The Two-Hundred-Sixty-Seventh (A Marriage Covenant)

We’ve looked in depth previously at marriage between a man and a woman and what scripture says about that covenantal relationship, but have you ever been slightly confused about all the marriage language used in scripture related to Yeshua and His body?  How about the scriptural statements made about Israel and YHWH that allude to marriage?  Until recently, I had also been confused, so this week we’re going to take a look at that topic, and I must also humbly state that I have been slightly wrong on something.

If you’re like me, you’ve read various verses throughout scripture referencing marriage, adultery, and marriage events like the marriage supper and thought to yourself, “well, I’m not sure exactly what this means but it sort of makes sense that in marriage you’re supposed to be faithful to your spouse and in your relationship with YHWH you’re supposed to be faithful to Him.”  Little did I know that this marriage language is way more important than I thought and that it, in fact, is the key in many ways to understanding many aspects of what’s written in YHWH’s word.  Not only is it not just about remaining faithful to Him, it’s about understanding who we, as believers, really are.

It's at this point, which is as good a time as any, that I must apologize.  I’m sorry, but I was a little off in some previous things I’ve written regarding YHWH’s commandments.  While I still fully believe that the definition of sin was given to Adam and Eve and passed down all the way to Abraham and his sons, with the tribes of Israel losing that definition as they integrated into Egyptian society and incorporated pagan practices into their worship and day to day lives, the commandments given to them at Sinai were not just a reminder of that definition.  The giving of the commandments at Mount Sinai was much more than that.  

Let’s look at the language used surrounding the giving of the commandments.  We must always remember that the blessings, protection, and relationship YHWH promised to Israel were contingent on their obedience to Him.  Namely, that they would obey His voice and follow His commandments (Deuteronomy 28:1).  If they did so, not only would they receive those blessings He promised, He would make them His holy people (Deuteronomy 28:9).  

Do you remember what we found out a long time ago about what that word, holy, really means?  It simply means set apart.  In other words, different from everything else.  In this particular case, the nation of Israel, which we learned a few weeks ago included not just descendants of Jacob, who was renamed to Israel by YHWH.  It also included other people that joined them during the exodus from Egypt.  If that nation of Israel followed YHWH’s commandments, they would be a people set apart from all other people on the earth.    

If you were to think about the idea of marriage, does this sound familiar to it?  Let’s think about it from a traditional Jewish perspective since that’s the closest thing we have today to how Israel at the time of Moses would have viewed marriage.  Specifically on the point of being set apart, once chosen, a bride was considered set apart from the rest of the unmarried women in society.  And this was typically not an insignificant period of time, from being chosen to the marriage itself.

Another traditional Jewish aspect of marriage would be the marriage contract, called the ketubah.  In it were the things that both the bride and groom agreed to in the marriage.  In other words, it defined the requirements imposed on both parties in the relationship and the consequences for not meeting those requirements.  Does that sound familiar?  I don’t know about you, but to me that sounds a lot like the commandments given at Mount Sinai.

Looking at some other aspects of what happened at Mount Sinai, from a traditional Jewish perspective, we find other similarities to marriage.  At Jewish weddings, the bride and groom stand under a chuppah during the ceremony, which is a covering or canopy.  We find something similar at Mount Sinai, where a thick cloud on the mountain covered them (Exodus 19:16-17).  There is also a feast following a Jewish wedding ceremony, and we find that following the commandments being given there was a meal shared between the elders of Israel and YHWH (Exodus 24:9-11).

Just so you don’t think this is random conjecture, that what happened at Sinai was considered a marriage, this is a traditionally held view by Rabbinic Judaism.  We always must be very careful in using or studying any aspect of Rabbinic Judaism because it is rooted in an anti-Christ foundation, but in this case the views and statements made are not related to Yeshua so we can be comfortable in leaning on their perspective to help us better understand these events.  Based on what we just looked at, and other aspects of the events at Sinai that are in line with a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony, the Jewish rabbis made statements in their Midrash, which is a commentary on scripture, such as Mount Sinai being a marriage-canopy.

So, the idea that the commandments are the ketubah between YHWH and Israel is not some crazy, fringe religious idea.  It’s actually the definition of what the commandments were.  And marriage is the definition of what occurred at Mount Sinai.

However, it wasn’t long before Israel violated that ketubah.  As Moses was on the mountain, during the forty days and forty nights he was there getting the details on the tabernacle and ceremonies (Exodus 24:18-31:18), the Israelites violated commandment number one: not worshipping any other gods (Exodus 32).  And if YHWH is considered the husband in this marriage at Mount Sinai, what would we call violation of that commandment?  That’s right, adultery.

Now all the language about adultery included in prophetic judgments given to Israel makes sense, doesn’t it?  We find it all over the place, for example in Hosea (Hosea 1:2, 2:1-13) and in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 3:8-10), because while the golden calf in the wilderness was the first such adulterous event by Israel under this marriage covenant with YHWH, it certainly wouldn’t be the last.  It’s worth mentioning also, at this point, that all curses YHWH promised for not following His commandments came upon Israel for their actions.  The curses were so accurately imposed that even the statement of an eagle-like nation swooping down on them, putting their cities under siege and leading them to eat their own children for lack of food, was fulfilled in the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans, who had an eagle on their flags as the representation of their empire (Deuteronomy 28:49-53).  

So, what happens in a marriage in the case of an adulterous spouse?  According to Yeshua Himself, this is the only case in which divorce is allowed (Matthew 5:31-32).  Also, Yeshua stated that divorcing and then marrying someone else is considered adultery (Mark 10:10-12).  

Before we start going down the rabbit hole of what that might mean for divorced believers today, let’s stay focused on the topic at hand.  In this situation, the marriage between Israel and YHWH, YHWH has every right to divorce Israel.  They committed adultery by worshipping other gods.  Now, that doesn’t mean He has to divorce Israel, it just means that because of Israel’s violation of the commandments, the ketubah or marriage contract, He is legally allowed to divorce them.  We see this situation in Hosea, where he stays married to his adulterous wife and even shows her love despite her being an adulteress (Hosea 3:1-3).  Remember this example because it will be important!

So, what does YHWH do?  Well, at the point in which He takes contractual action for Israel’s adultery, the nation has already been split into two kingdoms.  While this split occurred due to the unfaithful and disobedient actions of Solomon, YHWH still gave the leader of the northern kingdom, which kept the name Israel, the opportunity to repent and be obedient to Him (1 Kings 11:30-39).  The northern kingdom did not repent though, they continued in their disobedience and adultery, and YHWH divorced them (Jeremiah 3:8-10).  The southern kingdom, called Judah, He did not divorce however, because He needed to maintain a line of kingship from David to Yeshua (1 Kings 11:36).

At this point, we have the nation of Israel split into two kingdoms.  The northern kingdom, which consisted mainly of ten tribes, has been divorced from YHWH, and the southern kingdom, consisting mainly of the remaining tribes, is still in marriage with Him despite their adultery.  This state continues until Yeshua arrives, but we have some interesting prophecies that occur during this time regarding the divorced tribes.

First, looking back to the prophet Hosea, we find that at some point Israel will return to seek YHWH and David, their king, which is clearly a reference to Yeshua (Hosea 3:4-5).  However, we also see a prophecy of Israel once again calling YHWH their Husband (Hosea 2:16).  In fact, this statement is made directly after a reference to the marriage at Sinai, when Israel came out of Egypt (Hosea 2:15).    

How can this be?  If a divorce is issued, there is actually a commandment that prevents the remarriage of that man and woman if the woman went and married another man after the divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1-4).  It even calls this act an abomination!  Would YHWH be the righteous God we know He is if He violated His own commandment?

What’s the answer then?  In terms of Hosea’s prophecy, we can either say he was a false prophet because we think there’s no way for this prophecy to come true, or we try to determine how a remarriage to Israel could be possible.  Obviously, we believe in a righteous YHWH, and we also believe Hosea was not a false prophet, so we need to determine how YHWH could remarry Israel in order to fulfill His prophecy.  

For that, let’s start with the commandments given by YHWH and then move on to something Paul wrote.  In the commandments, we find that when a brother dies, and his widow is childless, the surviving brother is to marry that widow so his brother’s family line is maintained (Deuteronomy 25:5-6).  By this commandment, we can see implicitly that upon death, the requirements of a marriage are dissolved for the surviving spouse.  Otherwise, the widow would be an adulteress by following this commandment.

We find in Paul’s writings that this implicit fact is stated explicitly by him.  He states that if a husband dies, the widow is released from the law of marriage.  He even points out that if her husband was still alive and she remarried she would be an adulteress, but because he is dead she is not (Romans 7:2-3).  Is this a random example provided by Paul, or is He using this example based on the fact that he not only diligently studied scripture but was raised up in the traditional Jewish knowledge that the commandments were a marriage contract entered into by Israel and YHWH at Mount Sinai?

While we can’t ask Paul why he used this example, we do see that in the very next verse he relates it to believers dying to the law by entering into the body of Yeshua (Romans 7:4).  He goes on to describe being previously bound by sin and death and being freed from that by coming into the body of Yeshua, ending with the statement that the law is holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:5-12).  We looked at this passage in depth during our study of his letter to the church in Rome.  What he’s doing here is alluding to the fact that in addition to Yeshua’s death being the atonement for the sins of man, it was also the way He could remarry Israel and fulfill the prophecy spoken by Hosea.

You see, Yeshua’s death not only was the perfect sacrifice to atone for all sin and free us from the consequence of death (Hebrew 9:11-14), it released Israel, the whole nation of all twelve tribes, from the marriage contract entered into at Mount Sinai.  No longer was the northern kingdom prevented, according to the contract, from remarrying YHWH after they had been adulterous and married other gods.  Additionally, the marriage to the southern kingdom of Judah was also dissolved due to Yeshua’s death.  Judah was now free to marry whichever gods they chose without being considered adulterous to YHWH.  Or, remarry Yeshua, of course.

The nation of Israel could now enter into a new ketubah with YHWH.  One in which violating the commandments no longer required death because of Yeshua’s sacrifice.  What’s more, now anyone, whether direct descendants of Israel or not, could come into a marriage contract with YHWH and be set apart.  They can be grafted in to the olive root of faithful and obedient Israel (Romans 11:17-24), the remnant of which were the ones to repent and believe in Yeshua as their Messiah (Romans 9:27).  

So, where is this new marriage in scripture?  Did it already happen?  Well, something we sort of skipped over when talking about the marriage at Mount Sinai was when it happened during that year.  It occurred at the same time of year as the feast of Shavuot (Leviticus 23:15-16), which today Christians call Pentecost.  On the anniversary of this event, the remnant of Israel gathered together in Jerusalem for the feast and it was then that the Holy Spirit was poured out on them (Acts 2:1-6).  What’s also interesting, or perhaps prophetic, is that at Sinai for the judgment of worshipping the golden calf, 3,000 Israelites were killed, and at Pentecost, 3,000 were brought into the body of Yeshua (Exodus 32:28, Acts 2:41).

Were the events at that Shavuot the remarriage of YHWH to Israel?  What is more marriage-like and intimate than the Spirit of YHWH entering into union with believers?  Descending upon them like flames of fire, filling them, and enabling them to speak in other tongues?  Not to mention the fact that Yeshua gave a parable of a wedding and subsequent feast (Matthew 22:1-14), and there was prophecy given about a marriage feast (Revelation 19:9).  

Whether that Shavuot was a marriage or a betrothal, with a marriage still to come, we as believers have to ask ourselves what the ketubah is for a marriage to Yeshua.  If the marriage contract at Sinai was the commandments, what does it mean, then, when Yeshua says that if we love Him we will keep His commandments (John 14:15)?  What about when John writes that the love of YHWH is keeping His commandments (1 John 5:3)?  

I hope you have found this week’s topic a blessing.  As you go forward in your walk with Yeshua, consider what this means for other things you’ve read in scripture.  Also, ask yourself whether or not this calls into question things that you previously believed to be true about who you are as a believer and a follower of Yeshua.  Shabbat shalom and YHWH bless you!

-Rob and Sara Gene

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The Gospel

We are born sinful as a result of Adam and Eve's sin (Genesis 2:17, 3:6, 1 John 1:8)

The consequence of sin, which is unavoidable through our own works, is death (Romans 6:23)

Yeshua, the Son of YHWH, lived sinless and was put to death (Hebrews 4:15)

His death, therefore, cleanses us of sin that would have required our death

(2 Corinthians 5:21)

He rose on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:4)

Because of His resurrection, we are confident in our future resurrection and eternal life

(1 Corinthians 15:17-18, John 3:16)