Attention Single and Married People!
The seventh commandment
is addressed to all of you and not only to married ones!
It is wrong to think that the commandments of our Creator are intended to be imposed manu militarily on the mankind. As already said several times, our Father is not thinking in this way at all, on the contrary, He is preaching everyhwere the freedom to think and to act: with freedom as a background,
He GAVE His commandment as a gift specially conceived to bring happiness to people!
Man is free to accept them or to refuse them.
The Creator in his great kindness does not want to make differences between anyone and this explains why this seventh commandment condemning adultery has all its value for anybody, married ones, single ones or unmarried couples who do not want to be considered as married. This is what we invite you to understand in the continuation of this article.
The Wedding.
Before tackling the subject of adultery, let us speak about the wedding. The wedding was not invented by man. The Creator is the One who introduced this concept and He explained to us why in Genesis 2, verses 18 to 24:
"18And Yehoah Elohim said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him." 19Out of the ground Yehoah Elohim formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
21And Yehoah Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22Then the rib which Yehoah Elohim had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
23And Adam said:
"This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man."
24Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."
Our Creator knows that absolute loneliness is bad and His Word confirms that by examples.
Let us take the case of Elijah the Tishbite who found himself completely alone and insulated in the Kingdom of Israel (also called Kingdom of the North after the schism); this loneliness was the result of his faith in Yehoah:
22Then Elijah said to the people, "I alone am left a prophet of Yehoah; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. (I Kings 18: 22).
But despite the support he got from Yehoah, this human loneliness was at some time so hard to stand that Elijah requested to die; let us read this dramatic moment in I Kings 19: 4-7:
"4But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, "It is enough! Now, Yehoah, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!"
5Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel[1] touched him, and said to him, "Arise and eat." 6Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. 7And the angel of Yehoah came back the second time, and touched him, and said, "Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you."
Our Creator instituted the marriage because He did not want us to be absolutely alon.
How is a wedding according to the Lord.
Many weddings today are decided according to human own desire without asking the question, if they are believers: Is this wedding in agreement with the wishes of the Lord?
This question is very important because in the beginning, the Creator was the One who created and gave Eve to Adam for wife. Adam received her and did not have to choose it! Another biblical example of such a wonderful gift is the one of Isaac; here too, Yehoah did choose the wife for this man who walked with him:
"1 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age; and Yehoah had blessed Abraham in all things. 2So Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house, who ruled over all that he had, "Please, put your hand under my thigh, 3and I will make you swear by Yehoah, the Elohim of heaven and the Elohim of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; 4but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac."…
10Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and departed, for all his master's goods were in his hand. And he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. 11And he made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water at evening time, the time when women go out to draw water. 12Then he said, "O Yehoah Elohim of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13Behold, here I stand by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. 14Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, "Please let down your pitcher that I may drink,' and she says, "Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink'--let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. And by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master."…
51Here is Rebekah before you; take her and go, and let her be your master's son's wife, as Yehoah has spoken." (Genesis 24: 1-4, 10-14 and 51)
Elohim does not make any difference between anyone and Isaac and what He did for Isaac, He will also do it for His Son Jesus-Christ. Indeed, Jesus-Christ will also marry with the bride who will be chosen for him by His Father! Jesus will not, unlike many today, go and look for his wife by himself. He will wait and hope in His Father's choice. This wedding, if we are authorized to take part in it, will be breath-taking by its splendour:
"1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. "…
9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, "Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife." 10And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. 12Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.
14Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. 17Then he measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. 18The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. 21The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
The Glory of the New Jerusalem
22 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. 24And the nations of those who are saved, shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. 25Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). 26And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. 27But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life."
(Revelation 21: 1-2 and 9-27)
Jesus-Christ will not choose this so beautiful wife but she will be offered to him by His Father. His Father and His Father only will have imagined and conceived her as Paul tells us in his epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 11, verse 10:
"10For he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God."
This is confirmed by the own words of Jesus-Christ in John 17: 6:
"6 "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word."
It means that the Church in the broad meaning of this word will be given by the Father to Jesus-Christ as his future wife!
The Law of the marriage.
Elohim created the marriage with really simple laws like all His other laws:
"3The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?"
4And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning "made them male and female,'[ 5and said, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? 6So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."
7They said to Him, "Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?"
8He said to them, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery." (Matthew 19: 3-9)
The goal and the essential law of the marriage is
To become only one flesh starting from only one man and only one woman!
These are the words as they were pronounced by our Creator.
By the way, all this is extremely logical if we remember how Eve was brought to the world! Indeed, at the beginning after Adam was created, the first woman was made from the flesh of Adam since she was made at the beginning from one of his coasts. It should thus be expected that the vocation of men and woman in the couples is to become at the end only one flesh.
But let us open here a bracket: there is much more than that if we try to extend the concept to the spiritual world, the world to come which will give us hopefully access to eternity. The bible reveals in many places that the Church is the body of Jesus-Christ, Jesus himself being the head of that body. Moreover, it is prophesiesed in the book of the Revelation of John that the skies will reveal in the near future the New Jerusalem prepared like a bride for her husband. We must prepare ourselves to understand that this spiritual spouse of the Lamb will be created, as it was in the beginning with Adam, from a part of the spiritual body of Jesus-Christ, this part being the Church! Let us close here this bracket about this marvellous time to come.
Throughout His Word, Yehoah gives a series of rules to be followed if we want a good wedding. For instance Deuteronomy 7, verses 1 to 4, says that it is not good to engage yourselve with somebody who has a foreign belief:
"1 "When Yehoah your Elohim brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, 2and when Yehoah your Elohim delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. 3Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. 4For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of Yehoah will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly."
The reason of this law is based in the unity in the marriage in the sense that the couple must also become one with Yehoah. This is why the wishes made by a woman before her wedding can be cancelled if necessary (Numbers 30: 2, 11-17):
"2If a man makes a vow toYehoah, or swears an oath to bind himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth….
11and her husband heard it, and made no response to her and did not overrule her, then all her vows shall stand, and every agreement by which she bound herself shall stand. 12But if her husband truly made them void on the day he heard them, then whatever proceeded from her lips concerning her vows or concerning the agreement binding her, it shall not stand; her husband has made them void, and Yehoah will release her. 13Every vow and every binding oath to afflict her soul, her husband may confirm it, or her husband may make it void. 14Now if her husband makes no response whatever to her from day to day, then he confirms all her vows or all the agreements that bind her; he confirms them, because he made no response to her on the day that he heard them. 15But if he does make them void after he has heard them, then he shall bear her guilt."
16These are the statutes which Yehoah commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, and between a father and his daughter in her youth in her father's house."
Yehoah also insists on the fact that a marriage should be an opportunity of prolonged rejoicings for the new couple:
"5 "When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, and bring happiness to his wife whom he has taken." (Deuteronomy 24, verse 5)
All these rules show how much Yehoah wishes to see an atmosphere of union around the marriage. With this in mind, we will understand better the dangers of adultery!
What is exactly adultery?
Adultery consists in any thought or action that separates what Yehoah linked together or what was linked to Yehoah. Thus there are two kinds of adultery, the second one dealing with single people, or not married people. Meanwhile both types of adultery go hand in hand, i.e. the one who commits one kind of adultery automatically commits the second kind of adultery too!
But let us speak first of the more obvious adultery of married people. Worthwile to note here that this type of adultery can also be committed by a foreign person to the couple. Let us read about this in Deuteronomy 22, verses 23-26:
"23"If a young woman who is a virgin is betrothed to a husband, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her, 24then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he humbled his neighbor's wife; so you shall put away the evil from among you.
25"But if a man finds a betrothed young woman in the countryside, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. 26But you shall do nothing to the young woman; there is in the young woman no sin deserving of death, for just as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him, even so is this matter."
This shows that sometimes the two members of the couple are innocent. A very famous example of this kind of adultery is the one committed by David against his faithful General Uriah, the Hittite, when he raped his beautiful wife Bath-Sheba. Let us read two verses in II Samuel 12: 9 and 13:
"9Why have you despised the commandment of Yehoah, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon….
13So David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against Yehoah."
And Nathan said to David, " Yehoah also has put away your sin; you shall not die."
David not only raped her but he planned also the murder of Uriah to steal his wife. Later on, David repents and Yehoah accepted to pardon him so that he could escape the death penalty which is incurred for sins like this one:
"10"The man who commits adultery with another man's wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death." (Leviticus 20: 10).
But if David is saved, it is because his sin is one of those that Jesus-Christ took on himself while agreeing to be killed for all the sins committed by all the mankind. Another important detail to observe is that the word of the Lord will always remember that Bath-Sheba is the wife of Uriah and not the one of David as we can read it in Matthew, chapter 1, verse 6:
"6and Jesse begot David the king.
David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah."
But adultery is more often committed by one of the members of the couple. Jesus-Christ warns against the adultery often caused after abusive repudiations pronounced by husbands who repudiate their faithful wives (Matthew 5: 31-32):
"31 "Furthermore it has been said, "Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' 32But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery."
Jesus-Christ goes even further when one reads Matthew, chapter 5, verses 27 to 28:
"27 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, "You shall not commit adultery.' 28But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
How many among us are condemnable if we desire sexy stars, having seen their films and their pictures in newspapers where all is made with sophistication to encourage our lust! Jesus encourages us to fight and overcome this kind of weaknesses.
During all the period of decline, right before the fall of big empires, morality of people has no more brakes and adultery instead of being banished becomes part of the common practice of the majority who follow the public example of leaders and famous people; so was the case for the Jews who were living just before the fall and the destruction of their kingdom by Nebuchadnezzar as we can read in Jeremiah, chapter 29, verses 20 to 23:
"20Therefore hear the word of Yehoah, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.
21Thus says Yehoah of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in My name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall slay them before your eyes. 22And because of them a curse shall be taken up by all the captivity of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, " Yehoah make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire"; 23because they have done disgraceful things in Israel, have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and have spoken lying words in My name, which I have not commanded them. Indeed I know, and am a witness, says Yehoah."
The same is occuring today, when Babylon the Great is appearing with her way of life full of prostitutions that she spreads all over the world. But I warn you, if you remain adulterous and if you do not repent, you will never have access to the Kingdom of our Creator at all:
"9Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God." (I Corinthiens 6: 9-10)
You read well and it is essential and vital not to try to clear yourself by any satanic reasoning! No, much better, on the contrary, to adopt an attitude full of humbleness and to recognize what is bad in us, even if we are living very deeply in sins: it is never too late and it is never a lost case!
Adultery with respect to our Father and Creator!
We will discover now a second approach of the adultery which will also be addressed to single people. This type of adultery consists in building a separation between the creation and its Creator. This adultery is the one described in length with the history of Jerusalem, as shown in Ezekiel 16:
1 Again the word of Yehoah came to me, saying, 2"Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, 3and say, "Thus says the Yehoah Elohim to Jerusalem: "Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4As for your nativity, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. 5No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you; but you were thrown out into the open field, when you yourself were loathed on the day you were born.
6"And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, "Live!' Yes, I said to you in your blood, "Live!' 7I made you thrive like a plant in the field; and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare.
8"When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; so I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine," says Yehoah Elohim.
9"Then I washed you in water; yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil. 10I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 11I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists, and a chain on your neck. 12And I put a jewel in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 13Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and succeeded to royalty. 14Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you," says Yehoah Elohim.
Jerusalem's Harlotry
15 "But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it. 16You took some of your garments and adorned multicolored high places for yourself, and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor be. 17You have also taken your beautiful jewelry from My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them. 18You took your embroidered garments and covered them, and you set My oil and My incense before them. 19Also My food which I gave you--the pastry of fine flour, oil, and honey which I fed you--you set it before them as sweet incense; and so it was," says Yehoah Elohim.
20"Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter, 21that you have slain My children and offered them up to them by causing them to pass through the fire? 22And in all your abominations and acts of harlotry you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, struggling in your blood.
23"Then it was so, after all your wickedness--"Woe, woe to you!' says Yehoah Elohim-- 24that you also built for yourself a shrine, and made a high place for yourself in every street. 25You built your high places at the head of every road, and made your beauty to be abhorred. You offered yourself to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your acts of harlotry. 26You also committed harlotry with the Egyptians, your very fleshly neighbors, and increased your acts of harlotry to provoke Me to anger.
27"Behold, therefore, I stretched out My hand against you, diminished your allotment, and gave you up to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. 28You also played the harlot with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; indeed you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied. 29Moreover you multiplied your acts of harlotry as far as the land of the trader, Chaldea; and even then you were not satisfied.
30"How degenerate is your heart!" says Yehoah Elohim, "seeing you do all these things, the deeds of a brazen harlot.
Jerusalem's Adultery
31 "You erected your shrine at the head of every road, and built your high place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned payment. 32You are an adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband. 33Men make payment to all harlots, but you made your payments to all your lovers, and hired them to come to you from all around for your harlotry. 34You are the opposite of other women in your harlotry, because no one solicited you to be a harlot. In that you gave payment but no payment was given you, therefore you are the opposite."
Jerusalem's Lovers Will Abuse Her
35 "Now then, O harlot, hear the word of Yehoah! 36Thus says Yehoah Elohim: "Because your filthiness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your harlotry with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children which you gave to them, 37surely, therefore, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved, and all those you hated; I will gather them from all around against you and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. 38And I will judge you as women who break wedlock or shed blood are judged; I will bring blood upon you in fury and jealousy. 39I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your shrines and break down your high places. They shall also strip you of your clothes, take your beautiful jewelry, and leave you naked and bare.
40"They shall also bring up an assembly against you, and they shall stone you with stones and thrust you through with their swords. 41They shall burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women; and I will make you cease playing the harlot, and you shall no longer hire lovers. 42So I will lay to rest My fury toward you, and My jealousy shall depart from you. I will be quiet, and be angry no more. 43Because you did not remember the days of your youth, but agitated Me with all these things, surely I will also recompense your deeds on your own head," says Yehoah Elohim. "And you shall not commit lewdness in addition to all your abominations.
More Wicked than Samaria and Sodom
44 "Indeed everyone who quotes proverbs will use this proverb against you: "Like mother, like daughter!' 45You are your mother's daughter, loathing husband and children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and children; your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.
46"Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells with her daughters to the north of you; and your younger sister, who dwells to the south of you, is Sodom and her daughters. 47You did not walk in their ways nor act according to their abominations; but, as if that were too little, you became more corrupt than they in all your ways.
48"As I live," says Yehoah Elohim, "neither your sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done. 49Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.
51"Samaria did not commit half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters by all the abominations which you have done. 52You who judged your sisters, bear your own shame also, because the sins which you committed were more abominable than theirs; they are more righteous than you. Yes, be disgraced also, and bear your own shame, because you justified your sisters.
53"When I bring back their captives, the captives of Sodom and her daughters, and the captives of Samaria and her daughters, then I will also bring back the captives of your captivity among them, 54that you may bear your own shame and be disgraced by all that you did when you comforted them. 55When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters return to their former state, then you and your daughters will return to your former state. 56For your sister Sodom was not a byword in your mouth in the days of your pride, 57before your wickedness was uncovered. It was like the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria and all those around her, and of the daughters of the Philistines, who despise you everywhere. 58You have paid for your lewdness and your abominations," says Yehoah. 59For thus says Yehoah Elohim: "I will deal with you as you have done, who despised the oath by breaking the covenant.
An Everlasting Covenant
60 "Nevertheless I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. 61Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed, when you receive your older and your younger sisters; for I will give them to you for daughters, but not because of My covenant with you. 62And I will establish My covenant with you. Then you shall know that I am Yehoah, 63that you may remember and be ashamed, and never open your mouth anymore because of your shame, when I provide you an atonement for all you have done," says Yehoah Elohim."'
This is another kind of adultery, very similar to what we see daily with the politicians who are either in charge of the government or are eager to take the power as soon as possible. This kind of adultery is also the one of people ready to prostitute themselves to the extreme simply to get a job or to be promoted. With this kind of adultery, honesty does not have any more room and the truth is manipulated on each occasion where it obstructs.
We must reject this adultery with all our strength and a good mean to do so is simply not to commit adultery in the couple, if we are married.
The Bible reveals that the Church of our Creator will become the wife of Jesus-Christ. This is the reason why we are asked, men and women, if we are married, to adopt an attitude of fidelity and submission similar to the one described by Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians, in chapter 5, verses 22 and 23:
"22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body."
The human couple should form only one single flesh in order to become able later to also form one single body with the Church and with Jesus-Christ who is expected to become her husband. Jesus-Christ left us about this topic a beautiful example with his Father and his disciples. This explains why anyone who seeks or acts in order to separate and to divide the Church is also comitting an adultery. He is acting against the plan of his Creator as stated by Jesus-Christ who says that unity in his body is a source of belief for the rest of the world. Let us read that in John 17, verses 20 to 23:
"20 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me."
There is also a wonderful kindness of our Father who planed with His laws a way for the sinner to escape the death penalty if he decides to repent. Indeed, as we have read earlier, Jerusalem is unfortunately a well established adulterous mistress whom Jesus however loves and whom He still wishes to marry and save. But Paul shows us in Romans 7: 1 to 4 that Jesus, thanks to his courageous death when He offered his life by love, will delete the adulterous past of Jerusalem:
"1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 4Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another--to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God."
However, a member in the couple can also be a danger for a believer if, his or her way of life encourages the partner to separate from the Creator. A separation from our Creator is, as we saw, committing an adultery. Let us read the councils given by Paul about this in I Corinthians 7, verses 10 to 16:
"10 Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. 11But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife.
12But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. 13And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. 14For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. 15But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace. 16For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?"
In brief, Paul is asking before all to remain united in the couple because this is the wish of our Father. However if one of the members of the couple prevents the other one from following the will of the Lord or if he encourages to rebel against Him, better to undertake separation steps rather than to commit an adultery with respect to the Father.
What about single!
The question raised at the beginning of this reflexion remains complete, since the ten commandments are intended for everyone, men and women! How then can we apply this seventh commandment to single people? Yeshuah, that some call Yahshuah, addresses particularly to the single people in Matthew 19, verses 10 to 12; note that the context before is dealing with the concept of adultery:
"10His disciples said to Him, "If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry."
Jesus Teaches on Celibacy
11 But He said to them, "All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given: 12For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it."
Paul also addresses to single people in I Corinthians 7, verses 7 to 9:
"7For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that.
8But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am; 9but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion."
According to these writings, some, either by the circumstances or voluntarily, are unmarried and they are advised to remain so. But all of them are expected by faith to become a part of the future wife of Jesus-Christ, the Lamb. With this in mind, the single people should not commit adultery as described in Revelation 2, verses 22 to 23:
"22Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. 23I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works."
The single people must also follow the example of Joseph, who was not married at the time of this account in Genesis 39, verses 7 to 12:
"7And it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, "Lie with me."
8But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. 9There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against Elohim?"
10So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her.
11But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, 12that she caught him by his garment, saying, "Lie with me." But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside."
In the same way, any single person must resist and possibly flee even the prostitute who would offer herself for free, this prostitute being possibly a church or an organization at the service of the Prince of this world, Satan. Indeed linking yourself with such people or organizations, if you are a beliver, means commiting adultery because you are linking yourself with the wife of another, even if the other is Satan. We do not have the right to do so if we respect the law of our Creator.
One day, we might find ourselves in the place Joseph and our only way to escape will be to flee Babylon the Great, the Prostitute, who will also wish that we go to bed with her:
"4And I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues." (Revelations 18: 4)
Courage, Brethren and Friends!
Do not commit any adultery according to all the aspects covered above, even if it is in thought, because it would be a transgression of the commandments given by our Father for our good!
Adultery is the way of division and hate, so keep in mind that the wish and plan of our Creator is to link with love:
"9For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 10Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."
(Romans 13: 9-10)
Then courage once again and hold firm with your strength, knowing that our Creator is ready to provide help in eliminating by himself any defect we would not have been able to destroy alone: this will be made thanks to His Holy Spirit:
"11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts."
(Romans 13: 11-14)