Page 60 - The Marriage Covenant

through the marriage relationship between a man and his wife the jealousy with which He
looks upon His people.

Exodus 34:13-16
You are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their
Asherim - for you shall not worship any other god, for Yahweh, whose name is
Jealous, is a jealous God - lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the
land and they play the harlot with their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and
someone invite you to eat of his sacrifice; and you take some of his daughters for
your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their gods, and cause your sons
also to play the harlot with their gods.

Jealousy toward a wife is not an evil thing. It would be an evil thing for a man to not
care whether his wife was having sexual relations with other men. Some who are hardened
in their sin practice such “open marriages” today, but those who do so have departed far
from God whose name is Jealous.
The Jews were hard-hearted, and the men were prone to send their wives away for any
transgression at all. If the wife simply did not please them anymore, they would send them
away. This is something Yahweh would not do. It was only for the sake of unchastity, for
sexual immorality, that Yahweh would send away His wife.
The Jewish leaders came to Christ and inquired of Him concerning this matter. They
asked Yahshua if it was permitted for a man to send away a wife for any reason at all. He
responded:

Matthew 5:32
“I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality
(porneia) causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is
divorced commits adultery.”

The Greek word rendered here as “sexual immorality” is porneia. It is translated in a
variety of ways, including “unchastity,” “fornication,” “adultery,” and “uncleanness.” Christ
was declaring that sexual immorality was the only justification for a man to send away a
wife with a writing of divorce. If a man sent her away for any reason besides sexual
impurity, he would be causing her to commit adultery.
It is a terrible thing for any man to influence another to commit adultery. It is an act
of great treachery for a man to cause his own wife to have to commit adultery by sending
her out from his presence for any reason other than that she had already acted
treacherously toward the marriage covenant by opening her legs to another man.
God viewed His wives, Israel and Judah to be polluted and defiled when they
embraced other gods. It is natural that a man would hold the same view toward his wife
when she has embraced other men.
Yahweh has created men so that those who are righteous as He is righteous, have an
aversion to being joined to a woman who is polluted. Yahweh speaks of a man taking back
a wife who has been polluted by another man as an act of abomination.

Deuteronomy 24:1-4
"When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in