adultery

No one is righteous

The Apostle Paul argued in his letter to the Romans that no one is righteous except God. Citing from Psalms 14:1-3 and 53:1-3, Paul said, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12). The Greek word that is translated turned aside, ekklino (ek-kleeˊ-no) means “to deviate” or “to decline (from piety)” (G1578). The Hebrew word that was used in Psalms 14 and 53, suwr (soor) “is used metaphorically to describe turning away from the Lord because of a rebellious heart (Jeremiah 5:23)…Its meaning extends further to indicate falling away, as when one is enticed to fall away from following the Lord to pursue other gods (Deuteronomy 11:16; 1 Samuel 12:20; Psalm 14:3)” (H5493). The author of Psalms 14 and 53, King David, understood the concept of turning aside because he had committed adultery and murder (2 Samuel 12:9) after God made an unconditional promise to him that he would make David the father of an everlasting kingdom (2 Samuel 7:16). After he had utterly scorned the LORD, the prophet Nathan confronted David and told him, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ’”I anointed you king over Israel, and delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.” Thus says the LORD, “Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.”’ David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the LORD.’ And Nathan said to David, ‘The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die’” (2 Samuel 12:7-13). In spite of his willful rebellion, the LORD put away David’s sin, meaning that David’s sin was forgiven, it did not have a negative impact on his relationship with the LORD.

David’s personal realization that he could not live up to God’s standard caused a great deal of pain and anguish in his soul and resulted in him writing several psalms that are referred to as laments. According to Mark Vroegop, author of the book, Dark Clouds Deep Mercy, a lament is a prayer in pain that leads to trust. Mark states, “You might think lament is the opposite of praise. It isn’t. Instead, lament is a path to praise as we are led through our brokenness and disappointment. The space between brokenness and God’s mercy is where the song is sung. Think of lament as the transition between pain and promise. It is a path from heartbreak to hope.” Psalm 53 is a perfect example of David’s journey from a painful realization of his failure to the hope that God’s unconditional promise to him was still in effect. David began this psalm by stating:

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;
there is none who does good. (Psalm 53:1)

David used the term fool to describe people who don’t believe in God. The Hebrew word that is translated fool, nabal (naw-bawlˊ) means “stupid; wicked (especially impious)” (H5036). David met someone named Nabal early in his life, when King Saul was trying to kill him. It says in 1 Samuel 25:2 that Nabal was very rich, “he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats.” Nabal was a harsh man who behaved badly (1 Samuel 25:3) by refusing to reward David and his men for protecting his sheep (1 Samuel 25:10-11). David intended to kill Nabal (1 Samuel 25:13, 22), but Nabal’s wife Abigail intervened (1 Samuel 25:18, 23-31) and prevented David from responding inappropriately. Afterward, we are told in 1 Samuel 25:36-38, “And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until the morning light. In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. And about ten days later the LORD struck Nabal and he died.”

David’s memory of what had happened with Nabal likely prompted him to associate the behavior of those who do not acknowledge God with this man. David said, “They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity” (Psalm 53:1). But, David didn’t stop there. David went on to say that all have fallen away, and “together they have become corrupt” (Psalm 53:3). David stated:

God looks down from heaven
    on the children of man
to see if there are any who understand,
    who seek after God.

They have all fallen away;
    together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
    not even one. (Psalm 53:2-3)

David’s conclusion that “there is none who does good, not even one” (Psalm 53:3) was based on his awareness of his own depravity. David loved God and was identified as a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14), and yet, David broke two of God’s Ten Commandments without even giving any thought to the consequences for himself, his family, or the nation of Israel of which he was the appointed king.

David’s hopeful response to his realization that no one is righteous apart from God is reflected in the final verse of Psalm 53. David exclaimed:

Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When God restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad. (Psalm 53:6)

The Hebrew word that is translated salvation in this verse, yᵉshuʿwah (yesh-ooˊ-aw) means “something saved” (H3444). Many personal names contain a form of the root including Jesus, a Greek form of jeshuʿah. Salvation or “’deliverance’ is generally used with God as the subject. He is known as the salvation of His people.” David was likely thinking of Israel’s Messiah when he said, “Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion” (Psalm 53:6). David’s second statement, “When God restores the fortunes of his people…” is a reference to Israel returning from exile, a period of time when the people of Israel were anticipating the arrival of their Messiah and eventually, the birth of Christ (Luke 2:26-32).

Paul explained the significance of Christ’s righteousness being transferred to us in his letter to the Romans. Paul said:

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26)

Paul indicated that the reason why Christ’s righteousness was imputed to all believers through his death on the cross was to show God’s righteousness, “because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins” (Romans 3:25). In other words, God leveled the playing field so that both Old and New Testament believers could receive forgiveness of their sins. Paul said, “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

God’s economy

Jesus used the parable of the dishonest manager to teach his disciples a lesson about God’s spiritual economy. Jesus began his parable with the statement, “There was a rich man who had a manager” (Luke 16:1). The rich man in this parable represented God who owns and has at his disposal all of the things that he has created, including us. Jesus said that the rich man had a manager. The Greek word that is translated manager, oikonomos (oy-kon-omˊ-os) refers to an overseer and by extension a fiscal agent (treasurer). Oikonomos is sometimes used figuratively to refer to “a preacher (of the gospel)” (G3623). The Apostle Paul said in his first letter to the Corinthians, “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards (oikonomos) of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:1-2). In the parable of the dishonest manager, the manager was accused of being unfaithful to his master. “This wickedness or unrighteousness is seen more particularly in the neglect of the true God and His laws and in an adherence to the world or to idolatry” (G93). This seems to suggest that the dishonest manager was misrepresenting or perhaps, misinterpreting the Mosaic Law to make it fit with the customs of his day.

Jesus told his disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions” (Luke 16:1). In the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus also talked about the prodigal son squandering or wasting his property in reckless living (Luke 15:13). The wasting of possessions from God’s perspective likely has something to do with the promotion of immoral behavior. We see in the parable of the dishonest manager that the people were accumulating large debts, to the extent that they were probably unable to pay them back. Jesus said of the rich man and his manager:

And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measuresof oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measuresof wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ (Luke 16:2-7).

The dishonest manager’s decision to cancel portions of the debt that was owed to his master was intended to earn him favor with his master’s debtors. Rather than getting angry, the rich man actually commended the dishonest manager for his shrewd behavior. Jesus told his disciples:

The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. (Luke 16-8-9)

Jesus’ reference to the eternal dwellings makes it clear that he intended the rich man’s debtors to represent sinners that had been saved. Jesus identified sin as a debt that is owned to God in the Lord’s prayer, where he instructed his disciples to pray, “forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). Paul elaborated on this in his letter to the Colossians. Paul said, ‘And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God has made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13-14).

The dishonest manager’s shrewdness had to do with his understanding of the impact associated with cancelling a person’s debt. Jesus questioned one of the Pharisees who invited him to eat at his house about this. Jesus said, “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” (Luke 7:41-43). The Pharisee struggled to answer Jesus’ question because he didn’t want to admit that our love for others is often dependent on what they do that benefits us. The Pharisee answered, “’The one, I suppose for whom he cancelled the larger debt.’ And he said to him, ‘You have judged rightly’” (Luke 7:43). Jesus went on to illustrate his point by calling attention to a woman who was a known sinner that had anointed his feet with an expensive perfume. Jesus asked the Pharisee, “’Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little’” (Luke 7:44-47).

Jesus concluded his parable of the dishonest manager by pointing out that God’s economy and the world’s economy are based on different types of currencies. Jesus said:

“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Jesus compared love and devotion to hating and despising someone in order to show his disciples the difference between serving God who is able to forgive a person’s sin and serving money which resulted in the dishonest manager cancelling his master’s monetary debt. In God’s economy, forgiveness of sin results in the gain of something more precious, what Jesus described as true riches, a person’s love and devotion. Whereas, in the world’s economy, the forgiveness of debt results in a monetary loss and can lead to negative consequences.

It says in Luke 16:14, “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him.” The Pharisees mocked Jesus because their hearts were hardened toward God and were what Jesus referred to as hypocrites (Matthew 23:13). The Greek word hupokrites (hoop-ok-ree-taceˊ) means “an actor under an assumed character (stage-player), i.e. (figurative) a dissembler (‘hypocrite’)” (G5273). Jesus said to the Pharisees who ridiculed him, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15). Justification is “spoken especially of the justification bestowed by God on men through Christ, in which he is said to regard and treat them as righteous, i.e. to absolve from the consequences of sin and admit to the enjoyment of the divine favor (Romans 3:26, 30; 4:5; 8:30, 33; Galatians 3:8)” (G1344). When Jesus said that the Pharisees justified themselves, he meant that they were presenting themselves to others as if they had no sin. The Pharisees did not consider themselves to be sinners like everyone else.

After Jesus rebuked the Pharisees, he made the statement, “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery” (Luke 16:18). Adultery was one of the ten things that God forbade the Israelites to do after they were delivered from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 20:1-17). Jesus likely made reference to this commandment because it was familiar to everyone and was probably being practiced on a regular basis at the time of his ministry in Israel. Matthew tells us, on one occasion, the Pharisees came up to Jesus and asked him, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” (Matthew 19:3). When Jesus argued that a man and woman became one flesh when they were married, “So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:5-6). The Pharisees responded, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” (Matthew 19:7). Jesus then explained to the Pharisees, “Because of the hardness of your heart, Moses allowed 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” (Matthew 19:8-9).

The Pharisees understood that adultery was a sin that, unless forgiven by God, would cause a person to be excluded from God’s kingdom in heaven. Because they were telling people that it was alright for them to divorce for any cause, as long as they gave their spouse a certificate of divorce, the Pharisees were causing the Israelites to commit sins. God’s people were accumulating moral debt toward God that they had no way of repaying. After he told the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), Jesus turned to his disciples, and said, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven time in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him” (Luke 17:1-4). In God’s economy, repentance is the means that has been established for us to relieve ourselves of the moral debt that we are accumulating toward God on a daily basis. When a person repents, it means that he thinks differently about what he has done (G3340). God wants us to think about things from his perspective. The only way that we are able to think like God is by exercising our faith. After Jesus told his disciples that they must forgive their brothers, even if they sinned against them seven time in a day, “The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’” (Luke 8:5).

Breaking the law

The Ten Commandments were given to the Israelites shortly after they were delivered from slavery in Egypt. When they arrived at Mount Sinai, Moses was called up to God and told:

“Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” (Exodus 19:3-6)

“God made a conditional promise to the Israelites that if they would obey him and keep his covenant, he would regard and treat them in a special way” (note on Exodus 19:5, 6). Three days later, God spoke the Ten Commandments directly to the people of Israel. “With these Ten Commandments, God’s covenant with the Israelites began. Ancient rabbis isolated 613 separate commandments in the entire law of Moses, but these ten are the principles upon which the rest are based. By themselves they are called ‘the words of the covenant’ (Exodus 34:28). The first four commandments concern man’s relationship with and especially his reverence toward God, while the latter six address man’s relationship with other human beings. The first four have total love for God as their theme (cf. Deuteronomy 6:5). The last six are summarized by the statement, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Leviticus 19:18). Jesus took all the commandments in the law of Moses and summarized them with two: love God and love your fellow man (Matthew 22:35-40)” (note on Exodus 20:1-17).

Mark’s gospel tells us that Jesus made it a practice to teach his followers when he was with them (Mark 10:1). On one occasion, when he was teaching the crowds that were gathered around him, the Pharisees asked Jesus a question that was meant to trip him up. Mark 10:2 states, “And the Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’” The Greek word that is translated lawful, exesti (exˊ-es-tee) is a compound of the words ex “denoting origin (the point whence motion or action proceeds)” (G1537) and eimi (i-meeˊ), which means “I exist.” The meaning that these two words convey is a departure from existence or what we might think of as death, but their meaning also has to do with God’s covenant with Israel. Jesus’ explanation points back to the Ten Commandments and to God’s original intent when he made humans both male and female. Mark 10:3-12 states:

He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife,and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Adultery was among the six commandments that addressed man’s relationship with other human beings and was considered a core principle of God’s covenant with the Israelites (note on Exodus 20:1-17). Jesus’ interpretation that remarriage after divorce caused a person to commit adultery was likely a shocking revelation to the people who thought that sexual intercourse was permitted as long as the two persons were married. Jesus pointed back to the natural order that existed when God created the world and said that a husband and wife through sexual intercourse became “one flesh” and then, he concluded, “What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Mark 10:8-9). The words joined together and separate not only have to do with a person’s geographical location, but also the bond between two people that is developed through shared experiences. The Greek word sun (soon) denotes a union that is the result of “companionship, consort, where one is said to be, do, suffer with someone, in connection and company with him” (G4862).

The point that Jesus wanted to make when he explained that divorce caused a person to commit adultery was that it was God’s design for relationships between husbands and wives to be permanent. Just as God designed the world so that there would be night and day, light and darkness, “God made them male and female” (Mark 10:6) because, “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). In other words, God designed man to have a lifelong connection with a person of the opposite sex rather than living his life as an independent person. Jesus followed his comment about committing adultery with an analogy of spiritual success. Jesus told his disciples, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (Mark 10:14-15). A child is dependent upon others for its survival. A child does not try to take care of itself. At the core of my independence is a belief that I can take care of myself, I don’t need God or anyone else.

Jesus took spiritual success one step further in his conversation with a rich young man. When the man approached Jesus, he asked him a question about the ultimate goal for someone who is trying to live a moral life. Mark tells us, “And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’” (Mark 10:17). The Greek word that is translated inherit, kleronomeo (klay, ron.om-ehˊ-o) in the New Testament is “spoken of the friends of God as receiving admission to the kingdom of heaven and its attendant privileges” (G2816). The rich young man may have wondered if there was some kind of a loop hole to God’s Covenant with Israel, but Jesus responded, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother” (Mark 10:18-19). Jesus skipped the four commandments that had to do with man’s relationship with God and referred only to the six commandments that addressed man’s relationship with other human beings. Remarkably, the rich young man responded, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth” (Mark 10:20). Jesus’ response indicated that even though the man was not guilty of breaking the law, his heart was not right with God. Jesus told the man, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Mark 10:21). The one thing that the man lacked was a concern for others. Mark tells us the man was “disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (Mark 10:22).

Self-sufficiency was a stumbling block to the rich young man’s desire to obtain something that only God could give him, eternal life. Jesus concluded his discussion on the topic by pointing out that breaking the law was not the thing that would keep most people out of heaven, but a desire to rely on oneself for daily provision rather than God. Mark 10:23-27 states:

And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

Jesus pointed out that it is not only difficult, but impossible for anyone to save himself. The Greek word sozo (sodeˊ-zo), which is translated saved in this verse, speaks “specifically of salvation from eternal death, sin, and the punishment and misery consequent to sin. To save, and (by implication) to give eternal life” (G4982). Without skipping a beat, Jesus followed up by stating that it is not impossible for God to save a person, even one who is wealthy, because “all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27). God’s ability to save us is not limited by the extent to which we have broken his laws or how great a desire we have to live independent of him. The only thing that can or will stop God from saving a person is a lack of concern for the needs of other human beings.

No regrets

David’s prominent position in the kingdom of Israel made it possible for him to abuse the power that God had given him. 2 Samuel 11:1 tells us that, “In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.” Even though it was David’s responsibility to lead his men in battle, he remained in Jerusalem. Essentially, what David was doing was taking a vacation from the wars that his country was engaged in. We aren’t told why David remained behind, but it is clear in the next verses that David was not acting according to God’s will. It says in 2 Samuel 11:2-5:

It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

David knew that the woman he was attracted to was the wife of another man, and yet, he “sent messengers and took her” (2 Samuel 11:4). David’s sin might not have been discovered except that Bathsheba got pregnant. In an attempt to cover up what he had done, David sent for Uriah and tried to get him to have sex with his wife, so that it would appear that he had gotten Bathsheba pregnant instead of David (2 Samuel 11:6-13). When that failed, David sent Uriah back to the battle with a note to Joab, his commander, stating, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down and die” (2 Samuel 11:15).

It says in 2 Samuel 11:26-27, “When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband. And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.” The Hebrew word that is translated displeased, raʿaʿ (raw-ahˊ) means “to spoil (literally, by breaking to pieces); (figurative) to make (or be) good for nothing” (H7489). A word that is derived from raʿaʿ is raʿ (rah) which means “bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral)” (H7451). Raʿ appears three times in 2 Samuel 12:7-23 which deals with the consequences of David’s sins. When the LORD sent Nathan to confront David, he used a parable “to skillfully bring David to condemn himself, and David painfully realized the consequences of his sin. He had violated four of the ten commandments in one rash sin: you shall not commit murder, you shall not steal, you shall not commit adultery, and you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. Although it was about a year later, David sincerely repented of his sin (cf. Psalm 32:5; 51:1-19)” (note on 2 Samuel 12:1-14).

Psalm 51 gives us an intimate look at the consequences of David’s sins from a moral perspective. David began Psalm 51 with a petition for mercy. David prayed:

Have mercy on me,O God,
    according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
    blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
    and cleanse me from my sin!

For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
    and blameless in your judgment. (Psalm 51:1-4)

David was aware of his need for God’s mercy and admitted, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:4). David went on to say:

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. (Psalm 51:5-6)

David indicated that truth in his inward being and wisdom in his secret heart were the result of him being confronted by Nathan about his sin. The secret heart may have been a reference to David’s conscience, which was intentionally pricked by the parable that Nathan told him. The figurative meaning of the Hebrew word satham (saw-thamˊ) is “to keep secret” (H5640). One way of thinking of the secret heart is that it’s the part of us that we are unwilling to share with God. The things that we do that we don’t want anyone to know about. It’s likely that David was ashamed of what he had done and knew that he needed forgiveness before Nathan confronted him with his sin, but David was too proud to admit his failure. It wasn’t until the wisdom of God’s parable got into his soul and made him aware of the truth in his inward being that David was willing to repent and ask God for mercy.

David’s insight into the process of sanctification is revealed in verses 7-17 of Psalm 51. David prayed:

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a rightspirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    and sinners will return to you.
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
    O God of my salvation,
    and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
    you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

David asked God to create in him a clean heart, to renew a right spirit within him, and to restore the joy of his salvation. David was already saved, but he wasn’t experiencing life the way he was supposed to. David understood that his sin had affected his inner being and that he needed God to make it right again. David described his condition as “a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart” and indicated that they were “the sacrifices of God” (Psalm 51:17). The Apostle Paul referred to this as “godly grief” and said that it “produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret” (2 Corinthians 7:10).

The regrets that David had were an indicator that he was going through the process of sanctification and provided evidence that he had actually repented of his sins, but that wasn’t the end result that God was looking for. David’s repentance was intended to lead him “to salvation without regret” (2 Corinthians 7:10). What that means is that God wanted David’s salvation to become irrevocable. In other words, there would be no turning back after that. David was fully committed to his walk with the Lord. The end result of David’s sanctification was that he was willing to testify to others about the grace of God (Psalm 51:15). David promised God that he would use his experience to help others. When the joy of his salvation was restored, David said, “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you” (Psalm 51:13).

The adulteress

A character that appears throughout the Bible and is key in understanding the struggle between good and evil is the adulteress. The seventh of the Ten Commandments states, “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). Although adultery was typically associated with women that broke wedlock (H5003), the Mosaic Law indicated that both the man and the woman were to be punished for the sin of adultery. Leviticus 20:10 states, “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.” King Solomon warned the people of Israel about the dangers of committing adultery. Solomon said, “Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; He who does so destroys his own soul” (Proverbs 6:32, NKJV). The Hebrew word that is translated understanding, leb (labe) means “the heart.” In the Hebrew language, “The heart includes not only the motives, feelings, affections, and desires, but also the will, the aims, the principles, the thoughts, and the intellect of man. In fact, it embraces the whole inner man, the head never being regarded as the seat of intelligence. While it is the source of all action and the center of all thought and feeling the heart is also described as receptive to the influences both from the outer world and from God Himself” (H3820). From that standpoint, a man that lacks understanding might be described as someone that doesn’t know God or a person that is not open to the influence of the Holy Spirit. Solomon said whoever commits adultery “destroys his own soul” (Proverbs 6:32, NKJV). The soul like the heart is associated with the inner person. “The soul of man, that immaterial part, which moves into the after life [the body is buried and decomposes] needs atonement to enter into God’s presence upon death” (H5315). The destruction of the soul doesn’t mean that committing adultery will cause your soul to be dissolved by death or that your soul will be extinguished by some other means. The soul is immortal and was designed for everlasting life (G5590), but it can be ruined or you might say completely corrupted to the point that it is no longer useful to God and Solomon said committing adultery is one of the ways that can happen.

Solomon’s warning against the adulteress began with some advice about how to avoid being taken in by her flattery. Solomon said:

My son, keep my words
    and treasure up my commandments with you;
keep my commandments and live;
    keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;
bind them on your fingers;
    write them on the tablet of your heart.
Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
    and call insight your intimate friend,
to keep you from the forbidden woman,
    from the adulteress with her smooth words. (Proverbs 7:1-5)

Solomon suggested binding the commandments on your fingers as well as writing them on the tablet of your heart. What Solomon was talking about was using memory devices to keep the Ten Commandments at the forefront of your mind. It’s probably not a coincidence that God gave the Israelites Ten Commandments and ten fingers that they could use to remember them.

Solomon also referred to the adulteress as “the forbidden woman” (Proverbs 7:5). The Hebrew word Solomon used, zuwr (zoor) means “to turn aside (especially for lodging)” (H2114). Solomon later described the forbidden woman as being, “dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart” (Proverbs 7:10). In this instance, Solomon used a word for committing adultery that is associated with idolatry (H2181). The Hebrew word zanah (zaw-nawˊ) “means ‘to go a whoring, commit fornication, be a harlot, serve other gods.’ This is the regular term denoting prostitution throughout the history of Hebrew, with special nuances coming out of the religious experience of ancient Israel. It is used for the first time in the text at the conclusion of the story of the rape of Dinah by Shechem, as her brothers excuse their revenge by asking: ‘Should he deal with our sister as with a harlot?’ While the term means ‘to commit fornication,’ whether by male or by female, it is to be noted that it is almost never used to describe sexual misconduct on the part of a male in the Old Testament. Part of the reason lies in the differing attitude in ancient Israel concerning sexual activity by men and women. The main reason, however, is the fact that this term is used most frequently to describe ‘spiritual prostitution’ in which Israel turned from God to strange gods” (H2181).

When God renewed his covenant with Israel, after they had made a golden calf and worshipped it (Exodus 32:1-6), he warned the people about spiritual prostitution. God said:

“Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.” (Exodus 34:10-16)

God identifies himself in this passage with the name Jealous and tells Moses that he “is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14). The word jealous has a somewhat negative connotation, but “God is not tainted with the negative connotation of the verb. His holiness does not tolerate competitors or those who sin against him” (H7065). God’s jealousy is associated with a consuming fire that destroys whatever is opposed to his holiness (Deuteronomy 4:23-24), but the driving force behind God’s jealousy is the perfect love that caused him to sacrifice his only begotten Son in order to pay the penalty for our sins (John 3:16). The Song of Solomon 8:6-7 depicts the zealousness of God’s love and his desire for it to be reciprocated by others. It states:

Place me like a seal over your heart,
    like a seal on your arm.
For love is as strong as death,
    its jealousy as enduring as the grave.
Love flashes like fire,
    the brightest kind of flame.
Many waters cannot quench love,
    nor can rivers drown it.
If a man tried to buy love
    with all his wealth,
    his offer would be utterly scorned. (NLT)

Solomon’s description of love as something that flashes like a fire, the brightest kind of flame (Song of Solomon 8:6) makes it clear that God’s passion for his people is not just the result of a strong emotional attachment, but also an enduring devotion that cannot be quenched.

Moses reminded the Israelites of God’s love for them when he instructed them to obey his commandments and to remain faithful to his covenant. Moses said:

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today. And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you.” (Deuteronomy 7:6-13)

The Hebrew word that is translated steadfast love in Deuteronomy 7:9 and 7:12, chesed (khehˊ-sed) is one of the most important terms in the vocabulary of Old Testament theology and ethics. “In general, one may identify three basic meanings of the word, which always interact: ‘strength,’ ‘steadfastness,’ and ‘love.’ Any understanding of the word that fails to suggest all three inevitably loses some of its richness. ‘Love’ by itself easily becomes sentimentalized or universalized apart from the covenant. Yet ‘strength’ or ‘steadfastness’ suggests only the fulfillment of a legal or other obligation. The word refers primarily to mutual and reciprocal rights and obligations between the parties of a relationship (especially Yahweh and Israel)…Checed implies personal involvement and commitment in a relationship beyond the rule of law” (H2617).

The seriousness of worshipping other gods is demonstrated in the sin’s punishment of stoning the person to death. Deuteronomy 17:2-6 states:

“If there is found among you, within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, in transgressing his covenant, and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden, and it is told you and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently, and if it is true and certain that such an abomination has been done in Israel, then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you shall stone that man or woman to death with stones. On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.”

Throughout the Old Testament the Israelites demonstrated their unwillingness to be faithful to God. Even Solomon, who was in many ways the most successful king over Israel, was involved in idolatry (1 Kings 11:4-8). The prophet Hosea, whose ministry extended from about 770 to 725 BC, was called to exemplify the relationship between God and Israel through his marriage to a harlot (Introduction to the book of Hosea). Hosea 3:1 states, “And the LORD said to me, ‘Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.”

Solomon’s depiction of the adulteress indicated that she was making an intention effort to lead others astray. Solomon said:

For at the window of my house
    I have looked out through my lattice,
and I have seen among the simple,
    I have perceived among the youths,
    a young man lacking sense,
passing along the street near her corner,
    taking the road to her house
in the twilight, in the evening,
    at the time of night and darkness.
And behold, the woman meets him,
    dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.
She is loud and wayward;
    her feet do not stay at home;
now in the street, now in the market,
    and at every corner she lies in wait. (Proverbs 7:6-12)

Solomon used several words in this passage that are associated with spiritual activity. The young man that went to meet the adulteress was lacking sense; his heart was not open to the influence of the Holy Spirit (H3820). The young man was passing along the street near her corner; he had crossed over the boundary of right and entered the forbidden land of the wrong (H5674). The young man was taking the road to her house; he participated in the adulteress’ life-style (H1870) and the young man went “in the evening, at the time of night and darkness” (Proverbs 7:9); he intended to relinquish his spiritual protection and keep what he was doing a secret (H3915/H653).

Solomon portrayed the young man’s decision to commit adultery as being trapped in a life or death situation and cautioned him against taking that first step. Solomon said:

With much seductive speech she persuades him;
    with her smooth talk she compels him.
All at once he follows her,
    as an ox goes to the slaughter,
or as a stag is caught fast
    till an arrow pierces its liver;
as a bird rushes into a snare;
    he does not know that it will cost him his life.
And now, O sons, listen to me,
    and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
Let not your heart turn aside to her ways;
    do not stray into her paths,
for many a victim has she laid low,
    and all her slain are a mighty throng.
Her house is the way to Sheol,
    going down to the chambers of death. (Proverbs 7:21-27)

Solomon referred to the words the adulteress used to convince the young man to do what she wanted him to as seductive speech and smooth talk. The essence of these types of communication is that they are easy to listen to, what you might call ticking your fancy or making you feel good about yourself, but it is clear that Solomon was concerned about the effect of adulteress’ words on the young man’s spiritual perception.

The underlying message of Solomon’s warning against committing adultery was the spiritual prostitution that believers become susceptible to when they listen to false teaching about God’s word. The Hebrew word that is translated seductive speech in Proverbs 7:21, leqach (lehˊ-kakh) “means teaching; instruction; persuasiveness; understanding, in the sense of something taken in” (H3948). An issue that came up at the time of Moses death was how the people would know if they were being lied to. Deuteronomy 18:20-22 states, “’But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’—when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.” “The existence of prophets during the period of the monarchy necessitated a means by which to distinguish between a true prophet and a false one. Turbulent times, during which the people wanted to hear words of hope and security, produced outbreaks of prophets for hire and seers with optimistic lies. Shortly after Judah started going into exile in Babylon, but before the fall of Jerusalem, Jeremiah and Ezekiel had to contend with a rash of charlatans, upon whom they issued stern denunciations (Jeremiah 23:9-40; Ezekiel 13:1-23)” (note on Deuteronomy 18:20-22).

Moses told the people of Israel that God would raise up a prophet to take his place, someone that they could trust who would assure them of spiritual success. Moses told the Israelites, “And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him” (Deuteronomy 18:17-19). “The identity of this unnamed prophet is not revealed anywhere in the Old Testament. By Jesus’ day, the Jews had developed a clear expectation of a figure that would fulfill Moses’ words. Priests and Levites from Jerusalem asked John the Baptist if he was ‘the prophet,’ and he denied it (John 1:21). Peter identified ‘the prophet’ as a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 3:22, 23)” (note on Deuteronomy 18:15-19). Jesus fulfilled the test of a true prophet in that he predicted his own death and resurrection and it happened exactly as he said it would.

Jesus’ compassion toward a woman that was caught in the act of adultery showed that God was not so much interested in punishing the sinner as he was revealing the hardened condition of the religious experts’ hearts. John’s gospel tells us:

Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” (John 8:2-11)

The scribes and Pharisees wanted Jesus to condemn the woman who had been caught in adultery, but he wouldn’t do it. Instead, “Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground” (John 8:6). The King James Version of the Bible states in John 8:9, “And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.” No one knows what Jesus wrote on the ground, but whatever it was, it caused everyone in the crowd to be convicted by their own conscience. Although it seemed at first that the adulteress was a wicked sinner that deserved to be put to death, it turned out that no one was able to condemn her and so, Jesus liberated her from the power and punishment of her sin (G1659).

Led astray

Moses’ summarization of the law in the book of Deuteronomy was focused on a key commandment that was intended to guide the Israelites into a successful relationship with God. What Jesus referred to as the greatest commandment is recorded in Deuteronomy 6:4-5, which states, “Hear O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” In order to love the LORD and obey his commandments, Moses pointed out that the people needed to deal with the hardened condition of their hearts. Moses said, “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD which I am commanding you today for your good?…Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no longer stubborn” (Deuteronomy 10:12-16). The Israelites had quickly established a pattern of turning away from the LORD because of a rebellious heart (Deuteronomy 9:12) and were susceptible to being led astray by the people that occupied the land that God intended to give them (Numbers 25:1-5), so Moses commanded them to circumcise their hearts, which meant they needed to open themselves up to God’s spiritual influence and pay attention to the things they were doing that were not consistent with the Ten Commandments.

Moses warned the people of Israel about following the example of the nations around them. He said:

“When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.” (Deuteronomy 12:29-31)

Moses indicated that following the religious practices of other nations was a trap that the Israelites needed to be careful to avoid. The Hebrew word that is translated ensnared, yaqosh (yaw-koshˊ) “always refers figuratively to the catching of a person in an undesirable situation” (H3369). Moses’ statement, “they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods” (Deuteronomy 12:31) was intended to point out that idolatry was a dangerous path to follow because of its association with the depravity of the human heart.

Moses went on to identify three scenarios that were associated with the people being led astray. The first scenario involved the LORD testing of the Israelites’ faith. Moses said:

“If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.” (Deuteronomy 13:1-4)

Testing does not always suggest tempting or enticing someone to sin. The Hebrew word nasah (naw-sawˊ) also means “to try, to prove” (H5254). The purpose of a spiritual test could be to strengthen one’s faith. In the situation where a prophet was able to perform a sign that indicated he had been sent by God, but told the people to serve other gods, the message was to be disregarded because the first of God’s Ten Commandments stated “You shall have no other gods before me” (Deuteronomy 5:7). The Ten Commandments were authoritative and set a precedence for everything else that was in the Mosaic Law. Moses said, “But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your god who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk” (Deuteronomy 13:5-5).

Leaving the way was a habit that the Israelites established early in their relationship with the LORD. Moses reminded the people before they entered the Promised Land that they didn’t deserve God’s blessing. Moses said, “Know therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD” (Deuteronomy 9:6-7). The Hebrew word that is translated rebellion in Deuteronomy 13:5, sarah (saw-rawˊ) means “apostasy” (H5627). In simple terms, apostasy is a false teaching that is intended to undermine one’s faith in God. The result is a lack of confidence in God’s word and a tendency to look for the answers to life’s problems in other places. The phrase leave the way comes from two Hebrew words, nadach (naw-kakhˊ) derek (dehˊ-rek) that together convey the root cause of most sin, getting off on the wrong track. Among the laws for sin offerings that were identified in Leviticus 4 were sins that were committed unintentionally (Leviticus 4:2). An unintentional sin was one that was considered to be a mistake or one that was committed through ignorance of God’s laws (H7684). The Hebrew word that is translated sins unintentionally in Leviticus 4:13, shagah (shaw-gawˊ) means “to stray” (H7686).

The Hebrew word shagah appears three times in Proverbs 5 which focuses on the sin of adultery. Proverbs 5:1-6 states:

My son, be attentive to my wisdom;
    incline your ear to my understanding,
that you may keep discretion,
    and your lips may guard knowledge.
For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey,
    and her speech is smoother than oil,
but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
    sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death;
    her steps follow the path to Sheol;
she does not ponder the path of life;
    her ways wander, and she does not know it.

The adulteress or forbidden woman as she is referred to in Proverbs 5:3 does not know what she is doing and is therefore a danger to those around her. Proverbs 5:5 states, “Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol.” The son is warned to stay far away from her (Proverbs 5:8) and to “rejoice in the wife of your youth” (Proverbs 5:18). In this particular instance, shagah is translated twice as intoxicated and at the end of the proverb as led astray. Speaking to the son about the wife of his youth, the proverb states:

Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;
    be intoxicated always in her love.
Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman
    and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?
For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord,
    and he ponders all his paths.
The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him,
    and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.
He dies for lack of discipline,
    and because of his great folly he is led astray. (Proverbs 5:19-23)

The illustration of being intoxicated with love makes it clear that being led astray is associated with having an emotional response to a pleasurable situation. It could also have something to do with being open to the influence of another person.

The second scenario that Moses presented to the Israelites about being led astray had to do with people that were close to them, members of their own households. Moses said:

“If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known, some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (Deuteronomy 13:6-10)

The extreme response of stoning to death a member of your own family shows that the influence of a person that is close to you can be a significant threat to your spiritual well-being. If a loved one tries to turn you away from the LORD, it seems likely that he or she will succeed.

The final scenario that Moses talked about had to do with the corruption of an entire city. Moses said:

“If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to dwell there, that certain worthless fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently. And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abomination has been done among you, you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, devoting it to destruction, all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword.” (Deuteronomy 13:12-15)

Devoting a city to destruction was an indicator of the severe judgment of God. It was important that the Israelites keep themselves separated from things that were devoted to destruction (Deuteronomy 13:17) because they were considered to be a deadly threat to the formation of God’s people. (H2764).

Moses referred to the Israelites as “the sons of the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 14:1) and said, “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 14:2). The Hebrew word that is translated sons is ben (bane) which generally refers to a son as “the direct male offspring of human parents,” but ben is also a relational term that can express an adopted child (H1121). The Israelites’ special role as the chosen people of God was intended to be a testimony to rest of the world of not only God’s existence, but also his involvement in the affairs of men. The Israelites’ obedience and loyalty to the LORD their God was a critical pieces of God’s plan of salvation. By the time Jesus was born, the Israelites’ sacrificial system had been perfected, but the people seemed to be completely ignorant of what their religious practices actually meant.

Jesus continually criticized the religious leaders of his day for leading people astray. On one occasion, Jesus pronounced seven woes on the scribes and Pharisees because they were abusing their power. Jesus said, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger” (Matthew 23:2-4). The sharp contrast between the Pharisees’ teaching and their day-to-day activities showed that they were faking their devotion to God. Jesus said to them:

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.” (Matthew 23:13-15)

The phrase child of hell was likely intended to convey the distinction between a person that had a relationship with God and a person that did not have a relationship with God. The people of Israel thought that being a descendant of Abraham guaranteed them access into the kingdom of heaven, but Jesus pointed out that a relationship with God was required. Jesus told the Jews:

^“I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.” They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” (John 8:37-47)

Jesus’ warning to the Pharisees was followed by a sermon that focused on a period of time that he referred to as the end of the age. Matthew’s gospel tells us:

As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:3-14)

Jesus indicated that one of the signs of the end of the age was that his followers would be led astray, just as the Israelites were.

The Book of Hebrews contains warnings against apostasy and advice for believers that want to keep themselves from being led astray. It states:

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. (Hebrews 5:11-6:6)

According to Paul, the safest way for believers to keep themselves from being led astray is to have your “powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14). The phrase powers of discernment refers to spiritual perception and suggests that the only way we are able to distinguish good from evil is by training our minds to do so on a regular basis. In order to do that, Paul said that we must “leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity” (Hebrews 6:1). The Greek word that is translated go on, phero (ferˊ-o) signifies being impelled by the Holy Spirit’s power, not acting according to our own wills, or simply expressing our own thoughts, “but expressing the mind of God in words provided and ministered by Him” (G5342). Jesus explained the Greek word phero in the context of bearing spiritual fruit and said in his parable of the sower, “other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding (phero) thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold” (Mark 4:8). Jesus later revealed to his disciples the secret of yielding spiritual fruit; when you hear the word of God, you must accept it as the truth (Mark 4:20).

Set free

Jesus illustrated the effects of spiritual bondage when he healed numerous people by forgiving their sins. Matthew’s gospel records one such account this way:

And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men. (Matthew 9:1-8)

The authority that was referred to in Matthew 9:8 was the authority to release the paralytic from his spiritual bondage. The Greek word that is translated forgiven in Matthew 9:2, aphiemi (af-eeˊ-ay-mee) means “to let go from one’s power, possession, to let go free” (G863). A concept that is rooted in forgiveness is pardon; that of setting a prisoner free who has been condemned to death.

Jesus took his illustration one step further when the Jewish scribes and Pharisees asked him to interpret the Mosaic Law regarding adultery. John tells us:

Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” (John 8:2-11)

The condemnation that Jesus wanted to focus everyone’s attention on was to condemn someone “by contrast, i.e. to show by one’s good conduct that others are guilty of misconduct and deserve condemnation” (G2632). By contrast, Jesus was the only one present that was qualified to condemn the woman caught in adultery, and yet, he said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more” (John 8:11), indicating that the woman had been set free from the effects of her spiritual bondage and was expected to live differently from that point forward.

The key to the woman’s release was her recognition of who Jesus was and what had just happened to her. Jesus asked, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” and the woman responded, “No one, Lord” (John 8:10, 11). The Greek word that is translated Lord, kurios (kooˊ-ree-os) means “supreme in authority” (G2962). The woman realized that her life was in Jesus’ hands and she respected his ability to condemn her. It is likely that in that moment, the woman put her trust in Jesus as the God of the Universe and was willing to accept whatever outcome he determined for her, life or death because of her sin. Even though it was unspoken, Jesus forgave the woman’s sin and set her free from the penalty that she deserved.

Jesus went on to tell the Pharisees, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). The phrase walk in darkness means “to continue in sin” (note on 1 John 1:5-7). It can be assumed from this statement that the power that is necessary for us to stop sinning is derived from having a relationship with Jesus Christ. John went into more detail about the difference between walking in the light and walking in darkness in his first epistle. John said:

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as his is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:5-7).

“To ‘walk in light’ (v. 7, cf. John 8:12) is to live in obedience to and have continuous fellowship with God” (note on 1 John 1:5-7). John said that when we walk in the light, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. The effect of Jesus’ death on the cross counteracts the effect of sin in our lives. When John said that Jesus’ blood cleanses us from sin, he meant that the sacrifice of Jesus’ life atoned for our sins completely. It erases our sins from the record book of our lives, it is as if our sins have never been committed.

John said, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). “To ‘confess’ (homologeo [3670]) means to agree with God that sin has been committed. Even though Christ’s death satisfied God’s wrath toward the believer’s sin (1 John 2:1, 2), the inclination to sin still remains within man (vv.8, 10). Therefore he must realize the need to continue in a right relationship with God by confession of sin. God grants forgiveness in accordance with his ‘faithful and just’ nature” (note on 1 John 1:9). In other words, if we confess our sins, God’s forgiveness is guaranteed. We don’t have to be afraid that God will punish us when we admit to him that we’ve done something wrong. John went on to say:

No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:6-10)

“John is not teaching the possibility of sinless perfection; he is merely indicating that the person who has experienced regeneration will demonstrate righteousness in daily living. Only the one who ‘practices righteousness’ (v. 7, ho poion [4160], a participial phrase meaning ‘the one habitually doing’) is to be considered righteous. Believers are to make the righteousness and holy life of Christ the object of their trust but also the pattern of their lives. The expression ‘he cannot keep on sinning’ (v. 9) means the true believer cannot sin habitually, deliberately, easily, or maliciously (e.g., Cain sinned out of hatred of goodness, 1 John 1:12). The truth of the believer’s sonship (John 1:12; Romans 8:16) and eternal security (John 10:28; Romans 8:38, 39) should never cause him to think that he can live in deliberate, continual sin. Those who do not ‘practice righteousness’ give evidence that they do not belong to God (1 John 3:10)” (note on 1 John 3:6-10).

Jesus talked about dying in your sin and said to the Pharisees, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ So the Jews said, ‘Will he kill himself, since he says, “Where I am going, you cannot come”?’ He said to them, ‘You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins’” (John 8:21-24). Dying in your sins basically means that your sins haven’t been forgiven when you enter into eternity, but the Greek word that Jesus used for die, apothnesko (ap-oth-naceˊ-ko) actually has to do with being spiritually dead even though you are still physically alive (G599). The message that Jesus was most likely trying to convey to the Jews was that their time was running out. Jesus was about to be crucified and his mission to save the world would be completed. Jesus was warning the Jews that if they continued to reject their Messiah, the Jewish people would have no other means to obtain eternal life and would die without gaining access to the kingdom of God.

The example of the Israelites dying in the wilderness further illustrates the point of how it’s possible to be chosen by God, but die in your sin. After 40 years of wandering in the desert, a census was taken “of all the congregation of the people of Israel, from twenty years old and upward” (Numbers 26:2) and “The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Among these the land shall be divided for inheritance according to the number of names” (Numbers 26:52-53). The inheritance spoken of here was the land that had been promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The only ones that actually received the inheritance among those that were delivered from slavery in Egypt were those that were still alive when the Israelites took possession of the land of Canaan. Numbers 26:63-65 states, “These were those listed by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who listed the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. But among these there was not one of those listed by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had listed the people of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. For the Lord had said of them, ‘They shall die in the wilderness.’ Not one of them was left, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.” The Hebrew word that is translated die in Numbers 26:65, muwth (mooth) is “a verb meaning to die, to kill, to put to death, to execute…Dying, however was not intended to be a natural aspect of being human. It came about through unbelief and rebellion against God (Genesis 3:4) so that Adam and Eve died. The word describes dying because of failure to pursue a moral life (Proverbs 5:23; 10:21)” (H4191).

The Apostle Paul’s testimony of his conversion included a message that he received from the Lord on the road to Damascus. Paul told King Agrippa:

“In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’” (Acts 26:12-18)

The Lord’s message indicated that in addition to forgiveness of sins believers receive an inheritance that is described as “a place among those who are sanctified” Acts 26:18). John noted this fact in his gospel account where he recorded the following words of the Lord, Jesus Christ:

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:1-7)

Jesus indicated that he was going to prepare a place for his disciples (John 14:2) and then went on to say, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Jesus told his disciples that he was going to take them to a place in the future and it may have seemed to them that he was a type road that would lead them to that destination (G3598). In that sense, the other words that Jesus used to describe himself, the truth and the life might have been thought of as types of signposts that would direct his disciples as they traveled on their designated route.

Jesus told the Jews, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). In this instance, the Greek word that is translated know is ginosko (ghin-oceˊ-ko). “In the New Testament ginosko frequently indicates a relation between the person ‘knowing’ and the object known; in this respect, what is ‘known’ is of value or importance to the one who knows, and hence the establishment of the relationship…The same idea of appreciation as well as ‘knowledge’ underlies several statements concerning the ‘knowledge’ of God and His truth on the part of believers, such ‘knowledge’ is obtained, not by mere intellectual activity, but by operation of the Holy Spirit consequent upon acceptance of Christ” (G1097). From that standpoint, Jesus’ statement “you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32) could be interpreted “you shall know me and I will set you free.”

Jesus argued that the reason the Jews didn’t accept what he was saying was because the Jews didn’t have a relationship with God. John 8:42-47 states:

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

Jesus identified the devil as a liar and indicated that the Jewish religious leaders were his children because they were acting like him. When he asked the question, “Which one of you convicts me of sin?” (John 8:46), Jesus was likely mocking the men that tried to test him by condemning the woman that was caught in adultery (John 8:4-5). Jesus’ question, “If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?” (John 8:46) pointed out that the Jews couldn’t find any fault in what Jesus was saying and yet, they still didn’t want people to accept him as their Savior and be set free from the power and punishment of sin (G1659).

Jesus told the Jews, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:34-36). The Greek word that is translated indeed, ontos (onˊ-toce) has to do with having certainty about what is real. Its root word on (oan) is a present participle of the word eimi (i-meeˊ) which means “I exist” (G1510). When we are set free, we become like Jesus in that our existence is no longer threatened by death. We have the assurance that we will never be condemned for our sins. Paul explained this in his letter to the Romans where he stated. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1-2). According to Paul, the law of the Spirit of life supersedes the law of sin and death and therefore, Christ is able to pronounce us innocent of any and all charges that the devil tries to bring against us (Revelation 12:10).

Guilty conscience

While Jesus was teaching in God’s temple, the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman to him that they said, “was taken in adultery, in the very act” (John 8:4). The religious leaders hoped to trap Jesus in a situation where he would say or do something that contradicted his own teaching and make himself out to be a hypocrite like they were. The men that brought the adulteress to Jesus suggested that she should be stoned according to the Mosaic Law, but Jesus’ compassion for the woman caused him to say to them, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” (John 8:7). The phrase “without sin” means without any sin. In other words, Jesus was making sinlessness a requirement for executing judgment against the woman that had committed adultery. It says in John 8:9, “And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.”

Jesus used the example of these men’s guilty consciences to teach the Pharisees a lesson about his divine purpose as the savior of the world. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). The Pharisees were used to condemning others for their sins against God, but Jesus wanted them to know that it wasn’t necessary for them to judge lawbreakers. God was able to bring conviction of sin, or give someone a guilty conscience, through the love and compassion of his son Jesus Christ. The two Greek terms Jesus used, phos (light) and scotia (darkness) were meant to show the contradiction between love and hate in our actions toward others. Scotia (skot-ee’-ah) is used of secrecy and describes a condition of moral or spiritual depravity. The men that condemned the adulteress might have been guilty of adultery themselves or some other crime that could be punished by death. It may have been their own guilty consciences that caused them to lash out at this woman and expose her to public humiliation.

Jesus’ statement, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12) was a declaration of his ability to expose the inner thoughts and feelings of people trapped in a lifestyle of sin. It says in John 8:9 that the men that wanted to stone the adulteress were convicted by their own consciences when they heard Jesus say, “He that is without sin among you.” The human conscience is a mechanism by which God is able to reveal his will to us (4893). The Greek word suneidesis (soon-i’-day-sis) means “co-perception.” Another way of saying it would be to see both sides of the story. We are usually aware of our own thoughts and feelings, but not those of others, and in particular, the thoughts and feelings of God are typically hidden from us or outside of our awareness, but our conscience enables us to see what God thinks about our behavior. After the men that were convicted by their own consciences left the scene, Jesus asked the adulteress, “Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?” (John 8:10). The woman’s response acknowledged her submission to Jesus’ authority. She said, “No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more” (John 8:11).

Remember me

One thing that is clear about God is he has feelings just like we do. The type of things that upset us, also upset God and cause him to act in ways that we can relate to. God’s anger toward his people was justified in that they had intentionally turned their backs on him after he had blessed them and shown them undeserved favor. Everything God did for the Israelites, he did out of love and compassion for them and he did not punish them until it was evident that his people had rejected him completely.

In the book of Hosea, the children of Israel are portrayed as an adulteress who looked to other gods, and loved to get drunk on wine (Hosea 3:1). In spite of their infidelity, God promised to restore the nation of Israel and to unite the divided kingdoms into one. God’s love for the children of Israel was like that of a jealous husband because his emotions were involved in the relationship. God had a strong emotional attachment to his people (160) and wanted to remain in fellowship with them, even though they did not feel the same way about him (Hosea 3:1).

In his explanation to Ezekiel of the destruction of Judah, God revealed his personal anguish over the situation (Ezekiel 6:9). Once again, he promised to leave a remnant that would one day acknowledge him as Jehovah, the Jewish national name of God. He said, “Yet will I save a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries. And they that escape shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart which hath departed from me and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations” (Ezekiel 6:8-9).

The Hebrew word translated remember in Ezekiel 6:9 is properly translated as “to mark (so as to be recognized)” (2142) and is suggesting that God’s people would stand out among the other people of the nations in which they would be living in exile. God intended for his people to be different in that they were not to worship idols, nor were they to practice witchcraft or the occult. The idea that God’s people would remember him among the nations where they were taken captive was about the continued worshipping of God without a temple in which to do it. Only those who truly loved God would be able to maintain their relationship with him. Over time, it would be evident who really believed in God and who didn’t.

Adultery

As a Christian, I thought I would be exempt from certain problems. One of my biggest fears about getting married was that I would end up like my parents, so I made sure that I married a Christian man thinking that would guarantee success. Little did I know that Christians are just like everyone else. They make mistakes and do stupid things, including committing adultery. When my brother asked me if I thought my husband would ever cheat on me, I said absolutely not! There is no way he could do something like that.

The Bible makes it clear that adultery is not so much about pleasure as it is about power and persuasion. Referring to an adulterous woman, it says in Proverbs 7:21, “with her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.” The reference to force suggests an intentional effort to overcome resistance. In Proverbs 7:26 the use of force is more evident. It says, “for she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her.” The word translated wounded, chalal “is often used to describe the defilement which results from illicit sexual acts” (2490).

Even though rape and adultery are very different in the way they take place, the effect is the same. When my husband told me he had sex with another woman, it felt like I had been violated. If I had known he was cheating on me, I would not have continued to have sex with him. So in a sense, because my husband kept his affair a secret so that I would continue to have sex with him, I felt he had tricked me. My participation in our sexual activity had taken place under false pretenses and therefore, was against my will.