By: Tim Moore
Chapter
10:
By: Tim Moore
Matthew
24:36-38 (Worldwide English)
“But no one knows the day and the hour when the Son of Man will come.
Even the angels in heaven and the Son do not know.
Only the Father knows. 37)
When the Son of Man comes, it will be as it was in the time of Noah.
38) In the days before the water covered the earth, people ate and drank.
They married and gave their daughters to be married. Then one day Noah went into his house built on a boat.
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CHAPTER
10:
More
Famous Couples
Have
any of you ever heard of a Wildcat Oil
Well? This is a special
project. It usually involves high
risk and is in an area where no one has ever brought in an oil well before.
The leases are acquired on marginal property that nobody else wants to
take a chance on. Very seldom does
one of these wells come in, but the hope is
always for the big hit. This is the
way most people approach dating and betrothal
today. There can be some optimistic
ideas, but the premises used to build the relationship usually do not produce
what the participants hope for.
In the Churches of God we know that unless the Lord builds the house, the
weary builder toils in vain. Likewise,
unless the Lord is involved in the plans preceding a marriage, it probably will
not be a successful venture. The
marriage will be a dry hole, so to
speak. It will end in failure with
everyone abandoning the venture. Nothing
profitable will come of the venture.
It
never ceases to amaze me how plain God’s instructions are and how people can
mess these instructions up. Take
the Olivet Prophecy for instance.
The Disciples asked Jesus when and what signs would precede His coming.
This is such an important prophecy and pivotal teaching that Jesus gave.
I seldom go into spurious translations, but I checked them all and they
all agree on the teaching. I really
like the wording in the Worldwide English Translation above.
This really shows what happened and what will happen.
Note that before the flood people were married and gave their daughters to be married. Now, to be married, a male had to take a wife in marriage from someone who gave a daughter. Isn’t
that simple? This is exactly
what Jesus says will happen just before his return.
Isn’t that simple?
Taking does not refer to kidnapping young women like the men of Benjamin
did to the daughters of Shiloh. Taking
refers to accepting something that is given
to you, within the context of God’s perspective on marriages.
The
next question is who will give their
daughters in marriage? AND,
the answer is the parents in the true Church of God.
They will still understand and practice the same laws and customs Christ
has always promoted among His people. In
this prophecy there is not one implication that parents have to be uninvolved in
their children’s lives just prior to Christ’s return because the rules have
been modernized. Christ talked in terms people understood, and they understood
how people got married. Someone took
a wife and someone gave a daughter to
be married. If you have the
privilege of taking something, you
can also change your mind and not take
something. This is precisely what
the New Testament parables teach in relation to someone not qualifying to be
part of the Bride of Christ. If you
have the privilege of giving
something, you also have the privilege of not
giving something. Isn’t that simple? Note
the following Scripture.
Deuteronomy 7:3-4 (NKJV) “Nor shall you make marriages with them (Canaanites). You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. 4) For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.
Do you see the similarity? You should. The same divine being gave the analogy and instructions. This is the way Christ has always thought. He has not changed the way He looks at things because of modernization. When he designed humans, marriage was part of the design. Giving and Taking were part of the plan. Also note that The Eternal is very concerned, especially about the Canaanite daughters turning the Israelite males away from His Way of life. God knows the strong influence a wife will have on a man. God is equally concerned about the Israelite daughters being turned away from His Way of life. It is just that he has put males in a position of leadership within His family government.
But
the deceiver will ask, “What about the other unconverted
people; what will they do?” The
Bible is quite clear that by the time the flood destroyed all life, humanity had
been deceived to the point they participated in totally ungodly systems.
But Jesus Christ says people were giving
a daughter in marriage and getting
married. There is just something
about the way people are built that keeps
drawing them to God. Yes, at the
time of the flood, people were worshipping the
wrong God, but the point is that they had an inborn, built-in need to worship
something. People just have a need
to seek their creator, even if they do not know where he is.
Likewise, most people have a need to get married.
Most cultures have a system where people are joined to form families.
Yes, these systems are defective, but people just have the need to do
this. Somehow, they recognize,
subconsciously, that they need to do this.
Just like when Noah went into the Ark, there will be a lot of people
getting married who are totally removed from correct protocol, but they will be
trying to get married as best they understand.
When Christ created humans he instituted marriage as part of the creative
process.
It
is important to realize that government is a key issue in marriage.
God has willed that family government, model
his overall governmental design. That
is why the Old Testament laws seem so heavily biased towards men. Completely missed is the concept that men have special
responsibilities. It is the duty of
fathers to teach their sons properly. If
you are a called, baptized member of
God’s Church, you are in effect a bride to be.
You are betrothed and that state of betrothal
can be reversed. You must act
properly or you will not get to be a wife.
You are not supposed to want to leave
your Heavenly Father’s house.
It
might seem that biblical laws treat women unfairly because they incur the death
penalty for things men seem only to get a slap-on-the-wrist for in many
instances. But, as a betrothed
bride, women are supposed to not desire to leave
their physical father’s house until all is in order and done properly.
They are supposed to be prepared and then presented,
and given as a bride in a spotless
condition. They are supposed to act
correctly. If they cannot honor
their physical parents and home, according to God’s family
government, they only kid themselves if they think they have matured enough to
qualify for the Kingdom of God. Completely
missed are the statutes that show how a guilty man may incur the death penalty
under Old Testament laws. There is
a procedure for men to receive the same penalty as women for sexual immorality.
This procedure just follows a different statutory route.
This is because most scholars miss the point that God’s model of
government has the concept of people remaining in tribes (families)
but being united nationally in purpose and direction.
Briefly
we will examine one other episode of Isaac and Rebekah. The story concerns a famine in the land, the first one to
occur after Abraham had moved to Canaan. Isaac
went to Abimelech, King of the Philistines in Gerar.
We learn something special in Genesis 26:5.
Genesis
26:4-5 (NKJV)
“And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give
to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the
earth shall be blessed.” 5)
“because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes,
and My laws.”
This
is the scripture we reference to prove that Abraham knew all of the statutes and
commandments of God listed in the first five books of the Bible.
It is recorded that Abraham knew The Way
of God. That is why he sought a
wife for Isaac from his kindred. He
knew how such things were to be done.
There
is one other incident occurring in this land of the Philistines worth
mentioning. We see this in Genesis
26:6-7.
Genesis
26:6-7 (NKJB)
So Isaac dwelt in Gerar. 7) And the
men of the place asked him about his wife.
And he said, “She is my sister”;
for he was afraid to say, “She is my
wife,” because he thought, “lest the men of the place should kill me for
Rebekah, because she is beautiful to behold.”
Now
I wonder where Isaac got that idea? Why
from his father of course. He
undoubtedly had heard stories about the fiasco in Egypt where Sarah was taken to
the Pharoah’s Harem and they almost created a disaster in a host country.
Yes, children do mirror their parents.
I believe Jesus Christ taught that if his disciples had seen the Son,
they had seen The Father. Children do learn what
they live. Even Isaac made
mistakes. When presented with a
potentially dangerous situation, he remembered the plot that worked for his
father and temporarily lost faith. He
tried the same ploy himself. Isaac
was old enough that he should have known better.
In Genesis 25:20 we see that Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah. By the time he went to the Philistines, he would have been
quite a bit older. It is so
important what parents teach their children.
Their example is very important. It
is important to understand that God wants parents to keep on teaching children,
even if they have taught the wrong things.
They simply need to admit error and start over.
Even Isaac made mistakes.
Have
you ever wondered why some stories are in the Bible?
Frankly, many of them seem off the wall with no particular purpose.
The Dinah Incident is one of these stories.
Genesis
34:1-12 (NKJV)
Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the
daughters of the land. 2) And when
Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her
and lay with her, and violated her. 3)
His soul was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the
young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman.
4) So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, "Get me this young woman as a wife." 5) And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter.
Now his sons were with his livestock in the field; so Jacob held his peace
until they came. 6) Then Hamor the
father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him.
7) And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and
the men were grieved and very angry,
because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's
daughter, a thing which ought not to be
done. 8) But Hamor spoke with them, saying, "The soul of my son Shechem
longs for your daughter. Please give
her to him as a wife. 9) And
make marriages with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters to
yourselves. 10) So you
shall dwell with us, and the land shall be before you.
Dwell and trade in it, and acquire possessions for yourselves in
it." 11) Then Shechem said to
her (Dinah’s) father and her brothers, "Let me find favor in your eyes,
and whatever you say to me I will give. 12)
Ask me ever so much dowry and gift, and I will give according to what you say to
me; but give me the young woman as a wife."
Actually,
this story points to and verifies something we all should know.
There is a quite well known custom everywhere it seems, concerning giving
and taking daughters in marriage. There
are some things that are just simply good manners and here we find an example of
even Canaanites knowing the proper procedure.
When Dinah went on what appeared to be a natural and harmless venture to
meet young ladies her age, she was raped by Shechem.
He definitely messed up and forced himself upon a virgin when no one was
available to save her. But, he is
different than Amnon in that he continues admiring and really wanting this young
lady. He does not just trash her.
What does he do? Why the proper thing of course.
He asks his father to acquire
this young lady for him as a wife. Yes,
this is proper procedure and he is starting with the cart before the horse, but
he is trying to get the wife properly at this point and maintain some kind of
good relationship with her family.
Next,
Hamor and his son go to Jacob. Note
this, Jacob is mad but knows he is badly outnumbered.
He makes no decision until the sons come. This is a family thing.
The whole family is very angry and they
have a right to be. But watch the
father of Shechem, he is really trying to do things right.
He knows his son has messed up and there is a proper way to do this, so
he is trying to straighten things out. He
humbly begs for Dinah as a wife for his son.
Next
he tries to sweeten the pot. He
implores Jacob and his sons to take wives
from his people and let them intermarry with the Israelites. Hamor does not see anything wrong with this because he does
not know The
Eternal’s purpose or laws. He
thinks he is helping things. Notice
Hamor is not trying to fragment them,
he is trying to unite them.
He is actually trying to do this despite the fact he is a Philistine.
Anyway, they close in Verse 12 again asking for Dinah as a wife for his
son. He is not being a bully even
though he has the clear advantage in soldiers.
There is no example of the thistle
trying to bully the cedar here.
Next,
the sons of Jacob demand that Hamor and Shechem, along with their city, circumcise
all the males. They agree to
intermarry if the Canaanites will become circumcised.
This is a tremendous example of thinking on your feet in a tough
situation.
Genesis
34:16 (NKJV)
“then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to us; and we will dwell with you, and we will
become one people.
Do
you see how important this is? It
is commonly known that families and tribes unite by exchanging daughters in marriage.
Daughters are so important to fathers and God.
They are the instruments by which unity
is supposed to join two families.
You just do not leave your father’s
house or your father-in-laws house as Hadley Moore wanted too.
This is a product of defective modernization
of social laws. You unite
two families, two nations.
However, the circumcision scheme is deceitful because the Israelites know
that they are outnumbered and they have no intentions of breaking God’s laws
(Deut.7:3).
Genesis
34:25-27 (NKJV)
Now it came to pass on the third day, when they (Canaanites of Hamor) were in pain, that
two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his
sword and came boldly upon the city and killed all the males.
26) And they killed Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword,
and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went out.
27) The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city,
because their sister had been defiled.
Notice
that Dinah was a captive in Shechem’s house.
Their intentions were not as pure as first appears because they
were holding the daughter captive, rather than returning her to her father.
Maybe the parable of the thistle and cedar does apply here?
You
should also notice a biblical fact. It
appears to be common knowledge when grown men would be helpless from circumcision. That is
why Simeon and Levi could so confidently take on a whole city.
They knew the men would be totally
incapacitated. Modern Church of God
scholars can use the Dinah Incident to shed light upon one of several doctrinal
errors. They have a perverted twist to explain Joshua
5:10-12, so as to justify counting to the Feast of First Fruits improperly.
These modern scholars miss the point that Joshua and the Israelites postponed
Passover and The Days of unleavened Bread from the First Month, to the Second
Month, when they crossed the Jordan River to attack Jericho.
Joshua
led the Israelites up, out of the Jordan River on the
tenth day of the First Month (Joshua 4:19). Normally this would have been the day to select the Passover
Lamb for the celebration on the fourteenth.
In addition to making camp, the Israelites had to prepare to be circumcised.
They probably did this the next day, on the eleventh day of the First
Month. Three days later the men
would have been at the peak of their
pain. They would not have been able
to slay a Passover Lamb as head of household, let alone march around Jericho.
There is no hint of divine intervention as everyone stayed in his tent
till healed. When the Passover Lamb
was chosen on the tenth of the month, it was as good as dead.
It appears the prophetic period of forty years the Israelites were to
wonder in the wilderness started on the tenth day of the first month, before
they left Egypt. The prophetic
period of forty years they were to eat manna began on the sixteenth day of the
Second month as they were approaching The
Mountain of God.
If
you combine this information with Exodus
16:1-35, you will see that the manna,
talked about in Joshua 5:12 would not have come on the Sixteenth Day of the
Second Month. That way, all of the
males would have been healed up to march around Jericho during the Days of
Unleavened Bread. The prophetic significance of Exodus 16:35 would be fulfilled and the
episode of Hezekiah postponing (2 Chronicles 30) Passover and The Days of
Unleavened Bread can be better understood.
Postponing the Spring Holy Days was lawful. The Eternal was right there with the Israelites.
The requirement is for the Spring Holy Days to be held during a harvest
season and in the spring. An example of a calendar configuration the Israelites might
have faced when coming up out of the Jordan River occurs this year (2002).
Postponing Passover and The Days of Unleavened Bread until the Second
Month and then counting till The Feast of Weeks, still meets the requirement
of keeping all of the Spring Holy Days in the Spring. If the weather and location of the Spring Equinox kept the
barley from being ripe (or at least in the dough stage), these Holy Days
sometimes had to be postponed until the Second Month.
Isn’t
it amazing the things you can learn and apply from just one strange incident
like The Dinah Incident? So far we
have seen only one custom involved in marriage and that custom supports the
authority of the father in God’s family
government. The decision as to who
young people marry is not theirs alone. As
we move forward several hundred years to study the next examples of marriage
customs, surely we will find just one
example that will justify young people not having to accept a perverted,
unreasonable, prudish old parent having authority if things do not go smoothly
with the rest of the family when you try to
pick a mate. Surely, there is just one example of young people getting to pick
whom they marry, even if parents and that rotten family
object. After all, these ancient thought forms will surely have changed by the time we
get to the period of the Judges.
Here
is an important, but not widely publicized couple.
Zimri was the son of Salu, a leader of a father’s house among the
Simeonites and Cozbi was the daughter of Zur, a head of a father’s house in
Midian. These were young people
from prominent families. A father’s house is a term generally reserved for a large
tribe. Now these young people were
not married. They were just dating,
but they were dating like most young people do
today. Cozbi is considered a
princess of a royal family in Midian.
The
incident takes place just after the women of Moab and Midian start enticing the
Israelite men with their charms. Balaam
taught Balak how to reason around the blessing
and get Israel on The Eternal’s bad side. This
is an example of advanced, modernized
thinking concerning dating in Israel.
Israel is approaching the Promised Land and it will not be long until
Moses dies. The scene involves
Moses ranting and raving about certain leaders and people who have joined in
pagan festivities and actually sacrificed to the gods of the people of the land
of Moab. Hard as it may seem to
believe, Moses exhibits outworn ideas
and ancient thought forms.
He demands that the violators be hung on trees in the sun.
He is certainly not showing any sign of modernizing
his thinking patterns and neither is The
Eternal. The cloud is still
above the tabernacle, but not one sign appears to correct Moses and show mercy
to the offenders. In addition to
all of this a plague is running rampant among God’s People because of this
transgression and thousands have died.
Then
the spectacle
of spectacles happens. Right
in front of Moses and the congregation, a prominent son of a leader brings a
Midianite Princess to his tent. I
can envision the gall and arrogance involved.
Here is a young man and young woman with their own ideas about dating.
Numbers
25:11 (NKJV)
And indeed, one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a
Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation
of the children of Israel, who were weeping at the tabernacle of meeting.
After
all, his father was a leader and Zimri had rights.
He may choose whomever he
wanted to bring into the congregation. His
body is his, and he can have sex any time he wishes.
As far as he is concerned, Moses and the rest of the tribes will just, HAVE
TO GET USED TO IT. They will
just, HAVE TO GET OVER IT.
After all, how much should young people have to put up with?
Anyone should be able to see that this Princess was a real special conquest. Zimri’s
timing was not the best, the entire congregation was assembled and being
verbally chastised and quite a number were being publicly executed.
It was not a festive occasion, but what
the heck? Zimri was excited and he had to get inside and have sex.
Normally he would join his brethren and the other people in stoning
sinners, but everyone should know it was important to satisfy this princess.
Hard
as it may seem to believe, a man named Phinehas jumps up and runs over to the
tent. Brazenly,
he intrudes on a scene of hot sexual action and runs his javelin through both
Zimiri and Cozbi. They are now
eternally coupled together with his spear.
Even more amazing, the plague suddenly stops. It was as if The
Etenal were sanctifying this rude interruption of a modern form of dating.
A plague, that had killed 24,000 people because of dating
the women of Midian and worshipping other gods,
suddenly stops.
If
all of this was not enough for the freethinkers
and Liberals (What is a Liberal, http://www.avoicecriedout.com/armstrong/INDEX.HTMs
in Israel), The
Eternal actually decided to bless
Phinehas for his actions.
Numbers
25:10-14 (NKJV)
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 11) “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the
son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel,
because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the
children of Israel in My zeal.” 12)
Therefore say, “Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace;
13) and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an
everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement
for the children of Israel.”
Yes,
The
Eternal sanctified the
actions of Phinehas and stopped a plague because of his actions.
At this time, The Eternal had not yet
changed his mind about dating practices and who
the Israelites should marry. They
simply did not have free choice in those areas. The only logical conclusion was that he still expected
fathers in Israel to give their
daughters in marriage to the son of another family
in Israel. Modern thinking skills are not something The Eternal tolerated yet
at this point.
I
hesitate to call these people a couple, since they were never officially married
but (they could not legally be married) their story has important points in it.
It never ceases to amaze me how quickly people adopt the customs of
others when they are away from their families.
People just seem to have a genetic need to fit in.
Genesis
38: 1-2 (NKJV)
It came to pass at that time that Judah departed
from his brothers, and visited a
certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah. 2)
And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua, and
he married her and went in to her.
It
is so important to choose your friends wisely.
Here we have an example of Judah taking a little trip, a little vacation
from his boring family and the steady need to
work and herd those sheep. This is
a perfect example of how important it is to choose whom you associate with.
Here we see Judah going to visit a Canaanite friend, a very good friend
that he kept a long time. But, the minute he got away from that stuffy father and
mother, and their prudish ideas, what happens?
Why, a Canaanite woman seduces him.
He undoubtedly was not permitted to date
at home. His parents probably still
voiced their opinions and those of The
Eternal about intermarrying with other races.
The racist dogs. Anyway,
this young lady probably was not hindered from dating,
as she probably had liberal parents who understood the modern times they were living in.
Notice the scriptures. Judah
took her for a wife, it appears, after he had checked her out and determined
they were compatible. Notice that
nothing is said about his parents ever sanctifying
this arrangement. Judah took the
wife, not his parents.
Next,
in Genesis 38:6 we see Judah taking a wife for his half-breed son.
Notice, Judah took or arranged to get the wife.
For some reason he has reverted back to ancient thought forms. I
suppose it is because Jacob is still hanging around complaining about breaking
God’s laws or something like that. Anyway,
The Eternal took a disliking to Er and killed him according to
Verse 7.
Immediately,
Judah sent his other son into the daughter-in-law to raise up an heir for Er.
Judah has evidently decided by now that some of The Eternal’s ways of doing
things are right. The laws
concerning the duties of a brother are established in Deuteronomy 25:1-7.
But Onan, the brother of Er, does not want to make Tamar pregnant.
He refuses to do his duty. He
likes the sexual intercourse; he just hates his brother for some reason and does
not want Er to have an heir. Besides,
if he made her pregnant, he might have to stop having sex with her. The Eternal did not like this attitude and destroyed Onan too
(Verse 10).
Judah
orders Tamar to remain a widow in her father’s
house until his third son is grown and then, he can make her pregnant.
We see a few things coming to light here.
First, the daughter did not have to totally break all connections with her
family. When Judah took her for a wife for his first son, it was with her parents’ sanctification.
She could go home. Actually, Judah should have taken care of her, but her
family took her back until the third son grew up.
This is a PIVOTAL point. The
reason her family took her back was because
they were Israelites. They had been
taught the ways of God.
She was without doubt a
daughter from the tribe of Levi. This
is so important to realize. Notice
Genesis 38:14.
Genesis
38:14 (NKJV) So
she (Tamar) took off her widow’s garments, covered herself with a veil and
wrapped herself, and sat in an open place which was on the way to Timnah; for
she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given to him as a wife.
Notice
this carefully. Tamar is going to
play the role of a harlot and seduce
Judah. She finds out he is going
back to visit his friend Hirah the Adullamite.
She probably knows that Judah wants sex, as his wife died (Genesis
38:12). He is going back where he
got it easy the first time. Old
habits are hard to break. This is
proof positive that Tamar is racially an Israelite.
She absolutely knows and believes in the laws of God.
She has internalized them.
She is taking matters into her own hands and is going to raise up an heir
for her first husband. Reading on
through the account in Genesis 38 we find that Judah is seduced.
He does not even recognize his own daughter-in-law.
This makes it possible to secure his signet ring and staff as collateral.
As soon as she satisfies Judah, she leaves and goes back to her
father’s house. Apparently she only needed one episode of sex to conceive,
probably because The Eternal was meddling.
About
three months later (Genesis 38:24) Judah is informed that Tamar has played the
harlot. He demands that she be drug
out of her father’s house and burned
at the stake. Talk about ancient thought forms. Right
here is another ABSOLUTELY PIVOTAL POINT.
Most Church of God Scholars and Jews identify Tamar as a gentile.
Tamar, Rahab and Ruth are identified as gentiles.
Mr. Armstrong always taught, right up to the end, that Jesus Christ the
Messiah absolutely had to come from the pure
racial strain of Shem. Of
course, practically without exception, the very ministry he
taught did not accept this. They had a
better idea, just like Judah and Esau. Judah
and Esau could pick whom they wanted to marry.
But!! The Ministry could not
choose how the Messiah could racially descend.
This is so important. If you
realize this, you are one of the few who understand.
The privilege of deciding of how the Messiah would descend racially was The Eternal’s and His
alone. It was not left to chance in
the time of Judah and it was not left to the chance in the late 60s to a bunch
of self-appointed scholars who wanted to prove Mr. Armstrong wrong.
This is so important and shows the absolute power of God to intervene, no
matter what the circumstances, and achieve His purpose.
So,
you say, how can all of these scholars in the Churches of God be wrong? It is not possible!
How can Mr. Armstrong be right and where did he get this information?
All of the Jewish commentaries support the ideas that these three ladies
were probably of gentile birth.
You say, “this idea is about as strange as your claims that young
people cannot determine for themselves whom to marry?”
Well, if the Bible is your authority, the answer to where Mr. Armstrong
got this information is The Bible, the Word of God.
The Bible proves that Tamar
was from the tribe of Levi. Judah
himself verifies this information. Notice
what he says.
Genesis 38:24 (NKJV) And it came to pass, about three months after that Judah was told, saying, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot; furthermore she is with child by harlotry.” So Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned!”
Remember
that there is a principle in Bible study. All
of the information is here a little, there a little.
There are only two ways unfaithful daughters are to be executed according to Mosaic
statutes. The first is recorded in
Deuteronomy 22:21.
Deuteronomy
22:21 (NKJV)
“then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of
her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone
her to death with stones, because she has done a disgraceful thing in
Israel, to play the harlot in her
father’s house; so you shall put away the evil person from among you.
This
method of execution involved an unmarried daughter getting pregnant while living
in her father’s house. The male
does not suffer the same fate. This
may seem unfair but God has placed a government in his church families.
The Bride of Christ will pay the death penalty if she is unfaithful.
There is a common thread relating to salvation in all of the laws of God.
Stoning was the most common
method of execution, but there was a special execution for the daughters of a priest.
Leviticus
21:9 (NKJV) The
daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by playing the harlot, she
profanes her father. She shall be
burned with fire.
Notice
this special punishment. This shows
that Tamar was from the Tribe of Levi.
But, the deceiver will say, there are no priests; the Levitical
Priesthood has not yet been established. All
deceivers just need to, GET OVER IT. This shows how God controls what is uttered by certain key
figures during the history of his people. Do
you not think God can control your tongue? It is true that the Levitical Priesthood established by Moses
in the Wilderness is identified with Aaron, who has not yet been born.
There was a priesthood in effect, though.
That priesthood was the Melchizedek Priesthood.
Judah was inspired to identify a punishment reserved for a promiscuous
daughter of the yet future, Levitical Priesthood.
Make no mistake about it; the Sons of Jacob knew God’s laws.
It never ceases to amaze me how detailed God’s word is.
Here a little, there a little.
The
importance of this singular event cannot be underestimated. Here was a plot by Satan to destroy God’s plan for the
Messiah to come through the line of Shem. It
appears that Judah only married one woman.
It was the wrong woman racially speaking, but can you appreciate the
power of God to influence the outcome of things. Tamar was the mother of twin sons, Zarah and Perez.
King David descended through the line of Perez and of course the line of
Zarah branched off and was established in Ireland for Jeremiah to take a
princess of Judah to, in order that the Royal Line would be preserved according
to promise. If Tamar had not taken
matters into her own hands to raise up an heir, the racially pure line of Judah
might have ceased. In Genesis 49:10 the promise of the scepter was given to
Judah. This means the Messiah could
not have descended from the line of Judah and God’s plan might have been
stopped. In fact, a case study will
show that this singular event marked a turning point in Judah’s life.
It was right here that he probably caught his father’s attention, or The
Eternal’s attention. Judah
shows true repentance, true leadership. He
has grown in God’s way of life.
He accepts responsibility for his sins.
This is probably the turning point that made it possible for him to
receive the Scepter Promise (See our special Article).
As we
progress through the first five books of the Old Testament we encounter the laws
of God concerning the prohibition to intermarry with other races.
We also encounter laws concerning the punishment of a member of Israel
for raping and/or enticing a daughter of any tribe of Israel.
These laws also show who is in authority within a family.
Shortly after the Ten Commandments were given to Israel, God inspired
Moses to instruct Israel in His statutes and judgements.
Exodus, Chapter 22, is one of those chapters, which detail some
of the statutes and the perspective of The
Eternal concerning who had authority within the individual family
governments, within the tribes. Truly,
it can be said that at this late date, around
1,430 BC, that The Eternal was till exhibiting the same outworn ideas, the same ancient
thought patterns. Still true to
form, he had not yet accepted modernization
of his approach to dating and betrothal.
Exodus
22:16 (NKJV)
And if a man entices a virgin who is not betrothed,
and lies with her, he shall surely pay the bride
price for her to be his wife. 17)
If her father utterly refuses to give her
to him, he shall pay money according to the bride
price of virgins.
Talk
about another ancient thought form!
Here we see a specific statute establishing that a young lady’s father,
utterly, does not have to give
his daughter to a young man for a wife.
The father does not have to say yes just because someone says please or
gimmee. Please note that the
statute is in reference to a man. There are no age limits! We
are talking about a young lady who is destined by God’s Will to become, The Wife
of His Youth, to some young man at some point.
The statute covers things that occur before she is officially betrothed,
if she makes a mistake and is seduced. There
is no rape involved here, just enticement
on the part of the man. Make no
mistake; there is protocol.
Young
men in the Churches of God, you had better take notice because we are under the
New Covenant and all of the reasoning you and your parents can fabricate will
not change things. God is watching
and you had better be careful. Do
you know what the bride price is?
You would do well to know this before stumbling ahead.
Most commentaries and Bible translations reference Genesis 34:12 and
sometimes Genesis 29: 20 and 27.
It
is important to note as this study has shown that Jacob paid a bride price for Rachel under the laws of servitude.
That price was fourteen years of labor, plus the obligation to serve as a
husband to Leah under lawful conditions. It
is important to note that he still did not have full possession of either
daughter outside the laws of servitude. Laban
was just good enough in his heart, that he sanctified
their marriages, under conditions previously established in this study, outside
the laws of servitude. Next in
Genesis 34:12, we see Shechem negotiating and putting himself at Jacob’s
mercy. They
knew the laws concerning the bride price.
They had unlawfully acquired a
young lady in Israel. Even the
Canaanites had laws, and many were modeled after laws Israel had.
They had to have laws or their families
and nation would just self-destructed. They
knew Jacob could ask anything he wanted too for that daughter and they were
obliged to pay it. A father’s bride price could be anything from that of Bethuel’s and Laban’s
approach for Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel of nothing, just goodwill and exchange of
a few gifts and making a covenant, to a horrendous price.
When Laban sanctified the marriage of his daughters to Jacob outside
the laws of servitude, he only required that Jacob take no other wives.
Young
men in the Churches of God, you would do well to notice that if you spiritually
or physically defile a daughter of a family in
Spiritual Israel you are obliged to make things right with her family.
Essentially, you will have to pay about any price they ask, AND
you still may not get the daughter. Thus Saith the Lord!!! If
you have practiced sister hopping
and/or fornication you are in a whole
lot of trouble. Where have these
laws been abolished? If they stand
valid, you are in a real mess. The
blood of Christ can forgive your sins, but there are no bankruptcy laws in
Israel for violating certain laws governing family
authority, and other statutory standards. I
do not believe that even the Jubilee Year will save an offender from the penalty
of the BRIDE PRICE.
You will still have to pay the bride
price. No bride price; no
forgiveness. The Spiritual Intent of God’s Laws is
very demanding.
The
need to pay the bride price is just
like keeping the Sabbath or any of God’s other laws.
You may be forgiven for breaking the Sabbath command, but you still have
to quit breaking the Sabbath. If
you are a thief you may be forgiven the sin, but you still have to pay back at
least double the money stolen. If
you do not, you have simply not repented. Requirement
to pay the bride price is covered by
statutes under the general laws of theft. What
all young men in the Churches of God need to realize is that there are minimal
statutory requirements and maximum statutory limitations.
Exodus 22:16 shows the maximum limitations and Deuteronomy 22:29 only
shows the minimal statutory requirements. If
you are in a court of law and are guilty of theft, you will most certainly have
to pay at least the minimal requirements.
The
last topic concerning the bride price
would concern how long to wait before trying to make things right.
In the case of Hamor and Shechem, they did not let the grass grow under
their feet too long. They knew the problem and tried to rectify it.
They did not try to be too cute about the situation, even though they had
the soldiers. What they really
wanted was to be reconciled. The Book of Ruth, which we will examine later shows the
principle regarding solving this problem. Boaz
went the next morning after learning
of Ruth’s wishes to have him perform the duty of a close kinsman.
He did not wait to resolve the conflict of interest since he was the
prospective groom. Apparently, his
father was not alive to go with him, but this is one of the examples,
which we should learn from. When
Satan accuses us before God of sin, how long should we wait until trying to make
things right? First,
we need to understand that the accusation is brought before a very special
court. We are not allowed to
practice before this court; that is, to tell our side of the story.
Immediately, Christ our high priest intercedes for us.
Otherwise we could die in our sins.
And, we must remember that Christ is our prospective groom,
metaphorically speaking. The
pattern is to move to resolve the problem immediately.
This is the biblical example of how to handle a problem with a betrothal.
If there is another biblical way of
handling this type of problem, I have yet to see it.
When a problem arises between two families
regarding a betrothal, it needs to be resolved
immediately. If the problem is not
resolved quickly, the situation moves past the point of reconciliation.
The biblical examples place the responsibility on the groom and his family.
If things go too long, welcome to The Forlorn
Hope.
Repentance
goes way beyond just saying I am sorry for this one
sin.
The Spiritual Intent of the Law is really overlooked and
pushed aside when most people claim to repent.
To illustrate the points I tried to make in the previous subhead, I would
like to examine a paradox of human nature that I will term The
Four Levites. This is a
hypothetical story involving
Seven Levites who were directors of a worldly church corporation that
claimed to be doing the Work of God. Most
church organizations claim this and they have leaders who claim to be Christ’s
Vicars on earth.
Eventually
the Seven
Levites became embroiled in controversy over who was the Greatest Levite.
Four of the Levites used legal loopholes
(according to worldly statutes) to pull off a hostile takeover of the corporate
body trying to do God’s Work.
In doing so, these Four Levites were able to become
Trustees of a trust fund holding all of the tithes and offerings from the Fall
Holy Days. Their timing was IMPECCABLE
because, had they attempted to pull off this takeover before the Fall Holy Days,
the trust fund involved would not have been nearly so large.
GOD’S PEOPLE simply would
not have donated to this corrupt group of Levites.
Let us assume that the trust fund was valued at $650,000.00.
Our assumptions are based upon the premise that corporate assets and
checking accounts come under different laws than The
Spiritual Intent of the Law. No
matter how you cut it, the reality of the situation is that these Four Levites need to pay back
about $650,000.00 to the Work of God, plus the lawful penalty for their sin. Each
Levite’s share
is $162,500.00 plus appropriate penalties.
A
trust fund was involved and a legal Trust entail oaths.
That is why Trusts are called Trusts.
The trust fund is subject to the purposes and goals of the Trust or
contributing Grantor.
If these Four Levites did not want to stand
the penalty of the theft of a trust fund, they should not have taken over the
corporate body who was the Grantor.
A trust fund is different than a simple checking account.
Instead, what happened was that the Four
Levites were given fantastic jobs with other worldly church
organizations, with absolutely no penalty.
Three of the Four Levites were quite wealthy,
despite rhetoric to the contrary. They
did not need these trust funds for their livelihood. They had reaped the rewards of generous salaries and benefits
from God’s treasury for years. The
Four Levites
just confiscated the trust funds to further their individual wealth and
prestige. They needed to expand
their real estate holdings.
Consequences
of sin are what reality therapy
is all about. Yet these Four Levites paid no penalty.
The Four Levites were in fact,
rewarded for their corruption, or so it would seem. The reality is that the Four
Levites
will still have to repay the trust fund money they confiscated.
Several years ago Mr. Norbert Link made the best analogy to this concept
of theft and general lawlessness I
have ever heard, at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jackson, Wyoming.
He eloquently brought out the point that just because parts of a set of
statutes are repealed, this does not negate the entire body of statutes and
laws. He showed that all of the statutes
and laws of God are automatically included in the New Covenant and Spiritual Intent of God’s Laws.
These statutes and judgements, along with their true spiritual intent
should underlay all of our actions.
A
trust fund automatically has a set of intentions and purpose built into the
Trust that establishes the fund. Anyone
assuming the job of Trustee is automatically bound by oath to the terms of the
Trust documents. If the common
laity had confiscated the rights to operate this Trust, and then spent the money
for purposes other than the Work of God; The
Eternal would still require them to pay the money back according to His
statutes. They would not be offered high-paying jobs, as their punishment with other religious organizations.
The underlying corruption of the worldly church organizations that openly
hired these Four Levites speaks with a
deafening roar. One of the
Four Levites went on to quickly assume a high paying job as a
researcher and one of the heads of theology in a new, worldly Church
Corporation. Another Levite
went on to work in the offices of another large worldly Church Corporation.
The other Two Levites formed their own worldly Church Corporation.
Eventually
these Four
Levites were arrested and brought before the Supreme Court of the
universe. They were indeed found
guilty of stealing God’s trust fund. The Four Levites presented a defense
based upon forgiveness. They
claimed as their First Affirmative
Defense that the people they stole the money from forgave them, therefore
they did not have to repay the money. They
claimed that their forgiveness must be bound in heaven because the leaders of
these worldly Church Corporations forgave them.
But the Supreme Court would not hear this argument. The Supreme Court decided that it was indeed noble for the
laity subscribing to these corporations to forgive them and the leaders of the
organizations that hired them, but the law demanded that they repay the money
they had stolen. First, the court
examined The
Four
Levites’ financial statements and determined that two of the Levites could repay the entire
penalty for their sins. The court
confiscated their property and sold it at public auction to replace the money
they had stolen. But, they had to
pay double.
Exodus
22:4 (NKJV) If
the theft is certainly found alive in his
hands, whether it is an ox or donkey or sheep,
he shall restore double.
Yes,
the tangible assets stolen were in two of the Levites’
hands so they could, and had to repay double.
They were then totally forgiven and could go free; free from the penalty
of the sin they had committed. Their
payment of the judgement made total forgiveness possible.
Despite the leaders
of the organizations that had hired them pleading for their pardon, they still
had to repay the theft. Each of
these Two
Levites were independently wealthy, so their judgement was for
$325,000.00 each, plus they still had to tithe on their net.
The judgement was not deductible against tithing requirements.
But
the other Two
Levites had wasted and squandered all of the money they had stolen.
They had nothing left but their great
jobs as leaders in the theological departments of the worldly Church
Corporations that had rehired them. The
Supreme Court garnished their wages.
Exodus
22:1 (NKJV) If
a man steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it, he shall restore
five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.
The
Supreme Court ruled that the Two
Levites who had squandered what they stole had to repay 5
times the amount they stole. They
could keep their lucrative, high paying jobs, but 50% of their income would be
applied every month to the debt. Additionally,
these Two
Levites would still be required to tithe without applying the
judgement as a deductible expense. Each
of these Two
Levites was given a judgement to repay of $ 812,500.00. These Two
Levites were given 21 (three consecutive 7 year periods of servitude)
years to repay this amount with no allowance for missing a monthly payment.
Since usury was not allowed according to God’s Laws for brethren, each Levite had to pay $3,224.21 per
month for 21 years. Failure to pay
the judgement would result in loss of forgiveness, which would be costly indeed.
For
their Second Affirmative Defense, the
Four Levites
had pled that the law did not apply to money stolen from unsuspecting and naïve
members of the laity. They further
pled that since the law specifically pertained to goats, sheep, and oxen that
the penalties did not apply to them for just stealing money.
The
Supreme Court rejected this defense also, on the grounds that while the law
listed specific examples of theft, that the Spiritual
Intent of the Law still applied.
The
Four Levites
were still under the New Covenant. Therefore,
they could not ask to have the case dismissed because they had sinned under
God’s Laws. The portion of the
penalty requiring death could be pardoned by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, but
the physical part of the statutes violated, still needed to be paid. The precedents used were the case of John the Baptist
declaring to Herod that God’s laws still applied in taking his brother’s
wife, the case of Paul requiring sexual immorality to be purged among the
Corinthian congregation, and of course the beatitudes (Matt.5). Further, the Supreme Court required that the Two Levites be removed from their
positions as heads of theology until such time as they had completely repaid
their judgements. They could keep
their extremely high paying jobs but could not write, speak, advise, or teach.
They had to do janitorial work and serve tables.
Additionally,
the Supreme Court demanded warrants be issued for the arrest of the corporate
leaders of the worldly Church Corporations who had rehired these men to teach
God’s People. The warrants were
to be issued on a charge against these officials for the Spiritual Manslaughter
of God’s People.
The Bride Price for my daughters is Fourteen Years of Servitude, and you still will not get the daughter, if you mess up. Have a complaint? Take it up with Christ in one of the general periods of judgement. What part of no don’t you understand?
Othniel
and Achsah
Here
is another special couple in biblical history.
This story concerns an epic in the Book of Joshua concerning the conquest
of Canaan. Moving past the records
of the early battles where The
Eternal even stops time and holds the sun overhead and lengthens the
day, (Joshua 10:1-14), we eventually come the point in the epic where the
majority of the Land of Canaan is conquered.
Caleb, a leader of a chief family in Judah, comes to Joshua and requests
permission and a blessing to conquer the area around Hebron where the Anak
(giants) lived (Joshua 14). He is
given that permission and proceeds to conquer the area.
Finally, as he leads the tribes of Judah up to Debir, he offers a special
prize to the division that conquers this heavily fortified town.
Joshua
15:16 (NKJV)
And Caleb said, “He who attacks Kirjath Sepher and takes it, to him I
will give Achsah my daughter as
wife.
Debir
was a frontier fortress of the Amorite kings which was conquered earlier (Joshua
10:38). Later, during the six year
military campaign it was reoccupied, and retaken by Othniel (Joshua 15:7, 15,
17). Prior to the battle a very
special prize was offered to the commander of the division that conquered the
city. The prize was the daughter of
Caleb. Notice that he said the
daughter, not a daughter.
Caleb evidently had only one special daughter.
She must have been a real beauty and a special princess in Judah.
Notice, that the offer is not made to just anyone.
Yes, this daughter is only promised to a commander.
The attack was made using the legions of Caleb’s own family
within the greater tribe of Judah. His
nephew won the honor (notice I said honor) of receiving this special princess as
his wife.
It
is important to notice that Caleb still thought he had the
right to give this daughter as a wife.
It is also important as we proceed with this event to understand that she
had the right of refusal, just as Rebekah did. It is understandable that The
Eternal might have been weary enough to just not interfere right here.
He may have put off changing marriage customs since he had been
overseeing a six-year military campaign. Modern
thinkers would have anticipated a change of outworn ideas since a new nation was emerging, but NO,
not so.
Joshua
15:17-19 (NKJV)
So Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it; and he gave
him Achsah his daughter as wife. 18)
Now it was so, when she came to him, that she persuaded him to ask her father
for a field. So she dismounted from
her donkey, and Caleb said to her, "What do you wish?"
19) She answered, "Give me a blessing; since you have given me land in the South, give
me also springs of water." So
he gave her the upper springs and the
lower springs.
This
is such an important incident in the history of the conquest that it is repeated
again in the Book of Judges.
Judges
1:9-13 (NKJV)
And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites
who dwelt in the mountains, in the South, and in the lowland.
10) Then Judah went against the Canaanites who dwelt in Hebron. (Now the
name of Hebron was formerly Kirjath Arba.) And they killed Sheshai, Ahiman, and
Talmai. 11) From there they went
against the inhabitants of Debir (The name of Debir was formerly Kirjath Sepher.).
12) Then Caleb said, "Whoever attacks Kirjath Sepher and takes it,
to him I will give my daughter Achsah
as wife." 13) And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother,
took it; so he gave him his daughter
Achsah as wife. 14) Now it
happened, when she came to him, that she
urged him (literally he urged her) to ask
her father for a field. And she
dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her,
"What do you wish?" 15)
So she said to him, "Give me a
blessing; since you have given me land in the South, give
me also springs of water." And
Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
Now
here is a biblical example of a lady who knew her worth and thought big.
The scope of her thinking is much broader that that of her new husband.
Notice how boldly she approaches her father and the confidence she
exhibits in not being refused. She
knows her worth and she has fulfilled her
duty, after previously agreeing
to the marriage with him. She wants
the best for her children, Caleb’s future grandchildren, and she gets it.
Just as the Bride of Christ is very important to God the Father, so is
Achsah to Caleb. Now we see why she is such a prize. She is an adult. She
exhibits the thinking patterns of a Proverbs 31 wife. Of course, she has
been trained properly all of her life and actually has a father who is one
of the only two people from the original generation allowed to enter The
Promised Land. Just as God the
Father is going to bestow eternal life, a blessing
beyond imagination, so does Caleb have the power and the WILL to bestow upon Achsah anything she asks for.
She asks for land with a few springs.
Yes, water is a very important commodity and she knows it. She
gets ALL of the water, a complete
valley of springs, for the benefit of her offspring.
Talk about vision, this lady has it and she knows what is important.
No cheap jewelry for this lady. Her
husband urges her to ask for a field, but she is way ahead of him.
She wants a special valley, the entire valley.
She has the foresight to know that if her
family controls the water, they will control large blocks of land.
Not once do you ever see any implication that Achsah ever finds Othniel
repulsive in any way. Do you think she had not met the commanders of the various
divisions of soldiers in the tribe of Judah?
Yes, she knew them and was consulted, before her father made this bold
offer.
As
we move on through the Book of Judges with this study, it is important to note
that
The Eternal has not yet changed His mind concerning any of the laws
about dating, brides
or betrothal.
Surely He will finally modernize
ancient thought forms to match the
emerging new cultures and new understanding of His own scriptures during the
period of the Judges. The
Eternal has not yet exhibited personally, or through His chosen leaders,
the realization that young people
need to experiment with each other and spend a lot of time together getting
intimate so they can determine if they are compatible.
Finally,
in Judges 2:1-4 we have an example of the Israelites exhibiting the modern
thinking skills necessary to change marriage customs and other outworn
ideas. The Lord chooses to
speak directly to all of the tribes. Joshua
had called a special meeting. There
was temporary remorse but it was short lived and Joshua died.
In Judges 3:6-8, Israel finally breaks the pattern of blind
obedience and mixes with the Canaanites.
They finally got rid of the old leadership with those ancient
thought forms.
Judges
3:5-8 (NKJV)
And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the
Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
6) And they took their
(Canaanite) daughters to be their (Israelites) wives, and gave
their (Israelites) daughters to their (Canaanites) sons; and they (Israelites)
served their (Canaanites) gods. 7)
So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord.
They forgot the Lord their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs.
8) Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He sold
them into the hand of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the children of
Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.
Paradoxically,
The
Eternal still is pushing those outworn
ideas, those ancient thought forms.
He should have known it was necessary to reach a consensus,
a compromise concerning religion because there was a need for peace
in these families with mixed religious training. But no, He does not want them mixing PERIOD. After eight
years (Judges 3:8), The Eternal raises up Othniel, Caleb’s nephew and husband to
Achsah, to deliver the children of Israel.
At this point in history, The
Eternal goes right back to ancient
thought forms and picks a leader from the old way
of thinking. I am reminded here of
song from the 80s. It had as a
refrain, “When will they ever learn?”
What an appropriate question! This
question is kind of like, “Where are
you going?” It does not
appear that people will ever learn from history.
The question to young people in the Churches of God would be,
“When will you ever learn?”
Is it possible for you to wake up, even with a wakeup call?
Moving
on through the Book of Judges we find Israel repenting, being delivered, and
again going back into false religious systems and being enslaved.
Eventually we come to a period about one-half of the way through the
Period of the Judges. Here we find a half-brother named Jephthah judging Israel for
six years and then a person by the name of Ibzan of Bethlehem judging Israel for
seven years. This man is really
fertile. He has thirty sons and
thirty daughters (Judges 12:9). Please
note that a Judge of Israel still had the ancient
thought forms that he should give
away daughters.
Judges
12:9 (NKJV) He
had thirty sons. And he gave
away thirty daughters in marriage, and brought in (took) thirty daughters from elsewhere for his sons.
He judged Israel for seven years.
Amazing
as it might seem, we still find a leader sanctified
by The
Eternal, practicing those outworn
ideas of giving daughters in
marriage and taking daughters for his
sons in marriage. He goes about
securing wives for his sons, just like Abraham. He also gives
daughters like Bethuel. It is
really amazing how difficult it is for social scientists to get rid of ancient
thought forms.
A
few years ago Mr. John Ogwyn gave a sermon on Samuel and Samson. He pointed out how they were both born at the same time but
each chose to do something different
with the special abilities he had been given.
Mr. Ogwyn showed the waste of Samson’s life compared with the good in
Samuel’s life. Reality therapy is
correct, in that choices make a
difference in people’s lives. If
you are a baptized member of the True Church of God and truly converted, the choices are quite simple.
You may choose to live by God’s Way
of life and do everything in your power not to figure an excuse (create the
exception) around plain biblical teaching or not live that
way. You might also choose
to modernize your thinking like the Liberals
of the late 60s and 70s in God’s Church.
If a person searches long enough, they can find a self-professed expert
for just about anything.
We
start this part of the study with The
Eternal appearing to Manoah the Danite’s wife (Judges 13:3).
The entire Thirteenth Chapter of the Book of Judges recounts the story of
Manoah entreating The Eternal for more information concerning how to raise this
special child, on through the actual birth of Samson. Moving on into the Fourteenth Chapter of the Book of Judges,
we now find Samson fully grown and wanting to take
a wife from the Philistines.
Judges 14:1-4
(NKJV) Now
Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the
Philistines. 2) So he went up and
told his father and mother, saying, "I have seen a woman in Timnah of the
daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get
her for me as a wife." 3)
Then his father and mother said to him, "Is there no woman among the
daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a
wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?"
And Samson said to his father, "Get
her for me, for she pleases me well."
4) But his father and mother did not know that it was of the LORD--that
He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines.
For at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
We
can learn several things here. First
Samson was a Nazarite, a special servant of The
Eternal. He still thinks he
should have his parents arrange to take
a wife for him. It is important to
note that Samson’s parents know that they should not take
a wife from among the uncircumcised Philistines. Despite their knowledge, they cave in a do what many parents
do today; they let their spoiled children have their way.
They go and arrange to take the young lady as a wife for Samson. Of course, the girl’s father has to give her to Samson. The
basic customs are still in place. The
only thing different is that Samson should not be marrying a woman outside
Israel. It is important to note
here that Samson’s parents have sanctified
this arrangement despite their misgivings.
They have at least held their peace
(another important concept covered in later chapters).
Evidently
Samson does not even get to enjoy one night of bliss with this young lady.
He puts on a seven-day feast and at the end of the feast looses a wager
because his wife tells his secret to her people.
There is no need for anyone to wonder where her loyalties lie.
Despite the fact that she is a gentile, she sticks up for her
family, even if it means loosing a real catch like Samson.
There is quite an argument after Samson looses his wager and Samson ends
up going home without his wife. He leaves
her at her father’s house.
After
some time has passed, during the wheat harvest (the season of the Feast of First
Fruits) Samson suddenly shows up demanding his wife.
But, the wife had been given to Samson’s best man (Judges 14:20).
You probably did not know that ancient
thought patterns held this quaint custom did you?
All young men in the Churches of God need to be careful if they agree to
be someone’s best man. If the
groom takes ill at the ceremony and leaves or dies, you will have to go into his
wife and assume his duty, sexually speaking, and take her for your wife. You had better look the bride to be over real careful before
you agree to this duty. Young men
would do well to realize from Judges 15:1, that if they have a fight with a new
bride, flowers are not the best solution. All
you need to do is bring a young goat for her to eat. This will resolve difficulties every time.
Judges
15:1-2 (NKJV)
And after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, it happened that Samson visited
his wife with a young goat. And he
said, “Let me go in to my wife, into her room.”
But her father would not permit
him to go in. 2) Her father said,
“I really thought that you thoroughly hated her, therefore I gave
her to your companion. Is not her
younger sister better than she? Please
take here instead.
Notice
that Samson does honor the father and
does not tromp him into the dirt. We
all know that Samson could easily have forced his way in but notice the father
had the right to refuse to let him
take the daughter. Someone else had
taken his place since Samson tore off like a wild-man.
The father does try to make things right and reach a consensus
with Samson, but Samson just will not bargain.
He wants to burn up all of the Philistines’ fields.
Samson just would not have fit in with the spirit of cooperation in most
modern branches of the Churches of God. He
would not have been cooperative on the Advisory Boards and worked as a team
player. Consensus was not in his vocabulary. It is important to notice that Samson really had no intention
of reconciling. He had planned this
fiasco and wanted to do damage to the Philistines.
He just wanted an excuse.
We
finish the study of marriage customs in the Book of Judges with one of the most
bizarre incidents ever recorded in the Bible.
It is well known that the Israelites by this time had fallen a long way
from a close relationship with The
Eternal. In the Nineteenth
Chapter of the Book of Judges we examine the story of a Levite who went after
his concubine. She had returned to
her father’s house after playing the harlot and leaving the Levite (Judges
19:3). Following a reconciliation,
the Levite finally leaves against his father-in-law’s wishes (Judges 19:10).
For five days the father-in-law partied with his son-in-law.
Wouldn’t most young men like to get along this well with their
father-in-law? Anyway, they leave for home late in the day and end up going
into Gibeah, a town in the land of the Benjamin.
A citizen of the town brings them into his house fearing for their
welfare in the open square. Soon
the reason for his fear manifests itself. A
group of homosexual Benjaminites surround the house and demand to have their way
with the Levite. We see a couple of
real winners in this scene. The old
man offers his daughter and the Levite’s concubine to the crowd instead.
Talk about chivalry and heroism.
Finally the Levite takes his concubine out to the crowd to gang rape
(Judges 19:25). What a man!!!
Of
course, what the men of Benjamin are doing is unlawful
(Deut. 22:25-27). Yes, there was no
one to save this woman. She was a
concubine, but a concubine was considered the same as a wife.
This shows the general state of the Tribe of Benjamin.
Many had deteriorated spiritually to being homosexuals and those who were
not homosexuals condoned the practice. The
next morning the Levite finally gets up after a good nights sleep. Next he goes out and tries to make his dead concubine arise
to cook breakfast. Following this
setback, he loads her body on his donkey and takes her home to cut her up into
twelve pieces to mail (Judges 19:29) to the remaining twelve tribes of Israel
(the tribe of Benjamin was not included). Quickly,
the leaders of the tribes come up to Mizpah, and assemble before the Lord since
nothing this perverted had been done
since coming out of Egypt. Yes,
things were deteriorating quickly.
Next
the Levite stands before the congregation and tells how he let the men of
Benjamin gang rape his concubine instead of letting them perform homosexual
deeds on him. He of course neglects
to tell about the good sleep he got while his concubine was being killed.
It should be noted here that to some degree, what he is doing is lawful.
He is a man who has a case. The
men of Gibeah are guilty of a sin requiring the death penalty.
Overlooking the obvious character flaws of the Levite, the tribes demand
that the town of Gibeah turn over the offenders.
BUT, the town of Gibeah refuses. Right here is an important point. Note in Judges 20:13 how the men of Benjamin stick together.
They risk their whole tribe against 400,000 soldiers (Judges 20:2).
Talk about stubborn, the men of Benjamin could only field 26,700 soldiers
(Judges 20:15-16). But make no
mistake; these men of Benjamin were real fighters.
Over a two-day battle, they killed 40,000 soldiers from the other tribes.
After a fast, the Israelites then went out and gained the victory (Judges
20:35). The Eternal had promised
victory and delivered it. The other
tribes totally annihilated all of the
tribe of Benjamin except 600 soldiers who managed to escape.
Next they totally destroy all of the cities of Benjamin and all life
within the cities (Judges 20:48). You
might wonder how a tribe or family of people
could possibly make such a blunder and not give up the offenders.
Someone had to have enough sense to know that some of these men were
wrong. But no, this is a prevailing
nature of this tribe of Israelites. Their
reaction is predictable. Such was
the prophecy of Jacob when he gave his final prophetic words, describing their
future, to his sons in Genesis 49.
Genesis
49:27-28 (NKJV)
Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; In the morning he shall devour the prey, And at
night he shall divide the spoil.
Most
translations reference the above scripture to Judges 20: 21,25 and sometimes to
Judges 19:25. Not much is said
about Benjamin in Jacob’s analysis of his sons, but they were indeed savage
fighters and divided the spoil. This
tribe has a proclivity to anger. They
absolutely will not bend if they are wrong.
This proclivity was still shown later when Saul is being deposed.
The Tribe of Benjamin, true to form, was the last to abandon a loosing battle.
They fought against the will of The
Eternal right till the last. They
were the last to swear allegiance to
David. Compare their attitude (1
Chronicles 12:29) with the reasoning ability of the Tribe of Issachar (1
Chronicles 12:32).
1
Chronicles 12:32 (NKJV)
of the children of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to
know what Israel ought to do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their
brethren were at their command.
Notice
that the entire Tribe of Issachar was united
in purpose and direction. Their
leaders had discernment and commanded unwavering respect from the rest of the
tribe. The leadership knew what
ought to be done. These leaders
could look over the facts and knew what Israel should be doing, uniting behind David. I
think we can make a general analogy for Spiritual Israel right here.
Some people will accept direction from The
Eternal. Others will not.
We should expect to see the Tribe of Benjamin be the last to turn from
erroneous doctrine. They will cling to error until the last.
We should also learn that leadership within the branches of God’s
Church need to move beyond just knowing what should be done, to actually doing
it. Their self-appointed leaders
need to know what Israel ought to do, concerning doctrine and the whole truth of
God’s word and do it.
After
the battle, someone had a wake-up
call. Certain elders realized they
had exterminated a tribe from Israel. Before
the battle, they had made an oath. When
they gathered before The
Eternal to gain approval for capital punishment, they made an oath in
their zeal.
Judges21:18
(NKJV) However
we cannot give them wives from our daughters, for the children of
Israel have sworn an oath saying,
“Cursed be the one who gives a wife
to Benjamin.”
The
tribes had to figure out what to do. So
they figured around their oath and the law.
They knew they could not give
their daughters to the remaining men of Benjamin. Who would want too?
Judges
21:7 (NKJV)
What shall we do for wives for those who remain, seeing we have sworn by the
Lord that we will not give them our daughters as wives.
Notice
that at this late period, the people of Israel understand proper protocol.
They know that a proper marriage is one where a daughter is given
to a groom. These people were
creative. They figured a
way around their problem. They
knew they could not round up Canaanite women as wives, that was unlawful too.
So they had a brainstorming session and were inspired to slaughter their
brethren in Jabesh Gilead. They
killed everyone except virgin daughters and took them and gave them as wives to the men of the tribe of Benjamin.
Notice, this was not a normal
marriage, it was under the laws of servitude, women being taken as concubines
from the spoils of war. It is
important to note that Jabesh Gilead was in the region of the eastern half-tribe
of Mannaseh.
The
tribes of Israel only acquired 400 virgins in the raid on Jabesh Gilead so they
had to figure out how to get 200 more virgins.
Next they coached the men of Benjamin without wives, to kidnap 200 more
young ladies at Shiloh. This was in
the area of the Gilead, a subtribe of Ephraim.
It is important to notice that the men of Benjamin took wives. They did
not have a father giving a daughter
in marriage. There is a big
difference. This pathetic solution
to a social problem was permitted by The
Eternal. The nation of
Israel was at its lowest point in history so far.
They had lost their way.
This was an episode not approved of by The
Eternal but permitted. Many
times in His infinite wisdom, He has allowed such reprobate epics to occur and
worked within these social wrecks to accomplish his purpose.
Not
once do we see any indication this was a successful arrangement. Today we should expect to see many people with genetics from
the tribe of Benjamin mingled within the Greater People of Manasseh and Ephraim,
especially Manasseh. Genetically,
the Tribe of Benjamin would have been diluted to being half Manasseh or Ephraim,
even though Joseph and Benjamin were full brothers.
To
close this chapter, we need to once again return to the epic of the original
couple. We find in Genesis 2:20
that Adam realizes that there is no mate for him.
He realizes that something very important is missing. In studying Genesis 2: 21-22, we are now in a position to
understand something very important.
Genesis
2:21-22 (NKJV) And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he
slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed p the flesh in its place. 22)
Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He
made into a woman, and He brought her
to the man.
Here
is the first act of a father giving a
daughter in marriage. Right here is
the pattern. God is the great
giver. How many times did we hear
Mr. Armstrong talk about the Way
of Give and the Way
of Get? Here we see The Eternal giving His
daughter in marriage. We also
see The
Eternal in the role of the father of the groom, taking, arranging and picking Adam’s wife.
I do not know how much clearer it could be.
Here is the divine example of how to sanctify
a marriage. Such has it been done
ever since, when done properly. There
are so many parallels in the Bible, so many good analogies, and yet how many
people see this simple, basic idea? Indeed,
people choose not to see it. Following
picking the bride for Adam and giving
His first daughter to Adam in marriage,
The Eternal joined (Genesis 2:24) them in the first sanctified marriage. As
we move through the Bible, we will see that this is one of the few divine
institutions that has survived the test of time. Just as the Great Flood etched in the memories of humans an
event that would never be forgotten; so has the inborn need of people to marry
and form families been embedded deep within
our minds.
The
entire government of God, in the church, and in the individual church families
involves a Way
of Give. The giving
starts with the father of the bride giving
her away. Earlier in Genesis 1:26
we saw that God is more than two persons. God
is a family.
You do not break his family up.
Do you see God in your wedding
plans? If you do not see a father willingly
giving (blessing or sanctifying)
the daughter in marriage, you do not see God.
What you are witnessing is confusion and sexual immorality.
If you do not see two families uniting, you do not see God.
So
far in this study we have covered a lot of ground showing A
Way of life that has always existed.
It is what Mr. Armstrong termed the Way
of Give. Sadly, I
understand that most young people will not be interested in my
good arguments. They simply are
not interested in facts. You cannot argue anyone into conversion.
What they are interested in is their opinions.
Like most Church of God members today, they do not really want all of the
truth. It sounds nice to talk about
the importance of the truth of God, but when you dig it out of the Bible, you
have to confront it and decide how you must change if you see the need to.
True Conversion means repenting of any form of sexual immorality.
It means that you do not take chances with The
Spiritual Intent of the Law.
In
reality what most young people will do, is harden
their hearts. Just like Pharoah
when he sent his entire army to destruction.
He simply was not interested in facts.
Those ten mighty miracles would not change his hard, cold heart.
There was no way he could be saved.
He had already gone too far and would not change.
If, you want to end up like Pharoah, simply ignore God’s statutes and
proceed in a relationship that is not sanctified
by your parents.
IF, you are involved in a situation where your father
has said no, or your family said no, do not
let them push you around. Even if
they have authority, it is your life. Harden
you heart against all form of reason.
Above all, concentrate and if you need help get your prospective mate to
help point out all of the details and imperfections of your family.
Concentrate with all of your might on the times your father has been
wrong. NEVER
dwell on the times he has been right. I
know that this is not scriptural, but if you are going to become part of The Forlorn Hope, you need to
focus totally on proving your family wrong.
Make sure that you totally fragment
your family before you quit.
Just as the ministry of today spent their life playing a game of trying
to prove Church of God doctrines wrong, do the same with your parents,
especially your father. It is most
important to develop an attitude of total disgust and disrespect for him because
that will make it much easier to reject the gift of salvation offered to you
through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Remember,
you must approach dating and betrothal
from a position of proving your family wrong,
rather than right. If you cannot
recognize your parents’ sins and apparent hypocrisy, by all means get help!
It is much easier for someone else to recognize the sins of others and
your parents will have sin in their lives.
This will help detract you from concentrating on your own problems and
help you get into a reprobate mindset much quicker.
Ecclesiastes
9:10 (NKJV)
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or
device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.
Many
centuries ago Solomon asked what the conclusion of the whole matter was.
So far this study has shown a formidable display of scriptural evidence
that your father has the right to say no whether you like it or not.
It does not matter how old you are or whether you are male or female. Isaac was forty years
old when he was given a wife and
he was still letting his father make crucial decisions for him.
It is all simply a matter of respect and true gratitude.
Have you started on the first day of the rest of your life, a life
isolated from your family?
If not, there is still hope.
To
briefly return to the young man who argued against the concept that parents had
authority in dating, betrothal,
and marriage. He did not really
spend much time looking for a proper excuse to get around the basic principles
of the Bible that govern the questions involved.
If he had spent enough time in calculated study, prayer, and fasting, he
would not have quoted the verses he did. There
is A WAY
around all of this parental authority that The Eternal and God
the Father have mistakenly designed into their family
government. In their infinite
wisdom, The God
Family has provided in their statutes and judgements a loophole
for all of you young folks who want to dishonor and disobey your parents.
For all of you who want to flaunt your personal values in front of your
family and the congregation, God has provided a loophole.
This is an exciting study. Make
no mistake about it. The Bible is
truly a complete book. It is a very
complex book; but it is complete. The
word of God is exciting and has a life all of its own.
This loophole, never before
revealed to the Churches of God, will be made clear to you in the chapters
ahead. Is your knowledge of God’s Way of life like a vision or book that is sealed?
Stay
tuned for, The Rest of the Story.
Isaiah
29:
10) For the LORD has poured out on you
The spirit of deep sleep,
And has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets;
And He has covered your heads, namely, the seers.
11) The whole
vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men
deliver to one who is literate,
saying, "Read this, please." And
he says, "I cannot, for it is sealed."
12) Then the book is delivered to one who is
illiterate, saying, "Read this, please."
And he says, "I am not
literate."
13) Therefore the Lord said:
"Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths
And honor Me with their lips,
But have removed their hearts far from Me,
And their fear toward Me is
taught by the commandment of men.
14) Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous
work among this people, a marvelous work and a wonder; For the wisdom of their
wise men shall perish, And the understanding of their prudent men shall be
hidden.
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