Original language of Matthew 5 of committing adultery if one divorces and remarries outside of fornication.

5/26/2024

sexual morality

t f B! P L

Strict fundamentalists sometimes assert that the Bible forbids divorce and remarriage except for adultery, forcing men and women to live under consensual house arrest. This article will show that divorce and remarriage are possible and biblically permissible from the perspective of the original languages of the Bible in Hebrew and Greek.

The original words "separate" and "divorce" in Hebrew ⇩.

Original Greek words for "separate" and "divorce" in Greek⇩.

First, divorce is an arrangement from Yahuwah to end an unfaithful, loveless marriage. People separated by a divorce certificate have the right to remarry. The Bible states that separation from a partner without a formal divorce decree leads to the risk of committing adultery.

It is generally taught that divorce for any reason other than adultery is a sin and that remarriage is committing adultery. In contrast, according to the original biblical perspective, divorce itself is not a sin, but a solution. Since folly occurs before and after the divorce or during the marriage, the divorce itself is not the sin, but the folly that caused the divorce decree to be issued is the sin.

And as is clear from the above, if we check the original language, the word translated as "to separate" or "to divorce" in most Bibles actually means "to leave," and the meaning is again different from a divorce with a formal divorce decree. We will now write that down for both the Old and New Testaments.

Deuteronomy 22:19 and they shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name on a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife; he cannot divorce(shalach, exapostellō in greek)her all his days.29 then the man who lay with her shall give to the young woman's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife because he has humbled her; he shall not be permitted to divorce(shalach, exapostellō in greek) her all his days. 30 "A man shall not take his father's wife, nor uncover his father's bed. (Only the man has no right to shalach. The women's side can divorce the Hebrew kāraṯ i.e.)

Deuteronomy 24:1 "When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce(kerithuth), puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, 2 when she has departed(shalach exapostellō in Greek) from his house, and goes and becomes another man's wife, 3 if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce(kerithuth), puts it in her hand, and sends(shalach)  her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, 4 then her former husband who divorced(shalach exapostellō in Greek) her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. 5 "When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, and bring happiness to his wife whom he has taken.

The solution in marriage is a divorce deed. The word translated "slanderous spot" has multiple connotations, such as nakedness, shamefulness, and fault, and one can assume that the connotation is that of concealing some great wrongdoing or crime. Although adultery is defined as a word punishable by death in Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22, it is after all condemned as "so much sin," and it is possible that there were few rare cases of executing a woman who committed adultery each time as the literal death sentence. The fact that Yahuwah repeatedly warned Israelites who committed adultery to repent does not seem to indicate that immediate execution was carried out every time. For this reason, the "miserable point" is likely to imply a combination of causes, such as past cases of premarital sex and loss of virginity, tattoos, and concealment of the crime.

Ezra 10:3 Now therefore, let us make a covenant with our God to put away(shalach) all these wives and those who have been born to them, according to the advice of my master and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

It was against the law for a Jew to take a foreigner who worshipped pagan idols as his wife. Therefore, there was no need for a divorce decree for the foreign wives. Therefore, Yahuwah commanded them to "shalach them away" and let them return to their original place. 

Isaiah 50:1 Thus says the Lord: "Where is the certificate of your mother's divorce(kerithuth), Whom I have put away? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? For your iniquities you have sold yourselves, And for your transgressions your mother has been put away(shalach, exapostellō in Greek).

Jeremiah 3:1 "They say, 'If a man divorces(shalach, exapostellō in Greek) his wife, And she goes from him And becomes another man's, May he return to her again?' Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; Yet return to Me," says the Lord.8 Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away(shalach, exapostellō in Greek) and given her a certificate of divorce(kerithuth); yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. 9 So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. 10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense," says the Lord.
Malachi 2:14 Yet you say, "For what reason?" Because the Lord has been witness Between you and the wife of your youth, With whom you have dealt treacherously; Yet she is your companion And your wife by covenant. 15 But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. 16 "For the Lord God of Israel says That He hates divorce(shalach, Greek: exapostellō , an unjustified separation without a divorce decree)., For it covers one's garment with violence," Says the Lord of hosts. "Therefore take heed to your spirit, That you do not deal treacherously."

In Deuteronomy 24, the formal divorce proceedings are already in effect, and in Isaiah 50:1, Yahuwah laments the fact that she was "unjustly cast out without a decree of divorce for a legitimate reason" (Isaiah 50:1). The original language confirms that Yahuwah hates unfaithful behavior on the part of men, i.e., neglect, domestic violence, and the resulting "shalach," not the "kerithuth," or "divorce," which is a remedy for women who are the victims of such behavior. The use of "shalak" rather than "kerusus" in Malachi 2:16 indicates that God does not hate a valid divorce (as explained in the next heading) due to unfair treatment on the part of the woman. God Himself instituted divorce. God Himself instituted divorce, and He would not bind faithful women by hating a divorce that was justified. 

Meaning of the original word in the New Testament

Matthew 1:19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.(apoluo, not divorce, is more appropriate.)

Since they were not yet married, they did not need a divorce decree, but Joseph wanted them to leave without a formal divorce decree because he assumed they had been unfaithful. Joseph wanted to let Mary go quietly out of honor, but the Bible says it was a righteous act. We should not condone sin, but it is biblically righteous to give her a secret warning, forgive her, and let her go. (Hosea 3) 

Matthew 5:31 "Furthermore it has been said, 'Whoever divorces(apoluo, i.e., let them leave, is correct..) his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce(apostasion).' 32 But I say to you that whoever divorces(apoluo, i.e., let them leave, is correct..) his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced(apoluo, i.e., set free, is correct.) commits adultery.

Mark 2:2 The Pharisees came and asked Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce(apoluo, i.e., let them leave, is correct..) his wife?" testing Him. 3 And He answered and said to them, "What did Moses command you?" 4 They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce(apostasion), and to dismiss(apoluo, i.e., let them leave, is correct..) her." 5 And Jesus answered and said to them, "Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. 6 But from the beginning of the creation, God 'made them male and female.' 7 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh'; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." 10 In the house His disciples also asked Him again about the same matter. 11 So He said to them, "Whoever divorces(apoluo, i.e., let them leave, is correct..) his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. 12 And if a woman divorces(apoluo, breaking up) her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."
Luke 16:18 Whoever divorces(apoluo, i.e., let them leave, is correct..) his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced(apoluo, set free) from her husband commits adultery.

Jesus is the one who established and fulfilled the law, not abrogated it. (Matthew 5:17) The Jews were separating their wives apoluo, without giving them a divorce decree. (Matthew 5:17) The Jews were issuing divorce decrees and abusing them without any valid grounds. Thus, a man and a woman who separated from their spouses without a formal divorce decree would commit adultery if they remarried without a valid reason. According to the Old Testament law, adultery was, in principle, punishable by death. Jesus quoted this law to allow separation without the need for a divorce decree only in cases of confirmed adultery and fault on the part of the other party. It would also be customary to issue a divorce decree in accordance with the instructions in Deuteronomy 24. 

The Pharisees and Jews, just like today, when they didn't like something trivial, easily left the womenfolk forsaken without issuing a formal divorce decree or by issuing a fraudulent divorce decree with an unjustified reason. So Jesus harshly condemned these wicked men, saying, "You are committing the sin of adultery, and you are also causing the women you leave to sin, too."

By the way, if a woman who is separated and abandoned for an unjust reason remarries, is it adultery and should she be punished? Consider the case of David and Bathsheba. Bathsheba had relations with David while her husband Uriah was still alive, but Nathan the prophet blamed David's unjust actions, mainly murder, causing the death of the first baby of David's blood that Bathsheba was carrying. Interestingly, Bathsheba, who had relations with David during her husband's lifetime, was not blamed by Nathan, but was treated as innocent, being described metaphorically as a lamb. (2 Samuel 12:1-4)

King Solomon proposed to the daughter of Shulam, but the daughter of Shulam, who had a fiancée to be married to, flatly refused. (Song of Solomon 1:2-4, 7) Unlike the daughter of Shulam, Bathsheba may not have felt bad about David's pressure to have a relationship with her. Nevertheless, the death of the baby with Bathsheba, who was of David's blood, was to atone for David's murder of Uriah, not for Bathsheba's adultery. In light of this, it can be said that if even Bathsheba, who entered into a relationship with David during Uriah's lifetime, is not subject to judgment, then it cannot be a punishable offense for a woman who was unjustly abandoned and remarries.

Jesus is saying that if you kick someone out and trample on them unjustly through no fault of theirs for a minor incident or deterioration in their appearance, and then find a new partner, you are committing adultery. He is not saying that you should stay married to your partner even if he/she continues to abuse you or neglect you physically and mentally, but that you should file for divorce or, depending on the situation, even if you don't get a certificate of divorce, you should still be able to end the unjust suffering of your marriage, as per the law established by Yahuwah in Exodus 21:7-14 and Deuteronomy 21:10-14. You can end your unjust suffering and have the opportunity to remarry.

Exodus 21:7 "And if a man sells his daughter to be a female slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. 8 If she does not please her master, who has betrothed her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her. 9 And if he has betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters. 10 If he takes another wife, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marriage rights. 11 And if he does not do these three for her, then she shall go out free, without paying money(The Hebrew word for leave is yasa, and " free of charge" is henna, meaning "without condition, without anything", i.e., you can dissolve a marriage relationship with a vicious husband who does not meet your needs, in some cases even without a divorce deed. (In the Septuangi translation, exerchomai means "to come out unconditionally.").

Deuteronomy 21:10 "When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers them into your hand, and you take them captive, 11 and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and desire her and would take her for your wife, 12 then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails. 13 She shall put off the clothes of her captivity, remain in your house, and mourn her father and her mother a full month; after that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. 14 And it shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall set her free(In Hebrew, shalach nefesh, ie, "she decides as per herwill."Septuangi transliterated Greek: exerchomai), but you certainly shall not sell her for money; you shall not treat her brutally, because you have humbled her.

The watchtower, however, lies and compels us to believe that a woman cannot remarry another man after divorce unless her husband is unfaithful. That is a false interpretation that ignores the context of the Torah and emphasizes only one sentence. 

In Exodus 21:11 above, it says that if the woman's side is treated unfavorably, she can leave unconditionally. Deuteronomy 21:14 even says to "let them leave at will" if they don't like it. The combination of the original languages shows the use of unique words, and this is a matter before the mere shalach or apoluo presented to Jesus by the Pharisees. In other words, the failure to meet the need for companionship is out of the question and the marriage relationship can be dissolved at will on the part of the victim, both legally and from Jesus' perspective.

What is being talked about in this case is whether a Pharisee can apoluo just because he has fallen out of favor with his wife while treating her unfairly and without fault or relatives on the other side. The Pharisee is not trying Jesus by citing a reasonable solution that was agreed upon by God, which is the norm according to the Torah that the woman has the right to aphistemi, or formal divorce, because her needs are not being met on her part. If you ask such a commonplace question, you will hear Jesus say, "The wives whose needs were not met by the law will be aphistemi with you. And your sins that afflicted them will remain." And the conversation ends with a reply.

This means that the marriage was no longer valid at all, so even if the man's side does not agree to seal the divorce deed, the Torah of Moses says "unconditionally," so the woman is then free to marry again. However, because he treated the woman's side unfairly and threw her away, if she remarried another man, it was considered as inevitable although it was adultery in principle because a married couple should be blessed as one, and the Pharisee's side should bear the burden to the extent that the side that was abandoned and then remarried was not punished by God, with the reply like the one above. The Pharisee is to be severely warned.

Scripture presents a nasty question to test Jesus, and it is clear that Jesus strongly emphasized the marriage bond in order to admonish the Pharisees for their unjustified reasoning in issuing and abusing divorce certificates, or the apoluo folly of letting a mate leave without a divorce certificate. This is not an argument on the part of women who are oppressed by men to exerchomai, aphistemi, exapostellō , that is, free to leave unconditionally, but an admonition against the unjust treatment and apolooo of vicious, weak, and abusive Pharisees.

John 4:16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." 17 The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,' 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."

Jesus did not condemn the Samaritan woman for being in adulterous relationships with her five past husbands through numerous marriages and divorces; the reason why the Samaritan woman, who had five husbands in the past, left those men is not revealed. She may have been treated unfairly by her past husbands and formally divorced them, or she herself committed adultery on each occasion and her husbands were no longer in love with her. Jesus is not condemning her for dating men without a formal marriage in the present situation as adultery, but He is saying, "you used to have five husbands in the past, but now they are not my husbands, and the man you are dating is not your husband."

Let me rephrase this in a harsh way: He does not say, "You had one husband, but then you committed adultery with five others." In other words, He is acknowledging that an apoluo or aposthesion is established with each and every one of the husbands. If she is in a good relationship with the man she is dating and has settled down and is officially married, Jesus says, "You had five husbands in the past. Now you have finally found a good mate." He would have congratulated her on her sixth marriage.

Repeated relationships, separations, marriages, adulteries, and divorces would be a tremendous expenditure of physical and mental energy, and biblically immoral, but the point is that if it has passed, it can't be helped, and Jesus is not saying that we should repent by making another public apology to the five past husbands or the current person we are in a relationship with. Jesus is not saying that she should leave current partner because she is committing adultery. The past is past and cannot be resolved, so he is saying, as in verse 13, "Drink of the water of life that is Jesus and be refreshed instead of sexual relations between a man and a woman," and since her relationship with the man she is currently dating is vague and there seems to be no prospect of a good marriage in the future, jesus is giving positive advice to switch her perspective to lasting spiritual blessings instead of the physical pleasures that make us hungry and dry up.

Summary.

  • If they are unable to share in the responsibilities of marriage, which include harming each other and not providing each other with the necessities of life, then it is not a sin to file for formal divorce and remarriage is permitted (Exodus 21:7-14; Deuteronomy 21:10-14). 

  • The word translated divorce in Malachi 2:16 is not kerithuth , which means a formal divorce, but shalach, "an unjust separation without a divorce deed," referring mainly to the folly of the men's neglect of the women's body and soul that made them leave them.

  • God also divorces the people of Israel. Divorce can be on a case-by-case basis. If the divorce is filed for good cause, mental and physical neglect, it means the end of the marriage, and it is not a sin to remarry, and the original language used in the passages where the woman who has been wronged dissolves the marriage differs from the apoluo by the Pharisees.

  • If you have been divorced in the past for an unjust reason and now realize your mistake, let's do what 1 John 1:19 says, "If you confess your sins to God, he is faithful and will forgive you for all your unrighteousness". If you are in a relationship with a partner, you should be serious about that person and have a serious relationship on the premise of marriage. (It is preferable to get married after having premarital sex.
*Believers belonging to the " Watchtower Society" fail to understand the intent of Jesus' words and believe that "one cannot divorce except by immorality and remarry would be adultery," and encourage the continuation of marriage even in cases of abuse and neglect by one's spouse. But that is a weird interpretation that ignores the context and the Law of Moses as written up above. Cited here

About Me

My name is JP. Please use this as a reference for yourselves. As an ex-Jehovah's Witness, I will post the results of my thorough research from an original language perspective.

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