THE IDOLS AND ADULTERY In the two previous chapters, as the divine inspiration presented to us the statute of sanctification, proclaiming its goal to be the attachment with the holy God, repeating the phrase “I am the Lord your God” at the end of almost every commandment, seeking from us to be holy for Him, so as to have His features working in us, to separate us from the heathens; … Now, He presents firm punishments against those who commit evil, particularly those who seek after the mediums and familiar spirits, and those who commit adultery. The reason behind this firmness is, on one aspect, to reveal the activity of evil within the soul; and from another aspect, to purify the holy congregation from the corrupt leaven, so as not to corrupt the whole dough. If those punishments came to suit men of the old covenant, they, at the same time, should terrify us -- men of the new covenant -- on account of that they reveal to us the ugliness of sin, and our commitment to flee from it. 1- An introduction to punishments by the church. 2- Punishment on the heathen worship practices 1 -- 8 3- Punishment on cursing parents 9 4- Punishment on adultery 10 -- 21 5- Confirming the commitment to the divine commandment 22 – 27 1- AN INTRODUCTION TO PUNISHMENS BY THE CHURCH: The punishments in the old covenant were cruel, on account of that God was dealing with hard-necked people, primitive in their knowledge of God. Out of His love for them, God used firmness, not to avenge, but to put fear in all, when they see the fall of some, under the cruel rod of chastisement. What God allowed of chastisements or punishments, were a sign of His care for His people, and His desire for their salvation and sanctification. That is beside what those chastisements revealed of the activity of sin in the heart and the inner life. Stoning the adulterer reveals what came upon his inner heart of true perdition and eternal death. If we feel pain to see someone stoned to death, it would be befitting of us to burn for the sake of the perdition of his soul. … In the new covenant on the other hand, if the church, now, does not use the cruel bodily punishments in dealing with her children, who are on a level of maturity, Yet it is her right to apply other kinds of chastisements to draw the fallen toward repentance; the way the apostle Paul did with the young man who committed evil with his father’s wife (1 Corinthians 5) – having cast him out of the church, until he presented a true repentance; after which the apostle hastened to write to the church to receive him back, lest he would be swallowed up by too much sorrow (2 Corinthians 6, 7). On another aspect, in the new covenant, the church left the civil and criminal laws to the state, to be put and practiced by men of law, according to what suit the era and the country. As Christianity came to grant the thought and maturity, yet left the practice and execution of the law to the professionals in the community. 2- PUNISHMENT ON HEATHEN WORSHIP PRACTICES: “Whoever of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who give any of his descendants (as a human sacrifice) to Molech, he shall surely be put to death” (2). “And if the people of the land should in any way hide their eyes from the man, then, the Lord Himself shall set His face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off from his people, ” (3), Such a verdict also applies to whoever seeks the help of mediums and familiar spirits. He will be counted as an adulterer, having forsaken the groom of his soul, and sought another groom (6). The verdict of stoning came against man in the following cases: Who gives any of his descendents as human sacrifices to Molech (2); Who commits adultery with his mother (11); his father’s wife (12); his daughter-in-law (12); with a betrothed virgin (22, 23, 24); with another man, or mates with a beast (15); Who resorts to mediums or familiar spirits (27); Who curses one of his parents (9); Who falsely claims prophecy; Who blasphemes (24: 10 -16); Who breaks the Sabbath (Deuteronomy 20: 32-36); Who provokes others to worship idols (Deuteronomy 13: 6-11); or practices it, himself (Deuteronomy 17: 2-5), …. etc. Before being stoned, the one condemned, had to confess his sins, to proclaim the justification of the verdict, and to seek mercy from God. Stoning was done in one of two ways: the first : the one condemned to be stoned was paraded in the city, on one aspect to let any one who has reservation on the verdict, come forward with it; and on another aspect, to make him be an example to others. With his hands tied, he would be pushed by the first witness from a high place downward, then a huge rock would be put by the second witness on his chest; and in case he is still alive, he would be stoned to death. The second way was to be stoned directly by the congregation, after giving him wine mixed with bitterness to appease his suffering. 3- PUNISHMENT ON CURSING THE PARENTS: “For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death, his blood shall be upon him” (9). Commenting on this statute, the scholar Origen says: [The titles ‘father’ or ‘mother’ means a great deal. According to the spirit, and to what we are taught by the prophetic and apostolic proclamations, God is your Father, and the heavenly Jerusalem is your mother (Galatians 4: 26; Hebrew 12: 22). In his psalm, Moses says: “Is He (God) not your Father who brought you? Has He not made you and established you?” (Deuteronomy 32: 6); And about the heavenly Jerusalem, the apostle says: “She is the mother of us all” (Galatians 4: 26). Your first Father is God who gave birth to your Spirit; saying: “I have nourished and brought up children” (Isaiah 1: 2); and the apostle Paul says: “Shall we not readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?” (Hebrew 12: 9). Your second father is your physical one who gave birth to you…. The title ‘father’, being holy and revered, whoever curses a father or a mother was put to death…. If you, therefore, curse your physical father; your curse would be directed to the Father of spirits (Hebrew 12: 9); And if you revile your physical mother, it would be directed to the heavenly Jerusalem. Whoever curses a father or a mother would be doing it to the Lord of glory. Again he says: [If that is the verdict against him who curses his physical family; how much more would it be against him who blaspheme God, and disregard that He is the Creator of the world?!; or against him who curses the heavenly Jerusalem, the mother of us all (Galatians 4: 26)?!]…. Some may wonder, if the law of the old covenant has condemned him who curses a mother or a father to be stoned to death, Does refraining from issuing such a verdict means that the law of the new covenant is more forgiving?! To this, the scholar Origen responds by saying: [According to the apostle Paul: “Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God under foot?!” (Hebrew 10: 29)… Do not ever think that the gospel has made it easier, for opening the door of forgiveness! For, if the old covenant has condemned him who curses his physical father or mother to be stoned to death; the new covenant has counted that against the blood of the Son of God Himself!]. The fathers of the church confirm the commitment of the believer to obey his parents, yet “in the Lord”. According to St. Cyril of Jerusalem: [When our feelings toward our physical parents contradict with our relationship with the heavenly Father, we are committed to do according to the words of the Lord Himself, saying: “He who loves father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10: 37). But, if they do not, we shall be counted as deniers of their favor, if we despise their good deeds toward us, and accordingly, we would be worthy of the condemnation: “He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death” (Exodus 21: 7; Matthew 15: 4)]. 4- PUNISMENT ON ADULTERY: He talked about the punishment on adultery in general, then mentioned certain shameful cases: a- The verdict came to put both the adulterer and the adulteress to death by stoning, if the later is married (10); which also applies if she is betrothed, and committed adultery through her own free will (Deuteronomy 22: 23, 24). Whereas, if she is not betrothed, the adulterer is committed to pay a penalty, and to marry the girl. If someone marries a woman and her mother, whether while they are both living, or after one of them died, and he took the other: “If a man marries a woman and her mother, it is wickedness. They shall be burned with fire, both he and they, that there may be no wickedness among you” (14). The same verdict applies to the daughter of a priest who falls into adultery; and to him who does it with his own daughter, granddaughter, the daughter or granddaughter of his wife; or with the mother of his father- or mother-in-law; … burning with fire is mostly carried out after stoning. For, if stoning reveals how sin turned man into a senseless stone; Or as though the adulterer, by his stonelike heart, stones himself by himself; burning him with fire refers to the horror of his evil, igniting his feelings by fire that brought his soul to perdition. Concerning him who commits adultery with his uncle’s wife, and applies, as well, to him who does it with his brother’s wife (12), it says: “They shall die childless” (20); Namely, that God will either bring barrenness on them; by the death of their descendants, or that those descendants would be counted as illegitimate children who do not have the right of the legitimate ones. b- This statute show how much God hates abomination, even applying it against the blameless beast against which evil is committed (16), so as to leave no trace of the sin.; or to proclaim that sin is corruptive even to the irrational creation. c- When man commits evil with a woman, he is insulting her man; if he, for example does it with his father’s wife, “he has uncovered his father’s nakedness” (11). In case that woman wickedly consented to partake of the evil, she is defiled, and at the same time did wrong to her husband, with whom she has become one body. 5- CONFIRMATION OF THE COMMITMENT TO THE DIVINE COMMANDMENT: He ends his talk with a confirmation of the commitment to the divine commandment, lest the land would cast us away, the way it did to the Canaanites because of their wickedness; And in order that we would carry a specific feature and a testimonial to the truth to the Holy One working in us. Of more importance is what the Lord says: “so you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy” (26). Intending for us to bear His features, to partake of His glory, as His holy children; He confirmed it by saying: “You shall be holy to Me”.
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