Right-click to download PDF version

      If Yahshua married Israel on Mount Sinai and then divorces her later for unfaithfulness, then how could Yahshua later command that any type of divorce and remarriage is adultery? The question that arises is would Yahweh give us a law that He would not also abide by?

      I believe there is a simple answer to this dilemma and it lies in the ancient Israelite marriage covenant. In ancient Israel the practice of going into the marriage covenant agreement went like this; the bridegroom would come to the father of the bride and enter covenant agreement not just with the bride to be, but with her father and the whole family. Then, there would be a betrothal period were the bridegroom would prepare for the future together with his new bride, and the bride would wait for him and show her dedication to him by her chastity during the engagement period.

This is exactly what happened on Mount Sinai; Yahweh the Father entered marriage covenant agreement with Israel on Mount Sinai on behalf of His Son Yahshua (The Bridegroom),and Israel the bride, but this was merely the betrothal period, in which Israel committed fornication before the marriage was consummated, and then He could legally divorce them according to Torah, as the final marriage vows were not taken. If the marriage was consummated on Mount Sinai then according to Scripture “the two would have become one” and they could never have been separated.

Mar 10:5 -9 “And answering, Yahshua said to them, With respect to your hardheartedness He wrote this command to you. But from the beginning of creation Yahweh made them male and female. Because of this, a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh; so that they no longer are two, but one flesh. Therefore, what Yahweh yoked together, let not man put apart.”

Once they consummated the marriage they become one and divorce would have been impossible. Also, consider the following points that would show clearly from scripture that the ceremony on Mount Sinai was a betrothal that was annulled, rather than an actual wedding ceremony.

1. In Exodus 19 Yahweh comes down to the Israelites in person to sign the wedding covenant agreement with the people on behalf of His Son He says all 12 tribes will be a kingdom of priests to Him, of course it would be under Melchezidec if their Husband (Yahshua) was also a Melchezidec priest.
2. After Moses goes back up to Mount Sinai to get more information on this wedding covenant agreement, then comes the testing or betrothal period were Israel is totally unfaithful and Moses breaks the 10 commandment plaques as he returns; in turn annulling the wedding (engagement) agreement. The fact that Yahweh only gave part of the Torah in Exodus 19, and that Moses had to go up and receive the entire covenant agreement clearly proves the marriage covenant was not completed, as according to law, Israel could not complete an agreement that they only knew part of and never even heard or saw. Now look at the differences after the engagement is annulled;
3. After this Yahweh will only speak to the people through a mediator (Moses) no longer will He come down to the people as He did in Exodus.
4. Also, since the marriage is off, now Israel will no longer have a chance for the Melchezidec priesthood; instead Levi will represent the other 12 tribes and the priesthood of Levi, (only a shadow), is added (Gal 3:19) until a new wedding agreement (New Covenant) can be made through Messiah when He appears.
5. Also, remember accept for Caleb and Joshua, all adult Israelites die in the wilderness, this does not sound like a wedding supper.
6. Also, remember Joshua had to make a new marriage agreement for Israel with Yahweh (Jos 24:14-28) and they also all had to be circumcised again. Once again this was only a betrothal, but again it was unfaithfulness during this betrothal period, that finally caused them to be completely cast away.

So why then does it seem in Jer 3:8 that Yahweh indeed did divorce Israel? The answer again is very simple once you understand the Hebraic mindset. You must remember in ancient Israel that the signing of the marriage agreement and the engagement period was just as sacred as the wedding ceremony and the two parties were considered married during this betrothal period.

Mat 1:18-19 Now the birth of Yahshua Messiah happened in this way. When his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, before they lived together she was discovered to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit; her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to disgrace her, decided to divorce her secretly.

Here we see that before Joseph and Mary actually gave their nuptials and became one that they were indeed still considered husband and wife during the betrothal period and Joseph would have had to get a legal divorce to call off the wedding. It was this same situation at Mount Sinai with Israel and Yahshua and that is why He said He gave Israel a writing of divorce. The word in the original Hebrew simply means a severing of the marriage agreement which they did, but they never became one, which is evident to anyone reading the Torah.

Remember, according to scripture, once the marriage is consummated, a miracle of Yahweh happens (it’s actually His judicial order) and the two become one (echad) and then nothing can separate them. In scripture there is no divorce except for unfaithfulness during the betrothal period (Mat 19:9), which concludes that at Mount Sinai Yahweh made covenant agreement on behalf of Yahshua for Israel, but the engagement, due to unfaithfulness, was never consummated into the wedding ceremony. We also never see a wedding supper at Mount Sinai.

Then when Yahshua comes in 27 A.D He dies to pay the penalty of Israel’s sins for unfaithfulness, and completely finalizes the agreement of the first covenant (Zech 11). He even takes the death penalty of the unfaithful fiancé upon Himself.

Rom 7:2 For the married woman was bound by Law to the living husband; but if the husband dies, she is set free from the Law of the husband.

Rom 7:3 So then, if the husband is living, she will be called an adulteress if she becomes another man’s. But if the husband dies, she is free from the Law, so as for her not to be an adulteress by becoming another man’s.

Rom 7:4 So that, my brothers, you also were made dead to the Law(not the law itself, but the penalty for breaking it) through the body of Messiah, for you to become Another’s, to the One raised from the dead, so that we may bear fruit to Yahweh. (Yahshua paid the death penalty of the unfaithful fiancé for unfaithful Israel)

Rom 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sin were working in our members through the Law for the bearing of fruit unto death.

Rom 7:6 But now we have been set free from the Law, ( the death penalty of the betrothed woman found in fornication) having died to that in which we were held, so as for us to serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter.

Now since they never consummated the marriage and since Yahshua died anyway, now He could legally make a New Marriage Covenant, and out of His love for His old bride He still picks His new bride from the House of Israel and the House of Judah (Jer. 31:31-34) What a love story, and what a story to show us about one man and one woman forever, and that even if our spouse divorces us, we should stay faithful and single until he/she dies and releases us from the covenant agreement. This is also why Yahweh had Hosea marry a prostitute and stay with her, to show about Yahshua’s faithfulness for Israel even when she was unfaithful to Him.

2nd Tim 2:11 Faithful is the Word: for if we died with Him, we also shall live with Him;

2nd Tim 2:13 if we are unfaithful, that One remains faithful; He is not able to deny Himself.

Even if Israel was unfaithful, Yahshua would have to be faithful and keep His own law of the marriage covenant. This is also the warning in Deut 24. Many translations wrongly make it seem that the woman can remarry but that is not at all what it is saying in the Hebrew.

Deut 24:1 When a man has taken a wife and married her, and it happens that she finds no favour in his eyes because he has found a thing of uncleanness in her, and he writes her a bill of divorce and puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house;

Deut 24:2 and if she goes out from his house and goes and becomes another man’s,

Deut 24:3 and the latter husband hates her, and writes her a bill of divorce, and puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house or if the latter husband who took her to be his wife dies;

Deut 24:4 her former husband who sent her away is not to take her again to be his wife, after she is defiled. For it is a hateful thing before Yahweh, and you shall not cause the land to sin which Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you as an inheritance

Did you catch verse two in the original? It never says she is allowed to go and re marry, what it says is that if some unloving man leaves his wife over some uncleanness (this is not adultery, as adultery would be stoning to death), and IF SHE GOES AND BECOMES ANOTHERS MANS, THEN SHE CAN NEVER COME BACK TO THE FIRST ONE. Far from condoning divorce & remarriage, this is a WARNING to the wife NOT to go or she will never be able to come back to her original husband. Just as if we leave Yahshua after the knowledge of the truth we can never come back again.

Heb 6:4-6 For it is impossible for those once having been enlightened, and having tasted of the heavenly gift, and becoming sharers of the Holy Spirit, and tasting the good Word of Yahweh, and the works of power of a coming age, and having fallen away, it is impossible for them again to renew to repentance, crucifying again for themselves the Son of Yahweh, and putting Him to open shame.

Can you start to see why divorce and re-marriage is so serious in the New Covenant marriage agreement? Because this is the mystery of the gospel, that we are to do what Israel failed to do; to be a chaste bride dressed in a white garment when our bridegroom returns. Hebrew the 10^th chapter says all things that Israel did was for our example, and clearly we are not married to Yahshua yet, but are only betrothed to Him. Would it make any sense then that Israel actually did consummate the marriage and we are only in the engagement stage?

Also, by understanding that the true purpose of the marriage covenant is to Yahshua and His bride, we can also see why to non believers, even though all divorce and re-marriage is wrong, that Yahweh can have more mercy on non believers because they are not in marriage covenant relationship with Yahshua. This is also why Yahweh allowed Moses to write a bill of divorce for Israelites, because they were only in the betrothal period. If they would have consummated the marriage with Yahshua, Yahweh under no circumstances would have allowed Moses to give this degree to the children of Israel.

This is why believers who married in the world, and although were under covenant agreement with their spouse, were not under covenant marriage relationship with Yahshua, and can be forgiven when they are baptized and do not have to return to a former spouse, as according to Torah, now that they are betrothed to Yahshua, they could not go back to the old one anyway, if they were already divorced.

But to whom much is given much is required and certainly for covenant believers who are espoused to Yahshua there is a greater consequence if we leave our spouse and marry another. We would be broken off from the new marriage covenant and could even lose eternal life if we were truly a first fruit and knew what we were doing. This very well could be what it means in Revelation 14 to the bride, that they are virgins, espoused to one bridegroom and spiritually pure. This is why it is so important that we DON”T allow divorce and re-marriage into our camp, lest we defile all of Yahshua’s bride.

1st Cor 5:9 I wrote to you in the letter not to associate with fornicators;

1st Cor 5:10 and not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or with plunderers, or with idolaters, since then you must go out of the world.

1st Cor 5:11 But now I wrote to you not to associate intimately; if anyone is called a brother and is either a fornicator, or a covetous one, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a plunderer, with such a one not to eat.

1st Cor 5:12 For what is it to me also to judge the ones outside? Do you not judge those inside? But Yahweh will judge the ones outside. “And you shall put out from yourselves the evil one

Can you see the difference of accountability to believers compared to the world? We are not to judge the sorrowful people in the world who have no regard for Yahweh’s marriage covenant. He will do that on the great white throne judgment day, but we are to judge the brethren meeting within our congregations who willingly leave their spouse and marry another against the clear word of scripture. These people should be dis-fellowshipped until repentance is made and an ending to the unlawful second marriage. How much greater accountability do we have? May we all cherish our betrothal time to our true bridegroom Yahshua.