Mitty
Active Member
Do you have any evidence that adulteresses never become pregnant, given that Numbers 5:20-28 obviously commands the termination of pregnancies of adulteresses using a "bitter water" abortifacient?No, but it is the language of the ones who interpreted it into English.....they should know how to interpret their own language.....right?
The test was for adultery not pregnancy...that was the point of the scripture. If the woman was pregnant then perhaps the penalty did include a termination but that was decided by God not men. That is the point of the scripture you keep repeating. It focuses on the adultery of both parties....and the penalty was that the adulteress would be prevented from having children....a cursed state in Israel.
Why is this so important to you.....? I am still trying to figure out what your beef is based on?
Adultery was a crime.....if you didn't want the penalty then you didn't commit the crime. Is that rocket science?
"You must not commit adultery" was part of the 10 Commandments...and it applied to all of God's people.
Through his prophet Malachi God said....
"I will come near to you for judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who take false oaths, against those who defraud the hired worker, the widow, and the fatherless child, and against those who refuse to help the foreigner. These have not feared me,” says Jehovah of armies." (Malachi 3:5)
Those guilty of such things did not fear that the true God would hold them accountable for their behavior. Believe me...he does. Do you want to argue with him? Good luck with that....
If you believe otherwise, then why couldn't the god have a face to face discussion with the priest about the woman's guilt, in the same say that Abraham had a face to face discussion with his god about the number of righteous children in Gomorrah when they shared a non-kosher meal together, before the god walked down to Gomorrah to count them for itself since it was neither and omniscient or omnipresent type of god?
And what happens to the pregnancy of a woman who has not committed adultery and drinks a "bitter water" abortifacient and says "so be it, so be it"?
Numbers 5:20-28 The Voice
20 But if you are guilty of rejecting your husband’s authority and having sexual relations with someone other than your husband,” 21 [here the priest should make the woman say the cursing-oath], “then may the Eternal One make your name a shunning reproach, an insult or a warning among the people, because you will have a miscarriage and your belly will swell. 22 If you are guilty, may this curse-causing water run through your bowels, make your belly swell, and your womb miscarry.” And the woman shall say, “Amen. Let it be so.”
23 The priest will write these curses on a scroll and wash the words into the bitter water. 24 He’ll then make the woman drink the bitter water that will run right through her, causing terrible pain. 25 The priest will take the barley-flour jealousy offering that she was holding, raise it up high before the Me, bring it to the altar, 26 burn a handful (a memorial portion) of it into smoke on the altar, and then make the woman drink the water. 27 The effect (much pain with her belly swelling and her womb miscarrying) or lack thereof will show whether or not she’s guilty of marital unfaithfulness. If guilty, her name will be a curse among the Israelites. 28 If innocent and pure, she’ll be free from the water’s effects and still be able to have children.
None of that changes the fact that a biblical marriage is simply a personal agreement between two people to shack up together and doesn't require a legally signed marriage contract or witnesses or a wedding celebrant etc. And it doesn't change the fact that Jesus condemned ALL remarried divorcees to hell unless they remain celibate and repent their adulterous marriages (Matt 5:27-30 Mark 10:11-12 Luke 16:18 Exodus 20). And it's your choice if you believe that Jesus and what he said is irrelevant.OK, we are changing the goal posts now....?
Even though God permitted polygamy (though it was never part of his law, he did make provision for secondary wives (concubines) for several reasons....women outnumbered the men and in Israel a woman was supported by her husband. He provided for his wives and children and this gave many women the security of a marriage, children and a home and family in which to raise them. It did not last into Christianity however.
In Matthew 19:3-9, Jesus made it very clear what the standard for marriage was....and reinstituted the original standard of one man and one wife.
"And Pharisees came to him intent on testing him, and they asked: “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife on every sort of grounds?” 4 In reply he said: “Have you not read that the one who created them from the beginning made them male and female 5 and said: ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will stick to his wife, and the two will be one flesh’? 6 So that they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has yoked together, let no man put apart.” 7 They said to him: “Why, then, did Moses direct giving a certificate of dismissal and divorcing her?” 8 He said to them: “Out of regard for your hard-heartedness, Moses made the concession to you of divorcing your wives, but that has not been the case from the beginning. 9 I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except on the grounds of sexual immorality, and marries another commits adultery.”
Like it or not...those are God's rules, plainly stated by Jesus. A Marriage is "yoked together" by God.
Marriage is a legal arrangement in most cultures....it is usually a recognized and registered event.
The first "marriage" was performed by God himself in bringing a wife to Adam. He then told them to have children and fill the earth with them.
In Bible times, a marriage was not something that involved a ceremony, though it sometimes was celebrated with a feast if one was wealthy. Jesus' first miracle was at such an event.
The marriage was a public event in front of witnesses, with the prospective husband and his betrothed fiance' coming together in one house. The groom would make his way to his fiance's house after preparing for her arrival in his own home, or even in the home of his parents. He would then escort his beautifully adorned bride to her new home, with well-wishers lining the street to cheer and bless the new couple. The marriage was then consummated and they were officially "husband and wife".
As long as a marriage is legal, it is recognized by God.
Nor does it change that fact that the bible does not forbid polygamy, given that biblical morality is obviously just man-made and changes as society changes, which is why most people in civilized countries now support same-sex marriage, including the head of the Anglican church who even signed it into law.
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