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[We are continuing last weeks study on adultery in the Old
Testament ]Literal and Figurative Adultery
Naaph may mean literal adultery, but it also carries figurative
or moreprecisely, spiritual application as well: in some contexts
this refers toreligious adultery, usually in which Israel is viewed
as the unfaithfulfemale spouse to the Lord in a covenantal marriage
contract. [1] Also , itis applied to the turning aside of Israel
from the true God to the worshipof idols (Jer. 3.8 -9, 5.7, 9.1,
23.14; cf. Jas. 4.4).[2]
As part of the case against Judah, the Lord affirms through
Jeremiahthat Judah should have learned from her adulterous sister
Israel:
The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah: Have you
seenwhat she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on
everyhigh hill and under every green tree, and there played the
whore?And I thought, After she has done all this she will return to
me,but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
Shesaw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I
had senther away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous
sister Judahdid not fear, but she too went and played the whore.
Because she
took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land,
committingadultery with stone and tree. Yet for all this her
treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart,
but in pretense,declares the Lord. (Jer. 3.6 -10).
Since the days of Jeroboam, the Northern kingdom was mired by
afixation with idolatry (cf. 1 Kings 12.25-33). It was this
faithless characterto which Jeremiah appeals to and equates with
adultery albeit inspiritual metaphor .
To be covenanted and joined to a spouse, only to reject them for
anillegitimate lover, is adultery; so too, the rejection of our God
forillegitimate pursuits of the flesh (like idolatry) is given the
descriptivecontours of adultery to showcasethe high level of our
treason againstGods love. The literal and figurative uses of
adultery share a reciprocalconnection; they enhance each others
meaning. [3]
Adultery and EzekielSeveral times in the book of Ezekiel, the
spiritual appraisal of Israel is
pictured in terms of adultery. Principally, the first 24
chapters of Ezekiel
address themselves to this theme.
Adultery and the Old Testament (2) | Jovan Payes
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February, 13 2011
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8/7/2019 Daily Faith (021311): Adultery and the Old Testament
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Chapters 15 through 17 explain the doom of Jerusalem by means
of
allegories and parables. [4] Within this framework, chapter 16
portraysthe spiritual infidelity of the Hebrews in the unmistakably
graphicpicture of marital sexual-infidelity.
Observe some snippets from the chapter that the English
Standard
Version translators call The Lords Faithless Bride (Ezekiel 16.1
- 58): When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were
at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment
overyou and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you andentered
into a covenant with you, declares the Lord GOD, andyou became
mine. (vs. 8)
But you trusted in yo ur beauty and played the whorebecauseof
your renown and lavished your whorings on any passer-by;your beauty
became his. (vs. 15)
At the head of every street you built your lofty place andmade
your beauty an abomination, offering yourself to anypasser- by and
multiplying your whoring. (vs. 25)
Adulterous wife, who receivesstrangers instead of herhusband!
(vs. 32)
With great precision the prophet presents Gods anger and sense
ofbetrayal with the imagery of adultery. Samuel Schultz and Gary
Smithsummarize: Ezekiel compared Judah to a young girl that God
cared for
and married. But the bride ignored her husband and loved
others(foreign customs, idols, her own beauty). [5]
To be continuedSources1. James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical
Languages with Semantic Domain
Hebrew (2d ed. electronic ed. Oak Harbor: Logos Research
Systems,1997).
2. Wilhelm Gensenius, and Samuel Prideaux Tregelles, Gesenius
Hebreand Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures
(Electronic ed.
Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, 2003), 525.3. Emmet
Russell observes this exact point when he writes, the
figurative use enhances the literal sense, emphasizing the
divineinstitution and nature of marriage. Found in Zondervans
PictorialBible Dictionary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1967), 17.
4. Homer Hailey, Haileys Comments (2 vols. Las Vegas: Nevada,
1985),1.201-04.
5. Samuel J. Schultz, and Gary V. Smith, Exploring the Old
Testament ,(Wheaton: Crossway, 2001), 191.
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Adultery and the Old Testament (continued)
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