“10 Do
we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the
covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful
to one another?
11 Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable
thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated
the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who
worship a foreign god.12 As
for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the tents of Jacob—even though he brings an offering
to the Lord Almighty.”
This is the first part of what is a very touchy issue in today’s world –
love and marriage. In these verses God is addressing His people’s choices in
marriage partners and how these choices and decisions depict their lack of
faithfulness. In a world where talk is cheap, and vows are easily disposed of,
these are difficult words to hear and take to heart.
Verse 10 begins by accusing the community of faithlessness because they
have not kept themselves pure from foreign religions. This is not to say that everyone had gone out and married
foreign women who worshiped different gods, but that the friends, family, and
neighbors of those people who had done this just stood by and watched, rather
than saying or doing something to keep the community as a whole pure. This is
what psychologists call the bystander
effect. This means that when there are a lot of people around when
something terrible happens, no one does
anything to help or stop the situation because everyone assumes someone else is doing something or going to do
something.
So when we see someone start to sin or give into bitterness, and we don’t
do or say anything to help that person see that they are walking into sin
because we think someone closer to that person will address the issue, we are
considered to be a part of that sin by God. Yikes. Having the truth of God and
not using it to help others stay holy is sin. So this is what verse 10 is getting
at when it says they people have been “unfaithful
to one another.”
Verses 11 and 12 point out that Judah,
that is, the entire community, is to blame in this detestable act because they
have all allowed the sanctuary of God to be desecrated. These words echo Isaiah
1:13, “Stop bringing meaningless
offerings! Your incense is detestable to me…I cannot bear with your worthless
assemblies.” What made these offerings meaningless, and the assemblies
worthless is that the people lived in blatant and visible sin, but continued to
worship as though they had done nothing wrong.[1]
Dictionary.com defines “detestable” as something that is abominable,
hateful, abhorrent, loathsome, and vile. And the people knew it was wrong, but
did it anyway. Exodus 34:15-16 says,
“Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for
when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will
invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. And when you chose some of their
daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to
their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.”
It isn’t just a covenant of faithfulness that Judah has broken, it is a
marriage covenant with God. And the bride, the people of God, have turned away
from their husband and committed adultery and then asked, “What’s wrong with
that? Why are you angry?” So it is the same when we willfully sin and think God
won’t notice and won’t care. God does notice, and He does care, in fact He says
that those who continue to make a mockery of Him will be removed from God’s
presence. The Hebrew word used for “remove” carries the meaning of: cut off, destroy
(as in enemies), and cut down (as in pillars, statues, and things used in
idolatry). Given that this is the Old Testament, the most likely meaning is
that the person who continued to sin by marrying foreign women, and the people
who ignored the sin would be destroyed or killed by God, so as to remove them
from His presence in the Temple.
So what does this mean for us today? Our marriages and dating lives are
important to God because they can lead us into sin. If you are married to a
non-Christian, you have already sinned. But divorce or separation isn’t a fix
for that problem (as we will discuss in the next post), rather acknowledging the
sin and asking God to redeem the marriage is what is best. If you are already divorced, you have sinned. Acknowledge
the sin, repent, seek forgiveness and redemption from the only one who can
cleanse you. Remember there is grace, and God is an amazingly powerful God who
can use our mistakes, bad decisions, and failures to bring about great and
beautiful things.
If you are married to a Christian, then you should be very concerned
with that person’s holiness before God, and obedience to God, and visa versa. If
you are single and dating, you need to keep in mind that God is your first love
and that whoever you chose to date should not take you away from that whether
they are believers or nonbelievers. Furthermore, in all our relationships we
need to realize that we are dealing with God’s children, and we are answerable
to Him for our actions and thoughts when we are with them, and without them. I
have heard some of the most terrible things spoken about others by people who
are still bitter from a breakup or a fight with their spouse/finance/loved one.
Such words do not honor God or that other person and rather pull us into sin
and away from God.
God has freed us from the need to sin by making atonement for our sins
already. Go read Romans 6. It is hard to develop a holy life when we are holding onto our sins
and not wanting to change or act differently. The issue at the base of all this
is trust. Do we trust God to bring marriage partners into our lives and keep
our marriages healthy and holy? Do we trust God’s timing? Or are we going to
think that we know better and can do it ourselves? God is not impressed when we
do things our way, He is impressed when we release our so called “rights” and
allow ourselves to be led by Him, and only Him.
[1]
J. Gordon McConville, Exploring the Old
Testament; A Guide to the Prophets, Vol 4, (Downers Grove: Intervarsity
Press, 2002), 262.
Very good commentary on this passage. It all comes down to trust and faith in God. It is very difficult to know when and how much to say to a loved one who is rebelling against God.
ReplyDeleteVery true! We seem to think now that pointing out a wrong means we are being intolerant and therefore hateful. So not true, loving others means making ourselves vulnerable to their rejection of our correction and advice. Its still very hard though. I confess that I don't know quite what to say to people in my life who are turning from God and His commandments. I guess that's why prayer is so important.
Delete