Dr. Brown shares thoughts on Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year, speaks with Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth about his report on Fox News, then weighs in on the latest irrational attacks on followers of Jesus. Listen live here 2-4 pm EST, and call into the show at (866) 348 7884 with your questions and comments.
Hour 1:
Dr. Brown’s Bottom Line: The world will continue to lie about us and believe lies about us. Let us live out the truth and the love of God and exposes those lies as lies.
Hour 2:
Dr. Brown’s Bottom Line: God establishes authority. We submit to authority which is here to do good, not to do evil.
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What is the best way to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to someone who practices Judaism and any other variation of that religion. I am a blood bought believer of Christ and my mother and one of my coworkers belong to Black Hebrew Israelite religion…they are of the black race but identify themselves as being God’s chosen people.
They don’t eat shellfish or pork but they turn around and drink beer…
How do I come out and share?
Most times, try to share scripture thinking they are helping me…but they are lost.
Thank you for your help.
Dr. Brown,
Your analysis of polygamy to the caller was interesting, but frankly smacked of rationalization. For while it is true that God allowed divorce as something that was not His ideal in the OT, we know that God hates divorce because He tells us so in Mal. 3. But there is no parallel verse on polygamy in the OT. We can look at the verse about In the beginning God made them male and female etc. but this does not seem to be an explicit prohibition against polygamy. One would think that if this was against God’s ideal, that He would have CLEARLY stated it somewhere amongst the many other laws He gave His people.
I have often wondered why when God sent a prophet to discipline David for his affair with Bathsheba, why He did not also say, “and by the way David, as long as I have your ear, you were never meant to have more than one wife anyway, not to speak of all your concubines” .
Actually YHWH only ever and still does allow divorce before the consummation of the marriage but not after. After consummation, divorce was never allowable for we may not put asunder what YHWH has joined together. There is no joining before consummation. Moses allowed divorce on or before the marriage day for those that found out that their bride had been defiled. There is no place in scripture that allows divorce after the couple has become one flesh in the “Old” of “New” testament.
While polygamy is not prohibited in scripture, it does disqualify a man from being an elder or deacon. It is not allowed to those that vowed to “cling to you and you only…” It is not allowed in most countries according to law…which we are to subject ourselves to. It does not have a very good track record scripturally. And it is usually not considerate to the first wife nor is it laying down our lives for her nor is it dying to self in most instances.
Polygamy is better than our current system of divorce and remarriage which makes adulterers out of most of its participants. In the case of men that have been unjustly divorced by their wives, if they remarry, they actually have more than one wife…they are actually polygamous scripturally speaking.
As for divorced and remarried women, they are living in adultery according to scripture. As for men that have divorced their wives and married another, they are living in adultery too.
Mr 10:11 And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.
12 And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.
Lu 16:18 Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.
1Co 7:10 And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:
11 But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.
39 The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.
Better than both remarriage and polygamy is being an eunuch for the kingdom of heavens sake…for adulterers will not inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Mt 19:10 His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.
11 But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.
12 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.
Mr 10:29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s,
30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
31 But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.
Take note that of all the things that we get more of due to forsaking it for the kingdom, wives is not one of them. The only kind of wife that can be forsaken for the kingdom’s sake is one that is actually an adulterous marriage according to the scripture. We may not forsake the lawful wife of our youth for the gospel’s sake. When we put ourselves first by taking more wives, we end up last and maybe even left out of the kingdom. When we put ourselves last, and separate from our adulterous spouses, we end up eunuchs for the kingdom and a name better than sons and daughters.
Isa 56:4 For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;
5 Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
And polygamy is not usually putting ourselves last either. I think that it is usually covetous to some degree in most circumstances today.
Shalom
Should have been “Old” OR “New” testament
Bo and I have frequently debated several of the points he raises above as we have some major disagreements on the subject. He, myself, Joshua and others had a lengthy discussion about the above topics here (and many other places):
http://www.lineoffireradio.com/2014/01/07/an-interview-with-a-pastor-who-affirms-same-sex-marriage-thoughts-on-gay-christianity-and-four-hyper-grace-fallacies/
Did Messiah disagree with Moses or change YHWH’s law concerning marriage and diivorce?
Luke 16
31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
Matthew 5
17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
What does Moses say?
A woman can be betrothed, and not be taken.
Deuteronomy 20
7 And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.
A woman can be taken, and not gone in unto.
Genesis 20
3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife.
4 But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?
Going/coming in unto and lying with are the same thing.
Genesis 19
31 And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:
32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
Going in unto/lying with is not the same as being married.
Deuteronomy 21
13 and turned aside the raiment of her captivity from off her, and hath dwelt in thy house, and bewailed her father and her mother a month of days, and afterwards thou dost go in unto her and hast married her, and she hath been to thee for a wife:
Deuteronomy 22
22 If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.
The woman above was married to one man but was found lying with another. She was not considered married to the one she was found lying with.
What does Moses teach about divorce?
The background:
Deuteronomy 22
13 If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her,
14 And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid:
15 Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel’s virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate:
16 And the damsel’s father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her;
17 And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.
18 And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him;
19 And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.
20 But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel:
21 Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father’s house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you.
If the husband goes in unto his virgin bride and then wants out some time later, he may not put her away. (Vs. 19) If the husband goes in unto a woman that has been a harlot in her father’s house, he can have her stoned to death. (Vs. 21) It does not say that he may divorce her. The man would have to be quite hardhearted to use the woman for his pleasure and then have her killed. I would also be hardhearted to hold the possibility over her head to get his way.
Deuteronomy 22
22 If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.
23 If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;
24 Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour’s wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you.
25 But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die:
26 But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter:
27 For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.
28 If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found;
29 Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.
If the woman was found with another man while she was married or betrothed, she was to be stoned to death along with the man she was found with, except in the case of rape. (Deut.22:22-27) If she was found with a man before she was betrothed, she was to be married to him and, once again, there is no divorce allowed. (Deut. 22:28-29)
To be continued.
Continued from above.
When can a Husband divorce his wife?
Deuteronomy 24
1 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
2 And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.
The man may give the woman a bill of divorcement if he finds “uncleanness” in her when he marries her. The word for “uncleanness” is the word used in Leviticus 18 and 20 for incest. If the man cannot bring himself to accept her (she find no grace/mercy/favor in his sight…he is hard hearted toward her) once her condition is known, he may dissolve the marriage…before it is consummated.
If the man finds that his bride has been defiled, he may divorce her even if the marriage “ceremony” has taken place, as long as it is before he goes in unto her. The only option he has after he goes in unto her is to have her stoned to death if he wants out. And that would be very hard heated.
Summing up the instructions in Torah:
From the above we find that in all cases but one the defiled woman must die if the husband is to be free of marriage relationship. So, the only case that is different is the one where the marriage is not consummated. It is only if the man and woman never became one flesh. There is no divorce allowed in any instance when there is a marriage and the man has gone in unto his wife…even when the going in unto came before the marriage covenant. YHWH ratifies the one flesh relationship and joins the two together once there is covenant and consummation.
Did Y’shua say anything different?
Matthew 19
3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
10 His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.
11 But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.
12 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.
Y’shua says that it is not lawful to divorce a wife “except it be for fornication.” “Fornication” is used in the specific sense here. He could have said “except if be for adultery” but chose to use the word that means unchastity outside of wedlock. (Adultery, which is unchastity within wedlock, is grounds for stoning not divorce.) The woman, once she is betrothed, is in a state of wedlock. So Y’shua is stating emphatically that the term “uncleanness” in Deuteronomy 24 is limited only to defilement before wedlock. He is also restating that once the couple has been joined by YHWH, via covenant and consummation, there is no option for divorce. Man may not put this one flesh relationship asunder. “They are no more twain.”
Y’shua carries this to its logical conclusion by saying that the only way to gain the kingdom of heaven, if a man has divorced his wife, after they were one flesh, and subsequently is married to another or his first wife has married another, is to remain celibate; because to continue to go in unto the subsequent spouse would cause him to be in a continual state of adultery. And we know that no adulterer can inherit the kingdom of heaven. (1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:19-21) This is why it is adultery for the woman to remarry…except the divorce be for fornication or her first husband dies. (Rom. 7:2, 1 Cor. 7:39)
There is no difference between the full teaching of Torah and Y’shua’s summary. Messiah answered the temptation of the Pharisees with precision and accuracy. His stance is more stringent than the oral law, but exactly what Torah stipulates.
The second man:
Deuteronomy 24
3 And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;
4 Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
In light of all the discussion above, we are reading into the text to assume that the second husband in Deuteronomy 24 can give a legitimate divorce certificate if he has become one flesh with the woman…and there is no indication, either that he has or hasn’t. (It only says that he “took her.”) We only know that YHWH considers it an abomination for the legitimately divorced wife, once she has entered wedlock with another man, to return to the man that divorced her in the first place.
There are some more nuances to this discussion that could still be hashed out, I’m sure. But for sake of brevity and cohesiveness, this should answer most of the bigger and more necessary questions.
In conclusion:
Matthew 5
19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Messiah did not change anything or contradict anything that Moses commanded. He taught the Law perfectly and completely. He had to or He would not be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven…He also would have been guilty of being a false prophet. (Deut. 13:1-5) If He broke the law, He is a sinner and cannot be our savior.
He summarized the Law of YHWH concisely and fully clarified/confirmed that the uncleanness spoken of in Deut. 24 was fornication, not adultery, and that this is the only valid reason and timing for a divorce.
Messiah covered all the bases. Marriage is only between male and female because YHWH made them and it that way. The man shall leave his parents and cleave to his wife…not to another man. YHWH ratifies the covenant and consummation by making the man and woman one flesh. They are no longer twain. They may not divorce after this. It is adultery, if they divorce, for the man or woman to remarry unless the divorce is before consummation. The hardheartedness of man is the reason that a divorce is allowed for the woman’s sake. Those that are married after being unlawfully divorced are to live as eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake.
Shalom
Should have been:
“It would also be hardhearted to hold the possibility over her head to get his way.”-post 25
“The only option he has after he goes in unto her is to have her stoned to death if he wants out. And that would be very hardhearted.”-post 6