What is and is not Adultery in the Bible? You may be surprise.
http://inkaboutit4u.com/?p=Adultery_Definition_Expose_Wrong_Definition
Adultery. Totally wrong definition. They teach the wrong and misleading definition for the Bible word “ Adultery “. They say it is sex after the “one male, one female” marriage, that they have sex with someone who is NOT their living “one male, one female” spouse, is a sin. Totally Wrong Definition. Can easily prove it. http://inkaboutit4u.com/?p=Adultery_Definition_Expose_Wrong_Definition
At creation God gave 100% all creation including humans sexual freedom to have sex with many sex partner.
Part of: Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology --- Part of :Immorality, Sexual
..."Certain exceptions to these stringent rules were tolerated in Old Testament times, however. A man was NOT considered an adulterer if he engaged in sexual relations with a female slave (Gen 16:1-4), a prostitute (Gen 38:15-18), or his wife's handmaid with the spouse's permission (Gen 16:4). Nor was a man deemed to be in an adulterous relationship if he happened to be married to two wives."
Also This is NOT Adultery.
Exodus 21:4 is about a man letting another man with mutual permission, "consenting adults" use one of his wives to have sex with and he could get her pregnant (remember no birth control in that day) and have children with his wife. Then later, give the wife and children back to him when the other man leaves. This was done with permission and was not adultery. Lots of sex but no betrayal of any kind. Servants did not have enough money to buy a women or rent a women, so the master would loan him one of his wives.
New Living Translation Ex. 21:4 "If his master gave him a wife while he was a slave, and they had sons or daughters, then the man will be free in the seventh year, but his wife and children will still belong to his master.
New Century Version EX. 21:4 If the slave's master gives him a wife, and she gives birth to sons or daughters, the woman and her children will belong to the master. When the slave is set free, only he may leave.
GOD'S WORD EX. 21:4 If his master gives him a wife and she gives birth to sons or daughters, the wife and her children belong to the master, and the slave must leave by himself.
Having many wives and many concubines also was NOT adultery.
God, himself, gave King David all Saul's wives and all the many other wives he had (over 20 wives and over 10 concubines and many handmaids) and if Dave wanted more God would have given him all he wanted.
(The New Living Translation ) 2 Samuel 12:8 I (God) gave you his (Saul's) house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more.
Solomon had 300 or 700 wives and 700 or 300 concubines his only error was some were idol worshipers, if they were not idol worshipper there would have been no problem having this many or wives or concubines or slave girls or women servants as sexual partners.
My New Web Site is: http://inkaboutit4u.com
Also Mt 5:28 is greatly misunderstood and misused. (The New Living Translation) Matthew 5:28 " But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart." He is not even talking to Christians and it is a major contradiction to God's design of human nature. People take it out of context and misunderstand the setting and context. This is explained on web page: http://inkaboutit.homestead.com/lustmt528.html
Also Fornication is greatly misunderstood, misused, and taken out of context.
Notes
From Unger's Bible Dictionary printed by Moody Press
Adultery. 1. Define (1)Jewish…."In ancient times, however, exception was made among the nations generally in favor of the man. He might have more wives then one, or have intercourse with a person not espoused or married to him, without bring considered an adulterer. Adultery was sexual intercourse with a married wife, or what was equivalent, the betrothed bride of another man; for this act exposed the husband to the danger of having a spurious offspring upon him."….
…."(2) Roman. The Roman law appears to have made the same distinction as the Hebrew between the unfaithfulness of the husband and wife, by defining adultery to be the violation of another man's bed. The infidelity of the husband did not constitute adultery. The Greeks held substantially the same view."….
"4. Spiritual. In the symbolical language of the Old Testament adultery means idolatry and apostasy from the worship of Jehovah"…."Our Lord used similar language when he charged Israel with being an "adulterous generation" (Matt. 12:39; 16:4; Mark 8:38), meaning a faithless and unholy generation."…
Divorce and Remarriage is NOT Adultery
Biblical Discussion - Adultery
Part of: http://www.delphi.com/libchrist http://www.delphi.com/libchrist/messages/?msg=198.1
Adultery Biblical Discussion - From: ERIK24201 Apr-3 4:01 PM
I was taught many years ago by a Jesuit friend the importance of proper translations. I wish I had more to go on, but I'll tell you what I remember.
The term adultery did not mean what we refer to it today. We still use it today in different forms to mean different things.
Something Unadulterated means not changed or pure, it does not mean that we didn't have sex with it.
According to him, the term adultery meant betrayal. Many men during biblical times were convicted of "adultery" against their country. Obviously, it wasn't sexual, it was meant as betrayal.
He also said that the root word that was translated was the same word used when referring to Judas' betrayal of Jesus. Once again, Judas didn't have sex with another Messiah, he committed a form of adultery by betraying Jesus.
The last one I remember is the Ten Commandments. The commandments are broad and general guidelines. Why would one commandment pertain to one particular act? In the entire context, doesn't it fit better to say "Thou shalt not betray ANYONE". There are many ways to betray your spouse, having an affair is just one of them. So in the original form, he taught us, if we were to use it pertaining to marriage, do not betray your spouse, period. ...
Adultery
The following verses have nothing to do with a husband or wife giving a wife or husband permission to enjoy having sex with another person. Adultery is more of a betrayal, a rebellion, a turning your back on someone, a not going back to or leaving someone, then it is a sexual thing. The word adultery is used a lot as the worship of others gods, other then the worship of the Creator God, a betrayal of God. A major problem in the Bible times was the worship of others gods.
From The Bible in Basic English Exodus 20 :14Do not be false to the married relation. 20:17Let not your desire be turned to your neighbour's house, or his wife or his man-servant or his woman-servant or his ox or his ass or anything which is his.
From the New Century Version Exodus 20: 14 "You must not be guilty of adultery. 17 "You must not want to take your neighbor's house. You must not want his wife or his male or female slaves, or his ox or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."
Eze 20:27 - "Therefore, son of man, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign LORD: Your ancestors continued to blaspheme and betray me,
Jer 3:20 - But you have betrayed me, you people of Israel! You have been like a faithless wife who leaves her husband," says the LORD.
3:6During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, "Have you seen what fickle Israel does? Like a wife who commits adultery, Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree.
(3:13Only acknowledge your guilt. Admit that you rebelled against the LORD your God and committed adultery against him by worshiping idols under every green tree. Confess that you refused to follow me. I, the LORD, have spoken!'")
3:7I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me. But she did not come back. And though her faithless sister Judah saw this,
3:8she paid no attention. She saw that I had divorced faithless Israel and sent her away. But now Judah, too, has left me and given herself to prostitution.
3:9Israel treated it all so lightly - she thought nothing of committing adultery by worshiping idols made of wood and stone. So now the land has been greatly defiled.
3:10But in spite of all this, her faithless sister Judah has never sincerely returned to me. She has only pretended to be sorry," says the LORD.
3:11Then the LORD said to me, "Even faithless Israel is less guilty than treacherous Judah!
3:12Therefore, go and say these words to Israel, 'This is what the LORD says: O
Israel, my faithless people, come home to me again, for I am merciful. I will not be angry with you forever.
3:13Only acknowledge your guilt. Admit that you rebelled against the LORD your God and committed adultery against him by worshiping idols under every green tree. Confess that you refused to follow me. I, the LORD, have spoken!'"
3:19"I thought to myself, 'I would love to treat you as my own children!' I wanted nothing more than to give you this beautiful land - the finest inheritance in the world. I looked forward to your calling me 'Father,' and I thought you would never turn away from me again.
3:20But you have betrayed me, you people of Israel! You have been like a faithless wife who leaves her husband," says the LORD.
3:21Voices are heard high on the windswept mountains, the weeping and pleading of Israel's people. For they have forgotten the LORD their God and wandered far from his ways.
3:22"My wayward children," says the LORD, "come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts. "Yes, we will come," the people reply, "for you are the LORD our God.
Jer. 3:23Our worship of idols and our religious orgies on the hills and mountains are completely false. Only in the LORD our God will Israel ever find salvation.
Adultery
Part of: http://www.thefamily.org/dossier/books/book5/main.htm
The Janus Report on Sexual Behavior, published in the US in 1993, was described as "the first broad-scale scientific national survey since Kinsey." That report revealed that forty-four percent of "very religious" people and fifty percent of "religious" people, and fifty-nine percent of "slightly religious" people admitted they had sex before marriage. "Very religious" people slightly outscored "religious" people fifty-seven percent to fifty-six percent in their personal agreement with the statement, "Sensually, I feel that sex is deliciously sensuous" (Janus, 1993: 252, 255). Another surprising discovery made by these scientists was in response to the question "I've had extramarital affairs." Thirty-one percent of people in the "very religious" category indicated they had at least one affair, whereas only twenty-six percent of those people who thought of themselves as simply "religious" said they had been involved in extra-marital sex. Forty-four percent of the "non-religious" responders admitted to extramarital sex (op. cit., 249).
It is said that the French reformer, John Calvin (1509-1564), was particularly preoccupied with adultery, and made references to it in almost every matter he discussed. G. Rattray Taylor, commenting on this characteristic in Sex in History, generalizes that "Since repression always stimulates what it sets out to repress, one is not surprised to learn that his (Calvin's) sister-in-law was taken in adultery in 1557 and that his daughter suffered a like fate five years later" (Taylor, 1970: 164).
It seems that Episcopalian Rev. Leo Booth could not agree more. In his book, When God Becomes a Drug: Breaking the Chains of Religious Addiction and Abuse 1991), Booth points to Eric Fromm's theory that sexual taboos create sexual obsessiveness and perversions. He also notes:
Jimmy Swaggart preached some of his most scathing sermons against sex immediately following his liaisons with prostitutes (Booth, 1991: 72).
Although I do not agree with Rev. Leo Booth when he labels most Bible-quoting, Jesus-preaching Christians as being "God addicts," I can still agree with some of his views on sex and sexuality.
I believe that God created sex and made it pleasurable to us for a reason; not just to procreate, but as a means of physically expressing spiritual unity. To insist that it is dirty is an abuse of God's gift, and from that abuse springs more abuse: guilt, shame, humiliation, fear (op. cit., 75).
Booth is of course not alone among the outspoken clergy within the Episcopal church. Bishop John Shelby Spong is another very notable player in the unfolding sex-and-spirituality Christian conundrum. Bishop Spong receives praise even in the respected National Catholic Reporter, a respected Roman Catholic publication. In reviewing Bishop Spong's book Living in Sin?, they conceded that "John Shelby Spong is a brave churchman. He has the guts to tell it like it is!"--And what is it that the Episcopal Bishop Spong is telling the world that is so significant and takes so much courage?
Bishop Spong suggests that there is much ambiguity in the Bible concerning sex. To take just one example, adultery in the Bible was defined as sex with a married woman. The marital status of the man was irrelevant. If the woman was not married, then having sexual relations with her was not adulterous. Women, Spong points out, were considered the possessions of the primary male in their lives and he quotes the story of Judah and Tamar in Genesis chapter 38 and the story of the Levite's concubine in Judges chapter 19.
Traditional "Morality" -- A Myth?
Bishop Spong notes that in the Bible the prevailing marital pattern of the times was not monogamy but polygamy. In fact, moral patterns ascribed to Bible times actually were never the way those who call us to reaffirm "traditional morality" think they were. In his book Living in Sin?, also favorably reviewed in Time magazine, Spong brings this fact out clearly. Marriage, for example, was not ever universally required to legitimize sexual activity even in western Christian society. It was not until the Council of Trent in 1565, that the Church declared that a Christian ceremony was necessary in order to have a valid marriage. He adds:
Marriage does not make sex Holy, the quality of the relationship does (Spong, 1989: 65).
The Bible's view on relationships and sex is further demonstrated in the passages which mention how the patriarch Abraham on two occasions in order to save his own life offered his wife Sarah, first to the Pharaoh (Genesis chapter 12) and later to King Abemelech (Genesis chapter 20). His son Isaac, following in his footsteps, later offered his wife Rebecca to the same or similarly named Philistine king (Genesis chapter 26)! Spong mentions that in some nations of the western world, older and sexually experienced women were expected to initiate young post-pubescent boys into the mysteries of love-making. This would prepare a young man to be a gentle and effective lover with his virgin bride.
In his book Beyond Moralism, Spong protests: The original prohibition against adulterous relationships came from a people who continued to practice polygamy for many years after their covenant at Sinai. Monogamous marriage is not the original context of the injunction. This commandment was presumed to have been given in the wilderness around the year 1250 B.C.E. Yet 300 years later Solomon, with his 300 wives and 700 concubines, reigned as king in the land whose law proclaimed, "You shall not commit adultery." (In Living in Sin?, Spong adds: "What does adultery mean when one man (Solomon) can possess an unlimited number of women for his own amusement? How can an injunction based on these premises be used to define morality today?")
The patriarchal society in which this law was both interpreted and applied did not regard sexual intercourse between married men and unmarried women as an adulterous offense. A story in chapter 38 of Genesis told of Judah's affair with Hirah, an Adullamite who was described only as a friend, even after he had had three children by her. In chapter 21 of Judges, the men of Benjamin seduced first and married second. A man was found guilty of adultery only if he took another man's wife. Adultery was primarily an offense against another man's marriage, not against his own. . . . If a married man avoided married women, he could have as many sexual affairs as he wished and still not violate this commandment. . . . (Also) Sexual behavior with foreign women encountered while traveling or captured in war . . . was not governed by these laws (Spong, 1986: 89-90).
Eric Fuchs, is a Swiss Protestant pastor. He has been director of the Protestant Study Center in Geneva and is now head of the ethics department of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. In his book, Sexual Desire and Love: Origins and History of the Christian Ethic of Sexuality and Marriage, he devotes almost ninety pages to a chapter entitled, "Christianity and Sexuality: An Ambiguous History." One point he makes is that some sexual conduct can be very very harmful and hurtful. The Old Testament certainly does not hide these dangers. Improper sexual conduct can lead to murderous violence as told in the astonishing story of Judges chapters 19-21, where the inhabitants of Gibeah abused the concubine of the Levite from Ephraim. Since that incident transgressed the most sacred laws of hospitality, of heterosexuality and of respect for even the concubine of one's neighbor, it led to collective violence and destruction of almost the entire tribe of Benjamin.
Fortunately, the Old Testament also contains an abundance of beautiful examples of the creative use of human sexuality being wonderfully used for the good of God's people. As Eric Fuchs puts it:
The exemplary couples amongst the patriarchs demonstrate how sexuality, ordained as a benediction of God on life, becomes creative with regard to history and love (Fuchs, 1983).
There is the story of Esther who captured the heart of a heathen king and saved her people from destruction. Then there was Ruth, the Moabite widow who wooed the wealthy Boaz and became an ancestor of Jesus. And of course there was the stunning beauty of Abraham's half-sister and wife, Sarah, that more than once was used to save the life of that revered patriarch. Or the love of Joseph for Mary his young pregnant-by-another, wife to be, to cite a few examples.
Tough Questions for Christians -- Just Where do we Draw the Line?
In, Beyond Moralism, Bishop Spong poses numerous sexually challenging questions for Christians to answer: What is the basis for sexual morality for Christians in this age? Is there an area between the ideal and the immoral where sexual relations between consenting unmarried adults could be viewed in some way other than as destructive or wrong?
Can sexual activity apart from the context of marriage ever be more positive than negative?
Is abstinence the only choice a Christian ethic can tolerate for widows, widowers, unmarried adults, or divorced people?
Half the population in our culture is engaged in serial polygamy--several marriages over the course of a lifetime with one partner at a time and numerous children related to one another by step-parents and half parents. More than forty percent of the households in America are now single-parent or single-person households. . . . How can the commandment "You shall not commit adultery" be approached within the actualities of the twentieth century?
If fullness of life is the goal of the Christian gospel, sexual abstinence may not always serve that goal. . . . Are some sexual relationships beautiful, life-giving, beneficial, even though they are not lived out inside the marital bond? Surely the answer . . . is yes (Spong 1986: 96, 99, Preface p. xi, 97, 104). (Emphasis added.)
Note: Remember, the Bible context, they did not have any Birth control pills, or condoms to have safe sex. All sex was unsafe and unprotected sex, and could produce a baby. Also if they made babies with a "close relative"(closer then a cousin), this would made the gene pool very narrow. But today, the government owns all the children, not you. In the Bible days, the father had authority over his household.
These sex rules were for practical reasons of the time. God designed ever detail of our sexuality and said it was GOOD. Our Sexuality or having sex with others, is not evil.
Notice " violation of father, or uncle or brother, or women" and not against God, but offenses against others. Some people are unwilling to share their sexual lovers with others. "Swingers" and others share their sexual lovers with others.
Adultery against God was the worshipping of others gods instead of The Creator God, an offense against God himself, nothing to do with sexuality at all.
Lev. 18:6 "You must never have sexual intercourse with a close relative, for I am the LORD.
Lev. 18:7 Do not violate your father by having sexual intercourse with your mother. She is your mother; you must never have intercourse with her. 8 Do not have sexual intercourse with any of your father's wives, for this would violate your father.
18:12Do not have intercourse with your aunt, your father's sister, because she is your father's close relative. 13 Do not have sexual intercourse with your aunt, your mother's sister, because she is your mother's close relative. 14 And do not violate your uncle, your father's brother, by having sexual intercourse with his wife; she also is your aunt.
18:16Do not have intercourse with your brother' s wife; this would violate your brother. 17"Do not have sexual intercourse with both a woman and her daughter or marry both a woman and her granddaughter, whether her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter. They are close relatives... 18"Do not marry a woman and her sister because they will be rivals. But if your wife dies, then it is all right to marry her sister. 19"Do not violate a woman by having sexual intercourse with her during her period of menstrual impurity. 20"Do not defile yourself by having sexual intercourse with your neighbor's wife.
The harm is that the neighbor may get very angry and jealous and want to do harm to you. Similar to taking his car without his permission.
Adultery against God, was the worshipping of other gods instead of The Creator God, an offense against God himself, nothing to do with sexuality at all.
Remember God created us and made us and provide everything for us to live and breathe and eat. He has bought us again, by having Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, lamb of God shedding his blood, by dying on the cross for the total payment of all our sins, pass, past, and future. He owns us outright two times over, but we do not own our spouses. Many people think they own their spouse as a piece of property or a slave that they bought.
Ex 34:15 - "Do not make treaties of any kind with the people living in the land. They are spiritual prostitutes, committing adultery against me by sacrificing to their gods. If you make peace with them, they will invite you to go with them to worship their gods, and you are likely to do it.
Ex. 34:16 - And you will accept their daughters, who worship other gods, as wives for your sons. Then they will cause your sons to commit adultery against me by worshiping other gods.
Ps 106:39 - They defiled themselves by their evil deeds, and their love of idols was adultery in the LORD's sight.
Isa 57:7 - You have committed adultery on the mountaintops by worshiping idols there, and so you have been unfaithful to me.
Isa 57:8 - Behind closed doors, you have set up your idols and worship them instead of me. This is adultery, for you are loving these idols instead of loving me. You have climbed right into bed with these detestable gods. 9 You have given olive oil and perfume to Molech as your gift. You have traveled far, even into the world of the dead, to find new gods to love.
Jer 3:6 - During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, "Have you seen what fickle Israel does? Like a wife who commits adultery, Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree. 7 I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me. But she did not come back. And though her faithless sister Judah saw this, 8 she paid no attention. She saw that I had divorced faithless Israel and sent her away. But now Judah, too, has left me and given herself to prostitution.
Jer 3:9 - Israel treated it all so lightly - she thought nothing of committing adultery by worshiping idols made of wood and stone. So now the land has been greatly defiled.
Jer 3:13 - Only acknowledge your guilt. Admit that you rebelled against the LORD your God and committed adultery against him by worshiping idols under every green tree. Confess that you refused to follow me. I, the LORD, have spoken!'"
Eze 16:17 - You took the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments I had given you and made statues of men and worshiped them, which is adultery against me.
Note: They worshipped these men as a god.
Eze 16:38 - I will punish you for your murder and adultery. I will cover you with blood in my jealous fury.
Eze 23:37 - They have committed both adultery and murder - adultery by worshiping idols and murder by burning their children as sacrifices on their altars.
Ho 1:2 - When the LORD first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, "Go and marry a prostitute, so some of her children will be born to you from other men. This will illustrate the way my people have been untrue to me, openly committing adultery against the LORD by worshiping other gods."
Ho 3:1 - Then the LORD said to me, "Go and get your wife again. Bring her back to you and love her, even though she loves adultery. For the LORD still loves Israel even though the people have turned to other gods, offering them choice gifts. "
Mr 10:11 - He told them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery against her.
Ro 13:9 - For the commandments against adultery and murder and stealing and coveting - and any other commandment - are all summed up in this one commandment: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Part of: Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology --- Part of :Immorality, Sexual
Genetic Pool
"For modern observers, however, the greatest danger by far would have resulted from the pollution of the genetic pool because of inbreeding. The bulk of the relationships prohibited by the legislation involved first and second degrees of consanguinity, that is, parent-child and grandparent-grandchild incest. Coition within the forbidden degrees of family relationships generally results in genetic complications when offspring are produced. Recessive genes often become dominant and endow the fetus with various kinds of diseases or congenital malformations. This seems to have been the force of the Hebrew tebel [l,b,T], a word that occurs only in Leviticus 18:23 and 20:12. It comes from balal [l;l'B], meaning "to confuse, " and conveys aptly the genetic upheaval that occurs in many cases of inbreeding, since God's rules for procreation have been upset. Only in a few instances does close inbreeding produce beneficial effects by removing recessive lethal genes from the genetic pool. (This may have happened in the case of ancient Egyptian royalty.) Nevertheless, even in such instances, inbreeding diminishes the energy and vigor of species that are normally outbred, and reinforces the wisdom and authority of the Mosaic legislation."
Divorce
"In New Testament times, only the man was able to institute divorce proceedings. It was in reality, however, a rare occurrence, and at that mostly the prerogative of the rich, since poor men could not afford another dowry or "bride price" for a subsequent marriage. The accused woman was protected under the law to the extent that her husband's accusations had to be proved. Thus some scholars have seen the Matthean explanatory clause as indicating immorality as the sole ground for divorce, following the contemporary rabbinical school of Shammai, and not for some purely frivolous cause, as the school of Hillel taught. If this explanation is correct, Jesus was addressing a Jewish controversy that had no bearing on God's marriage ideals in the age of grace, and which Mark and Luke consequently ignored because the exception did not apply to their audiences of Christian believers."
http://inkaboutit4u.com/?p=Adultery_Definition_Expose_Wrong_Definition
Adultery. Totally wrong definition. They teach the wrong and misleading definition for the Bible word “ Adultery “. They say it is sex after the “one male, one female” marriage, that they have sex with someone who is NOT their living “one male, one female” spouse, is a sin. Totally Wrong Definition. Can easily prove it. http://inkaboutit4u.com/?p=Adultery_Definition_Expose_Wrong_Definition
At creation God gave 100% all creation including humans sexual freedom to have sex with many sex partner.
Part of: Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology --- Part of :Immorality, Sexual
..."Certain exceptions to these stringent rules were tolerated in Old Testament times, however. A man was NOT considered an adulterer if he engaged in sexual relations with a female slave (Gen 16:1-4), a prostitute (Gen 38:15-18), or his wife's handmaid with the spouse's permission (Gen 16:4). Nor was a man deemed to be in an adulterous relationship if he happened to be married to two wives."
Also This is NOT Adultery.
Exodus 21:4 is about a man letting another man with mutual permission, "consenting adults" use one of his wives to have sex with and he could get her pregnant (remember no birth control in that day) and have children with his wife. Then later, give the wife and children back to him when the other man leaves. This was done with permission and was not adultery. Lots of sex but no betrayal of any kind. Servants did not have enough money to buy a women or rent a women, so the master would loan him one of his wives.
New Living Translation Ex. 21:4 "If his master gave him a wife while he was a slave, and they had sons or daughters, then the man will be free in the seventh year, but his wife and children will still belong to his master.
New Century Version EX. 21:4 If the slave's master gives him a wife, and she gives birth to sons or daughters, the woman and her children will belong to the master. When the slave is set free, only he may leave.
GOD'S WORD EX. 21:4 If his master gives him a wife and she gives birth to sons or daughters, the wife and her children belong to the master, and the slave must leave by himself.
Having many wives and many concubines also was NOT adultery.
God, himself, gave King David all Saul's wives and all the many other wives he had (over 20 wives and over 10 concubines and many handmaids) and if Dave wanted more God would have given him all he wanted.
(The New Living Translation ) 2 Samuel 12:8 I (God) gave you his (Saul's) house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more.
Solomon had 300 or 700 wives and 700 or 300 concubines his only error was some were idol worshipers, if they were not idol worshipper there would have been no problem having this many or wives or concubines or slave girls or women servants as sexual partners.
My New Web Site is: http://inkaboutit4u.com
Also Mt 5:28 is greatly misunderstood and misused. (The New Living Translation) Matthew 5:28 " But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart." He is not even talking to Christians and it is a major contradiction to God's design of human nature. People take it out of context and misunderstand the setting and context. This is explained on web page: http://inkaboutit.homestead.com/lustmt528.html
Also Fornication is greatly misunderstood, misused, and taken out of context.
Notes
From Unger's Bible Dictionary printed by Moody Press
Adultery. 1. Define (1)Jewish…."In ancient times, however, exception was made among the nations generally in favor of the man. He might have more wives then one, or have intercourse with a person not espoused or married to him, without bring considered an adulterer. Adultery was sexual intercourse with a married wife, or what was equivalent, the betrothed bride of another man; for this act exposed the husband to the danger of having a spurious offspring upon him."….
…."(2) Roman. The Roman law appears to have made the same distinction as the Hebrew between the unfaithfulness of the husband and wife, by defining adultery to be the violation of another man's bed. The infidelity of the husband did not constitute adultery. The Greeks held substantially the same view."….
"4. Spiritual. In the symbolical language of the Old Testament adultery means idolatry and apostasy from the worship of Jehovah"…."Our Lord used similar language when he charged Israel with being an "adulterous generation" (Matt. 12:39; 16:4; Mark 8:38), meaning a faithless and unholy generation."…
Divorce and Remarriage is NOT Adultery
Biblical Discussion - Adultery
Part of: http://www.delphi.com/libchrist http://www.delphi.com/libchrist/messages/?msg=198.1
Adultery Biblical Discussion - From: ERIK24201 Apr-3 4:01 PM
I was taught many years ago by a Jesuit friend the importance of proper translations. I wish I had more to go on, but I'll tell you what I remember.
The term adultery did not mean what we refer to it today. We still use it today in different forms to mean different things.
Something Unadulterated means not changed or pure, it does not mean that we didn't have sex with it.
According to him, the term adultery meant betrayal. Many men during biblical times were convicted of "adultery" against their country. Obviously, it wasn't sexual, it was meant as betrayal.
He also said that the root word that was translated was the same word used when referring to Judas' betrayal of Jesus. Once again, Judas didn't have sex with another Messiah, he committed a form of adultery by betraying Jesus.
The last one I remember is the Ten Commandments. The commandments are broad and general guidelines. Why would one commandment pertain to one particular act? In the entire context, doesn't it fit better to say "Thou shalt not betray ANYONE". There are many ways to betray your spouse, having an affair is just one of them. So in the original form, he taught us, if we were to use it pertaining to marriage, do not betray your spouse, period. ...
Adultery
The following verses have nothing to do with a husband or wife giving a wife or husband permission to enjoy having sex with another person. Adultery is more of a betrayal, a rebellion, a turning your back on someone, a not going back to or leaving someone, then it is a sexual thing. The word adultery is used a lot as the worship of others gods, other then the worship of the Creator God, a betrayal of God. A major problem in the Bible times was the worship of others gods.
From The Bible in Basic English Exodus 20 :14Do not be false to the married relation. 20:17Let not your desire be turned to your neighbour's house, or his wife or his man-servant or his woman-servant or his ox or his ass or anything which is his.
From the New Century Version Exodus 20: 14 "You must not be guilty of adultery. 17 "You must not want to take your neighbor's house. You must not want his wife or his male or female slaves, or his ox or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."
Eze 20:27 - "Therefore, son of man, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign LORD: Your ancestors continued to blaspheme and betray me,
Jer 3:20 - But you have betrayed me, you people of Israel! You have been like a faithless wife who leaves her husband," says the LORD.
3:6During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, "Have you seen what fickle Israel does? Like a wife who commits adultery, Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree.
(3:13Only acknowledge your guilt. Admit that you rebelled against the LORD your God and committed adultery against him by worshiping idols under every green tree. Confess that you refused to follow me. I, the LORD, have spoken!'")
3:7I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me. But she did not come back. And though her faithless sister Judah saw this,
3:8she paid no attention. She saw that I had divorced faithless Israel and sent her away. But now Judah, too, has left me and given herself to prostitution.
3:9Israel treated it all so lightly - she thought nothing of committing adultery by worshiping idols made of wood and stone. So now the land has been greatly defiled.
3:10But in spite of all this, her faithless sister Judah has never sincerely returned to me. She has only pretended to be sorry," says the LORD.
3:11Then the LORD said to me, "Even faithless Israel is less guilty than treacherous Judah!
3:12Therefore, go and say these words to Israel, 'This is what the LORD says: O
Israel, my faithless people, come home to me again, for I am merciful. I will not be angry with you forever.
3:13Only acknowledge your guilt. Admit that you rebelled against the LORD your God and committed adultery against him by worshiping idols under every green tree. Confess that you refused to follow me. I, the LORD, have spoken!'"
3:19"I thought to myself, 'I would love to treat you as my own children!' I wanted nothing more than to give you this beautiful land - the finest inheritance in the world. I looked forward to your calling me 'Father,' and I thought you would never turn away from me again.
3:20But you have betrayed me, you people of Israel! You have been like a faithless wife who leaves her husband," says the LORD.
3:21Voices are heard high on the windswept mountains, the weeping and pleading of Israel's people. For they have forgotten the LORD their God and wandered far from his ways.
3:22"My wayward children," says the LORD, "come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts. "Yes, we will come," the people reply, "for you are the LORD our God.
Jer. 3:23Our worship of idols and our religious orgies on the hills and mountains are completely false. Only in the LORD our God will Israel ever find salvation.
Adultery
Part of: http://www.thefamily.org/dossier/books/book5/main.htm
The Janus Report on Sexual Behavior, published in the US in 1993, was described as "the first broad-scale scientific national survey since Kinsey." That report revealed that forty-four percent of "very religious" people and fifty percent of "religious" people, and fifty-nine percent of "slightly religious" people admitted they had sex before marriage. "Very religious" people slightly outscored "religious" people fifty-seven percent to fifty-six percent in their personal agreement with the statement, "Sensually, I feel that sex is deliciously sensuous" (Janus, 1993: 252, 255). Another surprising discovery made by these scientists was in response to the question "I've had extramarital affairs." Thirty-one percent of people in the "very religious" category indicated they had at least one affair, whereas only twenty-six percent of those people who thought of themselves as simply "religious" said they had been involved in extra-marital sex. Forty-four percent of the "non-religious" responders admitted to extramarital sex (op. cit., 249).
It is said that the French reformer, John Calvin (1509-1564), was particularly preoccupied with adultery, and made references to it in almost every matter he discussed. G. Rattray Taylor, commenting on this characteristic in Sex in History, generalizes that "Since repression always stimulates what it sets out to repress, one is not surprised to learn that his (Calvin's) sister-in-law was taken in adultery in 1557 and that his daughter suffered a like fate five years later" (Taylor, 1970: 164).
It seems that Episcopalian Rev. Leo Booth could not agree more. In his book, When God Becomes a Drug: Breaking the Chains of Religious Addiction and Abuse 1991), Booth points to Eric Fromm's theory that sexual taboos create sexual obsessiveness and perversions. He also notes:
Jimmy Swaggart preached some of his most scathing sermons against sex immediately following his liaisons with prostitutes (Booth, 1991: 72).
Although I do not agree with Rev. Leo Booth when he labels most Bible-quoting, Jesus-preaching Christians as being "God addicts," I can still agree with some of his views on sex and sexuality.
I believe that God created sex and made it pleasurable to us for a reason; not just to procreate, but as a means of physically expressing spiritual unity. To insist that it is dirty is an abuse of God's gift, and from that abuse springs more abuse: guilt, shame, humiliation, fear (op. cit., 75).
Booth is of course not alone among the outspoken clergy within the Episcopal church. Bishop John Shelby Spong is another very notable player in the unfolding sex-and-spirituality Christian conundrum. Bishop Spong receives praise even in the respected National Catholic Reporter, a respected Roman Catholic publication. In reviewing Bishop Spong's book Living in Sin?, they conceded that "John Shelby Spong is a brave churchman. He has the guts to tell it like it is!"--And what is it that the Episcopal Bishop Spong is telling the world that is so significant and takes so much courage?
Bishop Spong suggests that there is much ambiguity in the Bible concerning sex. To take just one example, adultery in the Bible was defined as sex with a married woman. The marital status of the man was irrelevant. If the woman was not married, then having sexual relations with her was not adulterous. Women, Spong points out, were considered the possessions of the primary male in their lives and he quotes the story of Judah and Tamar in Genesis chapter 38 and the story of the Levite's concubine in Judges chapter 19.
Traditional "Morality" -- A Myth?
Bishop Spong notes that in the Bible the prevailing marital pattern of the times was not monogamy but polygamy. In fact, moral patterns ascribed to Bible times actually were never the way those who call us to reaffirm "traditional morality" think they were. In his book Living in Sin?, also favorably reviewed in Time magazine, Spong brings this fact out clearly. Marriage, for example, was not ever universally required to legitimize sexual activity even in western Christian society. It was not until the Council of Trent in 1565, that the Church declared that a Christian ceremony was necessary in order to have a valid marriage. He adds:
Marriage does not make sex Holy, the quality of the relationship does (Spong, 1989: 65).
The Bible's view on relationships and sex is further demonstrated in the passages which mention how the patriarch Abraham on two occasions in order to save his own life offered his wife Sarah, first to the Pharaoh (Genesis chapter 12) and later to King Abemelech (Genesis chapter 20). His son Isaac, following in his footsteps, later offered his wife Rebecca to the same or similarly named Philistine king (Genesis chapter 26)! Spong mentions that in some nations of the western world, older and sexually experienced women were expected to initiate young post-pubescent boys into the mysteries of love-making. This would prepare a young man to be a gentle and effective lover with his virgin bride.
In his book Beyond Moralism, Spong protests: The original prohibition against adulterous relationships came from a people who continued to practice polygamy for many years after their covenant at Sinai. Monogamous marriage is not the original context of the injunction. This commandment was presumed to have been given in the wilderness around the year 1250 B.C.E. Yet 300 years later Solomon, with his 300 wives and 700 concubines, reigned as king in the land whose law proclaimed, "You shall not commit adultery." (In Living in Sin?, Spong adds: "What does adultery mean when one man (Solomon) can possess an unlimited number of women for his own amusement? How can an injunction based on these premises be used to define morality today?")
The patriarchal society in which this law was both interpreted and applied did not regard sexual intercourse between married men and unmarried women as an adulterous offense. A story in chapter 38 of Genesis told of Judah's affair with Hirah, an Adullamite who was described only as a friend, even after he had had three children by her. In chapter 21 of Judges, the men of Benjamin seduced first and married second. A man was found guilty of adultery only if he took another man's wife. Adultery was primarily an offense against another man's marriage, not against his own. . . . If a married man avoided married women, he could have as many sexual affairs as he wished and still not violate this commandment. . . . (Also) Sexual behavior with foreign women encountered while traveling or captured in war . . . was not governed by these laws (Spong, 1986: 89-90).
Eric Fuchs, is a Swiss Protestant pastor. He has been director of the Protestant Study Center in Geneva and is now head of the ethics department of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. In his book, Sexual Desire and Love: Origins and History of the Christian Ethic of Sexuality and Marriage, he devotes almost ninety pages to a chapter entitled, "Christianity and Sexuality: An Ambiguous History." One point he makes is that some sexual conduct can be very very harmful and hurtful. The Old Testament certainly does not hide these dangers. Improper sexual conduct can lead to murderous violence as told in the astonishing story of Judges chapters 19-21, where the inhabitants of Gibeah abused the concubine of the Levite from Ephraim. Since that incident transgressed the most sacred laws of hospitality, of heterosexuality and of respect for even the concubine of one's neighbor, it led to collective violence and destruction of almost the entire tribe of Benjamin.
Fortunately, the Old Testament also contains an abundance of beautiful examples of the creative use of human sexuality being wonderfully used for the good of God's people. As Eric Fuchs puts it:
The exemplary couples amongst the patriarchs demonstrate how sexuality, ordained as a benediction of God on life, becomes creative with regard to history and love (Fuchs, 1983).
There is the story of Esther who captured the heart of a heathen king and saved her people from destruction. Then there was Ruth, the Moabite widow who wooed the wealthy Boaz and became an ancestor of Jesus. And of course there was the stunning beauty of Abraham's half-sister and wife, Sarah, that more than once was used to save the life of that revered patriarch. Or the love of Joseph for Mary his young pregnant-by-another, wife to be, to cite a few examples.
Tough Questions for Christians -- Just Where do we Draw the Line?
In, Beyond Moralism, Bishop Spong poses numerous sexually challenging questions for Christians to answer: What is the basis for sexual morality for Christians in this age? Is there an area between the ideal and the immoral where sexual relations between consenting unmarried adults could be viewed in some way other than as destructive or wrong?
Can sexual activity apart from the context of marriage ever be more positive than negative?
Is abstinence the only choice a Christian ethic can tolerate for widows, widowers, unmarried adults, or divorced people?
Half the population in our culture is engaged in serial polygamy--several marriages over the course of a lifetime with one partner at a time and numerous children related to one another by step-parents and half parents. More than forty percent of the households in America are now single-parent or single-person households. . . . How can the commandment "You shall not commit adultery" be approached within the actualities of the twentieth century?
If fullness of life is the goal of the Christian gospel, sexual abstinence may not always serve that goal. . . . Are some sexual relationships beautiful, life-giving, beneficial, even though they are not lived out inside the marital bond? Surely the answer . . . is yes (Spong 1986: 96, 99, Preface p. xi, 97, 104). (Emphasis added.)
Note: Remember, the Bible context, they did not have any Birth control pills, or condoms to have safe sex. All sex was unsafe and unprotected sex, and could produce a baby. Also if they made babies with a "close relative"(closer then a cousin), this would made the gene pool very narrow. But today, the government owns all the children, not you. In the Bible days, the father had authority over his household.
These sex rules were for practical reasons of the time. God designed ever detail of our sexuality and said it was GOOD. Our Sexuality or having sex with others, is not evil.
Notice " violation of father, or uncle or brother, or women" and not against God, but offenses against others. Some people are unwilling to share their sexual lovers with others. "Swingers" and others share their sexual lovers with others.
Adultery against God was the worshipping of others gods instead of The Creator God, an offense against God himself, nothing to do with sexuality at all.
Lev. 18:6 "You must never have sexual intercourse with a close relative, for I am the LORD.
Lev. 18:7 Do not violate your father by having sexual intercourse with your mother. She is your mother; you must never have intercourse with her. 8 Do not have sexual intercourse with any of your father's wives, for this would violate your father.
18:12Do not have intercourse with your aunt, your father's sister, because she is your father's close relative. 13 Do not have sexual intercourse with your aunt, your mother's sister, because she is your mother's close relative. 14 And do not violate your uncle, your father's brother, by having sexual intercourse with his wife; she also is your aunt.
18:16Do not have intercourse with your brother' s wife; this would violate your brother. 17"Do not have sexual intercourse with both a woman and her daughter or marry both a woman and her granddaughter, whether her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter. They are close relatives... 18"Do not marry a woman and her sister because they will be rivals. But if your wife dies, then it is all right to marry her sister. 19"Do not violate a woman by having sexual intercourse with her during her period of menstrual impurity. 20"Do not defile yourself by having sexual intercourse with your neighbor's wife.
The harm is that the neighbor may get very angry and jealous and want to do harm to you. Similar to taking his car without his permission.
Adultery against God, was the worshipping of other gods instead of The Creator God, an offense against God himself, nothing to do with sexuality at all.
Remember God created us and made us and provide everything for us to live and breathe and eat. He has bought us again, by having Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, lamb of God shedding his blood, by dying on the cross for the total payment of all our sins, pass, past, and future. He owns us outright two times over, but we do not own our spouses. Many people think they own their spouse as a piece of property or a slave that they bought.
Ex 34:15 - "Do not make treaties of any kind with the people living in the land. They are spiritual prostitutes, committing adultery against me by sacrificing to their gods. If you make peace with them, they will invite you to go with them to worship their gods, and you are likely to do it.
Ex. 34:16 - And you will accept their daughters, who worship other gods, as wives for your sons. Then they will cause your sons to commit adultery against me by worshiping other gods.
Ps 106:39 - They defiled themselves by their evil deeds, and their love of idols was adultery in the LORD's sight.
Isa 57:7 - You have committed adultery on the mountaintops by worshiping idols there, and so you have been unfaithful to me.
Isa 57:8 - Behind closed doors, you have set up your idols and worship them instead of me. This is adultery, for you are loving these idols instead of loving me. You have climbed right into bed with these detestable gods. 9 You have given olive oil and perfume to Molech as your gift. You have traveled far, even into the world of the dead, to find new gods to love.
Jer 3:6 - During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, "Have you seen what fickle Israel does? Like a wife who commits adultery, Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree. 7 I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me. But she did not come back. And though her faithless sister Judah saw this, 8 she paid no attention. She saw that I had divorced faithless Israel and sent her away. But now Judah, too, has left me and given herself to prostitution.
Jer 3:9 - Israel treated it all so lightly - she thought nothing of committing adultery by worshiping idols made of wood and stone. So now the land has been greatly defiled.
Jer 3:13 - Only acknowledge your guilt. Admit that you rebelled against the LORD your God and committed adultery against him by worshiping idols under every green tree. Confess that you refused to follow me. I, the LORD, have spoken!'"
Eze 16:17 - You took the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments I had given you and made statues of men and worshiped them, which is adultery against me.
Note: They worshipped these men as a god.
Eze 16:38 - I will punish you for your murder and adultery. I will cover you with blood in my jealous fury.
Eze 23:37 - They have committed both adultery and murder - adultery by worshiping idols and murder by burning their children as sacrifices on their altars.
Ho 1:2 - When the LORD first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, "Go and marry a prostitute, so some of her children will be born to you from other men. This will illustrate the way my people have been untrue to me, openly committing adultery against the LORD by worshiping other gods."
Ho 3:1 - Then the LORD said to me, "Go and get your wife again. Bring her back to you and love her, even though she loves adultery. For the LORD still loves Israel even though the people have turned to other gods, offering them choice gifts. "
Mr 10:11 - He told them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery against her.
Ro 13:9 - For the commandments against adultery and murder and stealing and coveting - and any other commandment - are all summed up in this one commandment: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Part of: Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology --- Part of :Immorality, Sexual
Genetic Pool
"For modern observers, however, the greatest danger by far would have resulted from the pollution of the genetic pool because of inbreeding. The bulk of the relationships prohibited by the legislation involved first and second degrees of consanguinity, that is, parent-child and grandparent-grandchild incest. Coition within the forbidden degrees of family relationships generally results in genetic complications when offspring are produced. Recessive genes often become dominant and endow the fetus with various kinds of diseases or congenital malformations. This seems to have been the force of the Hebrew tebel [l,b,T], a word that occurs only in Leviticus 18:23 and 20:12. It comes from balal [l;l'B], meaning "to confuse, " and conveys aptly the genetic upheaval that occurs in many cases of inbreeding, since God's rules for procreation have been upset. Only in a few instances does close inbreeding produce beneficial effects by removing recessive lethal genes from the genetic pool. (This may have happened in the case of ancient Egyptian royalty.) Nevertheless, even in such instances, inbreeding diminishes the energy and vigor of species that are normally outbred, and reinforces the wisdom and authority of the Mosaic legislation."
Divorce
"In New Testament times, only the man was able to institute divorce proceedings. It was in reality, however, a rare occurrence, and at that mostly the prerogative of the rich, since poor men could not afford another dowry or "bride price" for a subsequent marriage. The accused woman was protected under the law to the extent that her husband's accusations had to be proved. Thus some scholars have seen the Matthean explanatory clause as indicating immorality as the sole ground for divorce, following the contemporary rabbinical school of Shammai, and not for some purely frivolous cause, as the school of Hillel taught. If this explanation is correct, Jesus was addressing a Jewish controversy that had no bearing on God's marriage ideals in the age of grace, and which Mark and Luke consequently ignored because the exception did not apply to their audiences of Christian believers."