What Does the Bible Say About . . . .HOMOSEXUALITY, ADULTERY & OTHER SEXUAL SINSINTRODUCTIONWhen God created the world, He established two institutions that continued after Mankind sinned. One was the Sabbath, a memorial of creation. The other was the marriage relationship between a husband and wife. Humans were created in the image of God, and they were given a power, that of procreation, that the angels did not have. The union of husband and wife, through sexual intercourse, made them one. "A man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. " (Gen. 2:23, 24) Satan, in his hatred for God, has done his best to distort and destroy both of the institutions that God had instituted. To destroy the holy marriage relationship, Satan encouraged people to engage in any form of sexual immorality that would pervert what God had created to be beautiful. This included adultery (sex between a man and woman that are not married, incest (sex between close family members, either by blood or marriage), homosexual encounters (sex between members of the same sex), sex with animals, easy divorce, rape and others, all damaging to the institutions of marriage and the family. To encourage this debasement, demonic agencies in their attempt to be worshipped through various pagan religions, encouraged sexually immoral acts (including heterosexual and homosexual prostitution) as part of idol worship. In the worship of Ishtar (originally pronounced Easter). fetuses aborted from pregnancies brought about through these "acts of worship" were offered to the goddess. Often when a pagan nation conquered another, they ripped open the pregnant women to offer their fetuses to their god. Baby sons and daughters were offered to the god, Molech, being burned or passing through the fire while loud banging music covered the cries of the babes. God decried and detested all such practices. They were an abomination to Him. When the Lord brought the Israelites into Canaan, He repeatedly gave clear warnings to stay away from such detestable practices. The "perfect" Ten Commandments specifically outlawed worshipping other gods, bowing down to idols, and committing adulterous acts. God knew that His people, whom he had chosen as His "wife" would "prostitute" themselves to other gods. He knew that they would engage in various detestable forms of sexual immorality as a result of worshipping these other gods. He commanded the Israelites to completely destroy the wicked people of Canaan so that the Israelites would not be led into idolatry. This they failed to do, and subsequently, they succumbed to these idolatrous religions and openly practiced immorality even in God's temple and courtyard. Especially heinous in God's sight is homosexuality, even more so than prostitution. Why? Because man in particular was created in God's express image. By successfully causing men to debase each other, Satan laughs all the more at God. In two compelling stories, one regarding Sodom and Gomorrah, and the second involving Gibeah, a city of the tribe of Benjamin (see Judges 19, 20), men attempted to have sex with out-of-town male visitors. As a consequence, God directed the annihilation of these men, their supporters, towns and region, "that the evil would be done away with." More and more individuals and churches are struggling with these issues today in the face of an increasingly promiscuous society and politically active gay community. After watching one "gay rights" demonstration on CNN TV, I was reminded of Psalms 11:8, "The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men." To enable churches and Christians to address these issues from a position of Bible knowledge and to help reveal and clarify God's position on sins of a sexual nature, I have compiled all the verses in the Bible pertaining to these subjects in this compilation. The compiled verses are split into two parts. Part I addresses sexual sins as they pertain to men, women and beasts. Part II addresses prostitution as a nation might do in pursuing gods other than the Lord God. There will be some minor repetition between the two sections. The reader should be aware that the comparisons are quite graphic since God does not mince words. Let the Holy Spirit guide you as you study these important topics. Parentheses ( ) enclose the various suffixes used. You may wish to look up in a dictionary the words that are unfamiliar to you.
The following words were looked for, but are not used in the New International Version of the Bible. Other words meaning the same were used to express the ideas of the words listed below. Fornication PART I The story of Sodom and Gomorrah
26The
LORD said, "If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will
spare the whole place for their sake." 27Then Abraham spoke up again: "Now that I have been so bold as
to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, 28what if the number of the righteous is
five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city because of five people?"
"If I find forty-five there," he said, "I will not destroy it." 29Once again he spoke to him,
"What if only forty are found there?" He said, "For the sake of forty, I
will not do it." 30Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only
thirty can be found there?" He answered, "I will not do it if I find thirty
there." 31Abraham
said, "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can
be found there?" He said, "For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it." 32Then he said, "May the
Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found
there?" He answered, "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it." The men of Sodom attempt to have sex with the angelic visitors Gen. 19:1 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and
Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and
bowed down with his face to the ground. 2"My lords," he said, "please turn aside to your
servant's house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early
in the morning." "No," they answered, "we will spend the night in the
square." 3But
he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a
meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
27Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. 28He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace. 29So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived. Commentary: The burnt out cities of Sodom, Gomorrah and the three other cities were rediscovered recently. The city of Sodom is located next to Mount Sodom and is completely turned to ash. Some of the houses and walls are still standing but are completely turned to ash. The city is covered with millions of pressed powder sulfur balls ranging in size from 1/2 to 2 inches in size. Due to the vitrification of the ash surrounding each sulfur ball, scientists estimate that the balls were around 5,000 degrees Celsius (9,000 degrees Farenheit) at the time they fell. Nowhere in the entire world have similar sulfur balls been found. See the Surprising Discoveries section for pictures of Sodom as it is today! Lot's daughters commit incest with him 30Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. 31One day the older daughter said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is no man around here to lie with us, as is the custom all over the earth. 32Let's get our father to drink wine and then lie with him and preserve our family line through our father." 33That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and lay with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. 34The next day the older daughter said to the younger, "Last night I lay with my father. Let's get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and lie with him so we can preserve our family line through our father." 35So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went and lay with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. 36So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father. 37The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today. 38The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today. Commentary: It is so sad that these cities had so few righteous people in them. Even Lot's daughters who were saved from the destruction had been so tainted by the evil of the town that they committed incestuous acts with their father. The descendents of the children resulting from these acts, the Moabites and Ammonites, were a constant snare and heartache to God and the Israelite people during their exodus from Egypt and while inhabiting the promised land. Many cities today are just as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah were and God will overthrown them in the judgments to be poured out at the end of time. The Ten Commandments define man's duty to God and his fellow humans Exod. 20:1 And God spoke all these words: 2"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I. 3"You shall have no other gods before me. Exod. 22:16 "If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife. 17If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the bride-price for virgins. 18"Do not allow a sorceress to live. 19"Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal must be put to death. Worship of the golden calf led to immorality Exod. 32:1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down
from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods who
will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't
know what has happened to him." Lev. 15:16 "`When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean till evening. 17Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening. 18When a man lies with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both must bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. 19"`When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening. 20"`Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. 21Whoever touches her bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. 22Whoever touches anything she sits on must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. 23Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, he will be unclean till evening. 24"`If a man lies with her and her monthly flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days; any bed he lies on will be unclean. . . . 32These are the regulations for a man with a discharge, for anyone made unclean by an emission of semen, 33for a woman in her monthly period, for a man or a woman with a discharge, and for a man who lies with a woman who is ceremonially unclean. Lev. 18:1 The LORD said to Moses, 2"Speak to the Israelites and say to them: `I am the LORD your
God. 3You must
not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the
land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. 4You must obey my laws and be
careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God. 5Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by
them. I am the LORD. Do not lie with a man as with a woman 22"`Do
not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable. Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute Lev. 19:2 "Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: `Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy. . . . 20"`If a man sleeps with a woman who is a slave girl promised to another man but who has not been ransomed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment. Yet they are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed. . . . 29"`Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness. Those who engage in unlawful sexual relations must be put to death Lev. 20:10 "`If a man commits adultery with another
man's wife --with the wife of his neighbor --both the adulterer and the adulteress
must be put to death. Lev. 21:6 [Priests] must be holy to their God and must not profane the name of their God. Because they present the offerings made to the LORD by fire, the food of their God, they are to be holy. 7"`They must not marry women defiled by prostitution or divorced from their husbands, because priests are holy to their God. 8Regard them as holy, because they offer up the food of your God. Consider them holy, because I the LORD am holy --I who make you holy. 9"`If a priest's daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she must be burned in the fire. 10"`The high priest, the one among his brothers who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments, must not let his hair become unkempt or tear his clothes. 11He must not enter a place where there is a dead body. He must not make himself unclean, even for his father or mother, 12nor leave the sanctuary of his God or desecrate it, because he has been dedicated by the anointing oil of his God. I am the LORD. 13"`The woman he marries must be a virgin. 14He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by prostitution, but only a virgin from his own people, 15so he will not defile his offspring among his people. I am the LORD, who makes him holy. '" Rules regarding suspected infidelity Num. 5:12 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: `If a man's wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him 13by sleeping with another man, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act), 14and if feelings of jealousy come over her husband and he suspects his wife and she is impure --or if he is jealous and suspects her even though she is not impure-- 15then he is to take his wife to the priest. He must also take an offering of a tenth of an ephah of barley flour on her behalf. He must not pour oil on it or put incense on it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a reminder offering to draw attention to guilt. 16"`The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the LORD. 17Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. 18After the priest has had the woman stand before the LORD, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse. 19Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, "If no other man has slept with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. 20But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have defiled yourself by sleeping with a man other than your husband"-- 21here the priest is to put the woman under this curse of the oath --"may the LORD cause your people to curse and denounce you when he causes your thigh to waste away and your abdomen to swell. 22May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells and your thigh wastes away. " "`Then the woman is to say, "Amen. So be it." 23"`The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water. 24He shall have the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and this water will enter her and cause bitter suffering. 25The priest is to take from her hands the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the LORD and bring it to the altar. 26The priest is then to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial offering and burn it on the altar; after that, he is to have the woman drink the water. 27If she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, then when she is made to drink the water that brings a curse, it will go into her and cause bitter suffering; her abdomen will swell and her thigh waste away, and she will become accursed among her people. 28If, however, the woman has not defiled herself and is free from impurity, she will be cleared of guilt and will be able to have children. 29"`This, then, is the law of jealousy when a woman goes astray and defiles herself while married to her husband. The immorality commited at Peor Introduction: Balaam, a seer, had been called to curse Israel. Instead, he ended up blessing them. In order to get the reward for cursing Israel that had been offered to him by Balak, a Moabite king, he encouraged Balak to involve the Israelites in sexual immorality and a prostituting of themselves before the gods of the land. He recognized that if Israel could be made to sin, that God's protection would be withdrawn and God would punish Israel Himself. Unfortunately, Balaam's plan worked all too well. The Israelites succumbed to this seductive idolatry and immorality and subsequently many were destroyed. For the story of Balaam, see Numbers 22-24, 2Pet. 2:14-16, Rev. 2:14. Num. 25:1 While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to
indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, 2who invited them to the
sacrifices to their gods. The people ate and bowed down before these gods. 3So Israel joined in
worshiping the Baal of Peor. And the LORD's anger burned against them. Moses reiterates the Ten Commandments Deut. 5:1 Moses summoned all Israel and said: Hear, O Israel, the
decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. 2The LORD our God made a
covenant with us at Horeb. 3It was not with our fathers that the LORD made this covenant, but
with us, with all of us who are alive here today. 4The LORD spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the
mountain. 5(At
that time I stood between the LORD and you to declare to you the word of the LORD, because
you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain.) And he said: Rules regarding virginity and rape Deut. 22:13 If a man takes a wife and, after lying with her, dislikes
her 14and
slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, "I married this woman, but when I
approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity," 15then the girl's father and mother shall
bring proof that she was a virgin to the town elders at the gate. 16The girl's father will say
to the elders, "I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes her. 17Now he has slandered her
and said, `I did not find your daughter to be a virgin.' But here is the proof of my
daughter's virginity." Then her parents shall display the cloth [with the blood on
it from the breaking of the hymen during the initial sexual encounter] before the
elders of the town, 18and the elders shall take the man and punish him. 19They shall fine him a
hundred shekels of silver and give them to the girl's father, because this man has given
an Israelite virgin a bad name. She shall continue to be his wife; he must not divorce her
as long as he lives. 20If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl's virginity can be
found, 21she
shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of her town shall
stone her to death. She has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by being promiscuous
while still in her father's house. You must purge the evil from among you. Commentary: Note the presumption of innocence or guilt on the part of the girl depending on the location of the stated rape. A girl was expected to scream if she was attacked, not mildly succumb to the attacker's wishes. Those emasculated may not enter the assembly of the Lord Deut. 23:1 No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the LORD. 2No one born of a forbidden marriage nor any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even down to the tenth generation. Commentary: To emasculate means to "remove the male's ability to progenate." This includes by castration, or other methods such as male sterilization. Deut. 27:20 "Cursed is the man who sleeps with his father's wife, for he dishonors his father's bed." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!" 21"Cursed is the man who has sexual relations with any animal." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!" 22"Cursed is the man who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!" 23"Cursed is the man who sleeps with his mother-in-law." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!" The story of Rahab the prostitute Josh. 2:1 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim.
"Go, look over the land," he said, "especially Jericho." So they went
and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there. Josh. 6:16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the
trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the
city! 17The city
and all that is in it are to be devoted to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute
and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. 18But keep away from the
devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of
them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble
on it. 19All the
silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the LORD and must go
into his treasury." Judg. 11:1 Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead; his mother was a prostitute. 2Gilead's wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. "You are not going to get any inheritance in our family," they said, "because you are the son of another woman." Judg. 16:1 One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. 2The people of Gaza were told, "Samson is here!" So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, "At dawn we'll kill him." 3But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron. The account of the Levite, his concubine and the wicked perverts of Gibeah Judg. 19:1 In those days Israel had no king. Now a Levite who lived in
a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. 2But she was unfaithful to
him. She left him and went back to her father's house in Bethlehem, Judah. After she had
been there four months, 3her husband went to her to persuade her to return. He had with him his servant
and two donkeys. She took him into her father's house, and when her father saw him, he
gladly welcomed him. 4His father-in-law, the girl's father, prevailed upon him to stay; so he remained
with him three days, eating and drinking, and sleeping there. Gibeah and the Benjamites destroyed Judg. 20:1 Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the
land of Gilead came out as one man and assembled before the LORD in Mizpah. 2The leaders of all the
people of the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of the people of God,
four hundred thousand soldiers armed with swords. 3(The Benjamites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.)
Then the Israelites said, "Tell us how this awful thing happened." 33All the
men of Israel moved from their places and took up positions at Baal Tamar, and the
Israelite ambush charged out of its place on the west of Gibeah. 34Then ten thousand of
Israel's finest men made a frontal attack on Gibeah. The fighting was so heavy that the
Benjamites did not realize how near disaster was. 35The LORD defeated Benjamin before Israel, and on that day the
Israelites struck down 25,100 Benjamites, all armed with swords. 36Then the Benjamites saw
that they were beaten. King David compounds adultery with planned murder 2Sam. 11:2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on
the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very
beautiful, 3and
David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the
daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" 4Then David sent messengers to get her.
She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her
uncleanness.) Then she went back home. 5The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, "I am
pregnant." The Lord rebukes and punishes David for his adultery and murder 2Sam. 12:1 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said,
"There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2The rich man had a very
large number of sheep and cattle, 3but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had
bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank
from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. The account of Amnon and Tamar 2Sam. 13:1 In the course of time, Amnon son of David fell in love with
Tamar, the beautiful sister of Absalom son of David. 2Amnon became frustrated to the point of illness on account of his
sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed impossible for him to do anything to
her. 3Now Amnon
had a friend named Jonadab son of Shimeah, David's brother. Jonadab was a very shrewd man.
4He asked Amnon,
"Why do you, the king's son, look so haggard morning after morning? Won't you tell
me?" Amnon said to him, "I'm in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom's
sister." 5"Go
to bed and pretend to be ill," Jonadab said. "When your father comes to see you,
say to him, `I would like my sister Tamar to come and give me something to eat. Let her
prepare the food in my sight so I may watch her and then eat it from her hand.'" Absalom avenges his sister's rape 23Two
years later, when Absalom's sheepshearers were at Baal Hazor near the border of Ephraim,
he invited all the king's sons to come there. 24Absalom went to the king and said, "Your servant has had
shearers come. Will the king and his officials please join me?" 25"No, my son," the
king replied. "All of us should not go; we would only be a burden to you."
Although Absalom urged him, he still refused to go, but gave him his blessing. 26Then Absalom said, "If
not, please let my brother Amnon come with us." The king asked him, "Why should
he go with you?" 27But Absalom urged him, so he sent with him Amnon and the rest of the king's sons.
28Absalom
ordered his men, "Listen! When Amnon is in high spirits from drinking wine and I
say to you, `Strike Amnon down,' then kill him. Don't be afraid. Have not I given you
this order? Be strong and brave." 29So Absalom's men did to Amnon what Absalom had ordered. Then all
the king's sons got up, mounted their mules and fled. Absalom lies with his father's concubines 2Sam. 16:20 Absalom said to Ahithophel, "Give us your advice. What should we do?" 21Ahithophel answered, "Lie with your father's concubines whom he left to take care of the palace. Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself a stench in your father's nostrils, and the hands of everyone with you will be strengthened." 22So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he lay with his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel. [And so was fulfilled the curse that Nathan had prophesied against David for his sin in regards to Bathsheba and Uriah in 2Sam. 12:11, 12]. 2Sam. 20:3 When David returned to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to take care of the palace and put them in a house under guard. He provided for them, but did not lie with them. They were kept in confinement till the day of their death, living as widows. King Solomon and the two prostitutes 1Kgs. 3:16 Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17One of them said, "My lord, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was there with me. 18The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us. 19"During the night this woman's son died because she lay on him. 20So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. 21The next morning, I got up to nurse my son --and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn't the son I had borne." 22The other woman said, "No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours." But the first one insisted, "No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine." And so they argued before the king. 23The king said, "This one says, `My son is alive and your son is dead,' while that one says, `No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.'" 24Then the king said, "Bring me a sword." So they brought a sword for the king. 25He then gave an order: "Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other." 26The woman whose son was alive was filled with compassion for her son and said to the king, "Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don't kill him!" But the other said, "Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!" 27Then the king gave his ruling: "Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother." 28When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice. Of male shrine prostitutes and detestable practices 1Kgs. 14:23 They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. 24There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. 1Kgs. 15:11 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done. 12He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his fathers had made. 13He even deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive Asherah pole. Asa cut the pole down and burned it in the Kidron Valley. 1Kgs. 22:37 So the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried him there. 38They washed the chariot at a pool in Samaria (where the prostitutes bathed), and the dogs licked up his blood, as the word of the LORD had declared. 39As for the other events of Ahab's reign, including all he did, the palace he built and inlaid with ivory, and the cities he fortified, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? 1Kgs. 22:45 As for the other events of Jehoshaphat's reign, the things he achieved and his military exploits, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 46He rid the land of the rest of the male shrine prostitutes who remained there even after the reign of his father Asa. 2Kgs. 23:6 He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the LORD to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder and scattered the dust over the graves of the common people. 7He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes, which were in the temple of the LORD and where women did weaving for Asherah. 8Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke down the shrines at the gates --at the entrance to the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which is on the left of the city gate. Job 24:14 When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up and kills the poor and needy; in the night he steals forth like a thief. 15The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, `No eye will see me,' and he keeps his face concealed. 16In the dark, men break into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they want nothing to do with the light. Job 31:1 "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl. 2For what is man's lot from God above, his heritage from the Almighty on high? Job 36:13 "The godless in heart harbor resentment; even when he fetters them, they do not cry for help. 14They die in their youth, among male prostitutes of the shrines. 15But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction. Ps. 50:17 You hate my instruction and cast my words behind you. 18When you see a thief, you join with him; you throw in your lot with adulterers. 19You use your mouth for evil and harness your tongue to deceit. Ps. 51:0 For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba. 1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 3For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. Prov. 2:12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, 13who leave the straight paths to walk in dark ways, 14who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, 15whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways. 16It will save you also from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words, 17who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God. Prov. 5:1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom, listen well to my words of insight, 2that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge. 3For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; 4but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword. 5Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave. 6She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths are crooked, but she knows it not. 7Now then, my sons, listen to me; do not turn aside from what I say. 8Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house, 9lest you give your best strength to others and your years to one who is cruel, 10lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich another man's house. 11At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent. 12You will say, "How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction! 13I would not obey my teachers or listen to my instructors. 14I have come to the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly." 15Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. 16Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? 17Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. 18May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. 19A loving doe, a graceful deer-- may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love. 20Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another man's wife? 21For a man's ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all his paths. A prostitute can reduce you to a loaf of bread Prov. 6:23 For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life, 24keeping you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife. 25Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes, 26for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread, and the adulteress preys upon your very life. 27Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? 28Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? 29So is he who sleeps with another man's wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished. 30Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving. 31Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house. 32But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself. 33Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away; 34for jealousy arouses a husband's fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge. 35He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse the bribe, however great it is. Wisdom will keep you from the adulteress Prov. 7:4 Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," and call understanding your kinsman; 5they will keep you from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words. 6At the window of my house I looked out through the lattice. 7I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who lacked judgment. 8He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house 9at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in. 10Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent. 11(She is loud and defiant, her feet never stay at home; 12now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks.) 13She took hold of him and kissed him and with a brazen face she said: 14"I have fellowship offerings at home; today I fulfilled my vows. 15So I came out to meet you; I looked for you and have found you! 16I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt. 17I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. 18Come, let's drink deep of love till morning; let's enjoy ourselves with love! 19My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. 20He took his purse filled with money and will not be home till full moon." 21With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk. 22All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose 23till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life. 24Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say. 25Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths. 26Many are the victims she has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng. 27Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death. About adulteresses and prostitutes Prov. 22:13 The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside!" or, "I will be murdered in the streets!" 14The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is under the LORD's wrath will fall into it. 15Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him. Prov. 23:26 My son, give me your heart and let your eyes keep to my ways, 27for a prostitute is a deep pit and a wayward wife is a narrow well. 28Like a bandit she lies in wait, and multiplies the unfaithful among men. Prov. 29:3 A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth. Prov. 30:18 "There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand: 19the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a maiden. 20"This is the way of an adulteress: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, `I've done nothing wrong.' 21"Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up: 22a servant who becomes king, a fool who is full of food, 23an unloved woman who is married, and a maidservant who displaces her mistress. Isa. 1:18 "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. 19If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; 20but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword." For the mouth of the LORD has spoken. 21See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her-- but now murderers! 22Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with water. Isa. 5:13 Therefore my people will go into exile for lack of understanding; their men of rank will die of hunger and their masses will be parched with thirst. 14Therefore the grave enlarges its appetite and opens its mouth without limit; into it will descend their nobles and masses with all their brawlers and revelers. 15So man will be brought low and mankind humbled, the eyes of the arrogant humbled. Cities of revelry to be destroyed Isa. 22:1 An oracle concerning the Valley of Vision: What troubles you now, that you have all gone up on the roofs, 2O town full of commotion, O city of tumult and revelry? Your slain were not killed by the sword, nor did they die in battle. 3All your leaders have fled together; they have been captured without using the bow. All you who were caught were taken prisoner together, having fled while the enemy was still far away. . . . 12The Lord, the LORD Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth. 13But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! "Let us eat and drink," you say, "for tomorrow we die!" 14The LORD Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: "Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for," says the Lord, the LORD Almighty. Isa. 23:6 Cross over to Tarshish; wail, you people of the island. 7Is this your city of revelry, the old, old city, whose feet have taken her to settle in far-off lands? 8Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are renowned in the earth? Isa. 23:11 The LORD has stretched out his hand over the sea and made its kingdoms tremble. He has given an order concerning Phoenicia that her fortresses be destroyed. 12He said, "No more of your reveling, O Virgin Daughter of Sidon, now crushed! "Up, cross over to Cyprus; even there you will find no rest." 13Look at the land of the Babylonians, this people that is now of no account! The Assyrians have made it a place for desert creatures; they raised up their siege towers, they stripped its fortresses bare and turned it into a ruin. 14Wail, you ships of Tarshish; your fortress is destroyed! 15At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the span of a king's life. But at the end of these seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute: 16"Take up a harp, walk through the city, O prostitute forgotten; play the harp well, sing many a song, so that you will be remembered." 17At the end of seventy years, the LORD will deal with Tyre. She will return to her hire as a prostitute and will ply her trade with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. 18Yet her profit and her earnings will be set apart for the LORD; they will not be stored up or hoarded. Her profits will go to those who live before the LORD, for abundant food and fine clothes. Isa. 24:7 The new wine dries up and the vine withers; all the merrymakers groan. 8The gaiety of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the revelers has stopped, the joyful harp is silent. 9No longer do they drink wine with a song; the beer is bitter to its drinkers. Isa. 32:12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vines 13and for the land of my people, a land overgrown with thorns and briers-- yes, mourn for all houses of merriment and for this city of revelry. 14The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted; citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks, Isa. 57:2 Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death. 3"But you --come here, you sons of a sorceress, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes! 4Whom are you mocking? At whom do you sneer and stick out your tongue? Are you not a brood of rebels, the offspring of liars? The Israelites thronged to houses of prostitutes Jer. 5:7 "Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I supplied all their needs, yet they committed adultery and thronged to the houses of prostitutes. 8They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for another man's wife. 9Should I not punish them for this?" declares the LORD. "Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this? Jer. 7:8 But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless. 9"`Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, 10and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, "We are safe"--safe to do all these detestable things? 11Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD. Jer. 9:1 Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people. 2Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them; for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people. 3"They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the land. They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge me," declares the LORD. Jer. 15:16 When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty. 17I never sat in the company of revelers, never made merry with them; I sat alone because your hand was on me and you had filled me with indignation. Even the "prophets" of Jerusalem committed adultery Jer. 23:9 Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble. I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of the LORD and his holy words. 10The land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land lies parched and the pastures in the desert are withered. The [prophets] follow an evil course and use their power unjustly. 11"Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness," declares the LORD. 12"Therefore their path will become slippery; they will be banished to darkness and there they will fall. I will bring disaster on them in the year they are punished," declares the LORD. 13"Among the prophets of Samaria I saw this repulsive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray. 14And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah." 15Therefore, this is what the LORD Almighty says concerning the prophets: "I will make them eat bitter food and drink poisoned water, because from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land." Jer. 29:21 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you in my name: "I will hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will put them to death before your very eyes. 22Because of them, all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: `The LORD treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned in the fire.' 23For they have done outrageous things in Israel; they have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives and in my name have spoken lies, which I did not tell them to do. I know it and am a witness to it," declares the LORD. God is grieved by adulterous hearts Ezek. 6:8 "`But I will spare some, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the lands and nations. 9Then in the nations where they have been carried captive, those who escape will remember me --how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices. 10And they will know that I am the LORD; I did not threaten in vain to bring this calamity on them. Ezek. 18:5 "Suppose there is a righteous man who does what is just and right. 6He does not eat at the mountain shrines or look to the idols of the house of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor's wife or lie with a woman during her period. 7He does not oppress anyone, but returns what he took in pledge for a loan. He does not commit robbery but gives his food to the hungry and provides clothing for the naked. 8He does not lend at usury or take excessive interest. He withholds his hand from doing wrong and judges fairly between man and man. 9He follows my decrees and faithfully keeps my laws. That man is righteous; he will surely live, declares the Sovereign LORD. Hosea 1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel: 2When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, "Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD." 3So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. Hosea's adulterous wife compared to Israel Hosea 2:1 "Say of your brothers, `My people,' and of your sisters, `My loved one.' 2"Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adulterous look from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts. 3Otherwise I will strip her naked and make her as bare as on the day she was born; I will make her like a desert, turn her into a parched land, and slay her with thirst. 4I will not show my love to her children, because they are the children of adultery. 5Their mother has been unfaithful and has conceived them in disgrace. She said, `I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.' 6Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. 7She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, `I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.' 8She has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold-- which they used for Baal. 9"Therefore I will take away my grain when it ripens, and my new wine when it is ready. I will take back my wool and my linen, intended to cover her nakedness. 10So now I will expose her lewdness before the eyes of her lovers; no one will take her out of my hands. Hosea 3:1 The LORD said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes." 2So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. 3Then I told her, "You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will live with you." 4For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. There is no love of God, no faithfulness in the land, only sinning Hosea 4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD
has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: "There is no faithfulness, no
love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. 2There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery;
they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. 3Because of this the land mourns, and all
who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the fish
of the sea are dying. 4"But let no man bring a charge, let no man accuse another, for your people
are like those who bring charges against a priest. 5You stumble day and night, and the prophets stumble with you. So I
will destroy your mother-- 6my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Commentary: Note the association of men with shrine prostitutes in verse 14 above. Comparing it to previous passages seems to indicate that the shrine prostitutes were the male shrine prostitutes mentioned earlier. Hosea 7:1 "Whenever I would restore the fortunes of my people, whenever I would heal Israel, the sins of Ephraim are exposed and the crimes of Samaria revealed. They practice deceit, thieves break into houses, bandits rob in the streets; 2but they do not realize that I remember all their evil deeds. Their sins engulf them; they are always before me. 3"They delight the king with their wickedness, the princes with their lies. 4They are all adulterers, burning like an oven whose fire the baker need not stir from the kneading of the dough till it rises. 5On the day of the festival of our king the princes become inflamed with wine, and he joins hands with the mockers. Joel 3:2 I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning my inheritance, my people Israel, for they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land. 3They cast lots for my people and traded boys for prostitutes; they sold girls for wine that they might drink. Amos 7:12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, "Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. 13Don't prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king's sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom." 14Amos answered Amaziah, "I was neither a prophet nor a prophet's son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. 15But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, `Go, prophesy to my people Israel.' 16Now then, hear the word of the LORD. You say, "`Do not prophesy against Israel, and stop preaching against the house of Isaac.' 17"Therefore this is what the LORD says: "`Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan country. And Israel will certainly go into exile, away from their native land.'" Micah 1:6 "Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble, a place for planting vineyards. I will pour her stones into the valley and lay bare her foundations. 7All her idols will be broken to pieces; all her temple gifts will be burned with fire; I will destroy all her images. Since she gathered her gifts from the wages of prostitutes, as the wages of prostitutes they will again be used." Nahum 3:3 Charging cavalry, flashing swords and glittering spears! Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number, people stumbling over the corpses-- 4all because of the wanton lust of a harlot, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft. 5"I am against you," declares the LORD Almighty. "I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame. 6I will pelt you with filth, I will treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle. 7All who see you will flee from you and say, `Nineveh is in ruins --who will mourn for her?' Where can I find anyone to comfort you?" Zech. 14:1 A day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided among you. 2I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. 3Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. 4On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. 5You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. 6On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost. 7It will be a unique day, without daytime or nighttime --a day known to the LORD. When evening comes, there will be light. God Himself will testify against adulterers Mal. 3:5 "So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty. 6"I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty. "But you ask, `How are we to return?' Matt. 1:4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife, 7Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, [etc.] Commentary: It is very intriguing that each of the three women listed in the genealogical record of Jesus would be considered women of color. Rahab had been a prostitute in Jericho prior to joining the Israelites. Ruth was a Moabite woman who had previously been married to one of Naomi's sons. Solomon's mother was Bathsheba, who had previously been married to Uriah. In each case, God was able to work through these women to his honor and glory. Rahab forsook her adulterous ways, Ruth was remembered for her faithfulness to Naomi, Bathsheba and David suffered the loss of the child borne as a result of their affair. Bathsheba then gave birth to Solomon who was to build God's temple in Jerusalem. God will take us wherever we are if we let Him cleanse us and use us to His glory. There is no sin so large that He cannot forgive us if we ask Him and repent of our evil ways. If one looks at a woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery Matt. 5:27 [Jesus said] "You have heard that it was said, `Do not commit adultery.' 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. . . . 31"It has been said, `Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.' 32But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery. Matt. 12:38 Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, "Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you." 39He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here. 42The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here. Out of the heart come evil thoughts and deeds Matt. 15:17 "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man `unclean.' 19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20These are what make a man `unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him `unclean.'" Commentary: Compare the above list of sins against the prohibitions in the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. Matt. 16:1 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. 2He replied, "When evening comes, you say, `It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,' 3and in the morning, `Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. 4A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah." Jesus then left them and went away. 5When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. Regarding divorce and adultery Matt. 19:3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?" 4"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator `made them male and female,' 5and said, `For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh' ? 6So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." 7"Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?" 8Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery." 10The disciples said to him, "If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry." 11Jesus replied, "Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it." Matt. 19:16 Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" 17"Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments." 18"Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, "`Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19honor your father and mother,' and `love your neighbor as yourself.' " 20"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?" 21Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." 22When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Matt. 21:28 "What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, `Son, go and work today in the vineyard.' 29"`I will not,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. 30"Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, `I will, sir,' but he did not go. 31"Which of the two did what his father wanted?" "The first," they answered. Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him. What comes out of one's heart is what makes one unclean Mark 7:14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15Nothing outside a man can make him `unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him `unclean.' " 1617After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18"Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him `unclean'? 19For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.") 20He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him `unclean.' 21For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23All these evils come from inside and make a man `unclean.'" Mark 8:34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 38If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels." What God has joined together, let man not separate Mark 10:2 Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" 3"What did Moses command you?" he replied. 4They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away." 5"It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. 6"But at the beginning of creation God `made them male and female.' 7`For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one. 9Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." 10When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery." Mark 10:17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 18"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good --except God alone. 19You know the commandments: `Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.' " 20"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy." Luke 15:1 Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all
gathering around to hear him. 2But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This
man welcomes sinners and eats with them." The parable of the forgiving, loving father 11Jesus
continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger one said to his father, `Father, give me my share of
the estate.' So he divided his property between them. Luke 16:16 "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. 17It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law. 18"Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Recognition and repentance of one's sinfulness leads to salvation Luke 18:10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee
and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: `God, I thank you
that I am not like other men --robbers, evildoers, adulterers --or even like this
tax collector. 12I
fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' 13"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even
look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, `God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
14"I
tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For
everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
The story of a woman caught in adultery
Guidance from the church leaders sought for Acts 15:4 When [Paul and Barnabas] came to Jerusalem, they were
welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God
had done through them. Commentary: Keep an eye open for further reaffirmations of these requirements that the church leaders made through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. That is, the requirements to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. God's righteous requirements have been known from creation Rom. 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all
the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known
about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation
of the world God's invisible qualities --his eternal power and divine nature --have been
clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
Those committing homosexual acts received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion 26Because
of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged
natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with
women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with
other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Commentary: There should be no doubt in the Christian's mind that the current AIDS crisis among today's homosexual community is a result of their perverse acts, the reception within themselves of the due penalty for their perversion (v. 27). Nevertheless, it is the Christian's duty to reach out to the lost, so that some may be brought to repentance, and thus be saved. It is also a sad commentary on the state of so many of our politicians that many actually court the favor of the politically active gay and lesbian communities. Perhaps the last paragraph above explains the essence of the makeup of these politicians who "approve of those who practice them." Rom. 2:17 Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; 18if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; 19if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, 20an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth-- 21you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? Rom. 6:18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. 19I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. After one dies, the law no longer has authority over you Rom. 7:1 Do you not know, brothers --for I am speaking to men who know the law --that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? 2For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. 3So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man. 4So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. Rom. 13:8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9The command-ments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 10Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Rom. 13:12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Sexual immorality in the early church - Do not associate with sexually immoral people 1Cor. 5:1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife. 2And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? 3Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. 4When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord. 6Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? 7Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast --as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. 9I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people-- 10not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. 12What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you." 1Cor. 6:1 If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it
before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints? 2Do you not know that the saints will
judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial
cases? 3Do
you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! 4Therefore, if you have
disputes about such matters, appoint as judges even men of little account in the church!
5I say this to
shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute
between believers? 6But instead, one brother goes to law against another --and this in front of
unbelievers! If you are tempted by sexual desires, it is better for you to be married 1Cor. 7:1 Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry. 2But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. 3The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. 5Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. 8Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am. 9But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. 10To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife. 12To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. 13And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. 14For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. 15But if the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. 16How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? 17Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches. The Israelites were sexually immoral at thepagan revelry around the golden calf 1Cor. 10:6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry." 8We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did --and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 2Cor. 12:20 For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder. 21I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious Gal. 5:19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Eph. 4:17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. 20You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Eph. 5:1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 3But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. 4Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person --such a man is an idolater --has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature Col. 3:4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 1Ths. 4:2 For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; 6and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. 7For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit. 1Tim. 1:9 We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers --and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. 12I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. 13Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Hebr. 11:30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days. 31By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. The marriage bed is to be kept pure Hebr. 13:4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. 12Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment! 14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. 19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that --and shudder. 20You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. 24You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. 25In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. James 4:1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. 4You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? Arm yourself with the same attitude as Christ 1Pet. 4:1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. 2As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do --living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. 5But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 2Pet. 2:12 But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish. 13They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. 14With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed --an accursed brood! 15They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness. 16But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey --a beast without speech --who spoke with a man's voice and restrained the prophet's madness. 17These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity --for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. 20If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. 22Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud." 1John 2:15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world --the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does --comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. There are some who have changed God's grace into a license for immorality Jude 3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 4For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. 5Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. God dispises the teachings of the Nicolaitans Rev. 2:5 Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Commentary: C. Mervyn Maxwell in his book God Cares, Vol. 2, 1985, pp. 99, 100 answers the question, "Who were the Nicolaitans? Irenaeus, a second-century minister who grew up near Ephesus, referred to them in one of his writings. The Nicolaitans claimed to be Christians, he said, but they considered it 'a matter of indifference to practice adultery, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.' It appears then that the Nicolaitans were Christians who felt that faith in Jesus released them from obedience to some of the Ten Commandments. In 1 John 2:4, John wrote against similar people who were saying, 'I know him [Jesus],' but those same people were breaking the commandments. Anyone who talks this way, John said, is a 'liar.' "Calling a commandment flouting Christian a 'liar' is strong language. Jesus used strong language when He said He 'hated' the teachings of the Nicolaitans. We remember that in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, 'Not every one who says to me, "Lord, Lord," shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.' Matthew 7:21. Such language sobers us, especially when we consider that many people today say that faith releases Christians from keeping one or more of the Ten Commandments. Usually these Christians treat lightly the seventh commandment, about adultery, or the fourth, about keeping the seventh-day Sabbath." For more information on the Sabbath, see the Scripture compilation on the 'Sabbath and the Lord's Day.' Rev. 2:11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death. Rev. 2:14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. 15Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. 17He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it. Rev. 2:21 I have given [Jezebel] time to repent of her immorality,
but she is unwilling. 22So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those
who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23I will strike her children
dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I
will repay each of you according to your deeds. . . . Rev. 3:5 He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. Rev. 3:12 Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name. Rev. 3:21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. Babylon seduced the nations of this world by her adulterous teachings Rev. 14:7 He said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water." 8A second angel followed and said, "Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries." 9A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, 10he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. Babylon, the mother of prostitutes described Rev. 17:1 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said
to me, "Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who
sits on many waters. 2With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants
of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries." Commentary: At the time that John saw the vision, the city that ruled over the nations was Rome. Rome sits on seven hills (verses 18, 9). Symbolically, women often represent churches. The woman of Rev. 12 represented Christ's true and pure church which fled from persecution into various wildernesses. Thus it appears that the adulterous woman of chapter 17 more specifically represents the Church of Rome. The Church of Rome persecuted the true church for three and a half prophetic years or 1260 actual years, from 538 A.D. to 1798 A.D. In 538, the Church of Rome overthrew the last of the three barbarian kingdoms (the Heruli, Vandals and Ostrogoths) that followed the doctrine of Arianism (see Dan. 7: 8, 20, 24, 25). In 1798, the power of the papacy was broken or wounded when the pope was taken captive by Napoleon's general Berthier (see Rev. 13). The prostitutes that follow the harlot represent those churches that follow or retain her erroneous doctrines. It should be noted here that God is talking about a system of religion, not about individuals, for in Rev. 18, an angel calls for God's people to come out of her (Babylon). For those who doubt the return to power of the Roman Catholic Church, I encourage you to read "The Keys of This Blood (The Struggle for World Dominion)," by Martin Malachi, a Jesuit priest (published in 1990 by Simon & Schuster). It reviews the Pope's plan to regain power and discusses how he has been instrumental in causing many of the rapid changes in the eastern block countries. What God says will happen, will happen! There are some who will argue that Babylon the Great refers to the ancient city of Babylon built by Nebuchadnezzar. They feel this particular city, whose ruins are located in Iraq, will be rebuilt. God, through Isaiah decreed, "Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians' pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flocks there. But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell, and there the wild goats will leap about." (Isa. 13:19-21) This is still true today. Saddam Hussein's attempt to rebuild the city was thwarted by God using the U.S. led allied forces during the Gulf war. Additionally, each time Babylon is mentioned in Revelation, the term Babylon is associated with the terms Great or great city. (see Rev. 11:8, 14:8, 16:19, 17:5, 18, chap. 18). Only once in the Old Testament is the word great associated with Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar while walking on the roof of his palace, and surveying the city, exclaimed, "Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?" (Dan. 4:30). He was promptly dethroned by God for seven years. Thus from Biblical evidence, the Babylon of Revelation and the Babylon of the ancient world are not the same. This author believes that the beast out of the abyss will be the incarnation of Satan. (The abyss, for Jews, is the traditional abode of demons). He will appear as Jesus Christ to the Christians, the Messiah to the Jews, Lord Matreya to the Hindus and New Agers, and Allah to the Muslims. His words and demeanor will be gracious. He will heal the sick, perhaps raise the dead, perform many signs and wonders, and cause fire to come down from heaven. But he will direct people to follow himself and his decrees and teach people to ignore God's Law. God will allow Satan to appear to confirm the rebellion of those who have rejected God, His love, mercy and decrees (compare: 2Ths. 2:1-12, Rev. 9:11, 11:7, 17:8, 20:1-3). Those that follow God will have received the seal of God, the others by default will receive the mark of the beast. The ten kingdoms who lend their power to the beast have yet to be identified. Intriguingly, even though the woman (the Roman Church) sits on the beast of the abyss (Satan), and draws her authority from that beast (see Rev. 13:1-10), eventually, the beast from the abyss, along with these 10 kings, turn on the woman (the Roman power) and burn her, The burning is decreed by God, and described in Rev. 18. The wine of her adulteries are the false teachings and doctrines of the ancient mystery religions that have come down through the ages from ancient Babylon and which are alive and well today. The sacraments from these religions were transferred to pagan Rome when it conquered the known world and later passed into the hands of the Roman church. Much of the symbolism, rites and rituals, "sacred" holidays and doctrines followed by the Roman church come not from the Bible, but rather from the traditions of men as brought through the ages from ancient Babylon. For more on these teachings, see the compilation entitled "Revelation for the Wise" which is part of this series. Rev. 18:1 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. 2With a mighty voice he shouted: "Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. 3For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries." 4Then I heard another voice from heaven say: "Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; 5for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. 6Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup. 7Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, `I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn.' 8Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her. 9"When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. 10Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: "`Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come!' Rev. 19:1 After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, 2for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants." 3And again they shouted: "Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever." Rev. 21:7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. Nothing impure will enter God's heavenly kingdom Rev. 21:26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. Rev. 22:12 "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. 13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 14"Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. 16"I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star." Following are words that were also boldfaced to indicate the prostitution to these gods that incurred during this time.
Do not seek after or worship other gods Exod. 34:14 Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. 15"Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. 16And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same. 17"Do not make cast idols. Lev. 17:6 The priest is to sprinkle the blood against the altar of the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and burn the fat as an aroma pleasing to the LORD. 7They must no longer offer any of their sacrifices to the goat idols to whom they prostitute themselves. This is to be a lasting ordinance for them and for the generations to come.' 8"Say to them: `Any Israelite or any alien living among them who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice Lev. 20:4 If the people of the community close their eyes when that man gives one of his children to Molech and they fail to put him to death, 5I will set my face against that man and his family and will cut off from their people both him and all who follow him in prostituting themselves to Molech. 6"`I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute himself by following them, and I will cut him off from his people. 7"`Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God. Put a reminder on your clothes to keep you from turning to other gods Num. 15:38 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: `Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. 39You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. 40Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. Deut. 23:17 No Israelite man or woman is to become a shrine prostitute. 18You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute into the house of the LORD your God to pay any vow, because the LORD your God detests them both. 19Do not charge your brother interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest. Deut. 31:15 Then the LORD appeared at the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the Tent. 16And the LORD said to Moses: "You are going to rest with your fathers, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them. 17On that day I will become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters and difficulties will come upon them, and on that day they will ask, `Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is not with us?' Judg. 2:16 Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. 17Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the LORD's commands. 18Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them. Judg. 8:26 The weight of the gold rings he asked for came to seventeen hundred shekels, not counting the ornaments, the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian or the chains that were on their camels' necks. 27Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family. 28Thus Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. During Gideon's lifetime, the land enjoyed peace forty years. The Israelites again and again prostituted themselves to other gods Judg. 8:32 Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 33No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-berith as their god and 34did not remember the LORD their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side. 1Kgs. 14:23 They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. 24There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. 1Kgs. 22:45 As for the other events of Jehoshaphat's reign, the things he achieved and his military exploits, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 46He rid the land of the rest of the male shrine prostitutes who remained there even after the reign of his father Asa. 47There was then no king in Edom; a deputy ruled. 2Kgs. 23:6 He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the LORD to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder and scattered the dust over the graves of the common people. 7He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes, which were in the temple of the LORD and where women did weaving for Asherah. 8Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke down the shrines at the gates --at the entrance to the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which is on the left of the city gate. They were unfaithful to their God 1Chr. 5:24 These were the heads of their families: Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah and Jahdiel. They were brave warriors, famous men, and heads of their families. 25But they were unfaithful to the God of their fathers and prostituted themselves to the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them. 26So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria (that is, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria), who took the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh into exile. He took them to Halah, Habor, Hara and the river of Gozan, where they are to this day. 2Chr. 21:10 To this day Edom has been in rebellion against Judah. Libnah revolted at the same time, because Jehoram had forsaken the LORD, the God of his fathers. 11He had also built high places on the hills of Judah and had caused the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves and had led Judah astray. 12Jehoram received a letter from Elijah the prophet, which said: "This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: `You have not walked in the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or of Asa king of Judah. 13But you have walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and you have led Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ahab did. You have also murdered your own brothers, members of your father's house, men who were better than you. 14So now the LORD is about to strike your people, your sons, your wives and everything that is yours, with a heavy blow. Job 36:13 "The godless in heart harbor resentment; even when he fetters them, they do not cry for help. 14They die in their youth, among male prostitutes of the shrines. 15But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction. Ps. 106:38 They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood. 39They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves. 40Therefore the LORD was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance. Jer. 3:1 "If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again? Would not the land be completely defiled? But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers-- would you now return to me?" declares the LORD. 2"Look up to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been ravished? By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers, sat like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness. 3Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to blush with shame. Jer. 13:21 What will you say when [the LORD] sets over you those you cultivated as your special allies? Will not pain grip you like that of a woman in labor? 22And if you ask yourself, "Why has this happened to me?"-- it is because of your many sins that your skirts have been torn off and your body mistreated. 23Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil. 24"I will scatter you like chaff driven by the desert wind. 25This is your lot, the portion I have decreed for you," declares the LORD, "because you have forgotten me and trusted in false gods. 26I will pull up your skirts over your face that your shame may be seen-- 27your adulteries and lustful neighings, your shameless prostitution! I have seen your detestable acts on the hills and in the fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will you be unclean?" A prophecy against Jerusalem's protitutions Ezek. 16:1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2"Son of man, confront Jerusalem with
her detestable practices 3and say, `This is what the Sovereign LORD says to Jerusalem: Your
ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your
mother a Hittite. 4On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to
make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. 5No one looked on you with
pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown
out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised. Samaria and Jerusalem prostituted themselves to other gods. Therefore, the Lord will punish them Ezek. 23:1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2"Son of man, there were two women,
daughters of the same mother. 3They became prostitutes in Egypt, engaging in prostitution
from their youth. In that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms
caressed. 4The
older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to
sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem. Ezek. 43:6 [Ezekiel was taken in vision to a temple built by God] While the [angel, appearing as a man] was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple. 7He said: "Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will live among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel will never again defile my holy name --neither they nor their kings --by their prostitution and the lifeless idols of their kings at their high places. 8When they placed their threshold next to my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them, they defiled my holy name by their detestable practices. So I destroyed them in my anger. 9Now let them put away from me their prostitution and the lifeless idols of their kings, and I will live among them forever. 10"Son of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their sins. A spirit of prostitution led God's people astray Hosea 4:9 And it will be: Like people, like priests. I will punish both of them for their ways and repay them for their deeds. 10"They will eat but not have enough; they will engage in prostitution but not increase, because they have deserted the LORD to give themselves 11to prostitution, to old wine and new, which take away the understanding 12of my people. They consult a wooden idol and are answered by a stick of wood. A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God. 13They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar and terebinth, where the shade is pleasant. Therefore your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery. 14"I will not punish your daughters when they turn to prostitution, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, because the men themselves consort with harlots and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes-- a people without understanding will come to ruin! 15"Though you commit adultery, O Israel, let not Judah become guilty. "Do not go to Gilgal; do not go up to Beth Aven. And do not swear, `As surely as the LORD lives!' 16The Israelites are stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. How then can the LORD pasture them like lambs in a meadow? 17Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone! 18Even when their drinks are gone, they continue their prostitution; their rulers dearly love shameful ways. Micah 1:6 "Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble, a place for planting vineyards. I will pour her stones into the valley and lay bare her foundations. 7All her idols will be broken to pieces; all her temple gifts will be burned with fire; I will destroy all her images. Since she gathered her gifts from the wages of prostitutes, as the wages of prostitutes they will again be used." 8Because of this I will weep and wail; I will go about barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and moan like an owl. Nahum 3:3 Charging cavalry, flashing swords and glittering spears! Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number, people stumbling over the corpses-- 4all because of the wanton lust of a harlot, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft. 5"I am against you," declares the LORD Almighty. "I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame. ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED READING Compilations in this series which will shed additional light on subjects touched on in this one include:
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