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Anthropology of Marriage (2) Gen 2:24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Who does God join together? God joins together a man and a woman. Not a boy and a girl. No one knows the ages of Adam and Eve, but they were able to understand God’s word, tend to the garden, and have children. Adam and Eve were created mature individuals. Before two young people get married today they need to be mature enough to recognize and fulfill their responsibilities. God did not join together two men. Every time homosexuality is mentioned in the Bible it is described as a sinful relationship. Under the Law of Moses, two men lying together was punished by death, Leviticus 20. Sodom and Gomorrah are described as very wicked cities in which men lusted after other men. "And they called to Lot and said to him, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally" (Genesis 19.5). The tribe of Benjamin was almost wiped out due their sin of homosexuality, Judges 19. Going on in the Old Testament we read of homosexuality being connected with idolatry. "And there were also perverted persons in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel." (1 Kings 14:24, emphasis mine D.T.) Strong Greek/Hebrew Dictionary lists the word perverted as sodomites. Its definition is "a male devotee (by prostitution) to licentious idolatry. In the writings of the New Testament we read of homosexuality described in Romans. "For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error" (Romans 1.26b-27). No matter what society says, homosexuality is a sinful relationship and will keep man from entering heaven, 1 Corinthians 6.9-10. Neither did God create two women for Adam or two men for Eve. Marriage is intended to be a one to one relationship. The very first time we read of a man having multiple wives is in Genesis 4.19, "Then Lamech took for himself two wives." This was not in harmony with God’s word in the Garden of Eden. However, we read of numerous men having more than one wife at a time in the Old Testament. Jacob had two wives, Leah and Rachel, and two concubines, Bilhah, and Zilpah, Genesis 30. There was enmity and rivalry between the two wives and the children. One may wonder how Joseph’s brothers could contemplate killing him and then selling him into slavery, Genesis 37. However, one has to remember the family arrangement they grew up in. King David had six wives mentioned in 2 Samuel 3.3 but later married Bathsheba and possibly had more wives as well as concubines. In reading of his family, we see problems between various children. Ammon raped his sister, Tamar, 2 Samuel 13. David did not discipline his son for doing such a thing, so Absalom took matters into his own hands and had Ammon killed, 2 Samuel 13. Absalom and Adonijah tried to over throw their father and take the kingdom for themselves. Absalom went to David’s concubines in front of the people, 2 Samuel 16.22. One has to wonder how many problems could have been avoided if David had only one wife. Today we see people in their second or third marriages. While I realize the Law of Christ allows for divorce in a specific situation, we must realize it still carries a cost. Two wives mean two sets of children and much heartache. "Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband." (1 Corinthians 7.2) God only joins together a single man to a single woman. I mean that in both senses of the word single. One man can not have more than one wife and one woman can not have more than one husband. A woman that marries a man that has already been married and not scripturally divorced is entering an unscriptural relationship. Under the Law of Moses, God allowed a man to send his wife away and give her a writing of divorce, Deuteronomy 24, 1-2. He was not allowed to remarry his former wife, but he could go out and marry another woman. This was contrary to Genesis 2.24, but Jesus said Moses permitted this due to the hardness of their hearts, Matthew 19.8 This was not God’s original plan for the marriage relationship. God intended for the man and woman to live together in the marriage until death. We may wonder why God allowed a writing of divorcement, when He did not intend for man to divorce his wife. We have to remember than man was already doing that, God was protecting the woman in this situation. She had very few rights in that society. She was seen as a piece of property. A man could simply have put her outside of his house and left her alone. She could not then marry another man, she would be left destitute. At least the writing of divorce allowed her to find another husband to take care of her. Looking at Matthew 19 one must see that Jesus’ answer to the question, can a man divorce his wife for any reason, was a NO! Again God intended the husband and wife to live together until death separated them. At that point the surviving person is allowed to marry another, 1 Corinthians 7.39. Before a person starts to date, they need to make sure the person they are thinking about dating is not already married. Do not date the spouse of another person! —more next week—D.T. |