Yahweh Reduced The Provisions For His Adulterous Wife
16:1
Again 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.16:6
When 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.16:9
Then 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.16:15
But 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?16:22
In 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.16:28
You 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.16:32
A 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.16:35
Therefore, 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.16:43
Because 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.16:48
As 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.16:51
Neither 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.16:53
I 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 Aram, and of all who are round about her, the daughters of the Pelishtim, who do despite to you round about.16:58
You 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
20:1
It 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.20:4
Will 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 land of Mitzrayim. 20:9But I worked for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, among which they were, in whose sight I made myself known to them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Mitzrayim. 20:10So I caused them to go forth out of the land of Mitzrayim, and brought them into the wilderness.20:11
I 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.20:15
Moreover 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.20:23
Moreover 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.20:27
Therefore, 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.20:30
Therefore 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.20:33
As 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 land of Mitzrayim, so will I enter into judgment with you, says the Sovereign Yahweh. 20:37I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; 20:38and I will purge out from among you the rebels, and those who disobey against me; I will bring them forth out of the land where they sojourn, but they shall not enter into Eretz-Yisra'el: and you shall know that I am Yahweh.20:39
As 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
22:1
Moreover 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
23:1
The 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.23:5
Aholah 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.23:11
Her 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.23:19
Yet 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.23:22
Therefore, 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.23:28
For 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.23:36
Yahweh 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.23:45
Righteous 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
33:23
The 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
36:16
Moreover 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.36:22
Therefore 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.36:33
Thus 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.36:37
Thus 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
43:1
Afterward 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
44:6
You 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.44:9
Thus 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.
1:2
When 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
2:1
Say 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.2:8
For 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.2:14
Therefore, 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.2:18
In 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.2:21
It 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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