Questions from the Scripture text: What is the situation in v13–21? What procedure are they to follow, and what penalties are to be inflicted in what cases? What situations do v22–29 address, and what is to be done in what cases? What sorts of things could defile Israel in the presence of God (22:30–23:13)? Why is this so serious (v14)?
How is marriage to be honored? Deuteronomy 22:13–23:14 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these thirty-two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that marriage is to be honored by guarding the purity of the marriages of men, and also by safeguarding the purity of the church as betrothed unto God.
This section is the application of the seventh commandment (“thou shalt not commit adultery”) to the life of the nation of Israel. And while the other nine commandments in the book of Deuteronomy are quite obvious in the exposition and application of that particular commandment, the second half of our portion, particularly on the holiness and cleanliness of the campsite, doesn't seem to fit in the eyes of many. But those many are missing the theme, throughout the Bible, of God's visible church being a people who are betrothed to him, and the necessity of their purity in order to be appropriately betrothed to the Lord.
So, 22:13–23:14 covers the application of the seventh commandment in two different ways: one, in the particular marriages of the nation of Israel, when they are in the land (22:13–29); and the other, in the purity and cleanliness of Israel as a bride to the Lord, her Husband, Who loves her and Who is holy, and makes a dwelling for them together (22:30–23:14).
So in the first part, the purity of the marriage is to be protected in various ways. One is that virginity is to be highly prized. A woman is not to know a man the way a wife knows a husband, except for when they are married. And it was part of the tradition of Israel, as mandated by this passage, that evidence of the virginity be kept by the parents of the bride. Sinful men would accuse their new wife, to get out of the marriage. If it turns out to be false (v13–19), then the man who ought to have forfeited his life by accusing her of a capital crime, would not be permitted to leave her a widow of damaged goods. Instead, he receives three penalties. First, he is to be beaten (v18, where the word means corporal, physical, bodily punishment). Second, he has to give 100 shekels of silver to the father of the young woman, twice the bride price, making it triple altogether. And third, he has to be her husband, and is not permitted to divorce her all of his days (Ex 22:16–17 clarifies that the extra bride price may be paid, and the father of the bride may refuse the arrangement, if he believes it's better for his daughter to be a daughter in his own house than a wife in the man's house).
So, a husband would be highly incentivized to seek God's grace to condition his heart, to delight himself in his wife, so that he would not even entertain thoughts of devious ways of trying to get out of his marriage. The way that the procedure and the penalties and everything was ordered, in Israel, taught them to respect the marriage and honor the marriage bed (cf. Heb 13:4).
Now it was possible that a man actually finds that his new wife was not pure. In that case, she has forfeited her life by committing a capital crime (v21), which was also the penalty for adultery, in which case both who commit it would be executed (v22).
Then, we have another cycle of three cases (v23–29). The first one The case of a woman who is guilty and a man who is guilty. The second one, the case of a woman who is innocent, and a man who is guilty. And then the third, a woman who is innocent and a man who is guilty. So we have six total cases being presented here. The fourth and fifth case are both with the respect to a woman who is betrothed to one man, and the other man tries to seize her for himself. It's related to the sixth case, because the sixth case is a woman who is not betrothed at all, and a man who seizes her does have the possibility of obtaining her as a wife, depending upon whether or not the father is willing (v28–29).
For the betrothed woman (v23–24), if it happened in the city, she is expected to cry out. Again, this is an expectation, a principle in their culture. For the guarding of their marriage, the women are to be trained that if a man attempts to seduce them, that they cry out. So if she doesn't cry out (v23–24), then the two of them both are stoned to death with stones. If it happens out in the field, where there's no one to hear her, she is presumed to be innocent. This statute would also hinder those who attempted to sneak away together. The man, in that case, would know that his life is on the line. If they are found out, it's going to be assumed that the woman was innocent, because no one could hear her cry out. And he will be executed, but she will not. And so that would be a disincentive to a guy to try and sneak away with a girl where no one could hear them. This would help prevent sexual immorality in both cases.
So what may seem just to be lists of various cases and penalties, is actually a system that conveys the importance of marriage, the importance of faithfulness of the husband to the wife, and guards the interests of the betrothed woman and the married woman—in a way that other cultures at the time did not guard the interests of the wife or of the woman. Israel had righteous laws that distinguished them from other peoples (cf. 4:7–8).
In 22:30–23:14, the issue is not “putting away the evil from among you,” as it was in the first half of the passage (v21, 24), The issue here is keeping the camp holy because the Lord has made the camp holy (v14). So there are some samples or examples from the ceremonial law given here for the maintaining of the holiness of the camp and the holiness of the assembly. And these particular examples all have to do also with the purity of the marriage bed and purity in matters of sexuality. So, if a man has been made a eunuch (v1), he cannot enter the assembly. And then those of illegitimate birth (v2). And then on of severe illegitimacy (Ammonite or Moabite), not even to the 10th generation, because of how they had treated the people of God when they came out of Egypt (v3–6). Or an Edomite or an Egyptian to the third generation (v7–8), although there was special consideration for them both because of the nearness of relation between Jacob and Esau, who were brothers, twin brothers, and because Egypt was used by God to preserve Israel in the case of famine. and to provide for Israel.
But then even a man who had something happen during the night while he was sleeping that made him unclean—he would be unclean for a day (v9–11). Or even the question of how they would deal with when they went potty, and covering that up with dirt and keeping it clean (v12–13). All of these things were for the keeping of the camp pure, because Israel was betrothed as holy unto YHWH and he had brought them to himself to dwell with him and he with them (v14).
And so in some very detailed, specific, physical ways, they were to guard both the marriages of men and also the union of God with his people—prizing and pursuing purity in both of those circumstances. So we too are to guard our marriages, each of us. And then also, members of His church are to remember that they are consecrated as the betrothed of the Lord.
There's an overlap in applying the seventh commandment corporately as the bride of Christ with the third commandment (bearing the Name of God weightily and reverently upon our lips, and upon our lives). First, because He has put His Name upon us and therefore we are not to bear His Name lightly. And second, because we are betrothed to Him as the visible church. And so we are consecrated, and we are to be a holy people for that reason as well.
So may the Lord give us to live lives of purity within our marriage, and lives of consecration unto Him in our life as those who are members of the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ.
What are you doing to guard your, and others’, marriages? How are you specifically resisting the view of marriage in the culture (and church culture) around you? How are you helping to keep your church pure, and consecrated unto the Lord?
Sample prayer: Father, we thank You for speaking to us plainly, for teaching us to prize and value our own marriage, each of us, and to prize and value the betrothal of the church unto Your Son, our Lord Jesus. And we pray that You would give us to live pure, chaste lives. Help us, we pray, in an age of sexual immorality—in which people think it's no big deal to sin violently against these commandments that you had required to be punished by death. Give us to have our hearts and minds to be in line with Yours in Your Word, and not to be in line with the heart and mind of the culture. For we ask it in Jesus's Name, Amen!
Suggested songs: ARP15 “Within Your Tent, Who Will Reside” or TPH174 “The Ten Commandments”
No comments:
Post a Comment