Observant Believers consider the Shema (a liturgical prayer to listen, hear and do), to be the most important part of the prayer service.
Deut. 6:5-9; Mark 12:29-30
The Shema, which begins with the famous verse Listen Israel,The L-rd is G-d, the
L-rd is One! is not a prayer. It is the Believers Pledge of Allegiance, a testimony to His Oneness. Knowing that G-d is One is of primary importance, since the entire religion is based on this principle.
The Shema is a declaration that all the events that happen to us are from the One, the only One. At the and of days we will come to understood how even how the "bad times" was actually for the "good," even though now it is hard to tell.
The chance to say the Shema twice a day, once in the morning prayers and once in the evening prayers, is a way for us to engrain this belief upon us, to keep this idea, so to speak, on our fingertips. Having this belief readily at hand helps a person fulfill another verse from the Shema: And you shall LOVE the Lord your G-d, with all YOUR HEART, with all YOUR SOUL, and with all your resources. What does it mean to love him with all your heart? The Talmud explains that the word "heart" is metaphorical for "desires." Your desires for necessities like bread, water, clothing, and shelter, to make your body stronger to learn and do G-d's Torah!
Love G-d with all your soul, what the Sages did have in mind was that one should love G-d so much, that he would even be willing to give up his life for G-d.
And I will teach them diligently unto my children, and will talk of them when I sit in my house, and when I walk by the way, and when I lie down, and when I rise up.
Whoever fears G-d will endeavor to bring up his children in the way of righteousness, that they also may fear G-d, and that pure and undefiled religion may be preserved in his family through all its generations, not only in word, but in practice also.
You shall begin and end the day with G-d, and thus religion will be the great business of your life. O how good are these sayings, but how little regarded!
You shall bind them for a sign upon your hand
When a person wishes to remember a thing of importance, and is afraid to trust to the common operations of memory, he ties a cord on his hand or finger, or places something out of its usual order, and in view, that his memory may be brought to recollection and his eye affect his heart. G-d, who knows how slow of heart we are to understand, graciously orders us to make use of every help, and through the means of things sensible, to rise to things spiritual.
And I will write them upon the posts of my house, and on my gates.
Always before my eyes, in my coming and going.
I will fear the L-rd my G-d, and serve Him and will swear by His name. I will diligently keep the commandments of the L-rd my G-d, and His testimonies, and His statutes, which He has commanded me. And I will do that which is right and good in the sight of the L-rd: that it may be well with me.
The blessing that follows begins with the declaration "True, firm, established, obligatory, proper, lasting, satisfactory, favored, agreeable, pleasing, respected, revered, fit, accepted, good, and valid is this word" (this obligation that we have just recited). Many of the adjectives in this declaration are legal terms used in validating legal agreements. We give the recitation of the Shema the force of an oath, meaning: We solemnly affirm that the obligation we have just recited is valid and binding on us in every way. This makes of the Shema a daily affirmation of allegiance to G-d and to the covenant obligations that allegiance entails.
6:10 …to give you great and goodly cities, which you build not
6:11 ….And houses full of all good things, which you filled not, and wells dig, which you dig not, vineyards and olive trees, which you planted not; when you shall have eaten and be full
6:18 And you shall do that which is right and good in the sight of the L-RD: that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land which the L-RD sward unto your fathers
6:19 To cast out all your enemies from before you…
Isa. 54: 17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper
Deut. 6:22 And the L-rd showed signs and wonders….before our eyes.
We usually fail to appreciate the danger of success and prosperity; we agree there is a theoretical danger in those things, but rarely think it applies to us. In a day of prosperity, we are in great danger of forgetting G-d, our dependence upon Him, our need of Him, and our obligations to Him. When the world smiles we are apt to make our court to it, and expect our happiness in it, and so we forget Him that He is our only portion and rest. When your latter end has greatly increased, remember the smallness of your beginnings. No change of condition will cure a disposition of murmur and fret.
Would you not like to have cities, you did not built to proclaim for the L-rd?
Houses filled with good things that you did not buy?
Water supplied that you did not have to work for?
Food you did not have to plant, yet you have eaten and are full?
Are you ready to possess a good land for the glory of His Kingdom?
Would you not want to see signs and wonders preformed before your own eyes?
When we obey, we will be blessed; when we disobey, we will be cursed. There are the natural consequences of our disobedience, which G-d has not promised to shield us from.
Showing posts with label Deuteronomy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deuteronomy. Show all posts
Blessings of the Obedient
Deut. 28
[1] And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
[2] And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
[3] Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.
[4] Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
[5] Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.
[6] Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
[7] The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.
[Flee before thee seven ways - that is, in various directions, as always happens in a rout.]
[8] The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
[9] The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. (611 oral Law)
[10] And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.
[11] And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
[12] The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.
[13] And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be
above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:
[14] And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
G-d shall pour out His blessing from heaven upon you. If you run in the way of
G-d's testimonies, you shall have an abundance of blessing. Blessings shall come upon you, and blessings shall overtake you-in every part of your march through life. You shall continue to receive the fulfillment of the various promises of G-d which relate to all circumstances, vicissitudes, trials, stages of life, overtaking you in the time and place where most needed.
1. In all civil employments, in the field-in all agricultural pursuits.
2. All your children, increase of your kine, every animal employed in domestic and agricultural purposes shall be under the especial protection of Divine Providence.
3. Your vintage, as the basket was employed to collect those fruits, all that is laid up for future use, as well as what is prepared for present consumption.
4. Personal safety in your going out and in your return from your employment, you shall find that no evil has happened to the family or dwelling in your absence. You way shall be made prosperous before you, and you shall have the Divine blessing in all your labors.
5. A promise of security from foreign invasion, or total discomfiture of the invaders, should they enter the land. They shall come against you one-way-in the firmest and most united manner. And flee seven ways-shall be utterly broken, confounded, and finally routed.
6. Every thing that you have shall come by Divine appointment; you shall have nothing casually, but every thing, both spiritual and temporal, shall come by the immediate command of G-d.
7. This is the sum of all blessings, to be made holy, and be preserved in holiness. Here is the solemn condition; if you did not keep G-d's testimonies, taking them for the regulators of your life, and according to their direction walking in His ways, under the influence and aids of His grace, then the curses, and not the blessings, must be your portion.
The way of obedience is a straight way; it goes right forward; if you step either to right or left from this path you will not miss heaven!
[1] And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
[2] And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
[3] Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.
[4] Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
[5] Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.
[6] Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
[7] The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.
[Flee before thee seven ways - that is, in various directions, as always happens in a rout.]
[8] The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
[9] The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. (611 oral Law)
[10] And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.
[11] And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
[12] The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.
[13] And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be
above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:
[14] And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
G-d shall pour out His blessing from heaven upon you. If you run in the way of
G-d's testimonies, you shall have an abundance of blessing. Blessings shall come upon you, and blessings shall overtake you-in every part of your march through life. You shall continue to receive the fulfillment of the various promises of G-d which relate to all circumstances, vicissitudes, trials, stages of life, overtaking you in the time and place where most needed.
1. In all civil employments, in the field-in all agricultural pursuits.
2. All your children, increase of your kine, every animal employed in domestic and agricultural purposes shall be under the especial protection of Divine Providence.
3. Your vintage, as the basket was employed to collect those fruits, all that is laid up for future use, as well as what is prepared for present consumption.
4. Personal safety in your going out and in your return from your employment, you shall find that no evil has happened to the family or dwelling in your absence. You way shall be made prosperous before you, and you shall have the Divine blessing in all your labors.
5. A promise of security from foreign invasion, or total discomfiture of the invaders, should they enter the land. They shall come against you one-way-in the firmest and most united manner. And flee seven ways-shall be utterly broken, confounded, and finally routed.
6. Every thing that you have shall come by Divine appointment; you shall have nothing casually, but every thing, both spiritual and temporal, shall come by the immediate command of G-d.
7. This is the sum of all blessings, to be made holy, and be preserved in holiness. Here is the solemn condition; if you did not keep G-d's testimonies, taking them for the regulators of your life, and according to their direction walking in His ways, under the influence and aids of His grace, then the curses, and not the blessings, must be your portion.
The way of obedience is a straight way; it goes right forward; if you step either to right or left from this path you will not miss heaven!
Shaking in the Making
[Deut. 8:8]A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey.
Study with Perry Stone:
Fruit Harvest Method
1. Barley April Winnowing ‘Sickle’
2. Wheat May Threshing ‘Sickle’
3. Grapes June-September By Hand ‘cut’
4. Pomegranates August-September By Hand ‘separated from the tree’
5. Figs August-September By Hand
6. Olive September-November By Shaking
7. Honey Summer-Fall By Hand
Matthew 13:39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
End of the ‘world’ is translated to be the end of age of man’s dispensation.
There was the early rain was to repair the ground and a latter rain to water the seed to grow to maturity and prepare it for the time of the harvest.
In the New Covenant the out pouring is liken on to the Holy Spirit. Without the out pouring of the Holy Spirit the seeds are going to die. If our churches do not have and outpouring of the Holy Spirit they die within drying up, lacking the life of G-d’s Spirit.
James 5:7-8 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
The olives have to be ‘shaken’ off the tree and press to produce oil. It is our ‘pressing’ that we receive our ‘anointing’. If it stays on the tree it serves no purpose. Have you been pressed and received an anointing or just hanging on to ‘comfort’ going no-where?
The first pressing of the olives produces. The second pressing is called in the ‘Rapture’ the over-comers are the ‘extra virgin oil’; well the 14000 Jews are the ‘virgin oil’.
There is no such thing as passing on ‘your’ anointing, for others have not been pressed in the same tribulations as you had walked through, (paid your price).
There are many ministries ‘called of G-d’ that are not of G-d.
Matt. 15:13 Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.
There is a shaking in the making! If you feel like you have been shaken it is from G-d. He is shaking off things that are not of Him that what is will grow to maturity. Giving the anointing that will break the yoke off of His people.
Study with Perry Stone:
Fruit Harvest Method
1. Barley April Winnowing ‘Sickle’
2. Wheat May Threshing ‘Sickle’
3. Grapes June-September By Hand ‘cut’
4. Pomegranates August-September By Hand ‘separated from the tree’
5. Figs August-September By Hand
6. Olive September-November By Shaking
7. Honey Summer-Fall By Hand
Matthew 13:39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
End of the ‘world’ is translated to be the end of age of man’s dispensation.
There was the early rain was to repair the ground and a latter rain to water the seed to grow to maturity and prepare it for the time of the harvest.
In the New Covenant the out pouring is liken on to the Holy Spirit. Without the out pouring of the Holy Spirit the seeds are going to die. If our churches do not have and outpouring of the Holy Spirit they die within drying up, lacking the life of G-d’s Spirit.
James 5:7-8 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
The olives have to be ‘shaken’ off the tree and press to produce oil. It is our ‘pressing’ that we receive our ‘anointing’. If it stays on the tree it serves no purpose. Have you been pressed and received an anointing or just hanging on to ‘comfort’ going no-where?
The first pressing of the olives produces. The second pressing is called in the ‘Rapture’ the over-comers are the ‘extra virgin oil’; well the 14000 Jews are the ‘virgin oil’.
There is no such thing as passing on ‘your’ anointing, for others have not been pressed in the same tribulations as you had walked through, (paid your price).
There are many ministries ‘called of G-d’ that are not of G-d.
Matt. 15:13 Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.
There is a shaking in the making! If you feel like you have been shaken it is from G-d. He is shaking off things that are not of Him that what is will grow to maturity. Giving the anointing that will break the yoke off of His people.
Divorcement
[Deut. 24:1] When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
[She find no favour in his eyes - It appears that the practice of divorces was at this early period very widespread amongst the Israelites, who had in all probability become familiar with it in Egypt. The usage, being too deep-rooted to be soon or easily abolished, was tolerated by Moses (Matt. 19:8). But it was accompanied under the law with two conditions, which were calculated greatly to prevent the evils incident to the permitted system; namely:
(1) The act of divorcement was to be certified on a written document, the preparation of which, with legal formality, would afford time for reflection and repentance; and
(2) In the event of the divorced wife being married to another husband, she could not, on the termination of that second marriage, be restored to her first husband, however desirous he might be to receive her.]
[2] And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife.
[3] And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;
[Positive Law # 579 it was a command of the L-rd for a man who divorced his wife to do so in accordance with the Torah by giving her a bill of written divorce. This is called a get and is described in great detail in ancient and modern Jewish writings in the section tractate known as Gittin. This must be done in the presence of two witnesses. In ancient times only the man could divorce the woman. In such cases the woman could go before the Bet Din and the judges would force the man to give her a divorce in cases where she was deserving of the divorce. Around the third century C.E. women were given the right to originate the divorce.
Although there are several biblical reasons for divorce, few people investigate them. The simplest rule is that a divorce is only biblical when the circumstances of living with an individual cause one to break any of the 613 commands while living together. The most obvious of these would include such sins as incest or continued physical abuse by one partner, where a divorce would obviously be the better choice.]
[4] Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the L-RD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the L-RD thy G-d giveth thee for an inheritance.
[Negative Law # 580 it was forbidden for a man to remarry an ex-wife, it she had remarried and was divorced or widowed. The penalty for this was lashes. The woman who divorced and remarried in ancient times, because their customs were different, was considered defiled as far as her former husband was concerned, but not toward her new husband. The word defiled as used here refers to that which was in that day illegal.]
[Matt. 5:3] The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
[The definition of the term sin (transgressions) is the breaking of one of the 613 Laws of G-d (1 Jn. 3:4). This text was not a general statement on divorce and should accurately be used to teach on the subject, from the school of Hallel and Shammai. Hallel believed in any reason was the Shammai said only if unclean. But they argued what was unclean – just because they weren’t pretty enough. Y’Shua is giving them a balance between the two. Although divorce was not G-d’s best, it was not a sin either. The popular reference in Malachi 2:16 – is not a general statement concerning divorce, but speaking out against a pacific type of divorce.
G-d hates divorce is not in the original, and does not line up with any other text. In the original it said “if he hates her, than put her away). Like Jeremiah 3:8. Deuteronomy 24 – was written for two reasons:
(1.)The woman’s security from not being taken care of, and being killed.
(2.)The license to remarry: In the first century if the husband was taken captive and the wife had no way of support she could remarry. Then if he escapes and comes home, she was obligated to go back to the first husband even if she had kids with the second. Not all husbands were good to another man’s children. The only reason then to divorce was to remarry. The reason the people in Ezra 10 were commanded to divorce was because the women were causing the men to transgress several other of the 613 Laws. During the time of Henry the 8th, he keep killing his wife’s off, out of this the church of Episcopal evolved out of the controversy about divorce allowing him to divorce and remarry one to give him an heir to the throne.]
[7] They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
[Why – for breaking any of the 613 Laws constantly. The people were killing their mates in the first century to remarry pagan women. Even Solomon built temples to his heathen wives. The laws of the land said to say verbally “divorce divorce divorce” to put the wife away, then if she remarried she was put to death but not the new husband. Y’Shua was making it safe and secure for the woman by putting it in writing. To divorce and remarry the same man was forbidden in abusive situation.]
[31]It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:
[32] But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
[Putting away and divorce are different Hebrew and Greek words:
1. Apollo = putting away (sent away).
2. Greek, apostasion = divorce (written document).
Kerithuth –Hebrew, divorce found four times: Deut. 24:1, 3; Isa. 51:1; Jer. 3:8 and Mat. 5:32.
Apoluotasis = putting away by law. According to the laws of the pagan world in the O.T. and the Greco-Roman world of the N.T. one could divorce another by simply putting away the wife leaving with her the Dailey. The difference in G-d’s Law is that it requires a margin of error giving a legal document so she’d be taken care of and remarries.
This verse should read = “whosoever shall marry her that is put away commits adultery.” The Jewish phrase that Y’Shua used = except for the cause of fornication goes back to the Law in Deut. 22:13-19. Perfecting the virgin who was wrongfully accused, she had to be a virgin. The sheets of the first night of marriage were called the token of her virginity (Deut. 22:13-19). She was to fold them up and keep them as evidence of her virginity. According to the Scriptures divorce is not a sin, but it is not the will of G-d (Deut. 24:1-2; Mark 10:2).
A woman could get a divorce for: a man not meeting her sexual needs by refusing, impotent, sexual disease, a tanner (collecting dog manure) Acts 10:32 unfaithful, and cruel to her.]
[19:9] And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
[The idea was fornication was only biblical reason for divorce came from a lack of understanding of the Jewish Law found in Deut. 24:1-3. A man that was paying for a virgin would take the sheets to the judges to prove she was not a virgin. If she was a virgin it was the custom of the wife to give her mother the sheets for safekeeping, incase she was ever excused.]
[Mk. 10:11] And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.
[It is adultery against the wife he puts away, a wrong to her, and a breach of his contract with her.
Y’Shua was asked to give a ruling on a point of Law that was debated in the Jewish schools. In Deuteronomy 24:1-4 there is a Law which says in effect, ‘When a man divorces his wife because he has found ‘some indecency’ in her, and she is then married to someone else who divorcers her in his turn, her former husband may not take her back to be his wife again.’ This Law, forbidding a man who has divorced his wife to marry her again after she has lived with a second husband, does not lay down the procedure for divorce; it assumes this procedure as already in being.
The interpreters of the Law around the time of our L-rd, who were concerned not only with deciding what it meant but with applying it to contemporary life were asking: might be indicated by this ‘indecency’ or unseemliness which justified a man in divorcing his wife?
There were two main schools of thought: one that interpreted it stringently, another that interpreted it more broadly. The former school, which followed the direction of Shammai, a leading rabbi who lived a generation or so before Y’Shua, said that a man was authorized to divorce his wife if he married her on the understanding that she was a virgin and then discovered that she was not. There was, in fact, an enactment covering this eventuality in the Law of Deut. 22:13-21, and the consequences could be very serious for the bride if the evidence was interpreted to mean that she had had illicit sexual relations before marriage. This, then, was one school’s understanding of ‘some indecency.’
The other school, following he lead of Shammai’s contemporary Hillel, held that ‘some indecency’ might include more or less anything, which her husband found offensive. She could cease to ‘find favour in his eyes’ for a variety of reasons – if she served up badly cooked food, for example, or even because he found her less beautiful than some other women. It should be emphasized that the rabbis who gave these ‘liberal’ interpretations were not moved by a desire to make divorce easy: they were concerned to state what they believed to be the meaning of a particular scripture.
It was against this background that Y’Shua was invited to say what He thought. In Matthew’s 19:3, account of the incident, they asked Him, ‘Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause? If His answer was ‘Yes,’ they would want to know for what cause or causes, in His judgment, divorce was permissible. He gave them His answer and then, in private, expanded it for the benefit of His disciples who had heard it.
He bypassed the traditional interpretation of the rabbinical schools and appealed to the scriptures, ‘What did Moses command you?’ (Deut. 24:1-4) Because of the hardness of your heart that Moses allowed divorce. As with the Sabbath Law so with the marriage Law, He went back to first principles. ‘From the beginning of creation G-d made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one.’ So they are no longer two but one. What therefore G-d has joined together, let not man put asunder in 10:2-9. Nan is not given any authority to modify that ordinance.
Y’Shua reminds them of the biblical account of the institution of marriage. The marriage Law must conform with the purpose for which marriage was instituted by G-d. It was instituted to create a new unity of two persons, and no provision was made for the dissolving of that unity. Y’Shua does not idealize marriage. He does not say that every marriage is made in heaven; He says that marriage itself is made in heaven that is instituted by G-d. To the question, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife the answer is No; not for any cause.
There is a feature of Y’Shua’s answer to the Pharisees, which could easily be overlooked. The stringent interpretation of the school of Shammai and the liberal interpretation of the school of Hillel were both given from the husband’s point of view. In the stringent interpretation it was the bride’s virginity that had to be above suspicion; the bridegroom’s chastity before marriage did not enter into the picture. As for the liberal interpretation, it was liberal in the husband’s interest, in that it permitted him to divorce his wife for a variety of reasons; so far as the wife’s interest was concerned, it was most illiberal, for she had little opportunity of redress if her husband decided to divorce her within the meaning of the Law as liberally interpreted. What was true of these interpretations was true of the original legislation, which they undertook to expound: it was because of the hardness of men’s hearts that divorce was conceded. The Law was unequally balanced to the disadvantage of women, and Y’Shua’s ruling, with its appeal to the Creator’s intention, had the effect of redressing the unequal balance. It is not surprising that women regularly recognized in Y’Shua one who was their friend and champion.]
[12] And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she
committeth adultery.
[Matthew 19:1-12 and Luke 9:51. Elope from him, leave him by consent; to marry another, she commits adultery.
This is a situation not contemplated in the OT Law, which made no provision for a wife to divorce her husband and marry another man. It has therefore been thought that this second statement is a corollary added to Y’Shua’s original ruling when Messianic had made its way into the Gentile World. In a number of Gentile law-codes it was possible for a wife to initiate divorce proceedings, as it was not under Jewish Law. But at the time when Y’Shua spoke there was a recent cause cerebra in His own country, to which He could well have referred.
Less than ten years before, Herodias, a granddaughter of Herod the Great, who had been married to her uncle Herod Philip and lived with him in Rome, fell in love with another uncle, Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, when he paid a visit to Rome. In order to marry Antipas she divorced her first husband. She did so under Roman law, since she was a Roman citizen. For a women to marry her uncle was not a breach of Jewish Law, as it was commonly interpreted at that time, but it was certainly a breach of Jewish Law for her to marry her husband’s brother. Herod Antipas imprisoned John the Baptist for insisting that it was unlawful for him to be married to his brother’s wife. Y’Shua named no names, but any reference at that time, either in Galilee or in Perea, to a woman divorcing her husband and marrying someone else was bound to make hearers think of Herodias. If the suggestion that she was living in adultery came to her ears, Y’Shua would incur her mortal resentment as surely as John the Baptist had done.
In Matthew’s 19:9 version of this interchange, Y’Shua’s ruling is amplified by the addition of a few words: ‘except for unchastely’. The same exception appears in another occurrence of His ruling in this Gospel, in the Sermon on the Mount, also appears in Luke 16:18.]
[She find no favour in his eyes - It appears that the practice of divorces was at this early period very widespread amongst the Israelites, who had in all probability become familiar with it in Egypt. The usage, being too deep-rooted to be soon or easily abolished, was tolerated by Moses (Matt. 19:8). But it was accompanied under the law with two conditions, which were calculated greatly to prevent the evils incident to the permitted system; namely:
(1) The act of divorcement was to be certified on a written document, the preparation of which, with legal formality, would afford time for reflection and repentance; and
(2) In the event of the divorced wife being married to another husband, she could not, on the termination of that second marriage, be restored to her first husband, however desirous he might be to receive her.]
[2] And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife.
[3] And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;
[Positive Law # 579 it was a command of the L-rd for a man who divorced his wife to do so in accordance with the Torah by giving her a bill of written divorce. This is called a get and is described in great detail in ancient and modern Jewish writings in the section tractate known as Gittin. This must be done in the presence of two witnesses. In ancient times only the man could divorce the woman. In such cases the woman could go before the Bet Din and the judges would force the man to give her a divorce in cases where she was deserving of the divorce. Around the third century C.E. women were given the right to originate the divorce.
Although there are several biblical reasons for divorce, few people investigate them. The simplest rule is that a divorce is only biblical when the circumstances of living with an individual cause one to break any of the 613 commands while living together. The most obvious of these would include such sins as incest or continued physical abuse by one partner, where a divorce would obviously be the better choice.]
[4] Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the L-RD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the L-RD thy G-d giveth thee for an inheritance.
[Negative Law # 580 it was forbidden for a man to remarry an ex-wife, it she had remarried and was divorced or widowed. The penalty for this was lashes. The woman who divorced and remarried in ancient times, because their customs were different, was considered defiled as far as her former husband was concerned, but not toward her new husband. The word defiled as used here refers to that which was in that day illegal.]
[Matt. 5:3] The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
[The definition of the term sin (transgressions) is the breaking of one of the 613 Laws of G-d (1 Jn. 3:4). This text was not a general statement on divorce and should accurately be used to teach on the subject, from the school of Hallel and Shammai. Hallel believed in any reason was the Shammai said only if unclean. But they argued what was unclean – just because they weren’t pretty enough. Y’Shua is giving them a balance between the two. Although divorce was not G-d’s best, it was not a sin either. The popular reference in Malachi 2:16 – is not a general statement concerning divorce, but speaking out against a pacific type of divorce.
G-d hates divorce is not in the original, and does not line up with any other text. In the original it said “if he hates her, than put her away). Like Jeremiah 3:8. Deuteronomy 24 – was written for two reasons:
(1.)The woman’s security from not being taken care of, and being killed.
(2.)The license to remarry: In the first century if the husband was taken captive and the wife had no way of support she could remarry. Then if he escapes and comes home, she was obligated to go back to the first husband even if she had kids with the second. Not all husbands were good to another man’s children. The only reason then to divorce was to remarry. The reason the people in Ezra 10 were commanded to divorce was because the women were causing the men to transgress several other of the 613 Laws. During the time of Henry the 8th, he keep killing his wife’s off, out of this the church of Episcopal evolved out of the controversy about divorce allowing him to divorce and remarry one to give him an heir to the throne.]
[7] They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
[Why – for breaking any of the 613 Laws constantly. The people were killing their mates in the first century to remarry pagan women. Even Solomon built temples to his heathen wives. The laws of the land said to say verbally “divorce divorce divorce” to put the wife away, then if she remarried she was put to death but not the new husband. Y’Shua was making it safe and secure for the woman by putting it in writing. To divorce and remarry the same man was forbidden in abusive situation.]
[31]It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:
[32] But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
[Putting away and divorce are different Hebrew and Greek words:
1. Apollo = putting away (sent away).
2. Greek, apostasion = divorce (written document).
Kerithuth –Hebrew, divorce found four times: Deut. 24:1, 3; Isa. 51:1; Jer. 3:8 and Mat. 5:32.
Apoluotasis = putting away by law. According to the laws of the pagan world in the O.T. and the Greco-Roman world of the N.T. one could divorce another by simply putting away the wife leaving with her the Dailey. The difference in G-d’s Law is that it requires a margin of error giving a legal document so she’d be taken care of and remarries.
This verse should read = “whosoever shall marry her that is put away commits adultery.” The Jewish phrase that Y’Shua used = except for the cause of fornication goes back to the Law in Deut. 22:13-19. Perfecting the virgin who was wrongfully accused, she had to be a virgin. The sheets of the first night of marriage were called the token of her virginity (Deut. 22:13-19). She was to fold them up and keep them as evidence of her virginity. According to the Scriptures divorce is not a sin, but it is not the will of G-d (Deut. 24:1-2; Mark 10:2).
A woman could get a divorce for: a man not meeting her sexual needs by refusing, impotent, sexual disease, a tanner (collecting dog manure) Acts 10:32 unfaithful, and cruel to her.]
[19:9] And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
[The idea was fornication was only biblical reason for divorce came from a lack of understanding of the Jewish Law found in Deut. 24:1-3. A man that was paying for a virgin would take the sheets to the judges to prove she was not a virgin. If she was a virgin it was the custom of the wife to give her mother the sheets for safekeeping, incase she was ever excused.]
[Mk. 10:11] And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.
[It is adultery against the wife he puts away, a wrong to her, and a breach of his contract with her.
Y’Shua was asked to give a ruling on a point of Law that was debated in the Jewish schools. In Deuteronomy 24:1-4 there is a Law which says in effect, ‘When a man divorces his wife because he has found ‘some indecency’ in her, and she is then married to someone else who divorcers her in his turn, her former husband may not take her back to be his wife again.’ This Law, forbidding a man who has divorced his wife to marry her again after she has lived with a second husband, does not lay down the procedure for divorce; it assumes this procedure as already in being.
The interpreters of the Law around the time of our L-rd, who were concerned not only with deciding what it meant but with applying it to contemporary life were asking: might be indicated by this ‘indecency’ or unseemliness which justified a man in divorcing his wife?
There were two main schools of thought: one that interpreted it stringently, another that interpreted it more broadly. The former school, which followed the direction of Shammai, a leading rabbi who lived a generation or so before Y’Shua, said that a man was authorized to divorce his wife if he married her on the understanding that she was a virgin and then discovered that she was not. There was, in fact, an enactment covering this eventuality in the Law of Deut. 22:13-21, and the consequences could be very serious for the bride if the evidence was interpreted to mean that she had had illicit sexual relations before marriage. This, then, was one school’s understanding of ‘some indecency.’
The other school, following he lead of Shammai’s contemporary Hillel, held that ‘some indecency’ might include more or less anything, which her husband found offensive. She could cease to ‘find favour in his eyes’ for a variety of reasons – if she served up badly cooked food, for example, or even because he found her less beautiful than some other women. It should be emphasized that the rabbis who gave these ‘liberal’ interpretations were not moved by a desire to make divorce easy: they were concerned to state what they believed to be the meaning of a particular scripture.
It was against this background that Y’Shua was invited to say what He thought. In Matthew’s 19:3, account of the incident, they asked Him, ‘Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause? If His answer was ‘Yes,’ they would want to know for what cause or causes, in His judgment, divorce was permissible. He gave them His answer and then, in private, expanded it for the benefit of His disciples who had heard it.
He bypassed the traditional interpretation of the rabbinical schools and appealed to the scriptures, ‘What did Moses command you?’ (Deut. 24:1-4) Because of the hardness of your heart that Moses allowed divorce. As with the Sabbath Law so with the marriage Law, He went back to first principles. ‘From the beginning of creation G-d made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one.’ So they are no longer two but one. What therefore G-d has joined together, let not man put asunder in 10:2-9. Nan is not given any authority to modify that ordinance.
Y’Shua reminds them of the biblical account of the institution of marriage. The marriage Law must conform with the purpose for which marriage was instituted by G-d. It was instituted to create a new unity of two persons, and no provision was made for the dissolving of that unity. Y’Shua does not idealize marriage. He does not say that every marriage is made in heaven; He says that marriage itself is made in heaven that is instituted by G-d. To the question, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife the answer is No; not for any cause.
There is a feature of Y’Shua’s answer to the Pharisees, which could easily be overlooked. The stringent interpretation of the school of Shammai and the liberal interpretation of the school of Hillel were both given from the husband’s point of view. In the stringent interpretation it was the bride’s virginity that had to be above suspicion; the bridegroom’s chastity before marriage did not enter into the picture. As for the liberal interpretation, it was liberal in the husband’s interest, in that it permitted him to divorce his wife for a variety of reasons; so far as the wife’s interest was concerned, it was most illiberal, for she had little opportunity of redress if her husband decided to divorce her within the meaning of the Law as liberally interpreted. What was true of these interpretations was true of the original legislation, which they undertook to expound: it was because of the hardness of men’s hearts that divorce was conceded. The Law was unequally balanced to the disadvantage of women, and Y’Shua’s ruling, with its appeal to the Creator’s intention, had the effect of redressing the unequal balance. It is not surprising that women regularly recognized in Y’Shua one who was their friend and champion.]
[12] And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she
committeth adultery.
[Matthew 19:1-12 and Luke 9:51. Elope from him, leave him by consent; to marry another, she commits adultery.
This is a situation not contemplated in the OT Law, which made no provision for a wife to divorce her husband and marry another man. It has therefore been thought that this second statement is a corollary added to Y’Shua’s original ruling when Messianic had made its way into the Gentile World. In a number of Gentile law-codes it was possible for a wife to initiate divorce proceedings, as it was not under Jewish Law. But at the time when Y’Shua spoke there was a recent cause cerebra in His own country, to which He could well have referred.
Less than ten years before, Herodias, a granddaughter of Herod the Great, who had been married to her uncle Herod Philip and lived with him in Rome, fell in love with another uncle, Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, when he paid a visit to Rome. In order to marry Antipas she divorced her first husband. She did so under Roman law, since she was a Roman citizen. For a women to marry her uncle was not a breach of Jewish Law, as it was commonly interpreted at that time, but it was certainly a breach of Jewish Law for her to marry her husband’s brother. Herod Antipas imprisoned John the Baptist for insisting that it was unlawful for him to be married to his brother’s wife. Y’Shua named no names, but any reference at that time, either in Galilee or in Perea, to a woman divorcing her husband and marrying someone else was bound to make hearers think of Herodias. If the suggestion that she was living in adultery came to her ears, Y’Shua would incur her mortal resentment as surely as John the Baptist had done.
In Matthew’s 19:9 version of this interchange, Y’Shua’s ruling is amplified by the addition of a few words: ‘except for unchastely’. The same exception appears in another occurrence of His ruling in this Gospel, in the Sermon on the Mount, also appears in Luke 16:18.]
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