It amazes me how God can use a commandment or precept that He previously established to reveal to mankind a glimpse of the depth of His love. "Deuterogamy" addresses a law that was provided to govern unrighteousness. Centuries later, God uses this same law to show an inconceivable Grace. God speaks through the prophet Jeremiah, directly referencing the law from Deuteronomy 24.
Jeremiah 3:1,8,14-15:
They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the Lord.
And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion.
God has divorced his people, but if they will turn, he will accept them back: the divorce does not end the covenant - "I am married unto you."
So why does God call the return of the wife after the second marriage "abomination" (a disgusting thing). It's clear in Deuteronomy that when a woman has been defiled by marriage outside of the original covenant, she is defiled. The second marriage is not holy or God-sanctioned. Therefore, God sees her returning to her original husband as an abomination (because of the pollution caused by the second marriage). Now for some Scriptural evidence to show why the law was written the way it was. Romans 5:20-21:
Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
So the law, in showing that God called the return of the adulteress abominable, allows the offense in His eyes to be seen by men. And in Jeremiah 3, the Father gives grace, and that more abundantly than the offense. God doesn't say there was just one idol whereby His nation was defiled. "Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the Lord." What Grace! God offers forgiveness for abomination prior to the repentance of the offending party! Now there are conditions to be met for the reconciliation to be complete. Namely, turning from all other gods, and serving the Lord faithfully. And within the Grace of the offer lies the power for the conditions to be met by the offending party.
Is it any wonder that Paul in II Corinthians 5 besought the believers to be reconciled to God? This reconciliation is also directly referenced in I Corinthians 7, when Paul confirmed Christ's own teaching that if the wife depart she should remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband. Why is this important? This is the Gospel at its very core: Christ and the church. Covenant marriage represents Christ and the church (see Ephesians 5). But this revelation and great mystery was not a new concept from God's perspective. He wanted His church to return after adultery long before Paul revealed the purpose of marriage to Ephesus.
The defilement of adultery is the abomination. It disgusts God. God proclaimed in the beginning that if man disobeyed His commands, he would die. Purity (void of sinful actions) can be restored through faith in the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. If the sin is taken away, there is no more defilement, and therefore nothing causing abomination. For marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
There are a few examples of this grace of reconciling husband and wife after a second marriage or adultery in the Old Testament. One is found in II Samuel 3:12-16. Short version: Saul allowed David to marry his daughter Michal (I Samuel 18:27). When David fell out of Saul's good graces, Saul tried to kill him, and David ran, rather than raise his hand against God's anointed. When David was gone, Saul took his daughter Michal, David's wife (women didn't have much say back in the day), and gave her to Phalti to be his wife (I Samuel 25:44). II Samuel 3 gives a quick recap of why Phalti had David's wife, even though Michal was considered by the late king's commandment Phalti's wife now. Saul died, so David commanded that his wife be returned to himself, even though she was married to another by this time. This is the example of a second marriage being broken-up, so that the wife can be return to her original husband.
The prophet Hosea was commanded by God to take a wife who was a prostitute, so that he could understand how God felt about his people Israel and their spiritual adultery against Him. Hosea showed the grace of God in the face of the abomination of adultery in taking his wife back to himself time and again. God used his circumstance to show His grace to us, should we accept the terms and conditions of surrender to His perfect will - Hosea 14:1-2,4:
O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.
I will heal their backslidings, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
Grace overcomes abomination by offering forgiveness, which is contingent upon repentance of (turning from) the abominable practice (adultery).
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Deuterogamy
Here's a little known fact: "remarriage" has a synonym, "Deuterogamy."
Spell check didn't recognize it either. Don't believe me? Check out Dictionary.com. Or how about Merriam-Webster. Now to the history behind the word. Breaking the word down into its parts: 1) Deutero- Per the comment below, "second"; 2) -gamy. This suffix refers to marriage or a sexual union of some kind (see polygamy, bigamy, exogamy, allogamy, etc.). While I can't prove a direct etymological relation (at the moment) of deuterogamy to the fifth book of the Bible, Deuteronomy, it is fascinating that the only Biblical provision for deuterogamy is found in Deuteronomy. I still hold that the formation of the word (it is a variation of "digamy") may be somewhat related to the location of the provision in Scripture. All also submit that I could be completely wrong, and it really is a curious coincidence. But enough about what I can't prove, onto the truth. The specific passage in which the aforementioned provision is found is Deuteronomy 24:1-4:
When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife. And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife; Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
Clearly this passage from Deuteronomy gives provision, under the concept of deuterogamy, for a man to divorce a woman, and for that woman to be married to another man. I will for the time being avoid references to Jeremiah 3, Hosea, Malachi 2, Matthew 5, Matthew 19, Mark 10, Luke 16, Romans 3, and I Corinthians 7, all of which directly contradict the law given in this scripture. Did I just say that there is a contradiction in Scripture? Why, yes, I did. The contradiction is between righteousness and unrighteousness. Does the Scripture disagree with itself? Certainly not. However, within the Law of Moses (especially Exodus - Deuteronomy) there are laws that dictate how the Hebrew leadership should preside over unrighteous behavior within a community that should always, but in practice did not always, behave righteously. Often the lawful solution was the death of the offender. Message me for references if you'd like. In the case of a writing of divorcement, a provision was made for remarriage, as seen above. This provision within the law addressed an unrighteous situation for which death was not named as the solution. The action of divorce and subsequent remarriage is nowhere justified in this passage. This passage explains how an unrighteous action (the putting away of one's wife) could be governed within the society.
Within this provision, the Lord directly addresses an action which is highlighted as unrighteous in God's eyes. That is - the returning of the original wife to the original husband. The conclusion cannot be made that, because the divorce and subsequent remarriage are not directly addressed as "abomination," such actions are condoned and justified before God. The Word must be rightly divided. So let's examine the passage describing the abomination more closely. Once the woman becomes the wife of another (following the divorce of the first marriage), "she is defiled." To explore one aspect of this statement, is it sex that has defiled the woman? This cannot be the conclusion, as a man is commanded to take his brother's wife if his brother dies childless, so that his brother would not be left without an heir (Deuteronomy 25:6). Now let's review Hebrews 13:4:
Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
So marriage is undefiled. But the former wife is defiled after being married to another, according to Deuteronomy 24. But the law gave her provision to be married to another man. It is plain then that the sanction and favor of God does not rest upon the second marriage, though the civil provision allows the union. Therein rests the agreement of this scripture with Christ's answer to the Pharisees in Mark 10. The Pharisees were so consumed with what they could get away with, that they overlooked what their justification (via Deuteronomy 24) meant: Sin. Remarriage causes defilement (sin), which stands in direct contrast to marriage, which is honorable in all, and the marriage bed undefiled.
So the disruption of Genesis 2:24 via remarriage causes the offending party to be defiled, and God calls the acceptance of that which is defiled an abomination. Next time, we'll discuss David's actions in 2 Samuel 3:14, and God's reaction to the defilement of Israel and Judah in Jeremiah 3.
Spell check didn't recognize it either. Don't believe me? Check out Dictionary.com. Or how about Merriam-Webster. Now to the history behind the word. Breaking the word down into its parts: 1) Deutero- Per the comment below, "second"; 2) -gamy. This suffix refers to marriage or a sexual union of some kind (see polygamy, bigamy, exogamy, allogamy, etc.). While I can't prove a direct etymological relation (at the moment) of deuterogamy to the fifth book of the Bible, Deuteronomy, it is fascinating that the only Biblical provision for deuterogamy is found in Deuteronomy. I still hold that the formation of the word (it is a variation of "digamy") may be somewhat related to the location of the provision in Scripture. All also submit that I could be completely wrong, and it really is a curious coincidence. But enough about what I can't prove, onto the truth. The specific passage in which the aforementioned provision is found is Deuteronomy 24:1-4:
When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife. And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife; Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
Clearly this passage from Deuteronomy gives provision, under the concept of deuterogamy, for a man to divorce a woman, and for that woman to be married to another man. I will for the time being avoid references to Jeremiah 3, Hosea, Malachi 2, Matthew 5, Matthew 19, Mark 10, Luke 16, Romans 3, and I Corinthians 7, all of which directly contradict the law given in this scripture. Did I just say that there is a contradiction in Scripture? Why, yes, I did. The contradiction is between righteousness and unrighteousness. Does the Scripture disagree with itself? Certainly not. However, within the Law of Moses (especially Exodus - Deuteronomy) there are laws that dictate how the Hebrew leadership should preside over unrighteous behavior within a community that should always, but in practice did not always, behave righteously. Often the lawful solution was the death of the offender. Message me for references if you'd like. In the case of a writing of divorcement, a provision was made for remarriage, as seen above. This provision within the law addressed an unrighteous situation for which death was not named as the solution. The action of divorce and subsequent remarriage is nowhere justified in this passage. This passage explains how an unrighteous action (the putting away of one's wife) could be governed within the society.
Within this provision, the Lord directly addresses an action which is highlighted as unrighteous in God's eyes. That is - the returning of the original wife to the original husband. The conclusion cannot be made that, because the divorce and subsequent remarriage are not directly addressed as "abomination," such actions are condoned and justified before God. The Word must be rightly divided. So let's examine the passage describing the abomination more closely. Once the woman becomes the wife of another (following the divorce of the first marriage), "she is defiled." To explore one aspect of this statement, is it sex that has defiled the woman? This cannot be the conclusion, as a man is commanded to take his brother's wife if his brother dies childless, so that his brother would not be left without an heir (Deuteronomy 25:6). Now let's review Hebrews 13:4:
Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
So marriage is undefiled. But the former wife is defiled after being married to another, according to Deuteronomy 24. But the law gave her provision to be married to another man. It is plain then that the sanction and favor of God does not rest upon the second marriage, though the civil provision allows the union. Therein rests the agreement of this scripture with Christ's answer to the Pharisees in Mark 10. The Pharisees were so consumed with what they could get away with, that they overlooked what their justification (via Deuteronomy 24) meant: Sin. Remarriage causes defilement (sin), which stands in direct contrast to marriage, which is honorable in all, and the marriage bed undefiled.
So the disruption of Genesis 2:24 via remarriage causes the offending party to be defiled, and God calls the acceptance of that which is defiled an abomination. Next time, we'll discuss David's actions in 2 Samuel 3:14, and God's reaction to the defilement of Israel and Judah in Jeremiah 3.
It's been awhile!
So I haven't posted since September 2010.
Much has occurred since then, especially the launch of two new youtube accounts.
My personal account bluizsavedsoul, and the youtube channel dedicated to Jesus Is Our Shepherd, a weekly radio broadcast focussed on the issues discussed in this blog concerning marriage. Check it out at jesusisourshepherd.
Some of the videos on the site are a bit rough. We're learning better processes as we go along.
The important thing is the message, which is the Biblical viewpoint of marriage and adultery.
Check it out!
Now to focus on Deuteronomy 24:1-4.
Much has occurred since then, especially the launch of two new youtube accounts.
My personal account bluizsavedsoul, and the youtube channel dedicated to Jesus Is Our Shepherd, a weekly radio broadcast focussed on the issues discussed in this blog concerning marriage. Check it out at jesusisourshepherd.
Some of the videos on the site are a bit rough. We're learning better processes as we go along.
The important thing is the message, which is the Biblical viewpoint of marriage and adultery.
Check it out!
Now to focus on Deuteronomy 24:1-4.
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