The One-Flesh Covenant by S. T. Theophanie

Author:S. T. Theophanie [Theophanie, S. T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Abortion & Birth Control
ISBN: 9781644589199
Google: -Zh8xgEACAAJ
Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Incorporated
Published: 2019-05-10T04:16:10+00:00

Chapter 3

Separation

Jesus forbade the divorcing of a lawful spouse for any cause but sanctioned separation from one who was unrighteous. Works of unrighteousness (defilement or uncleanness) are identified in 1 Cor. 6:9, 10; Gal. 5:19–21; and Eph. 5:3–5. As shown in the following scriptures, they originate in the heart:

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“But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man” (Matt. 15:18–20).

“And he said, that which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man” (Mark 7:20–23).

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A father in Old Testament times had the authority to separate his daughter from the man with whom she had entered into the one-flesh covenant; that is, to prevent her from abiding in the married state with him:

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“And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins” (Exod. 22:16, 17).

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However, he did not have the authority to loose her from him. No one can loose what God’s word has bound (Matt. 19:6 and Mark 10:9). As marrying someone other than the person with whom the one-flesh covenant was established carried the penalty of death by stoning (Deut. 22:13–21), this left a daughter, as was shown in Chapter 2, with no alternative but to remain single and celibate, the requirement necessary to satisfy the justice of the law for having submitted herself to a man who was judged unacceptable for marriage by her father. The father’s reason for not accepting the man was due to his uncleanness (unrighteousness).

Reflect on Gen. 34:1–31, the account of Jacob’s daughter Dinah and Hamor’s son Shechem. When Dinah “went out to see the daughters of the land (Gen. 34:1), Shechem, the Hivite, “took her, and lay with her, and defiled her” (Gen. 34:2). This action, like unto that described in Deut. 22:28, 29, established a one-flesh covenant union. However, Shechem was not circumcised. Under the New Covenant, “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God” (1 Cor. 7:19). Under the Old Covenant, however, circumcision was crucial. To be uncircumcised was to be unclean. Shechem, not having been circumcised, was judged unclean, guilty of defiling Dinah, and unacceptable for marriage by Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers.

Shechem’s soul clave unto Dinah, and he loved her. Desiring to abide in the married state with her, he consented to be circumcised. His father and all of the males of the city did likewise in order to become “as one people” through their marriages with the daughters of Jacob’s people.

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