- Jul 21, 2018
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A divorced wife due to adultery.
Israel today is a new woman, born again through Christ, composed of all peoples of all races that accept Christ.
While God had not divorced Judah, they also needed to be released from the covenant to be betrothed to Christ. It is perceivable that in the original historical and cultural context Israelites were not allowed to see the particulars concerning their release from the Sinai Covenant that bound them in the marriage with Christ. It was Christ to whom they were wed revealed in Judges 2:1 and 1 Corinthians 10:4. Nevertheless, they were aware of the prophecies of Hosea and aware of the impediment of Deuteronomy 24:4 conveyed in Isaiah 50:1 and Jeremiah 3:1, 8.
Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance. Deuteronomy 24:4
The most relevant information not available in the original historical and cultural context in the NT is Romans 7:1–4, which alludes to Deuteronomy 24:1–4 and reveals that Ephraim’s release from the marriage contract (Jeremiah 2:3, 3:14, 31:32; Ezekiel 16:32) was required before they could become eligible to return to their first husband.
Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Romans 4:1-4
Romans 7:1–4 provides the particulars in resolving the impediment—it was the death of Christ and his resurrection by which the elect biological descendants were released from the OC to be betrothed to Christ in the NC. This confirms that the husband in Hosea who divorced Ephraim was Christ, before his incarnation. By deduction, Christ is revealed as the entity that Israel married at Sinai, as it was he that had to die to release them. It is not acceptable to say that it is the gentiles who fulfill the prophecy in Hosea as they were not joined to Christ by the OC as was Israel/Ephraim and Judah.
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