Decalogue, part 7 (Deuteronomy 22:1-23:14)

Scripture: Deuteronomy 22:1-23:14 (especially 23:3-5)

We are moving through Moses' delivery of the Law to Israel just before they finally enter the promised land. Each section generally corresponds to one of the Ten Commandments, in order, and today we've come to the section related to #7:

You shall not commit adultery.


And indeed, chapters 22 and 23 deal with laws, regulations, and punishments related to sexual acts. However, I don't feel up to the task of parsing through the various stipulations and scenarios outlined in the text. If you're interested in the details, you can check out Deuteronomy 22; if you prefer the Cliff Notes version-- in most cases, both violators of adultery were put to death.

We've certainly come a long way from meting out capital punishment for cheating on a spouse. God, and by extension Israel, took marital fidelity very seriously. Why, exactly? I think this text begins to answer that question. To do so, we'll look at a part of this text that seemingly has nothing to do with adultery at all.

In the three verses linked at the top of the post, God delineates which people groups may enter His assembly and which may not. Notice that the only factor taken into account to determine these groups was their relationship to Israel. The nation of Israel was in a covenant (a binding, unbreakable agreement) with God: their friends were His friends and their enemies were His enemies. So the Edomites and Egyptians were in, but the Ammonites and Moabites were out. 

This covenant was at the heart of many of God's laws. He was unswerving, unflinching, and unstoppable in His love and support for Israel; He expected the same in return.

The marriage relationship is also meant to be a covenant. So the two-- God's covenant with His people and a husband's covenant with his wife-- are intimately related. Not only does God's love inform and model what a marriage should be like, but marriages can reflect and declare to the world what God's love is.

What do your human relationships (especially your marriage, if you're married) communicate to others about God's love?