Everything else until that point had been good. Days one through five were checked off the list, but on the sixth day God noted that it was "Not good that the man should be alone" - Genesis 2:18. God made special provision to cause His work to be good by instituting the marriage covenant. Once the marriage covenant had been established, God's work was done: "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." - Genesis 1:31. 

Another unique attribute of this first marriage relationship that I should not neglect to mention is found in Genesis 1:26: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:". Hereafter there is only one aspect of creation that mimics God's intent to create man after His image: that is, He created woman also after His image, but not from the dust of the earth, but the rib of the man. So man and woman were both created in the image of God, and man and woman were created to display within creation the oneness of God with man. There was no separation between God and Adam before sin, as there was no separation between Adam and Eve after God brought Eve to Adam.
 

Marriage is the only institution in existence today that predates man's fall into sin. A friend of mine challenged me to resist the theoretical "perfect-world" mentality. I certainly will, as this topic applies to real life situations regarding real hurt, real betrayal, and real desire. 

That said, marriage is from God, and is perfect in its establishment. It was formed in a place that knew no sin, and represents a relationship formed without sin. It is pure unity without shame, and from the very beginning represented God's covenant with man. If our understanding of marriage breaks down, our understanding of our covenant with God will shortly follow, and already has to a large extent in the American church.

After the fall into sin, God gave mankind a promise of victory over that which drove us away from His presence in the Garden: Genesis 3:15 -

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

The "seed" of the woman is a direct reference to the promised Messiah, who would save the world from their sins. The promise of Christ was given as a direct result of the sin that the man and his wife committed in departing from God. As division was caused between God and man by sin, God drove the man with his wife from the Garden. Even so, He established within their marriage relationship from that time the Biblical leadership structure of the husband as head of the family, as an earthly representation of God's leadership over those who believe. In order to show forth God's covenant that man would be given victory over sin, the Father established a recognizable pattern within the marriage covenant, as a testament to all mankind, that all mankind might have the hope of salvation exemplified through the marriage covenant.

Next time we'll talk about how the marriage covenant was viewed in the "post-perfect" world after the Fall, by reviewing episodes from the lives of the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac. I will also discuss the fundamental differences between a contract and a covenant.

Preface

Good evening everyone. My name is Joshua McMahon. I am the son of Raymond McMahon, who is the Pastor of Praise, Power & Prayer Temple in Windsor, CT.  I am the producer of Jesus Is Our Shepherd, which airs on 22 Stations every week throughout the United States.

Jesus Is Our Shepherd radio broadcasts have been focused for the past several years on the topic of Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage. Archived broadcasts can be found at www.praisepowerprayertemplect.org. I intend to be a voice for the younger generation, the product of my parent's generation which demanded to be loosed from God's covenant.

Now it is time for those who seek God in my generation to take a stand. Stand for the covenant between Christ and his church. My posts will directly address many aspects of the Divorce and Remarriage discussion. That which I will write is nothing new. I will use the Word of God as my resource. If you are looking for a Bibliography, the Bible is it's fullest extent. Any other author that I reference has either received his understanding from the Word, or perhaps distorted the Word to match his understanding.
We will try the opinions of man against the immutable truth of God.

I cannot promise a post every night, but I will attempt to communicate at least weekly. I hope to start at the very beginning, the conception of the marriage narrative, and move forward through time. We will walk through the scriptures, and discuss what attempts have been made to alter the covenant, in order to reveal God's unchanging heart for the Bride of Christ.

"This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church." - Ephesians 5:32