Yahweh Reduced The Provisions For His
Adulterous Wife
16:1Again
the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 16:2Son
of man, cause Yerushalayim to know her abominations; 16:3and say, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh to
Yerushalayim: Your birth and your birth is of the land of the Kana`ani; the
Amori was your father, and your mother was a Hittite. 16:4As for your birth, in the day you were born
your navel was not cut, neither were you washed in water to cleanse you; you
weren't salted at all, nor swaddled at all. 16:5No
eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you, to have compassion on you;
but you were cast out in the open field, for that your person was abhorred, in
the day that you were born.
16:6When
I passed by you, and saw you weltering in your blood, I said to you, Though you
are in your blood, live; yes, I said to you, Though you are in your blood,
live. 16:7I caused you to multiply
as that which grows in the field, and you did increase and wax great, and you
attained to excellent ornament; your breasts were fashioned, and your hair was
grown; yet you were naked and bare. 16:8Now
when I passed by you, and looked at you, behold, your time was the time of
love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness: yes, I swore
to you, and entered into a covenant with you, says the Sovereign Yahweh, and
you became mine.
16:9Then
washed I you with water; yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and
I anointed you with oil. 16:10I
clothed you also with embroidered work, and shod you with sealskin, and I
girded you about with fine linen, and covered you with silk. 16:11I decked you with ornaments, and I put
bracelets on your hands, and a chain on your neck. 16:12I put a ring on your nose, and ear-rings in your ears,
and a beautiful crown on your head. 16:13Thus
was you decked with gold and silver; and your clothing was of fine linen, and
silk, and embroidered work; you ate fine flour, and honey, and oil; and you
were exceeding beautiful, and you did prosper to royal estate. 16:14Your renown went forth among the nations
for your beauty; for it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put on you,
says the Sovereign Yahweh.
16:15But
you did trust in your beauty, and played the prostitute because of your renown,
and poured out your prostitution on everyone who passed by; his it was. 16:16You did take of your garments, and made
for you high places decked with various colors, and played the prostitute on
them: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so. 16:17You did also take your beautiful jewels of
my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for you images of
men, and did play the prostitute with them; 16:18and
you took your embroidered garments, and covered them, and did set my oil and my
incense before them. 16:19My bread
also which I gave you, fine flour, and oil, and honey, with which I fed you,
you did even set it before them for a sweet savor; and thus it was, says the
Sovereign Yahweh. 16:20Moreover you
have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and these
have you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your prostitution a small
matter, 16:21that you have slain my
children, and delivered them up, in causing them to pass through the fire to
them?
16:22In
all your abominations and your prostitution you have not remembered the days of
your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were weltering in your blood. 16:23It is happen after all your wickedness,
(woe, woe to you! says the Sovereign Yahweh,) 16:24that
you have built to you a vaulted place, and have made you a lofty place in every
street. 16:25You have built your
lofty place at the head of every way, and have made your beauty an abomination,
and have opened your feet to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your
prostitution. 16:26You have also
committed sexual immorality with the Mitzrim, your neighbors, great of flesh;
and have multiplied your prostitution, to provoke me to anger. 16:27See therefore, I have stretched out my
hand over you, and have diminished your ordinary food, and delivered you to the
will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Pelishtim, who are ashamed
of your lewd way.
16:28You
have played the prostitute also with the Ashshur, because you were insatiable;
yes, you have played the prostitute with them, and yet you weren't satisfied. 16:29You have moreover multiplied your
prostitution to the land of traffic, to Kasdim; and yet you weren't satisfied
herewith. 16:30How weak is your
heart, says the Sovereign Yahweh, seeing you do all these things, the work of
an impudent prostitute; 16:31in that
you build your vaulted place at the head of every way, and make your lofty
place in every street, and have not been as a prostitute, in that you scorn
hire.
16:32A
wife who commits adultery! Who takes strangers instead of her husband! 16:33They give gifts to all prostitutes; but
you give your gifts to all your lovers, and bribe them, that they may come to
you on every side for your prostitution. 16:34You
are different from other women in your prostitution, in that none follows you
to play the prostitute; and whereas you give hire, and no hire is given to you,
therefore you are different.
16:35Therefore,
prostitute, hear the word of Yahweh: 16:36Thus
says the Sovereign Yahweh, Because your filthiness was poured out, and your
nakedness uncovered through your prostitution with your lovers; and because of
all the idols of your abominations, and for the blood of your children, that
you gave to them; 16:37therefore
see, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all
those who you have loved, with all those who you have hated; I will even gather
them against you on every side, and will uncover your nakedness to them, that
they may see all your nakedness. 16:38I
will judge you, as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I
will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy. 16:39I will also give you into their hand, and
they shall throw down your vaulted place, and break down your lofty places; and
they shall strip you of your clothes, and take your beautiful jewels; and they
shall leave you naked and bare. 16:40They
shall also bring up a company against you, and they shall stone you with stones,
and thrust you through with their swords. 16:41They
shall burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments on you in the sight of
many women; and I will cause you to cease from playing the prostitute, and you
shall also give no hire any more. 16:42So
will I cause my wrath toward you to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from
you, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.
16:43Because
you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have raged against me in all
these things; therefore, behold, I also will bring your way on your head, says
the Sovereign Yahweh: and you shall not commit this lewdness with all your
abominations. 16:44Behold, everyone
who uses proverbs shall use this proverb against you, saying, As is the mother,
so is her daughter. 16:45You are the
daughter of your mother, who loathes her husband and her children; and you are
the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children: your
mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amori. 16:46Your
elder sister is Shomron, who dwells at your left hand, she and her daughters;
and your younger sister, who dwells at your right hand, is Sedom and her
daughters. 16:47Yet have you not
walked in their ways, nor done after their abominations; but, as if that were a
very little thing, you were more corrupt than they in all your ways.
16:48As
I live, says the Sovereign Yahweh, Sedom your sister has not done, she nor her
daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters. 16:49Behold, this was the iniquity of your
sister Sedom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in
her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 16:50They were haughty, and committed
abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.
16:51Neither
has Shomron committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied your
abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters by all your
abominations which you have done. 16:52You
also, bear you your own shame, in that you have given judgment for your
sisters; through your sins that you have committed more abominable than they,
they are more righteous that you: yes, be you also confounded, and bear your
shame, in that you have justified your sisters.
16:53I
will turn again their captivity, the captivity of Sedom and her daughters, and
the captivity of Shomron and her daughters, and the captivity of your captives
in the midst of them; 16:54that you
may bear your own shame, and may be ashamed because of all that you have done,
in that you are a comfort to them. 16:55Your
sisters, Sedom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate; and
Shomron and her daughters shall return to their former estate; and you and your
daughters shall return to your former estate. 16:56For
your sister Sedom was not mentioned by your mouth in the day of your pride, 16:57before your wickedness was uncovered, as
at the time of the reproach of the daughters of
16:58You
have borne your lewdness and your abominations, says Yahweh. 16:59For thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: I will
also deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the
covenant. 16:60Nevertheless I will
remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish
to you an everlasting covenant. 16:61Then
shall you remember your ways, and be ashamed, when you shall receive your
sisters, your elder sisters and your younger; and I will give them to you for
daughters, but not by your covenant. 16:62I
will establish my covenant with you; and you shall know that I am Yahweh; 16:63that you may remember, and be confounded, and
never open your mouth any more, because of your shame, when I have forgiven you
all that you have done, says the Sovereign Yahweh.
16:27 shows that Yahweh DIMINISHED the ordinary food that he gave to his adulterous wife. Seeing that Yahweh's actions are righteous, it appears that a husband who diminishes the ordinary food of his adulterous wife is not sinning against her. For, in truth, it is his adulterous wife who is sinning against him by her treachery and rebellion. And the husband who reduces the food he gives to such a wife does not sin against her!
This implies that if a wife desires to receive due food from her husband she must indeed be faithful and obedient to her husband. But if she becomes faithless and rebellious, and her husband does not divorce her, he does not wrong her if he reduces her portion of food. It is therefore not sin for a husband to reduce the food he gives to his adulterous and rebellious wife.
Yahweh's Dealings With Rebellious And
Prostituting Yisrael
20:1It
happened in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month,
that certain of the Zakenim of Yisra'el came to inquire of Yahweh, and sat
before me. 20:2The word of Yahweh
came to me, saying, 20:3Son of man,
speak to the Zakenim of Yisra'el, and tell them, Thus says the Sovereign
Yahweh: Is it to inquire of me that you have come? As I live, says the
Sovereign Yahweh, I will not be inquired of by you.
20:4Will
you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Cause them to know the
abominations of their fathers; 20:5and
tell them, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: In the day when I chose Yisra'el,
and swore to the seed of the house of Ya`akov, and made myself known to them in
the land of Mitzrayim, when I swore to them, saying, I am Yahweh your Mighty
One; 20:6in that day I swore to
them, to bring them forth out of the land of Mitzrayim into a land that I had
searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all
lands. 20:7I said to them, Cast you
away every man the abominations of his eyes, and don't defile yourselves with
the idols of Mitzrayim; I am Yahweh your Mighty One. 20:8But they rebelled against me, and would not
listen to me; they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes,
neither did they forsake the idols of Mitzrayim. Then I said I would pour out
my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the
20:11I
gave them my statutes, and showed them my ordinances, which if a man does, he
shall live in them. 20:12Moreover
also I gave them my Shabbatot, to be a sign between me and them, that they
might know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies them. 20:13But
the house of Yisra'el rebelled against me in the wilderness: they didn't walk
in my statutes, and they rejected my ordinances, which if a man keep, he shall
live in them; and my Shabbatot they greatly profaned. Then I said I would pour
out my wrath on them in the wilderness, to consume them. 20:14But I worked for my name's sake, that it
should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought
them out.
20:15Moreover
also I swore to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the
land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of
all lands; 20:16because they
rejected my ordinances, and didn't walk in my statutes, and profaned my
Shabbatot: for their heart went after their idols. 20:17Nevertheless my eye spared them, and I
didn't destroy them, neither did I make a full end of them in the wilderness. 20:18I said to their children in the
wilderness, Don't you walk in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe
their ordinances, nor defile yourselves with their idols. 20:19I am Yahweh your Mighty One: walk in my
statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them; 20:20and
make my Shabbatot holy; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that you
may know that I am Yahweh your Mighty One. 20:21But
the children rebelled against me; they didn't walk in my statutes, neither kept
my ordinances to do them, which if a man do, he shall live in them; they
profaned my Shabbatot. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to
accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness. 20:22Nevertheless I withdrew my hand, and
worked for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the
nations, in whose sight I brought them forth.
20:23Moreover
I swore to them in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the nations,
and disperse them through the countries; 20:24because
they had not executed my ordinances, but had rejected my statutes, and had
profaned my Shabbatot, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols. 20:25Moreover also I gave them statutes that
were not good, and ordinances in which they should not live; 20:26and I polluted them in their own gifts, in
that they caused to pass through the fire all that opens the womb, that I might
make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am Yahweh.
20:27Therefore,
son of man, speak to the house of Yisra'el, and tell them, Thus says the
Sovereign Yahweh: In this moreover have your fathers blasphemed me, in that
they have committed a trespass against me. 20:28For
when I had brought them into the land, which I swore to give to them, then they
saw every high hill, and every thick tree, and they offered there their
sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering; there
also they made their sweet savor, and they poured out there their
drink-offerings. 20:29Then I said to
them, What means the high place whereunto you go? So the name of it is called
Bamah to this day.
20:30Therefore
tell the house of Yisra'el, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Do you pollute
yourselves after the manner of your fathers? And play you the prostitute after
their abominations? 20:31And when
you offer your gifts, when you make your sons to pass through the fire, do you
pollute yourselves with all your idols to this day? And shall I be inquired of
by you, house of Yisra'el? As I live, says the Sovereign Yahweh, I will not be
inquired of by you; 20:32and that
which comes into your mind shall not be at all, in that you say, We will be as
the nations, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.
20:33As
I live, says the Sovereign Yahweh, surely with a mighty hand, and with an
outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out, will I be king over you: 20:34and I will bring you out from the peoples,
and will gather you out of the countries in which you are scattered, with a
mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out; 20:35and I will bring you into the wilderness
of the peoples, and there will I enter into judgment with you face to face. 20:36Like as I entered into judgment with your
fathers in the wilderness of the
20:39As
for you, house of Yisra'el, thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Go you, serve
everyone his idols, and hereafter also, if you will not listen to me; but my
holy name shall you no more profane with your gifts, and with your idols. 20:40For in my holy mountain, in the mountain
of the height of Yisra'el, says the Sovereign Yahweh, there shall all the house
of Yisra'el, all of them, serve me in the land: there will I accept them, and
there will I require your offerings, and the first-fruits of your offerings,
with all your holy things. 20:41As a
sweet savor will I accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples, and
gather you out of the countries in which you have been scattered; and I will be
sanctified in you in the sight of the nations. 20:42You
shall know that I am Yahweh, when I shall bring you into Eretz-Yisra'el, into
the country which I swore to give to your fathers. 20:43There shall you remember your ways, and all your
doings, in which you have polluted yourselves; and you shall loathe yourselves
in your own sight for all your evils that you have committed. 20:44You shall know that I am Yahweh, when I
have dealt with you for my name's sake, not according to your evil ways, nor
according to your corrupt doings, you house of Yisra'el, says the Sovereign
Yahweh.
An account of how and why Yahweh dealt with prostituting and rebellious Yisrael in the manner that he did.
Rebels Not To Inherit The Promised Land
20:37-38 notes, speaking of Yahweh's future actions, that he will bring out Yisraelites from the lands of their sojourning, but he will not bring into the land of Yisrael all of the Yisraelites that he brings out of the various lands that they sojourn in. For he will identify the rebels among the Yisraelites, those who disobey against him, those who prostitute themselves against him, to purge them out from among Yisrael. In other words, it appears that these rebellious and disobedient prostitutes will die in the wilderness, thereby suffering the fate of prostitutes!
Yahweh's Judgement On Idolatrous And Sexually
Immoral Yisrael
22:1Moreover
the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 22:2You,
son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to
know all her abominations. 22:3You
shall say, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: A city that sheds blood in the midst
of her, that her time may come, and that makes idols against herself to defile
her! 22:4You have become guilty in
your blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your idols which you have
made; and you have caused your days to draw near, and are come even to your
years: therefore have I made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to
all the countries. 22:5Those who are
near, and those who are far from you, shall mock you, you infamous one and full
of tumult. 22:6Behold, the princes
of Yisra'el, everyone according to his power, have been in you to shed blood. 22:7In you have they set light by father and
mother; in the midst of you have they dealt by oppression with the sojourner;
in you have they wronged the fatherless and the widow. 22:8You have despised my holy things, and have
profaned my Shabbatot. 22:9Slanderous
men have been in you to shed blood; and in you they have eaten on the
mountains: in the midst of you they have committed lewdness. 22:10In you have they uncovered their fathers'
nakedness; in you have they humbled her who was unclean in her impurity. 22:11One has committed abomination with his
neighbor's wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and
another in you has humbled his sister, his father's daughter. 22:12In you have they taken bribes to shed
blood; you have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of
your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me, says the Sovereign Yahweh.
22:13Behold, therefore, I have
struck my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood
which has been in the midst of you. 22:14Can
your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal
with you? I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and will do it. 22:15I will scatter you among the nations, and
disperse you through the countries; and I will consume your filthiness out of
you.
The Judgement Of Idolaters And Other Wicked
People
23:1The
word of Yahweh came again to me, saying, 23:2Son
of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother: 23:3and they played the prostitute in Mitzrayim;
they played the prostitute in their youth; there were their breasts pressed,
and there was handled the bosom of their virginity. 23:4The names of them were Aholah the elder,
and Aholivah her sister: and they became mine, and they bore sons and daughters.
As for their names, Shomron is Aholah, and Yerushalayim Aholivah.
23:5Aholah
played the prostitute when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the
Ashshur her neighbors, 23:6who were
clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men,
horsemen riding on horses. 23:7She
bestowed her prostitution on them, the choicest men of Ashshur all of them; and
on whoever she doted, with all their idols she defiled herself. 23:8Neither has she left her prostitution since
the days of Mitzrayim; for in her youth they lay with her, and they handled the
bosom of her virginity; and they poured out their prostitution on her. 23:9Therefore I delivered her into the hand of
her lovers, into the hand of the Ashshur, on whom she doted. 23:10These uncovered her nakedness; they took
her sons and her daughters; and her they killed with the sword: and she became
a byword among women; for they executed judgments on her.
23:11Her
sister Aholivah saw this, yet was she more corrupt in her doting than she, and
in her prostitution which were more than the prostitution of her sister. 23:12She doted on the Ashshur, governors and
rulers, her neighbors, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding on horses, all
of them desirable young men. 23:13I
saw that she was defiled; they both took one way. 23:14She
increased her prostitution; for she saw men portrayed on the wall, the images
of the Kasdim portrayed with vermilion, 23:15girded
with girdles on their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them
princes to look on, after the likeness of the Bavlites in Kasdim, the land of
their birth. 23:16As soon as she saw
them she doted on them, and sent messengers to them into Kasdim. 23:17The Bavlites came to her into the bed of
love, and they defiled her with their prostitution, and she was polluted with
them, and her soul was alienated from them. 23:18So
she uncovered her prostitution, and uncovered her nakedness: then my soul was
alienated from her, like as my soul was alienated from her sister.
23:19Yet
she multiplied her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth, in which
she had played the prostitute in the land of Mitzrayim. 23:20She doted on their paramours, whose flesh
is as the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. 23:21Thus you called to memory the lewdness of
your youth, in the handling of your bosom by the Mitzrim for the breasts of
your youth.
23:22Therefore,
Aholivah, thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Behold, I will raise up your lovers
against you, from whom your soul is alienated, and I will bring them against
you on every side: 23:23the Bavlites
and all the Kasdim, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Ashshur with them;
desirable young men, governors and rulers all of them, princes and men of
renown, all of them riding on horses. 23:24They
shall come against you with weapons, chariots, and wagons, and with a company
of peoples; they shall set themselves against you with buckler and shield and
helmet round about; and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge
you according to their judgments. 23:25I
will set my jealousy against you, and they shall deal with you in fury; they
shall take away your nose and your ears; and your residue shall fall by the
sword: they shall take your sons and your daughters; and your residue shall be
devoured by the fire. 23:26They
shall also strip you of your clothes, and take away your beautiful jewels. 23:27Thus will I make your lewdness to cease
from you, and your prostitution brought from the land of Mitzrayim; so that you
shall not lift up your eyes to them, nor remember Mitzrayim any more.
23:28For
thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Behold, I will deliver you into the hand of
them whom you hate, into the hand of them from whom your soul is alienated; 23:29and they shall deal with you in hatred,
and shall take away all your labor, and shall leave you naked and bare; and the
nakedness of your prostitution shall be uncovered, both your lewdness and your
prostitution. 23:30These things
shall be done to you, because you have played the prostitute after the nations,
and because you are polluted with their idols. 23:31You
have walked in the way of your sister; therefore will I give her cup into your
hand. 23:32Thus says the
Sovereign Yahweh: You shall drink of your sister's cup, which is deep and
large; you shall be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it contains much. 23:33You shall be filled with drunkenness and
sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of your
sister Shomron. 23:34You shall even
drink it and drain it out, and you shall gnaw the broken pieces of it, and
shall tear your breasts; for I have spoken it, says the Sovereign Yahweh. 23:35Therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh:
Because you have forgotten me, and cast me behind your back, therefore bear you
also your lewdness and your prostitution.
23:36Yahweh
said moreover to me: Son of man, will you judge Aholah and Aholivah? Then
declare to them their abominations. 23:37For
they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands; and with their idols
have they committed adultery; and they have also caused their sons, whom they
bore to me, to pass through the fire to them to be devoured. 23:38Moreover this they have done to me: they
have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my Shabbatot. 23:39For when they had slain their children to
their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and,
behold, thus have they done in the midst of my house. 23:40Furthermore you have sent for men who come
from far, to whom a messenger was sent, and, behold, they came; for whom you
did wash yourself, paint your eyes, and deck yourself with ornaments, 23:41and sit on a stately bed, with a table
prepared before it, whereupon you did set my incense and my oil. 23:42The voice of a multitude being at ease was
with her: and with men of the common sort were brought Sava'im from the
wilderness; and they put bracelets on the hands of them twain, and beautiful
crowns on their heads. 23:43Then
said I of her who was old in adulteries, Now will they play the prostitute with
her, and she with them. 23:44They
went in to her, as they go in to a prostitute: so went they in to Aholah and to
Aholivah, the lewd women.
23:45Righteous
men, they shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, and with the
judgment of women who shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is
in their hands. 23:46For thus says
the Sovereign Yahweh: I will bring up a company against them, and will give
them to be tossed back and forth and robbed. 23:47The
company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they
shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire.
23:48Thus will I cause lewdness to
cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your
lewdness. 23:49They shall recompense
your lewdness on you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols; and you shall
know that I am the Sovereign Yahweh.
Yahweh's Judgement On Idolatrous And Sexually
Immoral Yisraelites
33:23The
word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 33:24Son
of man, they who inhabit those waste places in Eretz-Yisra'el speak, saying,
Avraham was one, and he inherited the land: but we are many; the land is given
us for inheritance. 33:25Therefore
tell them, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: You eat with the blood, and lift up
your eyes to your idols, and shed blood: and shall you possess the land? 33:26You stand on your sword, you work
abomination, and you defile everyone his neighbor's wife: and shall you possess
the land? 33:27Thus shall you tell
them, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: As I live, surely those who are in the
waste places shall fall by the sword; and him who is in the open field will I
give to the animals to be devoured; and those who are in the strongholds and in
the caves shall die of the pestilence. 33:28I
will make the land a desolation and an astonishment; and the pride of her power
shall cease; and the mountains of Yisra'el shall be desolate, so that none
shall pass through. 33:29Then shall
they know that I am Yahweh, when I have made the land a desolation and an
astonishment, because of all their abominations which they have committed.
Yahweh Will Receive Yisrael Back Only After Her
Cleansing
36:16Moreover
the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 36:17Son
of man, when the house of Yisra'el lived in their own land, they defiled it by
their way and by their doings: their way before me was as the uncleanness of a
woman in her impurity. 36:18Therefore
I poured out my wrath on them for the blood which they had poured out on the
land, and because they had defiled it with their idols; 36:19and I scattered them among the nations,
and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and
according to their doings I judged them. 36:20When
they came to the nations, where they went, they profaned my holy name; in that
men said of them, These are the people of Yahweh, and are gone forth out of his
land. 36:21But I had regard for my
holy name, which the house of Yisra'el had profaned among the nations, where
they went.
36:22Therefore
tell the house of Yisra'el, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: I don't do this for
your sake, house of Yisra'el, but for my holy name, which you have profaned
among the nations, where you went. 36:23I
will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which
you have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I am
Yahweh, says the Sovereign Yahweh, when I shall be sanctified in you before
their eyes. 36:24For I will take you
from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring
you into your own land. 36:25I will
sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness,
and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 36:26A
new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I
will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart
of flesh. 36:27I will put my Spirit
within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my
ordinances, and do them. 36:28You
shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my
people, and I will be your Mighty One. 36:29I
will save you from all your uncleanness: and I will call for the grain, and
will multiply it, and lay no famine on you. 36:30I
will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that you
may receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations. 36:31Then shall you remember your evil ways,
and your doings that were not good; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own
sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. 36:32Nor for your sake do I this, says the
Sovereign Yahweh, be it known to you: be ashamed and confounded for your ways,
house of Yisra'el.
36:33Thus
says the Sovereign Yahweh: In the day that I cleanse you from all your
iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall
be built. 36:34The land that was
desolate shall be tilled, whereas it was a desolation in the sight of all who
passed by. 36:35They shall say, This
land that was desolate is become like the garden of `Eden; and the waste and
desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited. 36:36Then the nations that are left round about
you shall know that I, Yahweh, have built the ruined places, and planted that
which was desolate: I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and I will do it.
36:37Thus
says the Sovereign Yahweh: For this, moreover, will I be inquired of by the
house of Yisra'el, to do it for them: I will increase them with men like a
flock. 36:38As the flock for
sacrifice, as the flock of Yerushalayim in her appointed feasts, so shall the
waste cities be filled with flocks of men; and they shall know that I am
Yahweh.
36:25-27 shows that Yahweh will receive idolatrous and prostituting Yisrael back to himself AFTER he has cleansed Yisrael of all her impurities and uncleanness. He will give Yisrael a new heart and a new spirit, and cause Yisrael to walk in his statutes and ordinances.
36:28-31 shows that Yahweh will then bless Yisrael greatly, after her cleansing and renewed faithfulness.
Learning from Yahweh it appears that husbands should be willing to receive back their errant wives AFTER they are cleansed of their defilement on account of their prostitution. If the repentant wives are truly cleansed, and have a new heart and spirit, doing all of Yahweh's commandments and appropriately honouring their husbands, they should be received back.
Yahweh Does Not Dwell In The Midst Of
Prostitution
43:1Afterward
he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looks toward the east. 43:2Behold, the glory of the Mighty One of
Yisra'el came from the way of the east: and his voice was like the sound of
many waters; and the eretz shined with his glory. 43:3It
was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to
the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city; and the visions were
like the vision that I saw by the river Kevar; and I fell on my face. 43:4The glory of Yahweh came into the house by
the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. 43:5The Spirit took me up, and brought me into
the inner court; and, behold, the glory of Yahweh filled the house. 43:6I heard one speaking to me out of the
house; and a man stood by me. 43:7He
said to me, Son of man, this is the place of my throne, and the place of the
soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Yisra'el
forever. The house of Yisra'el shall no more defile my holy name, neither they,
nor their kings, by their prostitution, and by the dead bodies of their kings
in their high places; 43:8in their
setting of their threshold by my threshold, and their door-post beside my
door-post, and there was but the wall between me and them; and they have
defiled my holy name by their abominations which they have committed: why I
have consumed them in my anger. 43:9Now
let them put away their prostitution, and the dead bodies of their kings, far
from me; and I will dwell in the midst of them forever.
43:9 shows that it is only when we put away our prostitution that Yahweh dwells within our midst, even forever! In other words, where prostitution exists, Yahweh does not dwell. Therefore, if we desire that Yahweh dwell within our midst, we must indeed put away our prostitution and remain holy. For Yahweh, who is holy, dwells only in holiness and amongst holy people.
Idolaters Must Pay A Penalty For Their
Abominable Practice
44:6You
shall tell the rebellious, even to the house of Yisra'el, Thus says the
Sovereign Yahweh: you house of Yisra'el, let it suffice you of all your
abominations, 44:7in that you have
brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be
in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat
and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, to add to all your
abominations. 44:8You have not kept
the charge of my holy things; but you have set keepers of my charge in my
sanctuary for yourselves.
44:9Thus
says the Sovereign Yahweh, No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and
uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners who
are among the children of Yisra'el. 44:10But
the Levites who went far from me, when Yisra'el went astray, who went astray
from me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity. 44:11Yet they shall be ministers in my
sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and ministering in the
house: they shall kill the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and
they shall stand before them to minister to them. 44:12Because
they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling block of
iniquity to the house of Yisra'el; therefore have I lifted up my hand against
them, says the Sovereign Yahweh, and they shall bear their iniquity. 44:13They shall not come near to me, to execute
the office of Kohen to me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, to the
things that are most holy; but they shall bear their shame, and their
abominations which they have committed. 44:14Yet
will I make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service of it,
and for all that shall be done therein. 44:15But
the Kohanim the Levites, the sons of Tzadok, who kept the charge of my
sanctuary when the children of Yisra'el went astray from me, they shall come
near to me to minister to me; and they shall stand before me to offer to me the
fat and the blood, says the Sovereign Yahweh: 44:16they
shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to
minister to me, and they shall keep my charge.
44:10 shows that those who engage in idolatry have to pay a penalty for their abominable and profane practice.
The penalty the Levites who departed from Yahweh and went after idolatry pay and will continue pay is removal from the priestly office. Just as Shaul was removed from his office and position as Yisrael's king, on account of his rebellion (idolatry), so also have some priestly Levites been removed from the priestly office and position, on account of their idolatry.
Forgiven Former Rebels Should Be Demoted From
Their Former Offices
Nevertheless, in forgiving them their iniquity, Yahweh will allow them to work in his sanctuary, but no longer in the exalted priestly office they previously functioned in. In other words, they will serve Yahweh in a lesser capacity, having forsaken the higher capacity through the abomination of their idolatry.
Learning from Yahweh it appears that should one in a high office commit idolatry and prostitution, and later repent of that idolatry and prostitution, that one should be forgiven for the sin committed. Nevertheless, they should not be received into the high office they previously occupied. They should be placed in a lesser office, and serve in that lesser capacity.
1:2When
Yahweh spoke at the first by Hoshea, Yahweh said to Hoshea, Go, take to you a
wife of prostitution and children of prostitution; for the land does commit
great prostitution, departing from Yahweh.
The manner one commits prostitution is by departing from Yahweh. Therefore anyone who is rebellious or disobedient against Yahweh is indeed committing prostitution.
Husbands Are Not Obliged To Provide For Their
Unfaithful And Disobedient Wives
2:1Say
you to your brothers, `Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruchamah. 2:2Contend with your mother, contend; for she
is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her prostitution
from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts; 2:3lest I strip her naked, and set her as in
the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry
land, and kill her with thirst. 2:4Yes,
on her children will I have no mercy; for they are children of prostitution; 2:5for their mother has played the prostitute;
she who conceived them has done shamefully; for she said, I will go after my
lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my
drink. 2:6Therefore, behold, I will
hedge up your way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she
shall not find her paths. 2:7She
shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall
seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to
my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.
2:8For
she did not know that I gave her the grain, and the new wine, and the oil, and
multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Ba`al. 2:9Therefore will I take back my grain in the
time of it, and my new wine in the season of it, and will pluck away my wool
and my flax which should have covered her nakedness. 2:10Now will I uncover her lewdness in the
sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of my hand. 2:11I will also cause all her mirth to cease,
her feasts, her new moons, and her Shabbatot, and all her solemn assemblies. 2:12I will lay waste her vines and her
fig-trees, whereof she has said, These are my hire that my lovers have given
me; and I will make them a forest, and the animals of the field shall eat them.
2:13I will visit on her the days of
the Ba`alim, to which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her
earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, says Yahweh.
2:14Therefore,
behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak
comfortably to her. 2:15I will give
her vineyards from there, and the valley of `Akhor for a door of hope; and she
shall make answer there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when
she came up out of the land of Mitzrayim. 2:16It
shall be at that day, says Yahweh, that you shall call me Ishi, and shall call
me no more Ba`ali. 2:17For I will
take away the names of the Ba`alim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be
mentioned by their name.
2:18In
that day will I make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and
with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I
will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the land, and will make
them to lie down safely. 2:19I will
betroth you to me forever; yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, and
in justice, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. 2:20I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you
shall know Yahweh.
2:21It
shall happen in that day, I will answer, says Yahweh, I will answer the
heavens, and they shall answer the earth; 2:22and
the earth shall answer the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they shall
answer Yizre`el. 2:23I will sow her
to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy;
and I will tell those who were not my people, You are my people; and they shall
say, You are my Mighty One.
Yahweh's dealing with Yisrael shows that when Yisrael is faithful and obedient to him he gives her an abundance of food, clothing and other goods. But when Yisrael is unfaithful and rebellious, persisting in adultery, prostitution and idolatry, he removes from her the food, clothing and other goods that he had given her.
Seeing that Yahweh's conduct is righteousness, it appears to me that a husband who diminishes the food, clothing and other goods that he has been giving his adulterous wife does no wrong. For in this he is simply following Yahweh's example, a righteous example.
It therefore appears that there is no obligation upon a husband to provide
for his unfaithful and disobedient wife! Implying that the wife who desires to
be provided for by her husband must indeed be faithful and obedient to him.
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