Coveting – Wrong and Right Desire

The verb covet came into English in the 1200s AD from the Old French word covoitier.  “Covet” was used in the Wycliffe Bible (1395 AD), Coverdale Bible (1535), Tyndale Bible (1536), KJV (1611), and others.  In the middle English of that period, covet could refer to either a right/good desire or a wrong/bad desire.  “Covet” was like a synonym for the verb “desire”.

Use of the word covet is becoming less common in today’s society.  Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines covet: 1. “To wish for earnestly. [e.g.] covet an award.”  2. “To desire (what belongs to another) inordinately.”  Coveting is a desire for what a person doesn’t have, or doesn’t have enough of.  An earnest desire can be right or wrong, good or evil.  Coveting of itself is ‘morally neutral’.  The context of the Bible verse/passage shows whether that coveting was good or bad.

We may usually think of coveting as a wrong desire, for something a person cannot rightfully have some day.  The Lord’s Ten Commandments/Decalogue/Testimony doesn’t forbid all coveting; basically they forbid the coveting of what belongs to another, an inordinate desire.

Ex.20:17 “You shall not covet [chamád Strongs h2530, Hebrew] your neighbor’s house, you shall not covet [chamad] your neighbor’s wife, his servants, his work animals …anything that belongs to your neighbor.”  De.5:21 “Neither shall you desire [chamad] your neighbor’s wife, neither shall you covet [aváh h183] your neighbor’s house, his field, servants, work animals…or anything that is your neighbor’s.”  (Also idolaters desired/coveted other gods.)

Following are Old Testament (OT) verses which contain Hebrew and Greek Septúagint/LXX verbs translated “desire”, “covet”, “delight”, etc. in English.  Verses which reflect a right/good desire are in bold text; verses which reflect a wrong/bad desire are in normal text.

One such Hebrew verb is chamad h2530.  It occurs 20 times in the OT: Ge.2:9, 3:6; Ex.20:17, 34:24; De.5:21, 7:25; Jsh.7:21; Jb.20:20; Ps.19:10, Ps.68:16; Pr.1:22, 6:25, 12:12, Pr. 21:20; SSol.2:3; Is.1:29, 44:9, 53:2; Mi.2:2.  Chamad usually referred to wrong/bad desires.

Another Hebrew verb translated “desire”, “covet”, “lust for”, “long for” “crave”, etc. is avah h183.  It occurs 26 times in the OT: Nu.11:4; De.5:21, De.12:20, De.14:26; 1Sm.2:16; 2Sm.3:21, 2Sm.23:15; 1Ki.11:37; 1Ch.11:17; Jb.23:13; Ps.45:11, 106:14, Ps.132:13-14; Pr.13:4, 21:10, 21:26, 21:10, 23:3, 6, 24:1; Ec.6:2; Is.26:9; Je.17:16; Am.5:18, Mi.7:1.  Avah reflects both wrong/bad and right/good desires.

The Greek verb translated “desire”, “covet”, “lust for”, etc. in the OT Septuagint/LXX is epithuméo g1937.  It occurs 42 times.  This Greek word corresponds to both the Hebrew OT chamad h2530 and avah h183.  Epithumeo in the LXX also shows covet/desire as being either bad or good.  As good, ref LXX: De.12:20; De.14:26; 2Sm.3:21; 1Ki.11:37; Ps.45:11; SSol.2:3; Is.26:9.  Bible scholar Spiros Zódiates: Epithumeo “To desire in a good sense…[and] in a bad sense.”

This same Greek verb epithumeo g1937 occurs 16 times in the New Testament (NT): Mt.5:28, Mt.13:17; Lk.15:16, Lk.16:21, Lk.17:22, Lk.22:15; Ac.20:33; Ro.7:7, 13:9; 1Co.10:6; Ga.5:17; 1Ti.3:1; He.6:11; Ja.4:2; 1Pe.1:12; Re.9:6.  Epithumeo in the NT can be either a right/good or a wrong/bad desire.  Again, “covet” is a verb.

Some Greek nouns also relate to coveting.  Pleonexéa g4124 is rendered “covetousness” or greediness.  Dr. Spiros Zodiates: Pleonexea “Covetousness, the desire for having more or for what he has not.”  It occurs 10 times in the NT: Mk.7:22; Lk.12:15; Ro.1:29; 2Co.9:5; Ep.4:19, 5:3; Col.3:5; 1Th.2:5; 2Pe.2:3, 14.  The noun pleonexea, covetousness, indicated a wrong or inordinate desire in scripture.  Never a right desire!  This is unlike the (three) Hebrew & Greek verbs examined above, where “covet” or “desire” of itself was neutral; those verbs could reflect a desire either bad or good.

This Greek noun pleonexea g4124 in the OT LXX is rendered “covetousness” 4 times, “gain”/“spoils” 2 times: Ps.119:36; Is.28:8; Je.22:17; Hab.2:9; and Jg.5:19; Ezk.22:27.  In the LXX verses, covetousness or dishonest gain as a noun indicated a wrong desire…not a right or good desire.

(A corresponding OT Hebrew noun is béhtsah h1215; it occurs 23 times.  The KJV renders it “covetousness” in 10 of those 23 times; all reflect a bad desire: Ex.18:21; Ps.119:36; Pr.28:16; Is.57:17; Je.6:13, 8:10, 22:17, 51:13; Ezk.33:31; Hab.2:9.)

Another Greek noun is pleonéktes g4123, rendered “covetous”.  Although it doesn’t occur in the LXX, there are 4 NT occurrences: 1Co.5:10-11, 6:10; Ep.5:5. The apostle Paul took wrong coveting seriously!

Other Hebrew and Greek nouns relative to “lusts” (e.g. epithumía g1939) aren’t detailed in this topic.

The Greek verb zaylóo g2206 (corresponding to the OT Hebrew qanáh h7065) meant to “envy, be jealous, be zealous, desire strongly”.  It occurs 30 times in the OT LXX.  Also 12 times in the NT: Ac.7:9, 17:5; 1Co.13:4, 1Co.14:1; 2Co.11:2; Ga.4:17 (2), Ga.4:18; Ja.4:2; Re.3:19.  Paul exhorted in 1Co.12:31 KJV & 1Co.14:39 KJV, “Covet earnestly [zayloo] the best gifts”…. “Brethren, covet [zayloo] to prophesy.”  Zayloo g2206 reflects both right desire/coveting/zeal and wrong envy/zeal.

There are additional Hebrew and Greek verbs rendered in English as “take delight in”, “to desire”, “to please”, etc. in various Bible versions.  Those verbs aren’t addressed here.

The Wýcliffe Bible, completed by 1395 AD, was the first Bible in (middle) English.  It was handwritten and copied prior to the invention of the printing press.  Three sample verses from the Wycliffe Bible that reflect “covet” as good:  David and his son Solomon desired to build the house for God, the temple.  Solomon said in 2Chr.2:5 WYC, “The house which I covet to build is great, forsooth [indeed] the Lord our God is great over all gods”.  Paul wrote to the saints in Php.1:8 WYC, “I covet all (of) you in the bowels [inner self] of Jesus Christ”.  In the apocrypha, Sirach wrote of Wisdom in Sir.24:26 WYC (with modern spelling), “All ye that covet me, pass or come to me, and be ye filled….”  Coveting can be good.

The Tyndale Bible, translated from Hebrew and Greek texts, was completed by 1536 AD.  It preceded the 1611 KJV by 75 years.  The Coverdale Bible date is 1535 AD.  1Tim.3:1 TYN/COV “If ye man covets the office of a bishop, he desires a good worke.”  Again, coveting could be good; in middle English the word “covet” meant either good or evil desire.  However, coveting usually reflected evil desire (as in Ex.20:17 KJV & De.5:21 KJV).  In regards to the sluggard in Pr.21:26 KJV, “He covets greedily all day long, but the righteous gives and spareth not”.

bible.org: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Coveting “We must be very careful not to conclude that all coveting is evil.”  ecclesia.org: To Covet and Lust Can Be Good, Not Evil “Covet’ and ‘lust’ are neutral words.”  Woodlands Bible Church: Thou Shalt Not Covet “The word ‘covet’ can be used both of good things and bad things.”  av1611 KJV Dictionary Definition: Covet “To desire or wish for, in a good sense. To desire inordinately, in a bad sense.”

The middle English usage of “covet” better reflects the meanings of the old Hebrew verbs for “desire”, chamad h2530 and avah h183.  Again, both of those Hebrew terms could reflect an evil/wrong desire or a good/right desire.  The same goes for the Greek verb epithumeo g1937; it reflected either good or bad.

Although those ancient language terms usually indicated bad desire, the terms of themselves were neutral.  Again, the context determined whether they referred to bad or good, wrong or right.

The Aramaic Bible in Plain English Pr.21:20 “There is coveted treasure and oil in the dwelling of a wise man.”  This Aramaic translation too reflects that “covet” could be good (or bad).

When “covet” is used in modern English, it often denotes bad desire.  Yet saying ‘I covet your prayers’ indicates good desire.  Our word “covet” still reflects both.  As did “covet” in the KJV.  And the KJV continues to be the most popular Bible version in America.  That dual moral intent is still read today.

The task of Bible translation has been called an ‘inexact science’.  Languages change over the centuries, as etymology shows.  Yet more than 400 years ago, “covet” could indicate either right or wrong desire.

The Ten Commandments of Ex.20 and De.5 forbid theft…the act of stealing wives (adultery), property, possessions belonging to another.  Also, the Decalogue forbids idolatry, the act of desiring/worshiping pagan gods (cf. Col.3:5 coveting & idolatry).  But the 10^th Commandment regarding wrong coveting forbids the desiring (the craving, lusting), the thought of the heart, for that which belongs to another.

Jesus referred to the 7^th commandment in Mt.5:27, “You shall not commit adultery”.  v.28 “Whoever looks at a woman [wife, guné g1135] to lust [epithumeo g1937] for her, has committed adultery with her already in his heart.”  Such lusting/coveting broke the 10^th Commandment.  Again, in the Greek OT LXX Ex.20:17 & De.5:21, the verb rendered “covet” is epithumeo.  Coveting preceded taking/theft.

Inordinate coveting can lead to more sins, such as stealing, perjury, and even murder.

We read of incidents of wrong desire/coveting in scripture.  Jsh.7:21 Achán wrongly coveted a garment and silver & gold from among the spoils of Jericho.  1Ki.21:1-29 king Aháb of Israel desired the vineyard owned by a man named Nabóth.  When Naboth refused to sell it to him, Ahab & queen Jezébel conspired to have Naboth stoned to death.  Coveting led to murder.  2Ki.5:14-27 the prophet Elisha’s servant Gehazí coveted, wanting to get presents from the recently healed Syrian general Naamán.  But instead, Gehazi got Naaman’s leprosy!  Ac.5:1-11 Ananías & his wife Sapphíra coveted the proceeds from their land sale in Jerusalem.  They both died.  (see the topic “Lying – Ananias & Sapphira”.)

Ja.1:14-15 “Each person is tempted when he is enticed by his own evil desire [epithumia g1939, noun]. Then when the desire has conceived it gives birth to sin; and when sin is finished, it brings forth death.”  That’s a grave cause and effect, written by Jesus’ relative James!  1Jn.2:16 the desire (epithumia) for wrong selfish gratification, ever-increasing possessions, boastful pride…isn’t from Father God.

All men have desires (chamad & avah); we covet, for right or wrong.  But to desire anything that God disallows us is wrong desiring, wrong ‘coveting’ in a sense!  The desire to amass excessive wealth or possessions far beyond the needs of our family members can be covetousness or avarice.  Perhaps that was the mindset of the rich young ruler who questioned Jesus (Mk.10:17-23)?  Paul wrote in 1Ti.6:8-10, “Having food and clothing, with these let us be content. For the love of money is a root of evil.”  Money as a medium of exchange or even as a store of value/wealth isn’t bad of itself…it’s the love of money or greed that’s bad. (see the three-part series “Money”.)  Php.4:19 God will supply all our needs!

Pornography is a form of wrong desire.  It’s not wrong for a man to view beach pictures of his own wife or a single woman who may well become his someday.  But to lustfully view explicit pics of another man’s wife or a woman he could never in time come to rightfully have…is wrong coveting.

Wrong coveting can be insidious.  The sin of coveting may not show any outward manifestation at first.  It may not be apparent to other people.  They may not be aware that a wrong craving exists in the heart of another.  But God knows our hearts!  1Ki.8:39 “You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men.”

In Ro.7:7 KJV (and Ro.13:9) Paul referred to the Lord’s law about coveting, “Thou shalt not covet [epithumeo g1937]”.  Paul’s brief truncation here of the 10^th Commandment may give the impression that all coveting is bad.  But that’s not always the case in scripture, as we’ve seen!  Again, Ex.20:17 & De.5:21 only refer to wrong, inordinate coveting/desiring for that which belongs to another person.  Ro.7:8-ff Paul went on to confess his own struggles against coveting and sin.  He agonized in v.24, “O wretched man that I am”.  It’s part of our human nature to pursue self-indulgence, not always for good.

Merriam-Webster defines self-indulgence: “Excessive gratification of one’s own appetites or desires.”  Most all persons naturally love themselves and want to preserve their life.  Yet we may indulge in, crave or covet things, practices or habits which don’t truly reflect love of self (or love of others).

We all need leisure time & recreation.  But some fill their minds with violent video games or too much gaming and entertainment in general.  People may crave and become addicted to: drugs, smoking, alcoholic drink, gluttony, sugary desserts & soft drinks which make our bodies too acidic, excessive TV watching or time on the cell phone, sloth, gambling, sports, ‘keeping up with the Joneses’, etc.

Self-control/self-restraint is a fruit of the Spirit (Ga.5:23)!  Our lives should reflect a right balance of beneficial activities.  Pr.25:27 “It’s not good to eat much honey.”  We should practice moderation.  BibleReasons: Moderation “Don’t be obsessed with anything in your life, except for the Lord.”  We’re not to idolize or value any person or thing more than the true God!  We’re to be doing His will.

Ask ourselves…What would Jesus do regarding an inclination or a want we have, if He was in our shoes today?  Paul said, “take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2Co.10:5).  Pr.4:23 “Guard your heart with all diligence.”  How may we guard our heart against wrong desires?  Our hearts tend to wander.

Maintaining an attitude of thankfulness is a means by which we can protect our heart from improper thoughts taking root.  We’re to be thankful for the Lord’s provision and how He’s blessed us!  Paul exhorted in 1Th.5:18, “Give thanks in every circumstance. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  And Ep.5:3-4, “Let sexual immorality, impurity, or covetousness [pleonexea g4124] not even be named among you. Not obscene or foolish talking or vulgar joking, but instead, giving thanks.”

Jon Bloom Fill Your Wandering Heart With Thankfulness “The more it [thankfulness] grows in you, the more spiritual health you will experience, and the less power sin will wield over you.”

We can cultivate the habit of thankfulness, of gratitude.  A grateful heart focuses more on the blessings God has given us, less on (wrong) wants we don’t have.

Yet that’s not to say we shouldn’t have right desires or plans for our future, according to God’s will for us.  Ps.37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.”  The Lord will fulfill the right desires He puts in our heart!  Php.2:13 “It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to do His good pleasure.”  God works in our hearts through the Holy Spirit He has given, 1Co.6:19.

So let’s say ‘No’ to wrong desires (some of chamad & avah, Hebrew) if/when they come to mind.  Instead, let’s be mindful to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit in our daily walk.  And may the Lord graciously influence our hearts by His Spirit, to accomplish His desires & His purposes in our lives!

Sexual Sins, Harlotry, Rape – (2)

Foundational scriptures for this topic were addressed in “Sexual Sins, Harlotry, Rape – (1)”.  Part 1  laid the groundwork for (2).  Verses noted in (1), not restated here, are essential to better grasp Part 2!

In Part 1, the various types of sexual immorality were listed.  Two definitive passages are Le.20:10-22, 5-6 and Le.18:5-24.  Those scriptures tell us what sexual sin is, according to the Lord’s standard (not men’s standards).  Sexual sin includes: adultery, incest, beastiality, homosexuality/lesbianism, transvestism, menstrual sex, idolatrous prostitution.  Pornography is a form of wrong coveting, if the desired object is illicit or cannot be rightfully obtained.  Paul wrote in 1Co.6:9, “The unrighteous won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolators, adulterers, nor practicing homosexuals will inherit the kingdom.”  Sexual acts which the nations today deem as/not as sexual sin…may or may not be sin, based upon the true standard of God’s written word.

Children born from forbidden adulterous or incestuous relationships weren’t the guilty ones.  Yet they were excluded from eldership or government in Israel; see De.23:2 in Matthew Poole Commentary and Gill Exposition.

Jesus said, Mt.19:9-10 “Whoever puts away his wife, except it be for sexual immorality [pornéia], and marries another [wife], commits adultery”.  In the New Testament (NT), porneia (Strongs g4202, Greek) meant any type of sexual sin (Le.18 & Le.20).  Any type is just cause for divorce.  Pulpit Commentary “All illicit connection is described by this term, it cannot be limited to one particular kind of transgression.”  Christ in the NT didn’t contradict what the Lord Christ had instructed Moses/Israel (De.6:1) in De.24:1-4. “When a man marries a woman and she displeases him because he finds some indecency in her, he writes her a bill of divorce.”  But in Jesus’ day, many wrongly thought that wives could be divorced for any cause.

In Mt.19, Christ wasn’t giving a comprehensive sermon on marriage.  Jesus didn’t address desertion, serious neglect, or marriages where there is physical brutality…and the life of a spouse or child may be endangered.  In Jesus’ day among Jews, remarriage was assumed for the innocent spouse.  But Jesus indicated that remarriage with those not having just cause for divorce can be sin.  Remarriage (to a Christian, 2Co.6:14) is permissible in cases involving porneia, brutality, life endangerment, desertion.  1Co.7:15 after abandonment, the spouse needn’t remain in the bondage of that marriage…he/she is free to remarry and have children.  Christ didn’t disapprove of all remarriage (e.g. De.24:2).  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (He.13:8).

Although a lifestyle of harlotry can have grave consequences, lay prostitution wasn’t sin or iniquity that required strict penalty or even an expiating animal sacrifice.  That is, if it wasn’t religious harlotry (temple prostitution) and she wasn’t married or still living at home.  Part 1 examined Bible passages.

Jesus declared in Mt.21:31-32, “Truly I say to you that tax collectors and harlots will get into the kingdom of God before you”.  Jesus said the harlots who believed John the Baptizer will go into the kingdom of God before those Jewish leaders who opposed Him!  (Must all harlots and tax collectors change jobs…did Zacchéus, Lk.19:1-10…must IRS agents?!)

The Greek term porneia (g4202) referred to idolatrous harlotry in the Septúagint/LXX, then to sexual sin in general in the NT.  In the LXX, it’s one of four Greek terms used for zanáh (h2181), which occurs 93 times in the Hebrew Bible, ‘be a harlot’.  (Also porneia is used for h2183 & h2184, meaning whoredoms.)  Porneúo (g4203), the verb form of porneia, meant to practice idolatrous prostitution.  Porné (g4204) usually referred to secular prostitutes.  The LXX ekporneúo (g1608, occurs 36 times) was one given over to idolatrous sex.  Also the NT pórnos (g4205, 10 occurrences: 1Co.5:9-11, 6:9, Ep.5:5, 1Ti.1:10, He.12:16, 13:4, Re.21:8, 22:15) comes from pernemi or pernáo, ‘to sell’.  It was used for a male prostitute, a sodomite or a catamite.  It is sin.  That’s five Greek Bible terms for harlotry.

The term “fornication” originated from two Latin words, “fornix” and “fornicare”.  A fornix was the vaulted archway of the cellar place where prostitutes sold their bodies, to marrieds & singles.  A man who visited a brothel was a fornicare.  Fornication pertained to sex for sale, not premarital sex!

Somewhere along the way, Christianity adapted or devised a different meaning for fornication.  That is, fornication became equated with premarital or unmarried sex!  Berean Bible Church “Fornication’, i.e. the Greek ‘porneia’, actually describes a much larger class of activities, however, than ‘intercourse between unmarried people.”  Various sex acts are porn.  Actually, in Bible times women married young, age 13-14, so any window after puberty for premarital sex was quite small.  Since the meaning of “fornication” has changed over the centuries, I rarely use the term, so as not to be ambiguous.

Religious prostitution was used in the worship of pagan gods.  Ac.15:29 the church is to avoid sacrificing to pagan gods with: blood, unslaughtered animals, prostitution.  (also see the topic “Acts 15 – Four Prohibitions”.)  Re.2:14 some in the Pérgamos church were engaging in cult prostitution as worship.  Sexual immorality figuratively relates to pagan gods.  Le.17:7 “They must no longer sacrifice to goat demons, to whom they play the harlot.”  Sacrificing to demon idols was a form of idolatry & whoredom.  In Nu.25:1-8, the Israelites played the harlot when the daughters of Moab invited them to offer sacrifices to the god Báal-Péor…this included religious sex.  Ex.19:15-17 sex was to be completely separate from worship of the true God, unlike sex rites for pagan gods.  Ex.20:26 Israelite priests were not to show any nakedness in performing their duties.

1Co.6:15-20 “He who is joined to a harlot is one body with her. For it is written, ‘The two will become one flesh’. Flee porneia! Your body is the temple of God.”  cf. Ge.2:24 & Mt 19:5.  Paul indicates that “one flesh” means more like general organic union than one husband & one wife.  Because…a harlot has many partners with whom she is “one flesh”, not just one man; and for that matter, a man could visit more than one harlot.  When Paul wrote to Corinth, idolatrous temple prostitution prevailed in the area.  There were 1,000 priestesses at the temple of Aphrodíte on Acro-Corinth!  Ancient heathens thought sex rites would cause the gods to become so moved to make the soil fertile.

Christ had warned ancient Israel in Ex.34:14-17, “You shall not worship any other god, and not cause your sons to prostitute themselves with their gods. You shall not make any molten gods.”  No more golden calf sensual revelry either! (see Pulpit Commentary Ex.32:6, Ellicott Commentary, Gill Exposition.)

Ho.8:9 “Ephráim has hired lovers.”  Israel was trusting in their allies rather than their God.  Ho.9:1 “You have gone whoring from your God.”  They made alliances with nations who worship pagan gods.  But Israel & Judah were metaphorically married to the Lord (Je.31:32, Is.54:5)!  They were His wives (Ezk.23).  Israel & Judah became Christ’s adulterous wives; so He sent away them both into captivity.

Married harlots are adulteresses.  Pr.7:10-11 “A woman dressed as a harlot. She is loud and defiant; her feet don’t abide at home.”  v.18-21 she says “Come, let us take our fill of love. My husband isn’t at home, he’s gone on a long journey.”  Since this prostitute is married, any sexual relationship she has with another man is adultery.  Ezk.23:2-5, 11, 45-47, Ezk.16:2, 8, 35-38 Israel/Samaria & Judah were as married prostitutes.  Ho.1:1-3 God even instructed the prophet Hosea to marry a harlot, to symbolize God’s own marriage to adulterous, idolatrous ancient Israel.

Re.17:1, 5 “Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.”  She was the metaphorical epitome of (adulterous) religious sex.  Re.18:7 she boasted, “I sit as a queen and am not a widow”.  But Re.19:2 “God has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth [Land] with her immorality [porneia].” (see the topic “Babylon the Great’ in Revelation”.)

The ‘oldest profession’, public prostitution, wasn’t ‘sin’ that required an animal sacrifice.  In Ge.1:28, God’s first command to humanity was, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth”.  To enable humans to fulfill His command, God created sex hormones, testosterone and estrogen, etc.  God is responsible for placing sexual desire in humans!  However, misuse or perversion of sex through immorality and prostitution can result in harmful consequences such as STDs, AIDS, social stigma (e.g. 1Ki.22:38).

Harlotry was tolerated in ancient Israel, but harlots had a lower social status.  Jg.11:1-2 Jephtháh the judge was the son of a harlot (or perhaps a concubine, LXX), and his brothers wanted him disinherited.

Lk.15:30 the prodigal son, a single man, wasted the inheritance he’d demanded on harlots.  Pr.29:3 “He who consorts with harlots wastes his wealth.”  A man who frequents harlots squanders his money, and puts himself at risk of suffering a disease.  Pr.23:27-28 “A whore is a deep ditch, a loose woman is a narrow well.”  Ironically, a single man may view his circumstances or loneliness as an ox in the ditch.

The sexual crime of rape receives much media publicity these days.  2Sm.11:2-4, 12:4 King David seduced Uriáh’s wife Bathsheba.  Some view rape as a form of kidnapping, done against the victim’s will.  Kidnapping, including sex trafficking, is a serious crime (De.24:7).  De.22:28-29 the man who seized (h8610) or raped an unengaged virgin must marry her.  Benson Commentary “He wasn’t at liberty to refuse her, if her father consented to his marrying her, and he was deprived of the privilege of ever divorcing her.”  Also he must pay her father a substantial fine, 50 shekels of silver, plus perhaps the bride-price.

2Sm.13:1-2, 10-11 David’s son Amnón desired his half-sister Tamár, and got her alone in the bedroom.  v.12-18 she tried to talk him out of raping her, suggesting Amnon ask the king for her hand.  However, their union would be incest (Le.18:11).  Possibly she is unaware of God’s law…more likely, she’s grasping at straws to dissuade him from raping her, or is speaking impulsively.  Amnon rapes her.  But it was more lust than love.  He then despised her (he said ‘get out’).  2Sm.13:32 later Tamar’s full-brother Absalóm had Amnon killed in revenge.  De.27:22 “Cursed is he who has lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or his mother.”  Also Le.20:17, the incestuous brother shall bear his iniquity.

Bible readers view the tragic ‘love’ between Shechém and Jacob’s daughter Dinah as: seduction, or an ancient form of elopement, or rape.  Ge.34:1-8 “Shechem the Hivite took [h3947] her, lay with her and humbled her.”  Here the Hebrew term translated as “took” isn’t the term translated as “seized”/raped (h8610) in De.22:28.  (cf. Ge.11:29 Abram took [h3947] Sarai for a wife; Ge.24:67 Isaac took Rebekah and she became his wife.)  Shechem loved Dinah and wanted her for a wife.  Ge.34:25-30 therefore it was very wrong for Jacob’s sons Simeón & Levi to kill Shechem and all the males in that town!  Ge.49:5-7 before Jacob died, he cursed the cruelty and violent action done by Simeon & Levi!

Christ’s guidelines concerning war brides are in De.21:10-15. “When you see among the captives a beautiful woman and desire to take [h3947] her as a wife, she shall remain in your house a full month and mourn her father & mother. After that you may have relations with her and she shall be your wife.”  (also see “Polygyny – Lawful in God’s Eyes?”.)  Israelite soldiers weren’t to rape the enemy’s women!  In Nu.31:16-20, 35 Israelite soldiers didn’t rape the women; purification rites were also required.  But prophesied in Is.13:16-17, the wives of Babylon would be raped by the conquering Medes. “Their wives will be ravished.”

In the 1960s occurred the tragic affairs which resulted in Viet Nam war babies.  Smithsonian Magazine 2009 “They grew up as the leftovers of an unpopular war, straddling two worlds but belonging to neither. Most never knew their fathers. Many were abandoned by their mothers at the gates of orphanages. Some were discarded in garbage cans. Schoolmates taunted & pummeled them and mocked the features that gave them the face of the enemy – round blue eyes and light skin, or dark skin and tight curly hair if their soldier-dads were African-Americans. Their destiny was to become waifs & beggars, living in the streets and parks of South Vietnam’s cities, sustained by a single dream: to get to America and find their fathers.”  Very sad.  American laws & customs differ from those Christ gave to Moses/Israel.

Ge.19:5 the desire of the men of Sodóm to have relations with Lot’s guests was a form of homosexual, or beastial rape with a different kind of being.  Ge.19:31-35 two daughters conspired to rape their father on successive nights.  Jg.19:22-28 resembles Ge.19:5, but the Benjamite men in Gibeáh desired same-sex relations with a Levite guest passing through.  The men proceeded to rape and murder the Levite’s concubine.  The penalty for murder was death, Jg.20:13; v.46-48 the incident led to civil war in Israel.  The tribe of Benjamin was almost annihilated.  Jg.21:7, 12-23 to preserve the tribe, the remaining men “caught” virgins for wives.  Perhaps this unusual scheme to obtain a wife seemed like rape to some?

Ge.39:6-21 the wife of Potiphár, an Egyptian officer, tried to rape the patriarch Joseph.  But she failed.

Rape isn’t addressed in the NT.  In many of the Old Testament passages which relate to rape, there were other (serious) sins involved too.  It appears that God didn’t punish the heterosexual non-incestuous rape of a single woman or man, of and by itself…to the extent some nations punish today, according to man’s laws.  That is, unless it was clearly a kidnapping against the victim’s will.

The best preventative against Biblical porneia is sex within a godly marriage.  1Co.7:2-4 “To avoid immorality [porneia], let every man have his own wife and each one her own husband. The husband should give to the wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.” (cf. Ex.21:10)  It works both ways.  And not with somebody else’s wife!  He.13:4 “Let marriage be honored among all, and the bed undefiled. But the sexually immoral and adulterers God will judge.”  Sex should be pure.

Celibacy and total abstention from sex will also prevent porneia.  But that ignores God’s first command to humanity in Ge.1:28. “Be fruitful and multiply.”  Ti.4:1-3 Paul said liars were forbidding marriage.  Again, God created testosterone, and wants people to reproduce themselves…made in God’s image!

To conclude: Prostitution, even non-religious prostitution, certainly isn’t God’s ideal!  Heterosexual marriage and family is (He.13:4).  Ge.2:24 “A man shall leave father and mother and cling to his wife.”  Yet God isn’t a prude.  God, in His word, is surely more loving than the self-righteous.  I realize some of the verses quoted in this two-part topic seem odd to our western minds, maybe even shocking.

Verses from Part 1 indicated, by definition…it was impossible for a widow, or a woman rightfully divorced, or an otherwise single woman to commit adultery (unless she was betrothed).  And it was impossible for a man to commit adultery with an unmarried or unengaged woman.  Also, Roman Catholic Church (RCC) influence later contributed to changing the meaning of (the Latin) fornication.

If it was a ‘sin’ for a man to sleep with anyone other than his wife, the Lord could have simply said that in His Word.  But He didn’t.  1Th.4:3 “It is God’s will that you should avoid sexual immorality [porneia g4202].”  We’ve referenced many verses, to learn what sexual sin really is….using more verses from Christ’s theocracy than from NT conditions extant in heathen Greco-Roman society.  I haven’t used as a final authority the morality filtered through the RCC & Puritanism into the modern church, nor the morality of humanistic nations today.

God wants the best for us.  God’s will and His true morality are revealed through His word.  May His perfect will be done in our individual lives!

Stephen’s Stoning in Acts

A martyr is a person who chooses to suffer death rather than renounce his/her religious beliefs.  Justin (110-165 AD) was a Samaritan Christian given the honorary title ‘Martyr’ for not renouncing his faith that Jesus is Lord.  Following Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection and ascension, the first recorded (Jewish) Christian martyr was Stephen.  Stephen didn’t renounce Jesus.  The account is in Acts 6–7.

The initial Jerusalem church grew rapidly in the 30s AD (Ac.5:14).  Ac.6:1-7 Stephen was a Hellenist or Greek-speaking deacon there.  At this time, an estimated 10–20% of Jerusalem spoke Greek (rather than Aramaic, cf. Ac.1:19).  They used the Greek Old Testament, which became the Septúagint/LXX.  The early church was then composed of Jewish Christians only, no Samaritans, no gentiles yet.  Ac.6:5 Stephen was one of seven men chosen by the church to distribute food & alms to Hellenist widows (cf. Ja.1:27).  Ac.6:8 God worked miracles through Stephen, who was filled with the Holy Spirit (HS).

Ac.6:9-10 many in the Freedmen synagogue were emancipated captive or slave Jews & proselytes.  Also persons who’d come from Alexandria, Cilicía, and elsewhere.  Saul/Paul was from Tarsús in Cilicia (Ac.21:39), and likely he attended this Jerusalem synagogue.  Most weren’t (Jewish) Christians, and they began to argue with Stephen.  But the HS gave Stephen wisdom they couldn’t withstand.

Their arguments failed.  Ac.6:11 “So they secretly induced some men to say, ‘We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”  These claimed they heard Stephen blaspheme; that is, to revile God or sacred things.  v.12 “They stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes; they seized him and brought him before the Sanhédrin.”  For trial by the great court, sitting at Jerusalem.

They then hired lying witnesses to testify against Stephen.  Ac.6:13-14 “And they set up false witnesses who said, ‘This man incessantly speaks evil against this holy place and the Law. For we’ve heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and alter the customs Moses handed down to us.”

Ac.6:15 “All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and saw his face was like the face of an angel.”  This is reminiscent of Ex.34:29, where Moses’ face shined from God’s Presence.

Stephen was accused of speaking blasphemy against: God, Moses, the temple, the Law (Ac.6:11-13).  He’d probably taught that the days of God’s temple worship and sacrifices, based on ceremonial law given to Moses, would come to an end.  Disbelieving Jews in his synagogue wrongly viewed that as blasphemy.

They also claimed that Stephen said Jesus would destroy their temple and alter their customs (v.14).  600 years earlier Daniel had prophesied.  Da.9:26-27 LXX “The Christ will be cut off, and He will destroy the city and the sanctuary with the prince who is coming. And on the temple will be an abomination of desolation.”  Mk.13:1-2, 14 Jesus confirmed regarding their temple, “Not one stone shall be left upon another which shall not be torn down. When you see the abomination of desolation.”  Jn.2:19-21 Jesus also said to Jewish leaders in regards to His own body they would crucify, “Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up”. (cf. 2Co.5:1)  Yet in Mk.14:56-59, false witnesses testified against Jesus, saying He would destroy their temple.  But their testimony was inconsistent.

The accused in Israel had a right to a fair trial before sentencing.  De.17:2-7 “If in any of your towns a man or woman does what is evil, has served other gods or worshiped them; you shall investigate it thoroughly. If so, stone them to death. On the testimony of 2 or 3 witnesses shall he worthy of death be executed. The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him.”  If the case was too difficult for the local appellate court, it was taken to the central court/Sanhedrin.  v.8-10 “If any case is too difficult to decide, then you shall go to the place the Lord your God chooses. The Levitical priest or judge will declare the verdict.”  And the high priest is present (Caiáphas?, Mt.26:3) with the court at this trial, Ac.7:1.

The penalty for serving/worshiping pagan gods was death.  De.13:6-8 said to not join in service to other gods of even a relative!  If a guilty verdict is delivered at his trial, execute him.  v.9-11 “You shall stone him to death because he sought to lead you away from the Lord your God.”  A less relevant incident is Le.24:11-16. “The son of an Israelite blasphemed the Name and cursed. The Lord spoke to Moses, ‘Let all the congregation stone him. The alien as well as the native who blasphemes the Name shall be put to death.”  This applied to both Israelites and aliens in the Land.  (Note: Judaism forbad uttering the Name YHVH in common speech; so speaking the Name was discontinued, due to an extreme interpretation of this Le.24 passage combined with Ex.20:7.)

Also there was a rebel beating custom for cases which were perceived to be so obvious…an actual trial was thought unnecessary.  Nu.25:1-5 reflects Moses’ decision against Israelite leaders who joined in heathen worship (v.4-5).  Moses as judge authorized the execution of those guilty.  v.6-8 yet Phineás the priest’s act of slaying two who were engaged in a form of religious prostitution later became the prototype to vindicate the rebel beating practice.  That is, sentence or execution without an official verdict.  They would take the law into their own hands to administer ‘justice’ in their eyes.  To ref this practice unto death, see Jn.10:31-32 (below), and Lk.4:29 where Jesus’ opposers in the synagogue tried to throw Him over a cliff.  Also, Paul was the intended victim of a rebel beating in Ac.21:30-31.

Jesus said in Jn.10:30-33, “I and the Father are one’. The Jews took up stones to stone Him. The Jews answered Him, ‘We don’t stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy, because you make yourself out to be God.”  Those Jews understood Jesus’ implication.  In Jn.19:5-7 the Jewish leaders cried out to Pilate against Jesus, “Crucify Him! We have a law, by which He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God”.  To their understanding, Jesus had declared Himself to be (a false) God!

Lk.23:4-7 the Jewish leaders brought the accused Jesus before Pilate the Procurator (manager) in the province of Judea.  Pilate learned He was from Galilee (not a resident of Judea), in Herod’s jurisdiction.  So Pilate sent Him to Herod.  In Jn.18:31, the Jewish leaders in Judea claimed they weren’t permitted to put anyone to death.  Historical sources conflict regarding the extent of Sanhedrin power to execute in the 30s AD.  The right to execute convicted criminals in Roman provinces was held by the Governor (Pilate here).  Emil Schurer said a death sentence then must be ratified by the Procurator.  It’s also said the Sanhedrin was allowed to execute persons who violated the sanctity of the Jerusalem temple in Judea (destroyed 70 AD).  Jesus was from the province of Galilee, whereas Stephen lived in Jerusalem.

With that background, let’s return to Stephen’s case.  His trial will be for blasphemy and serving another god, according to disbelieving Jews there.  All of Acts 7 is Stephen’s lengthy discourse or justification as his defense.  In it, he relates scripture history about: the patriarchs, Moses, Israel’s disobedience to God, the temple would come to an end.

Then Stephen takes the offensive in Ac.7:51-53. “You men are stubborn and resist the Holy Spirit as your ancestors did. Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered!”

The same Greek terminology is in Is.53:11 LXX. “The Righteous One shall bear their sins.”  Isaiah prophesied of Jesus.  (The traditional Martyrdom of Isaiah says Isaiah himself was sawn in half by Jewish leaders, cf. He.11:37.)  Also, after Saul/Paul had a vision of the ascended Jesus, Ac.22:14 Ananías said God had appointed Saul to see and hear the Righteous One.

Ac.7:54-56 “When the Sanhedrin heard this, they were enraged. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”  (This reflects the tri-unity of God.)  The prophet Daniel had referred to the Son of Man to come in Da.7:13-14.  Jesus called Himself the Son of Man more than 70 times in the New Testament, e.g. Mt.26:64.  He.12:2 & Col.3:1 says Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Yet in Ac.7:56, Jesus is standing at God’s right hand, perhaps in honor of Stephen’s testimony of Him!

In the opinion of the Sanhedrin/disbelieving Jews, Jesus was a dead man.  But here Stephen is indicating to them that the man supposedly dead is really…a live God!  They think Stephen is violating De.17 & 13 publically; that he’s putting forth the Son of Man Jesus as a false god!  With their own ears they heard/witnessed Stephen utter his vision, which they construed as blasphemy.

Ac.7:57-58 “They shouted loudly, covered their ears, and rushed upon him with one accord. And when they’d dragged him outside the city, they began to stone him. The witnesses left their coats with a young man named Saul.”  Taking Stephen outside the city, witnesses who heard him began to stone him…as per De.17:5-7 (& Le.24:14).  JFB Commentary Ac.7:58 “Saul, having perhaps already a seat in the Sanhedrin, some 30 years of age.”  Possibly Saul/Paul (of Stephen’s synagogue) was then married and recently become a member of the great Sanhedrin (ref Ac.9:1-2, 26:10-11, Ga.1:14); and he attested to the public slaying.  David Stern Jewish New Testament Commentary, conjectures “Shaúl was a member of the Sanhedrin.”

Ac.7:59-60 “They continued to stone Stephen while he prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and said loudly, ‘Lord, impute not this sin to their charge.’ And having said this, he fell asleep.”  Just before Stephen’s body died or “fell asleep”, he asked the Lord to receive his spirit (ref Ec.12:7, Mt.27:50, He.12:23) and not hold against them their sin of stoning an innocent man to death.

In Mt.23:33-34 Jesus had called the leading scribes & Pharisees, who hated Him and wanted Him dead, vipers doomed to Gehenna.  Yet in Lk.23:33-34, Jesus asked Father God to forgive the Romans who ignorantly crucified Him!  (They will repent in the future.)  Jesus said to Governor Pilate, Jn.19:10-11 “He who delivered me over to you has the greater sin”.  The Jewish leaders’ sin of delivering Jesus to death was greater than the sin of Pilate…they knowingly framed & murdered the Son of God!

Stephen was a mere man, and he asked that his Jewish murderers be forgiven for martyring him.

It seems that Stephen’s case was a Sanhedrin trial which ended abruptly with a rebel beating unto death.  Jewish Christian Alfred Edersheim’s The Temple, ch. 3 “When the Lord Jesus and His martyr Stephen were before the Sanhedrin, in each case the sitting terminated in the rebels’ beating.”

Ac.8:1 “Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him [Stephen] to death.”  Saul/Paul and the Sanhedrin thought they’d judged and executed a blasphemy case.  They heard or witnessed the words about Jesus from Stephen’s own lips!  In their opinion, Jesus was a dead man and a false god.

Some of the proceedings at Stephen’s trial do seem to be in accordance with God’s Old Testament law.  After his conversion, in Php.3:5-6 Saul/Paul wrote of his earlier unconverted life. “As to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness of the Law, found blameless.”  And Paul’s own later self-defense in Ac.22:3, “I am a Jew born in Tarsus of Cilicia, brought up in Jerusalem at the feet of Gamaliél strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God”.

It’s unwonted that Saul the Pharisee (Ac.23:6) agreed with the hardline view of the Sadducean high priest (Ac.5:17, 8:1-3).  Saul’s esteemed teacher Gamaliel was a Pharisee with a tolerant approach toward Jewish Christian leaders, Ac.5:33-40!  If Saul had followed the precedent of his famous teacher, he wouldn’t have become their murderer!  Although the Sanhedrin & Saul/Paul perhaps thought they were upholding God’s injunctions in the judgment…their verdict was wrong.  Stephen wasn’t proclaiming a false god.  Christ was the God of Israel!  (see “Jesus Was The Old Testament God”.)

It seems the court ignored the Je.23:5-6 passage, where Messiah was prophesied to be both a descendant of David…and YHVH!  The Son of Man and Son of God!  And misinterpreted Ps.2:7. “The Lord said to Me, ‘You are My Son. Today I have begotten Thee.”  (Jesse, not the Lord, begat David, Ru.4:22.)

That was the Sanhedrin’s big mistake (aside from the false testimony of witnesses).  Stephen was really innocent of the blasphemy charge.  Jesus/Yeshúa isn’t a false god!  Actually it was the Sanhedrin who (indirectly) blasphemed in a sense…by denying that Jesus is the Son of the Most High God (Lk.1:32)!

Stephen died following his testimony about the living Christ.  Ac.8:2 “Devout men buried Stephen, and mourned deeply for him.”  He’d asked the Lord Jesus to receive his spirit (Ac.7:59).  In He.12:22-24 it is written of those who “have come to the heavenly Jerusalem, to myriads of angels, to the festal assembly of the church of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, and to Jesus”.  Stephen asked that he too would be among the righteous with the Lord Jesus.  (see “Life and Death – for Saints” and “Spirits – Made by God in Light”.)

After Paul was converted, he must have been deeply affected in retrospect by his part in the stoning of Stephen.  Even Paul’s sermon as recorded in Ac.13:14-42, which includes some of Israel’s history, is somewhat reminiscent of Stephen’s final address in Acts 7.  And years later Paul himself would also be brought before the Sanhedrin (Ac.22:30–23:5)…according to the law (Ac.23:3).

Tradition says Paul was eventually martyred in Rome by Nero.  Around 66–67 AD, Paul wrote 2Ti.4:6 (perhaps the final chapter of all Paul’s epistles). “I am being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.”  v.17 previously he’d been delivered out of the “mouth of the lion”.  Rome is the composite fourth beast…Da.7:4, 7 and Re.13:1-2, “Its mouth was the mouth of a lion”.

Tradition says Peter was crucified upside-down, judging himself unworthy to die in the same manner Jesus had died.  ref Jn.21:18-19, 2Pe.1:14.  According to He.11:35-38, untold saints of Old Testament times suffered martyrdom; not renouncing their faith.  (also ref Foxe’s Book Of Martyrs.)

But for many of us Christians today, we’re called in our places of residence to live quiet and peaceable lives.  This is also good in God’s eyes.  Paul wrote in 1Ti.2:1-3, “That we may lead a tranquil and quiet life, in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.”  (Jesus the Savior is God.)  Also 1Th.4:11 “Aspire to lead a quiet life, minding your own business.”

Some are called to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in dangerous areas of the world, where they’ve suffered martyrdom.  Whatever our individual calling, the Lord will direct us in His will unto His Kingdom.  Paul concluded in 2Ti.4:18, “The Lord will deliver me from every evil work and will save me for His heavenly Kingdom; to whom be the glory to the ages of the ages! Amen.”