Yeshua (Jesus) said, “(E)veryone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28 NASB). That heart-encompassing explanation of Heaven’s instructions about adultery, murder, theft, honesty and lust for stuff is what’s behind the seemingly disconnected topics covered in the Torah passage כִּי־תֵצֵא Ki Tetze (“when you go forth,” Deut. 21:10-25:19). It helps explain what’s under the hood of the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth commandments.
Tag: divorce
We may think that faith and belief are wishy-washing things that can change with our mood or socio-economic situation. But the way the Bible uses those concepts, the clearer translation may be “trust” or “dependable.” We trust in God’s words, find the promises of Heaven dependable.
But the flip side of that is, are we trustworthy? Are we dependable? Are our desires, lives and resources following after Heaven’s instructions? Or are they wandering back and forth between God’s rules and the Zeitgeist, the Spirit of the Age, what’s trendy and popular.
Those questions are behind the instructions about marriage and adultery in the Torah passage כי תצא Ki Tetze (“when you go forth,” Deut. 21:10-25:19).
This passage has three seemingly distinct teachings — parable of the shrewd manager, whether the Law and Prophets stopped with Yokhanan the Baptizer and a “one-liner” on divorce — but all of them as well as the parable that follows of the rich man and Lazar deal with one topic: God as Master or wealth as Master.
Herod Antipas thought he had silenced Yochanan (John) upon killing him, but Yeshua and His disciples were spreading the message everywhere. A common teaching on remarriage — that doing so is a sin — overlooks the likely teaching, shown in Antipas’ fear: divorce and remarriage in the course of adultery is what’s sinful.
Adultery and divorce are rampant problems in modern society, even among the body of believers in Yeshua (Jesus) as the Messiah. Rather than changing the words of Torah, Prophets and Writings on these two topics, Yeshua closes loopholes in interpretations of adultery laws and expands the meaning of adultery, in keeping with other teachings in the Scriptures.
Much has been lost in modern society has been lost by treating divorce and kidnapping as less serious matters than God does in Deuteronomy 24. Richard Agee explores a key question in this chapter: Why does God forbid remarriage to the first husband after a second marriage? The answer is clear in the original Hebrew text.
https://hallel.info/wp-content/uploads/file/070428%20Matthew%2019%20vv1-12.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:30 — )Subscribe: RSSReader: Daniel Agee Teacher: Jeff [contact] Thought questions What value is gained in looking at Messiah’s teaching on divorce from parallel passages from the other apostles? What were differences between the House of Shammai and the House of Hillel, two schools of rabbinical thought […]