Page 32 - The Marriage Covenant

in spiritual union with many men. Yet man cannot have many gods. If a man takes to
himself a god other than Yahweh, he is declared to be an idolater. Idolatry is everywhere
throughout Scriptures compared to adultery.

Ezekiel 23:36-37
Moreover, Yahweh said to me, "Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah?
Then declare to them their abominations. For they have committed adultery, and
blood is on their hands. Thus they have committed adultery with their
idols...”

Hosea 1:2
When Yahweh first spoke through Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, "Go, take to
yourself a wife of harlotry, and have children of harlotry; for the land commits
flagrant harlotry, forsaking Yahweh."

Even as the man was created to be the image and glory of God, and man can have only
one God, without any exceptions, so it is between the man and the woman. The woman was
created for man. Woman is the glory of man as man is the glory of God. Woman can only
have one husband, even as man can have only one God. There can be no exceptions. If a
woman has more than one husband she shall be called an adulteress even as a man who
takes another God besides Yahweh will ALWAYS be an idolater.
Yahweh speaks in very similar terms of His jealousy toward man, and a man’s jealousy
toward his wife. One is patterned after the other.

Exodus 34:14
You shall not worship any other god, for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous
God...

Numbers 5:29-31
This is the law of jealousy: when a wife, being under the authority of her husband,
goes astray and defiles herself, or when a spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he
is jealous of his wife, he shall then make the woman stand before Yahweh, and the
priest shall apply all this law to her. Moreover, the man shall be free from guilt, but
that woman shall bear her guilt.

Yahweh considered it a righteous thing for a man to be jealous of his wife. A man was
righteously angry if his wife went astray and defiled herself by having sexual relations with
another. The penalty for such a transgression was death.
Lest some should say this seems unfair, they should note that this is a perfect parallel
to the man who defiled himself by joining himself to an idol. Yahweh was righteously
indignant for man to do such a treacherous thing. The penalty for idolatry was the same as
the penalty for adultery. The man who joined himself to another god would be put to death.
This point must be established in order to understand the issues of divorce,
remarriage and adultery. A man was never considered an adulterer for having more than
one wife, and this is true to this day. He is only an adulterer if he has taken to himself
another man’s wife. This has been true from the beginning of the creation, and it has not
changed during the church age. As long as the creation remains, the patterns established